If you’ve read our Cradle Mountain post you’ll recall that on our way to Cradle Mountain, we met up with a lifelong family friend of mine, Dale, who happened to be staying in Tassie at his shack on the Great Lake with his partner Lisa. Since then, Dale and I have continued to stay in touch, messaging about our travels through Tasmania, a place which Dale and Lisa love very much, and through this contact, they very kindly offered us the opportunity to camp at their shack, in Brandum, aside the Great Lake. This was a fantastic and opportune opportunity, as we were wondering where to camp, and to get away from the masses, during the upcoming Tasmanian two-week Easter school holiday break.
So with our school holiday camping sorted, we headed inland from Freycinet towards the Great Lake which sits atop the Central Plateau, in the Tasmanian highlands at an elevation of 1030m above sea level.
Leaving Freycinet on Thursday 16th April, we drove through to Campbell Town, a lovely little town where we did some shopping, topped the van up, and grabbed a pie from the bakery.
Then, following Google’s recommendation, we took a back road up through the mountains and Interlaken. This back road was a steep, narrow gravel road, up and over the mountain, and the driving conditions were pretty shit, alternating between heavy showers to cats & dogs rain. I needed to drop Sir Gwavin into 4WD high range to provide some grip as the hairpin bends were pretty slippery, but we made it through safely.
On arriving, we set the van up behind Dale’s shack, which fortunately provided some relief from the gale force and very gusty winds that were blowing.
Dale’s place is totally off grid, and as it snows regularly here there is a bit of setup to do to get things ready. This includes re-priming the water pipes with water from the header rain tank, checking the solar, and lighting the fires for the donkey boiler which is used to create hot water, and the inside fire for heating. With Dale’s advice, however, we were soon setup and sitting inside, in front of a cosy wood fire, enjoying a great bottle of Tassie Pinot Noir.
Later that evening, with the wind still blowing gale force, we retired to the van for bed, giving it a quick burst with the diesel heater and snuggled under the blankets. We were warm enough in the van but it was definitely cold outside as we woke up to a light covering of snow which was very cool. This is the first time us, Sir Gwavin and Goldy have camped in the snow. But, due to the gusty wind overnight we hadn’t had the best sleep so we decided to chill today at Dale’s joint, only taking a little walk down to the lake to check it out.
Before bed on that first full day at Dale,s, Jules’ Aurora app alert went off and from just outside the front of Dale’s shack, we managed to grab a couple of Aurora Australis pics which was very cool. It was too cold, and we were a little tipsy, to drive or walk anywhere else for a better view of the aurora. Luckily the wind died down a little after dark so we managed to get a better nights sleep tonight, despite it being much colder than the previous night.
Waking up, the official BOM weather recording for Brandum’s temperature overnight was -6C and we woke to a heavy frost that glittered and sparkled beautifully in the rays of the rising sun. As I was awake early, I decided to get up and take a wander down to the lake to capture some frost photos and see what the lake was doing.
With plans to do a little drive and to grab a pub lunch today, we decided to fire up the donkey boiler for a shower before we left. However, we had a little drama, as after lighting the donkey boiler, I jumped in the shower and the hot water just dribbled for a second and then stopped altogether. After a phone call to Dale, we determined that the cold water supply pipe to the hot water tank had frozen up overnight. Luckily it doesn’t seem to have burst the pipe so we skipped our morning showers and left for our drive, hoping the pipe will thaw during the day.
Heading south, we did a little loop, dropping into Pine-Tier Lagoon, then through to the geographical centre of Tasmania at Bronte Lagoon. Then, it was off to Victoria Falls where the walk in was pretty rough and unmarked, but we made it down to the falls which are large and impressive, but with the sun creating a lot of contrast they weren’t very photogenic. By now, it was heading towards midday so we continued across the back roads, through the old townsite of Shannon and back into Mienna, stopping for what was probably our best pub lunch of Sunday Pork Roast ever. $30 a head for a huge plate of roast pork and a heap of roasted veggies with homemade apple sauce. Very yum and so filling we didn’t need any dinner that night.
Monday 20th of April and we decided to shoot down to Launceston for an impromptu visit, seeing as it’s only 90km away (one-way). Driving north to the tip of the Great Lake, we stopped to check out the Great Lake Lookout and chat to a local motorcyclist who was also touring around. Then we climbed up to the highest point on the road across the Central Plateau, at 1210m. Following the Western Tiers we then descended back down from the plateau, into the farmland around Golden Valley. From there, it’s a short and flat drive into Launceston where we parked up for the day and walked around the small CBD.
Launceston CBD was nice, but nothing really grabbed our attention and we decided we’ll spend at least another day here before leaving for the mainland, but we’re more interested in the smaller towns and surrounding landscapes.
With cloudy, overcast conditions forecast for Tuesday, I determined I wanted to do a couple of local’ish hikes as they had waterfalls and the cloudy, low-contrast light makes for more interesting and better photographs.
