Category: Donaghys Hill

I flew to Hobart from Melbourne at Sunday evening, June 16, 2013. I booked 3-Days tour from 17 to 19 and will return to Melbourne at 20th of the same month. I was booked for overnight stay at Edinburgh Gallery Bed & Breakfast for the next day’s start of adventure.

Monday, I woke-up early and had a quick breakfast in my accommodation which was a self-service at that time. Then, I checked-out by just dropping my room key into the drop box. I left the hotel early in the morning to go to the Pickled Frog hostel where the tour will pick-up the rest that will join the tour.

I was glad that my accommodation that I stayed in the city was not far from the pick-up point and just 5 minutes walk. When I arrived at the front of the hostel, there were  few people earlier than myself and already waiting. We waited in few more minutes until the vehicle for the tour arrived. The tour guide named Greg Price starts asking us for the tours and checks the names in his list, then we hopped on to the van.

Though it was drizzling cold Monday morning in Hobart, I was hoping to have a nice weather as I wanted to enjoy the few days adventure that I planned in Tasmania. From Hobart we drove to the north and as we were getting far from the city the weather was clearing which was a good sign.

Our first stop was Mount Field National Park. The tour that I signed up were more into nature adventure, therefore walking and trekking were not a surprising activity to do.

We walked into the forest and Greg started discussing tidbits about national park and the giant or tallest trees. Then along the way we found a Tasmanian Pademelon. Though we were not so close to it, I had a chance to observed the cute nocturnal animal even from a distance, I even got a bonus since I was able to capture a snapshot of it (though photos are not so clear). It was one of the animals that I found in the notification board that we passed when we started the walk in the woods.

Tasmanian Pademelon

After watching Tasmanian Pademelon for a couple of minutes, walks continued and we stopped a bit when we reach the Tallest Trees or Giant Trees (Eucalyptus Regnans) remains in the ground. What we saw were parts of the trees remains for years, one part still standing on the ground and one was fallen to the ground. Both remnants shows the hollow portion of the trees.

Tallest Trees (Eucalyptus Regnans) at the ground

When we were done with Tallest Trees, we walk towards Russell Falls. At that time of our visit, there at least portion of the water flows in the falls. It was one of the scenic falls that I discovered in my travel because it has layers, like stairs of falls that makes the water flows amazingly beautiful.

Russell Falls

Along the walks, we found swamp, Tallest Tress and scarlet robin bird. Below were snapshots that I had:

Swamp

Swamp Gum (Eucalyptus Regnans)

Scarlet Robin

Tasmanian Pademelon wood carved

Before we head for our lunch, we had a quick visit at Tarraleah Penstocks Lookout. The lookout is overlooking of Tarraleah Power Station including the huge pipes (penstocks) down to it. Looking at the photos of Hydro Tasmania, it reminded me the largest environmental movement occurred in Australia. As I see it, the company still somewhat able to push the project in another way.

Tarraleah Penstock Lookout

Next thing happened, we went for the lunch, a restaurant near Lake St Clair. After lunch we went to the lake side. And there, I witnessed how the lake was so calm at that time, a very serene scenery.

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At Lake St Clair Lodge Restaurant

Lake St Clair

After enjoying the lake, our last stop was a trek to Donaghys Hill Lookout. After a while of walking and trekking we reached the lookout. We climbed the stairs to reached its viewing platform and the next thing happened was enjoying a 360 degrees view of wonderful wilderness. I was thrilled of what I had seen at the lookout, a scenery worth to see.

Tasmania (Day 1) : From Mount Field to Lake St Clair to Donaghys Hill

Scenery at Donaghys Hill Lookout

Franklin River

After the first and jam-pack itinerary tour, we drove to Tullah where our dormitory accommodation is located.

Before we reached our designated accommodation, the group did some groceries in a small town called Queenstown. A historic town rose during the mining glory days in the island.

The first night that we stayed in our accommodation, we just chilled out to the pool bar restaurant nearby and had fun, since I don’t drink, juice and water were already enough for me during the dinner. Since I don’t play the pool games, I just watched my group playing it until the group decided it to call it a day. That’s how we ended the first day adventure in Tasmania.