50km curves, Lake St. Clair and a 'Lamington'

Sunday, 21.01.18

There are only 2 showers and when I wake up shortly after 7am, I decide to get up immediately and pilgrimage to the shower. Right behind me I hear footsteps and realize that the second shower is already occupied and I have managed to grab the only free one, leaving the person behind me out of luck.

Back in the camper, I make myself a coffee, tidy up as usual, and then drive to the bakery at the harbor. There I get a freshly toasted cheese/ham sandwich, a large flat white, and sit outside. It's 15°C and you always need a jacket here in the west, because the wind always comes along.

At 10:00 am I leave for Queenstown. Due to countless tight curves, it takes me almost an hour to travel the 40km until I arrive and first look for a gas station. This open-air gas station with a seemingly 100-year-old owner actually has 95 octane fuel and I am now well equipped for the next two days, as there will be more countryside and less city.

They told me in Strahan that Queenstown has more old beautiful houses, but well, I don't really see any beautiful ones anymore. The village street, about 100 meters long, looks like a movie set from a Western with an ancient hotel. The surroundings are quite a landscape catastrophe, as mining has been conducted here very recklessly, resulting in a moonscape with craters and mine dumps that can be seen from afar. Gold was also found here in the 19th century, but today it doesn't seem like a really prosperous place. About 2,000 people live here.

So I continue on after a short time and leave the town. The Lyell Highway climbs up a mountain with endless hairpin curves as the A10, classified as a "highway". I have been driving loops, curves, hairpin turns for about 45km now, shifting and shifting gears. Starting on an incline - if you couldn't do it before, you will learn it here. However, with a comparatively heavy car, it is sometimes a bit tricky, especially when you are being pushed from behind by people in small cars who want to take the curves like a flash and think that a 2.50m high camper is as agile as a sports car. The scenery, on the other hand, is beautiful. Mountains over 1,400m high like the Frenchman's Cap can be seen. I myself am driving here at elevations of 800 or 900 meters towards the east.

As I leave this mountain landscape, I drive between two lakes and enjoy looking at the smooth surfaces. The weather is getting worse and when I arrive at Lake St. Clair, everything is gray. I am a bit puzzled about what to do now. My plan was actually to take a boat trip on the lake, but with this light and gray sky, it's no good. I had hoped that the campground would be right on the lake, but the view from the camper pitches is blocked by trees and vacation homes. I check out the campground and - since there doesn't seem to be anything really nearby and the weather is unlikely to be any better 50km further, I decide to stay here. I take a powered site for $35 and park in spot 6. I'm still alone here, but later a motorhome parks right next to me.

At 3pm, there is a 90-minute cruise on the lake and I should check again shortly before the appointment if there is room. The cruise is done with a really small boat, which is also the ferry and picks up hikers at the opposite end of the lake who have hiked the Overland Track from Cradle Mountain. These people have to register and sometimes they don't show up. Then there would be room. So I pack warm clothes and put on long pants and hiking boots, but I am told it's fully booked. Well, I guess I just saved $60 after all. I walk back to the camper, unpack my table, and make myself a coffee, sit in front of the camper, and think about what to do tomorrow. Mount Field National Park remains uncertain, as I have already seen quite a few forests, mountains, lakes, etc. - what could be different there? So just drive through to Hobart, to the campground next to the camper rental at Seven Mile Beach and simply hang out there for the last four days? Sounds tempting...

But just after 5:30pm, I start walking because the sun has come out. Behind the Visitor Center, two shorter walks begin, and these are really walks and not what they called it at Dove Lake. It goes nicely through a forest and I walk to Watersmeet, where two mountain rivers come together. After halfway back, I turn left towards the lake shore. You come across Freddy's Paddock, a sandy area where you can camp for free. Not very nice, but with a view of the lake. I walk down to the rocky shore. There is no beach here, but millions of smooth large stones in all colors. Lake St. Clair is the deepest lake in Australia with a depth of around 200m and a remnant from the Ice Age. In addition to the large pebbles that you walk on now, there are also quite large stones with typical glacial grooves. Beautiful photo opportunities and the sun, which is getting weaker, also has a nice effect on trees and lake.

I'm back at the camper just before 7pm, pack everything back in, take off the string, secure all the cabinet doors - now one of them keeps opening and the candle in the jar has lost two thick shards because it shot out of the cabinet. I drive the cautious 5km to the Lyell Highway, as the wildlife should already be active.

The Derwent Bridge Wilderness Hotel is an institution. Not very nice from the outside, but inside it offers a rustic pub under high old beams and good pub food. Tonight, I don't feel like canned food, so I go to the back to the restaurant section and order spaghetti with meatballs at the counter. At $26, not exactly cheap, but they have to bring everything here.

The Tasmanian couple sitting behind me is very talkative, so my dinner becomes an entertaining story. In the end, the two invite me to a typical Tasmanian dessert: a Lamington. It's a two-layered sponge cake with jam in the middle and chocolate and coconut flakes on top. Named after Lord Lamington.

I share the piece of cake with the lady, because I can't eat anymore.

It's almost 9pm when I drive back to the campground in front of a beautiful night sky with the sun setting. A wombat crosses the road in front of me.

I park in a way that my door doesn't open to the neighboring camper, which is now also parked here, and cut my cucumber in half and leave thick slices in front of the sliding door of my camper. Let's see who grabs them...

Less than 20 minutes later, I see flashlight light and whispering in front of the camper. The Chinese people from the other camper are sitting next to mine and observing a possum as it eats my cucumber with relish. I open my camper door, turn on my flashlight, and the possum doesn't mind at all as I take a few pictures. After munching on a piece, it runs away and leaves the other pieces behind. Still nice. But I don't see any other animals during the night.