The GREAT LAKE

 

1/ This view shows the Great Lake as you drive south from the Great Western Tiers mountain range.

2/ This image shows the Great Lake looking north from near Miena.

3/ This image shows another view looking towards the north west from near Miena.

4/ This tourist map shows how the Great Lake is the key to accessing the Central Highlands.

5/ The Great Lake is famous for its fishing, however, you do need to have a licence.

 

1/ Miena General Store is the place to get everything, including information, on the Great Lake. It is on the south western edge of the Great Lake on the corner of the B11 Marlborough Highway.

2/ Next to the General Store is the famous Great Lake Hotel. Beyond this is the southern edge of the Great Lake.

3/ The settlement of Miena is spread out to the east of the General Store on the A5 Highland Lakes Highway for a few kilometres.

4/ This is the famous Miena Dam. It was built to form a water source to generate hydro electricity.

5/ This photo is looking west across the Miena Dam. The water really is dark blue.

6/ Another view of the Miena Dam from the opposite shore.

7/ The outlet of the Miena Dam where it joins the Great Lake.

8/ The Dam's embankment was about 20 metres above the plain. It reminded me of the dykes I saw in Holland. It was quite an achievement of engineering to build it.

9/ This is the view from the embankment looking south showing typical terrain.

10/ This is the Dam's control tower. It makes an interesting study in line photography.

11/ This looking across the Great Lake from the south east shore near Tods Corner.

12/ This is a typical shore of the Great Lake taken near Tods Corner.

 

1/ Poatina is a hamlet that is still in a time warp of the 1950s, when it was built to service a hydro electric station. Walking around the hamlet reminded me nostalgically of when I was a child. Everywhere was the new architecture of the Post War Era.

2/ Poatina is near the top of the Great Western Tiers mountain range. These rise suddenly from the Northern Coastal Plain. This photo shows Billop Bluff, which is just East of Poatina hamlet.

3/ This photo has all the icons of the 1950s, including an Ampol service station. However, the telephone booth is of a later era. If you replaced the cars, then this is the 1950s.

4/ This balcony shows the new clean lines of architecture of the 1950s

5/ This is the spacious view across the lawn to the commercial centre.

6/ This old gum tree can remember a time before Poatina.

7/ This large brick town hall was every towns desire in the 1950s. It would have seen many happy moments.

8/ This street looks towards the Poatina Chalet.

9/ These 1950s homes look towards the majestic Great Western Tiers beyond.

10/ These pylons take electricity to the north.

11/ This is the view from Poatina towards the Northern Coastal Plain

12/ This photo shows the Poatina Power Station.

13/ Water from the Great Lake above comes down this pipeline to the Poatina Power Station.

 

1/ Pine Lake is north west of the Great Lake on the A5 Highland Lakes Highway in central Tasmania. This gallery shows images made on two summer trips. In the next gallery are images made on a winter trip.

2/ The path to Pine Lake is a short, easy, raised walkway all the way to the forest by the lake. This photo shows the lake and forest in the distance.

3/ This view shows the bog zone nearest the lake followed by the bolster and forest zones. The bog zone is too cold and wet for trees to survive in.

4/ The area is noteworthy for the extreme differences in vegetation that occur as you move away from the lake. The lack of trees in indicative of periodic, extreme cold.

5/ This view shows the bolster zone before the forest. It was full of ponds and bogs.

6/ This view shows ancient, pencil pines growing amidst a scree field.

7/ This view shows ancient, pencil pines growing amidst a scree field.

8/ This is the view from the start of the forest zone looking down towards Pine Lake below.

9/ Pencil pines are a very ancient tree that survives from the very, ancient time when Tasmania was part of Gondwana and joined to Antarctica.

10/ A small creek feeds into Pine Lake. Note the clumps of trees around this water source.

11/ A strange, three part pencil pine nestles against Pine Lake. Many were noteworthy for their strange appearance. Beyond is a hill with its scree field below.

12/ This is another view of the scree field just beyond Pine Lake. Again note the extreme differences in vegetation that the whole area is noteworthy for.

13/ Despite it being summer Pine Lake was frozen over on this trip. It gave off this strange ethereal appearance.

14/ Some of the strangest sights that you see in Tasmania are caused by low lying clouds gently flowing over the hills and mountains.

15/ This images shows the northern tip of Pine Lake. The gap in the middle is the access point for walks to the cliffs of the Great Western Tiers.

 

1/ Pine Lake is in central northern Tasmania, just north of the Great Lake. This gallery shows photos made on a club trip beyond Pine Lake in the winter of 2012. The other Pine Lake gallery just covers the Pine Lake area. This image looks from Adams Peak towards the south east at Pine Lake.

2/ This image looks west past pencil pine trees across the frozen Pine Lake.

