Intrigued by Tasmania’s highland lakes, we took the round trip today from Launceston through Londford, around the Great Lake to Deloraine and then back home again.
The scenery changed from cityscape, to regional town complete with farmer’s market when we stopped for coffee at Ut Si Cafe, a converted church with great coffee in Perth, and farms through Longford and Poatina. From here we climbed up the Western Tiers and stopped at the top when a spring ran along the road (no doubt part of the hydro power scheme) and looked down through all the power wires across the tiny patchwork farms. Noah played in the spring while Ethan slept, and we wondered at the start of the barren landscape that was to amaze us all day.
We drove across the top of the mountain range and saw lots of evidence of landslides from last week’s horrific weather. Once we reached more than 1000m above sea level we started to see signs for trout fishing at the highland lakes and decided to turn off to see Arthurs Lake, which had a boat ramp in constant use by keen fisherman and lots of rocks for the boys to play with. The landscape was so desolate both Harvey and I were stunned when we turned a corner on the dirt road to see a community of mostly solar-powered sustainable homes that must have numbered around 150 residents. You can see some photos of this community, Wilburville, below.
As you can see, below, the landscape became more stark at we travelled further towards the middle of Tasmania.
Here are some photos of the Great Lake taken at Brandum, now travelling towards Deloraine on the other side of the lake, which is full of brown and rainbow trout and has been a popular fishing destination since the fish were introduced from the 1870s onwards.
And further north on the highland road at Breona the view changes again.
Just before we drove down through the fertile Golden Valley (just outside Deloraine), we stopped to capture the amazing rock formations of the Western Tiers.
