Lake St Clair, Days 1 & 2: Off the grid

Well, Len has had his Andy-Warholian-15-minutes-of-fame. Within half an hour of his stellar role as the drunken captain on The Ship That Never Was, he was recognised to acclaim in the takeaway cafe, Molly’s, near our motel, and again, by another appreciative audience member at the petrol pumps the next morning. Fortunately no paparazzi were around so his whereabouts are known only to a few, and he’ll be able to continue his holiday in peace. Phew.

It was a drizzly grey day, and we once again thanked the gods that our Gordon River Cruise day had been so perfect. My aunt Alison, a big traveller, emailed that all she remembered was shivering and waiting for it to be over. Weather has such an impact on traveling doesn’t it.

Queenstown

First stop of the day was Queenstown, about an hour’s drive away. Unfortunately, naughty us hadn’t done our research, so we missed out on the Underground Mine Tour. They could take one person not two. We were surprised as the town was deathly quiet but we guess it’s tour groups. Anyhow, good for the businesses.

We did though go to the Galley Museum. It’s an amazing place, a museum in that old-fashioned, small town love-their-place style. It’s stuffed to the gills with exhibits covering every conceivable aspect of the region’s history from mining to sport, from medicine to education, and so on. There’s something for everyone. It’s overwhelming so you just have to wander through, picking out the things that interest you. We worried a little about about conservation of unique materials, like ledgers and photograph albums, but at least the material is being shared.

Off the grid at Lake St Clair

It’s only 90kms from Queenstown to Lake St Clair, but there are dramatic changes in landscape in that distance, from Queenstown’s amazing moonscape left by the mining, through the dense temperate rainforest of the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, to more open eucalyptus bush such as we see closer to home, before getting back to something more dense again at Lake St Clair.

It was raining when we arrived, so – with no internet connection to entertain us, including to write blog posts – we pottered around, checking out the lodge facilities, reading and resting, before eating dinner in the Lodge’s cafe-restaurant. We enjoyed seeing a possum, albeit with a strange gait, on the walk back to our cabin. Still no wombats though!

The next morning dawned, and it was pretty inclement, so we decided to do the three walks around the Cynthia Bay lodge end of the lake, which took us 2 hours. We got back to the lodge, just after noon and as the weather was still looking a little shaky, we decided not to try for the ferry and walk from Narcissus to Echo Point as Ian recommended doing only if the weather was ok. So we …

… went to The Wall

But first, we had a pleasant lunch 5kms down the road in Derwent Bridge at the Hungry Wombat Cafe. This is starting to look like the closest we are going to get to a wombat this trip!

The Wall, for those of you who don’t know, as we didn’t until Ian told us, is a massive wood carving in progress comprising 100 metres of panels, each panel 1 metre wide and 3 metres high, telling some of the story of central Tasmania, featuring miners, farmers, Hydro-workers, war, and flora and fauna. It’s relief style carving, by Greg Duncan, and is mostly done in Huon Pine. It is absolutely fascinating, and beautiful, in its verisimilitude – but the experience is spoiled, a little, by all the rules, like No photographs with ANY device, and Badly behaved children WILL NOT be tolerated, plastered several times around the hall. Fair enough rules, but the language was forbidding rather than welcoming. Still, this is a self-funded activity, and artistic copyright is important. We get that!

Back at the Lake

We thought we’d check out the luxury Pumphouse Point ecolodge, and at the same time see the historic Pumphouse, but afraid not. It’s clearly VERY exclusive and you can’t get past the gates if you are not a guest. Darn. You can’t, either, go just to dine as you can at many other resorts. Oh well, Lake St Clair Lodge is a very friendly place so we were happy to eat there both nights.

It was still pretty cool when we got back to Lake St Clair, though the clouds were clearing as forecast, so after a little rest in our cabin we decided, around 3.30pm, to wander around the lakeshore again. It was glorious. The sun was out, the sky was mostly blue, the lake was calm … We had a lovely time enjoying the sights: large vistas across the lake to – boo hiss – the Pumphouse, and lovely little details closer to shore. Had the morning been like this we would have aimed for the ferry-walk combination, but in the end we had a lovely day and did manage 2-3 hours walking.

Alcoholic interlude (particularly for Kate, and Dad)

I realise that I haven’t been discussing what we’ve been drinking as Kate often does on her travel blog, so here goes. Len has mostly focused on trying beers, including varieties made by David Walsh’s Moo Brew, and ciders from makers like Pagan and Franks. I’ve enjoyed whites from places like Ninth Island, Iron Pot Bay, and Joseph Chromy. Joseph Chromy’s Chardonnay, at $8.50 a glass at Lake St Clair Lodge, was particularly appreciated!

PS A video of our Gordon River Cruise has been added on our Strahan Day 2 post.

Two day’s worth of pics…

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Hoppy the possum…

And yet another tame paddemelon!