First stop was Pine Lake, just up the road from Dales. A great board walk wends its way through the Pencil Pines which are endemic to the sub-alpine regions of Tasmania. An individual Pencil Pine tree can live to 1200yrs, but they reproduce clonally through suckers, so stands of Pencil Pines, as can be viewed at Pine Lake, are collectively thousands of years old.
Leaving Pine Lake, we then descended back down from the plateau, stopping in at the Meander Bridge Cafe for a lovely coffee and cake, before heading back into the bush at Meander Forest Reserve. We then did a rather strenuous 60min hike into the Bastion Cascades, where I took a bunch of pics and we marvelled at, and photographed a plethora of varied and colourful fungi which grew there.
And, to finish our day of exploring, we dropped into Liffey Falls and hiked down to the base of the falls, stopping to photograph the falls, plants and wildlife.
I had stopped to take some photos and caught up with Jules on the track, where she was photographing a small spider on the track railing. She then said “where’s my little mate gone” and started looking around. To this I replied, “he’s still there“, pointing at the Tiger Snake which was just below her, off the track, about 2m from where she was standing. She turned, saw the snake, shat herself and jumped back with an expletive! Apparently, her “little mate” was an ant that was carrying a larvae, and not the tiger snake below her 🙂
With some clothes washing to do, we decided to visit Deloraine on Wednesday. As we were leaving Dales, a heavy fog swept across the top of the plateau and at Pine Lake, the highest point, it was pea-soup thick, so I decided to jump out and get some misty, moody photographs of the pines.
Then it was off to Deloraine where we spent a couple hours waiting for our clothes to wash, and then tumble dry. Following which, we wandered around Deloraine, enjoying the arts, autumn colours and a cider at the Red Brick Road Cidery and Distillery.
We spent Thursday chilling back at Dales, doing odd jobs and just relaxing which was nice. I went for another little fish down at the lake with some soft plastics, but lost my lure (again) to a snag after 45mins or so, with no fish to show for it.
Friday 24th and we did another loop drive, this time heading north up through the small township of Liffey and then back down the eastern side of the Great Lake, through Poatina, then back up onto the Central Plateau and through to Arthurs Lake. Then, it was back around the southern end of the Great Lake to Miena where we dropped into the other, the 2nd, pub Miena has for lunch. The food was pretty good, but the pub lacked the ambience of the first pub, and the food wasn’t as hearty or plentiful we felt.
En route back to Dales, we did a quick diversion out to Augusta Dam, following the Liawenee Canal and River Ouse to the dam. A nice little drive, but not a lot to see across the vast, wide, flat and rather featureless expanse of the Central Plateau.
Saturday, the 25th of April – ANZAC Day – Lest we forget.
Another chill day today, completing odd jobs and just relaxing.
Waking to an alarm on Sunday morning, I was dead excited for the day ahead as I’ve booked myself a Fly Fishing Guide for the day, whilst Jules chills in front of the wood fire.
Meeting Jayden, my guide, in Deloraine at 9am, he drove us out to a little creek that runs into the much larger Meander River. Located on working diary farm, this creek is only accessible with the farmers permission and it’s one of Jayden’s local favourite locations. Donning our waders, we clambered down the blackberry infested banks, into the creek and slowly started making our way up river, casting all the while for any fish in front of us.
Being my first guided fishing experience, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Jayden was fantastic, helping me remember and rebuild my casting muscle memory as it’s been over 20yrs since I last fly fished – and I wasn’t particularly experienced with fly casting back then. But, Jayden soon had me casting, flicking or rolling dry flies up the creek and within minutes I hooked my first fish. Unfortunately, I didn’t strike to set the hook hard enough and he managed to throw the hook after a couple of jumps which was a real shame as he was a thumping fish from the jumps we saw and would have probably been my largest catch if I’d landed it.
We then continued working up the creek, with just me fishing and Jayden providing tips, or untangling my fly, many times, from the brambles and bushes that lined the creek. To be fair, my casting improved heaps over the course of the day, but was nothing compared to Jayden’s casting skills. Some sections of the creek were very narrow and/or highly obstructed with overhanging brambles and branches, so I passed the rod to Jayden to fish these sections as we moved through.
With Jayden’s advice on where to present the fly, I then managed to catch three lovely brown trout, the first at 700grams, the 2nd and my largest of the day at 1100grams and the third my smallest at about 500grams. Jayden also managed to catch two fish of his own, so for the day we landed five fish which Jayden said was a great day fishing and guiding as most guided trips only land a fish or two. And, in addition to the first fish of the day which I lost, I also lost another two fish by striking a little early so we could have had eight catches.
To be honest, I was amazed that we were seeing and catching any fish at all as the creek ranged from ankle deep to waist deep water, mostly averaging knee depth. And, as mentioned above, some sections of the creek were only a metre or so wide. But with the water ranging from small rapids, curvaceous bends and slower, deeper pools, with lots of grass and brambles overhanging the banks, the fish obviously had enough water and food to thrive. In fact, Jayden said his best fish from this creek, in the sections we were fishing, was over 4lb which is a thumping fish given the small creek size.
