Historically, one associates Tassie with freezing temperatures, tonnes of the fluffy white stuff aka snow, road closures due to weather, amazing winter festivals but we have had a strange winter so far. We had a Winter Feast and Nude Solstice Swim highlighting Dark MOFO, the last Huon Valley Mid-Winter Festival, and weather that can only be described as crazy. Yes, there have been some very cold days causing us Tassie folk to rug up, but when the precipitation arrived it’s been so warm that whatever little snow might have been around melted which is unfortunate. In the last 3 days, the mighty Kunanyi/Mt. Wellington would’ve received almost 200mm of rain in the middle of July which should be one of the coldest months. We should have had metres high walls of snow along the Pinnacle Road leading up to the summit, but instead we have water flowing all over the mountain which has caused the ‘Disappearing Tarn’ to appear.
Central Highlands (Credit: Adi Munshi)
A few weeks ago, there was news that the entire central highlands was frozen, and I took advantage of the weekend to drive up on a Saturday to find lakes completely frozen. Yes, we did get there 3 to 4 days too late, where the “big white” simply enveloped the land, but it was still an amazing sight. I decided to take my wife up the Central Highlands and the plan was to stop at the Great Lake Hotel for lunch, but somehow driving kept leading me further North. We had our first pit stop at Liawenee which was supposed to be the coldest town in Australia this winter. We did see a bit of snow, frost and some smaller frozen water bodies but due to the 3 consecutive days of sunshine and warmer temperatures we missed out on the big white fun.
Pine Lake (Credit: Adi Munshi)
As we kept driving North, I saw a sign for one of the 60 Great Short Walks “Pine Lake Walk” which I had never done, but there was no parking next to the trail head and I instantly knew it was another frozen lake. So we kept driving and a minute later my instincts told me it was a very short walk and so people would be leaving imminently, and we turned around and sure enough found parking. It was pretty amazing to see majority of this lake was frozen solid to the extent that someone came prepared and was figure skating. I tried to measure the ice slab and I’d say it was a good 4 to 5 inches. I decided to be a little brave and go for a walk on the ice too (don’t recommend this as it’s very risky).
We continued driving and reached Deloraine, but my stomach was craving some cheese fondue and decided to make a late lunch stop at Ashgrove Cheese, which led to dessert at the Van Diemen’s Land Creamery for ice-cream. Yes, I know what you’re thinking – ice-cream in the middle of winter especially but when it’s Tassie gin and sloe berries (my beverage of choice), it was quite hard to say no.
Cheese fondue at Ashgrove Cheese (Credit: Adi Munshi)
We finally left the North and drove back to Hobart that day. So we did drive a solid 520kms in a day but it was so much fun and well worth it. I am looking forward to my next Tassie adventure which is actually this weekend to Cradle Mountain.
For more such stories, speak to one of our Travel Advisors on 03 6238 4222 or reach us via email at bookings@hobarttravelcentre.com.au.
Adi Munshi – Manager
Tasmanian Travel & Information Centre
