If you’ve headed south from Cradle Mountain to Strahan then Queenstown don’t forget to pop into Lake St Clair, especially if meditative trails are your go.
At first glance the lake looks like a gigantic stretch of fresh water surrounded by impenetrable, protective forest. Within the bowels of the wilderness are magnificent trails and scenery that was as good as we’ve ever experienced.
As we didn’t arrive till the afternoon, we completed a two hour return walk combining a track named Watersmeet with the Aboriginal cultural walk named Larmairrenemer. It was stunning and gave us a taste of what was to come the following day.
The Shadow Lake Circuit took approximately five hours and was quite testing, perhaps a medium rating overall.
The highlights for me were the King Billy Pines that were, according to the rangers, over three thousand years old.
They were massive both in height and breadth and were still growing. Having said that, there were hundreds of logs that had deceased, fallen over and were covered in moss so thick, to stroke them was like patting a German Shepherd.
There is accommodation on the Lake, both posh and for backpackers who participate in the famous Overland Walk which runs from The Lake to Cradle Mountain over 5-7 days.
We would highly recommend the better priced Derwent Bridge Chalets which are near the entrance to the park, 6km from The Lake. Log cabins, beautifully appointed and spotlessly clean.
Next to the Chalets is a petrol station come café called The Hungry Wombat which takes care of your nutritional needs and 200m down the road is the pub which has excellent counter meals in a cosy environment.
We couldn’t get over the silence on the tracks of Lake St Clair. Normally when you have such thick forest you expect to hear plenty of birdsong but we joked that the place was so Zen, we imagined the birds were in a downward dog pose, not giving a stuff.
There was so much more to explore but we needed to drive to Hobart. Lake St Clair maybe doesn’t have the dramatic scenery of Strahan and Cradle Mountain but it has idyllic and peaceful hiking in spades. Ignore this World Heritage site it at your own peril.
