Lake St Clair is not just the end of the Overland Track, but one of Tasmania’s greatest buswalking and scenic areas. The rainforest walk from Cynthia Bay to Narcissus Hut, with panoramic views of Lake St Clair and Mt Ida, is a great way to introduce yourself to the park, with panoramic views from Echo Point of Mt Ida & the Traveller Range. More serious walks include the Labyrinth and Mt Rufus.
Lake St Clair, evening scene from Echo Point.
The walk from Cynthia Bay (the visitor centre) to Echo Point is 2.5 hours of solid walking, but of course you should plan to take longer and enjoy having a look at the tall rainforest and unique Tasmanian plants such as Pandani and Leatherwood which grow all around this part of the world. There are a lot of small creeks running off Mt Olympus, and being a bit of a sucker for photographing mossy, boulder filled streams, it took a fair bit longer than 2.5 hours to arrive at Echo Point! But that is definitely the advantage of the long daylight hours at this time of year – sunset in December in Tasmania is approx 8:30pm.
The Colours of Lake St Clair
The aim for the night was photographing the lake, with its Mt Ida skyline, and the calm conditions even had me staring to wonder if reflections weren’t completely out of the question! As you can see reflections kind of appeared but kind of didn’t, but the calmness in the water (the aboriginal name for Lake St Clair is “sleeping waters”) did allow the colour in the clouds to be caught in the lake.
Fiery sky over Lake St Clair, Mt Ida
Echo Point also serves as the last hut on the Overland Track. There is a smallish hut there (compared to the hotel at Pelion for example!) which would sleep 8 comfortably. Most walkers are probably keen to jump on the ferry at Narcissus after 5~6 days on the Overland Track, but Echo Point is a nice place to put the feet up before heading back to the civilisation, or even just as a one night getaway from Hobart.
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Cape Hauy is another classic day walk on the Tasman Peninsula, on the way to Port Arthur. The walk leaves from Fortescue Bay, and is a little less than 2 hours one way. The views up and down the coast, from Pirates Bay in the north all the way down south towards Cape Pillar and Tasman Island are fantastic. Not to mention the close up views of the Lanterns, with the smaller stack of dolerite columns (known as the Candlestick) and the even more slender Totem Pole (visible in the image below); and the Hippolyte Rocks, a granite outcrop, just a short distance off the coast.
Dusk colours over Cape Hauy
The columns of the region are all dolerite – the very same type of rock present on Hobart’s Mt Wellington, and Cradle Mt and the Overland Track. Looking at the drop of 100+ metres literally straight down requires quite a steady head! The weather was very calm and clear – one of the best days we’ve had in a while actually. The evening threw up a lovely pink through the eastern sky (above) and stayed clear with a very close to full moon providing enough light for a nice long exposure of the Lanterns (below).
A 3/4 full moon lights up the lanterns and the sea off Cape Hauy, Tasmania
The trip came with a downside though - my polariser made a sudden dash for freedom while I was removing it for the morning shoot, dropping out of my hand and rolling smoothly right off the edge of the columns, 100+ metres straight down - the plastic $5 lens cap needless to say wedged itself snugly between a couple of rocks and stayed put… I would have preferred to lose the lens cap if I had to lose something…
Dawn, Tasman Peninsula - view towards Cape Pillar
Water has to be my favourite subject to shoot. For a dynamic moving image, nothing is better than fast flowing creeks and waterfalls, and the added plus to Liffey Falls is the number of cascades. The main fall itself has a couple of tiers with numerous rocky ledges, dispersing the falling water into dozens of smaller cascades. The water then pools and flows over boulders to another low ledge, which, with the main fall as a backdrop adds some great perspective to the moving water.
Liffey Falls, Tasmania. Nice spring flow after a wet winter in norther Tas this year.
Liffey Falls is located in the Great Western Tiers not far out of Deloraine in northern Tasmania. There is a turn off from the A5 highway about 1 hour out of Deloraine (or 2.5~3 hours from Hobart). The falls themselves are a part of Tasmania’s world heritage listed wilderness area, but the walk itself is quite short – and very rewarding. In the area you can also visit Pine Lake & the Great Lake, which allows even car-based visitors to experience alpine Tasmania including stands of Pencil Pine, which live for 1000+ years, and are endemic to central & western Tasmania. The area also contains some spectacular dolerite peaks and scree slopes – another uniquely Tasmanian sight.
Cascades on the main fall
A word of caution – shooting this way involves either wet feet, or shelling out for the latest in Gumboot Technology. Either way, just make sure not to slip when walking through creeks with your camera – even if it means using your tripod as a makeshift walking frame!
Early morning meant no bright sun burning out the falls or causing shadows & bright patches.
Another trip into the south west, this time to Schnells Ridge, south of Mt Anne which commands fine views of Mt Anne and Lake Judd to the north, Lake Pedder to the west, and the Arthur ranges to the south/southwest.
The Arthurs and buttongrass ridges of south west Tas, by day...
..and by night
There are great views also from Mt Wedge, but Shnellies is right in the middle of all the “good stuff”, and the ridge itself is like a mini-arthurs, in that it is a glacially carved landscape with some tarns, and some fascinating rocks and geology. The vegetation is pretty much buttongrass all the way, only a few pockets of banksia and snow gums on the way up from the Lake Judd track.
Late afternoon, Schnells Ridge. View to Mt Anne & Lake Judd
Lake Pedder and the last of the days light.
Moonrise, Schnells Ridge
As usual, feel free to drop in to 46 Melville St for a closer look!
Luke