3/ This image shows our party walking north around the edge of Pine Lake towards Adams Peak.

4/ This is the view looking south west at the frozen Pine Lake.

5/ This image was taken as we ascended Adams Peak. It looks north towards the edge of the Great Western Tier mountains.

6/ This image was taken from the top of Adams Peak. It looks north towards the edge of the Tiers.

7/ This image looks south from Adams Peak towards the Great Lake, which is just visible on the left.

8/ This is another view of the frozen hills and valleys west of Adams Peak.

9/ This view as taken from south of Adams Peak in the summer of 2012. In the distance you can see the Great Lake.

10/ The Central Plateau is replete with tarns and puddles like this one. Note the strange alpine vegetation surrounding it.

11/ Even when they die, pencil pines make interesting shapes.

12/ This is the view from the west towards Pine Lake. Passing near Pine Lake is the Highland Lakes Highway, which leads to the Great Lake. It was taken in the summer of 2012.

 

1/ Liawenee is a locality on the western shore of the Great Lake. It is located on the A5 Highland Lakes Highway. I went out to see what was at Liawenee, as it is often mentioned in the weather reports. Liawenee is located in a very flat plain. There is a police station at Liawenee and a few houses. Liawenee is the point where the Liawenee Canal joins the Great Lake. A road from Liawenee leads west to Lake Augusta, Lake Ada and other lakes. This photo shows the Great Lake near Liawenee, as a freezing blizzard came over the Central Highlands.

2/ This is the Liawenee Canal looking to the east towards the Great Lake.

3/ This is another view of the Liawenee Canal looking towards the west. The road runs parallel to the canal in this section.

4/ This is the Liawenee Canal near the police station at Liawenee. The Great Lake is about a kilometre to the east of the hinter, brown roofed building.

5/ This is a hut built by the Hydro Electric Commission, when they were building the canal. These huts are now used by fishermen and hunters.

6/ This view looks north from near the above hut. There was plainly the concrete foundation of a large building in front of the dead tree in the centre.

7/ From Lake Augusta you can see the peaks of the Walls of Jerusalem. This rocky area will be covered in water when the winter snows melt.

8/ This photo shows the flat scrub lands on the way to Lake Augusta. Scrub dominates this landscape, because it is too cold for trees to grow. In winter this area is a lovely, snow covered plain.

9/ This photo shows a forest near Liawenee as a freezing blizzard swept over the Central Highlands. This blizzard was in November, which is early summer in Tasmania.

9/ This is the Lake Augusta Dam near Bernacchi. Lake Augusta is an artificial reservoir used to generate hydro electricity. Lake Augusta was quite empty, when I visited it in November 2014. A road on top of this dam takes you deep into the mountains and forests of the Central Highlands.

11/ The embankment of Lake Augusta. The area to the right is normally water covered.

12/ I took this view standing on the narrow embankment. Lake Augusta is to the left.

13/ This view is looking west across Lake Augusta to the peaks of the Central Highlands.

14/ This is the Bernacchi Chalet. It is the only building near Lake Augusta. It is used by the Australian Antarctic Commission, as a primary training school for aspirants going to Antarctica. This area is swept by blizzards and can get very cold, very rapidly.

15/ This is the sluice on the Lake Augusta Dam that feeds into the Liawenee Canal. This photo looks to the east.

16/ This photo shows the road from Lake Augusta to Lake Ada. It looks towards the mountains to the north.

17/ This view shows part of the wall of the Lake Augusta Dam. Note the flooded area beyond the dam wall.

18/ This is the shore of the Lake Ada. Lake Ada is a natural lake that is popular with trout fishermen.

19/ This is another view of Lake Ada looking across the lake towards the mountains of the Central Highlands.

20/ This is the start of the Talinah Track. This track penetrates deep into the very isolated Central Highlands. The Talinah Track is strictly for 4WD and ATV vehicles only. Further only people who understand survival in freezing weather should use these kinds of tracks.

 

1/ The Ouse River is in central northern Tasmania in the Central Plateau area. It runs from west of the Great Lake near Liawenee into Lake Augusta. This gallery shows a trip made to the Ouse River in 2014. This view shows the steep banks of the river. These steep banks are a sign that this river occasionally floods.

2/ This image shows our party approaching the Ouse River. Note the steep sides of the river bank. The vegetation visible is typical of areas that regularly flood.

3/ This image looks down from the bank and shows the typical countryside around the Ouse River.

4/ In the recent past, the vegetation of the Ouse Valley was used for grazing. This is a rough shelter used by the cattlemen of old.

5/ The Central Plateau is a wet area that contains thousands of puddles and tarns.

6/ The trip ended at the Bernacchi chalet on the edge of Lake Augusta. This image shows the chalet in the soft colours of sunset.