And so back to Hobart......

We headed back East via the Lyell Highway which took us through Queenstown, a mining centre since 1883 it looks like a typical mining town, with identical tin-roofed weatherboard houses. Its infamous "lunar landscape" is chilling evidence of the devastation that single-minded commercial exploitation can wreak in such a sensitive environment. Approaching from Strahan we were confronted by the hideously ugly copper mine - the road then winds up around bare, reddish-brown rock. Damage already done has had an impact that will last some four or five hundred years - a real contrast to the natural beauty so evident elsewhere in Tasmania.

Heading east from Queenstown, the Lyell Highway enters the Franklin Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park - the drive through took us through temperate rainforest. From here the road began to wind and rise up and as it was a fine day we were able to see the white-quartzite dome of Frenchmans Cap. (the most prominent peak in the Franklin Lower Gordon Wild Rivers National Park). At Surprise Valley Lookout we had a good view of the valley and, across to the southwest, another excellent aspect of Frenchmans Cap. We continued down, and came to King William Saddle, another fine lookout point with views of the King William Range to the south and Mount Rufus to the north.

We continued our journey through this World Heritage Area marvelling at the contrast in scenery; arrow-sharp crested ranges of white quartzite cut across buttongrass plains. After a couple of hours driving we arrived at Lake St Clair where we had decided to stop for a break and take one fo the walks around Lake St Clair before continuing our journey to Hobart.

Lake St Clair lies at the southern end of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and is part of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Carved by ice during several glaciations over the last 2 million years, this is the deepest lake in Australia.

As our time was limited we undertook several of the shorter lake walks - first we took a stroll to the viewing deck, beach and jetty which gave us views across the lake and provided panoramas of Mounts Olympus, Rufus, Ida, Hugel, Little Hugel and the Traveller Range. We then made our way along an easy walk which followed the crest of a glacial moraine for part of its route and took us through eucalypt and then rainforest to the junction of the Cuvier and Hugel rivers. There were many wildflowers, including acacia, waratah, hakea, orchid and leatherwood in flower.

Finally, we walked the 1 hour Platypus Bay circuit which offers views of the lake and the mouth of Cuvier River, and the chance to see platypuses - sadly, they were too shy on the day of our visit.