We walked to the lake’s edge,
En route we were warned to beware of:
had a visit to the very informative museum and continued our journey through the National Park towards Queenstown, the largest town in western Tasmania.
The area is heavily forested and everywhere one sees the results of bush fires and subsequent regeneration.
The roads are very winding and many dead animals are to be seen along the roads. No car passed by - we had the road to ourselves.
As we quitted the park at Lake Burbury
again a beautiful lake of epic proportions., we entered the West Coast Range Mts and on to Queenstown.
Our drive into Queenstown was even more challenging than heretofore as the road twisted and turned towards the town in the valley below.
The town was a shadow of its former glory. The Empire hotel had seen better days!
We visited the railway station, where CC had a chat with the driver of a departing train who informed him that his son should be landing in Ireland about that hour with the Irish girl he had met and hoped to marry.
Leaving Queenstown was as challenging as its entry, up we climbed towards Rosebery and Tullah, into Cradle Valley (the terminus of the walk which commenced at Lake St Clair). On we continued towards Moina and Mole Creek,
to Deloraine to Launceston.
Approaching Launceston, we entered a very wide valley - a welcome relief from the difficult driving conditions heretofore. Near Launceston, we took the Hobart road with the intention of staying in a smaller town south of Launceston. After quite a search, ( accommodation is sparse in the area), we found a beautifully appointed B&B, The Racecourse Inn, which has been offering ‘refined hospitality’ to the weary traveller since 1861. Tomorrow we leave for Hobart airport and our return flight to Melbourne.
Tasmania is interesting. Its scenery is stunning, its people friendly and helpful. However, all towns even Hobart appear to close by 21.00 - restaurants’ last orders are at 20.00 and the streets are deserted after nightfall (1830/19.00hrs)! The food is composed of breaded and deep fried everything with chips. They are reputed to have a fine food culture but I did not see any evidence of fine dining in the towns we visited. In fact it was difficult to avoid breaded food - even the best of prawns, scallops and squid were served deep fried - a disappointment.!! The only fish to escape the fryer was the oyster and were they delicious!
The distances are deceptive, What with the winding roads, areas of unfenced ranching, the threat of hitting a roo, if one drives after dark, numerous road works and 50km limit while driving through the towns, progress comes slowly.
As for the weather - it varied from warm sunshine on our visit to Port Arthur to incessant rain on the west coast - the photographs tell the tale!!
However, it was a most enjoyable trip especially revisiting the places I had seen on my last visit. Considering public transport is negligible and we hadn’t access to a car, I marvel at how much of the country we saw in the week spent here, so long ago!
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