Lake Catagunya - April 2014

Anzac Day was on a Friday, and another long weekend beckoned.  The grand plan was to take Wanda away for a couple of nights and then rendezvous on the Sunday morning with our walking group for the Mt Field East walk.
First problem, we found the engine battery was so flat that we couldn't open the electric doors.  We got a nice man from RACT roadside assistance to visit, check it out and charge it up for us. Lucky we'd upgraded our roadside cover to include Wanda! All this took some time, so we ate the lunch we'd prepared to have on the road on the kitchen table while all this was taking place.  We didn't get underway until 2pm.

After the obligatory stop for fuel and tyre checks, we hit the Lyell Highway (A1) and headed towards the west coast.  At 3pm, we toyed with the idea of camping at Hamilton, on the camping ground down by the river, but decided to keep going.  Our "Free Camping in Australia" book showed a couple of opportunities up towards the old Hydro town of Wayatinah.  About 21 km past Ouse, we found the turnoff (C604) to Lake Catagunya.  This road was unsealed but pretty sound  and we followed the directions towards the boat ramp. We found a quiet camping area (no facilities) right on the edge of the placid little lake.  No-one else was around and it was already 3.45pm, so we placed Wanda in the best position, right on the lakeside, and set up our chairs to enjoy the view.

Of course, ten minutes later another motorhome (quite like Wanda) appeared.  They had a little dog and a dinghy and seemed to be quite familiar with the place.  They set out fishing, no doubt to get trout for dinner.

 Robert made a yummy chicken curry for our dinner, and we enjoyed some old movies on TV.  There was no ABC TV reception here!  Sacre bleu.  Later Robert watched the footie and Di finished 'The Maneaters of Tsavo', stirring tales of dangerous maneating lions which attacked the workers building the rail line from Mobasa to Nairobi. There was light rain overnight, and more in the morning.

Next morning another mob turned up with a tinnie and tried some fishing.  We set off, planning to camp at Mt Field, but we took a short diversion first to have a look at Wayatinah. The camping ground there is quite large and busy, and the old town very quiet. Soon we noticed that the house battery was making odd clicking noises and was not recharging as it should from the car battery. After watching it for a while, we decided it would be foolhardy to try camping overnight again, as the battery would not support our heater, and it was going to snow.  Best to go home instead.

On the way, we diverted onto C608 to look at Meadowbank Lake and check out the camping facilities there.  The lake is pretty, but 1km past the lake the campground next to the toilets at the top of the rise is pretty stark.  The road from there down to the campground at lake level looked a bit too rough for Wanda, although the camping area itself looked reasonably quiet and attractive.

We continued on towards Ellendale which looked pretty and quiet, this would be a good spot for tourists to stay before enjoying Mt Field and, possibly in the future, the Derwent Valley Rail Trail.  We tried out a little road up to the right, looking for a spot to see platypus in the creek.  No luck.  Ellendale is just under Mt Field East, where we would be walking the very next day.

The weather was still low and drizzly when we arrived in New Norfolk, good weather for visiting antique shops.  So we discovered the Drill Hall and a couple of its lesser neighbours.  Di was looking out for a wall cupboard to hide the new NBN boxes in, but couldn't find just the right thing.

From there, it was a short trip home.

The investigation of the house battery's clicking noise led to Wanda receiving a set of solar panels, which would help to keep the battery charged up when we enjoyed "free camping".

Lake Pedder - March 2014

It was the Labour Day long weekend, so a good chance to get away.  Several friends had talked about their recent visits to Lake Pedder, and we realised we had not been down that way for a very long time.

We set out on Sunday 9 March.  It was an hour to the Mt Field Visitor Centre, where we bought a Mt Wedge Tasmap and asked whether it would be safe to take Wanda on the Scotts Peak Road.  The response was reassuring, so we set off in high spirits.

We stopped to enjoy the view at the Tim Shea lookout, and then stopped for lunch at the Wedge River picnic area.  This is a quiet little spot, sitting just under the Sentinel Range, next to the pretty little Wedge River which trickles away hidden inside the bush.

More photos were called for when we first reached the new Lake Pedder, at the Hermit Basin, with the Frankland Range in the far distance.

We passed the old hydro town of Strathgordon, and popped up the hill to the Serpentine Lookout.  This little hill has great views down the Serpentine Reach towards where the original Lake Pedder still lies submerged under the larger current Lake Pedder.

We drove on to visit the enormous Gordon Dam, which was a great engineering achievement in its time.

The water levels in Lake Gordon were quite low, some 5 metres below the maximum level.

We walked down the many steps and all the way around the top of the dam.  It is all very large!

Climbing back up to the road, we drove back to the Serpentine Lookout, where we parked for the night.  At one stage we thought we were going to have to share the carpark with some motorbike tourers, but they decided the ground would be softer down on the lawns of the village.

There was a curious incident with a camera.  After several cars had been and gone, Robert noticed an expensive camera sitting on the tarmac.  He picked it up and moved it to a safer place.  An hour or so later, one of the motor bikes came back, and the rider started looking anxiously around.  He was pretty amazed (and grateful) to find his camera there still!

It was very peaceful on the lookout hill, we felt very privileged to have it all to ourselves.  The views from the bedroom window towards the morning's sunrise the next morning were magnificent.

After a quiet breakfast on Monday morning, we drove back along the Pedder road, and turned right onto the unsealed Scotts Peak Road.  We had been worried that this road would be difficult for Wanda, but it was well maintained and no problem at all.   Our first stop was the magical little creatures wilderness trail, obviously built by hobbits.

We passed the challenging Mt Anne and Mt Eliza on the left, there were quite a few fit looking walking parties heading up there.  We kept motoring to the Scotts Peak Dam.

The water is beautiful and clear, with the colour of the tannins. The white and pink stones of the beach are very collectable.

We drove to the lookout hill, and spent some time gazing over the area where the real Lake Pedder is submerged, and also scanning the southern mountain ranges towards the South Coast track.

Finally dragging ourselves away, we headed homewards.