We fished solidly from 9:45 through to 4:45, choosing to skip lunch and I loved every minute of it, although my shoulder was knackered at the end of the day due to the unpractised action of the fly casting. I highly recommend Tasmania Fly Fishing. Scott the manager and one of the guides was great and very kindly worked with just a couple days notice to find me a guide. And Jayden, my guide, was a great bloke. He was very patient with my casting and the untangling of snags, and we had a great chat about fishing and life in general.
Note, all fish were returned to the water and they all swam away to fight again.
Monday 27th. With nothing planned today, but lovely weather, I decided to pop up the road to tackle the Projection Bluff Hike which is a few km past Pine Lake and allows access to the top of the plateau. Jules opted to sit this one out as the hike info says there’s a fair bit of strenuous clambering over rocks to make it to the top of the plateau and her knees haven’t recovered properly from our previous hikes.
Starting with a 200m ascent in the first 500m of the hike, it’s pretty strenuous getting to the top, but wow, once you do, you’re afforded some fantastic views. As the weather was still great, sunny with no wind, I decided to hike along the top of the plateau for a couple of km taking pics as I went. However, the weather can change quickly in the highlands and within 30mins clouds were drifting over and a breeze had picked up so I decided to head back down, rather than be caught out here, all alone in deteriorating conditions.
And tonight’s entertainment is brought to you by Jules’ famous, homemade Mulled Wine…
In the famous words of LMFAO – Everyday I’m truffling.
Yep, today we’re to hunt black truffles at Australia’s first, pioneering, The Truffle Farm. After years of research and experimentation, Tim Terry harvested Australia’s first black truffle. Fast forward to today and truffles are farmed across Australia, but it all happened here first.
With out truffle hunting tour booked for 2:30pm, we headed back down the hill, first stop at the Meander Bridge Cafe for another great coffee and huge brekky burger. Then, we explored the farmland through Chudleigh, visiting the Melita Honey Farm which has a huge selection of bee and honey products.
Then, we drove through to Mole Creek for some cheaper diesel, before starting to make out way back to the Truffle Farm for our tour. On our route back we did a quick diversion up to the short hike out to Alum Cliffs which was well worth it. The view out over the Mersey River is amazing.
On our final run into the Truffle Farm, the sky, which was heavy with clouds and we think smoke from recent fires, just broke out into the most amazing riot of colours and shapes and we spent the next 15mins stopping everywhere to get another shot of the spectacle. These photo’s don’t do it justice.
2pm saw us pulling up at the Truffle Farm, ready for our truffle hunt with Mary, Kim and Kim’s truffle hunting hound, Marley. Mary explained the history of the farm, before Kim lead us through the 17yr old Walnut trees, waiting for Marley to sniff, and then scratch to mark the spots where she thought there was a truffle. Marley was pretty spot on, with Kim revealing a truffle most times, which we were allowed to carefully harvest. It was then back to the shed for a glass of Tassie wine aside the fire pit whilst they prepared our cheese pizza which was then literally smothered in freshly grated black truffle. The tour ended with a visit from the other truffle hunting hounds, led by Doug, who is the much loved farm mascot.
Wednesday and Thursday (29th and 30th) we opted to chill out at Dale’s, doing some odd jobs and relaxing. Although, I did manage to get out for a short 3km hike up the Pine Tree Rivulet for some photographs.
Every autumn, in small number of alpine areas in Tasmania, there’s an annual turning of green leaves to golden yellow, then red, in the Fagus, Australia’s only native deciduous tree. Nothofagus gunnii, or deciduous beech, is a unique paleoendemic species found only in high-altitude, fire-sensitive areas of the Tasmanian highlands. It’s a spectacle that draws locals and international tourists alike. And, given that we’re just down the road from Cradle Mountain, a Fagus hotspot, during the annual “Turning of the Fagus,” we had to do a day trip from Dale’s, back out to Cradle Mountain to see what the fuss is all about.
When collecting our bus passes, the Parks & Wildlife girl suggested we do the Crater Lake walk from Ronny Creek. Wow, what a great walk. Starting out along the board walk, you then follow the Crater Creek up the mountain, walking through the Fagus until reaching the Crater Falls, then finally popping out on Crater Lake where the steep-sided walls are covered in Fagus. From there, you continue to climb to a peak, where you can opt to continue climbing up to Marion’s Peak – which we didn’t, or follow the path back down to Wombat Pool, past Lake Lilla and the finally Dove Lake.
On the way home from Cradle Mountain, we managed to get a last call lunch service at the Mole Creek Pub. The hotel was great, very clean and nicely set out, and the food great.
Well, that wraps up our fortnight on the Great Lake, whilst we waited out the Tassie School Holidays. Thank you again to Dale and Lisa for allowing us to stay at your shack, we really enjoyed it!
Tomorrow we head back down from the central highlands to finish our trip of Tassie by exploring the North East.