16 November 2013 - Deloraine Apex Caravan Park, Deloraine, Tasmania

We could have slept late as many do on a Saturday morning, but every day is the same for us travelling retirees, as it will be for you one day if you work hard and save like squirrels. But we were officially due out by 10 am, so did need to go see the caretaker to extend our tenure for the last two days of our Tasmanian tour.

Improving weather was promised however the sky was clouded over; I was keen to do some washing, which meant that it was well after 10 am by the time we set out for our picnic lunch. Today was to be just a mini-expedition and best called a picnic-outing rather than something grander inviting disappointment if we were back earlier than expected.

The Meander Falls are marked with a big W (for one of the sixty Great Short Walks Tasmania) on the map, however we had been advised by those in the Visitor Centre that the road to the falls was open only to very adventurous 4 wheel drivers and we would never brand ourselves such. But we were told about a lookout, which Jan pencilled onto a map with a cross, although the name of the road or lookout could not be brought to mind. So our intended trip was a little random and it did occur to me that we might still be home for lunch.

We headed out on the same A5 travelled yesterday, but continued on toward Meander rather then turn south toward the Highland Lakes, passing through the wide Meander Valley, farmed by dairy and dry stock farmers. The tiny settlement of Meander sits on the river of the same name, having one small all-purpose store, community facilities and remnants of past industry. Beyond the village, the road soon rose into the lower slopes of the tiers and we arrived at the Huntsman Lake. I had seen this watery spot on my map but had no expectations or preconceived idea of its genesis or current state.

Huntsman Lake

What a delight to find this beautiful lake almost all surrounded by heavy forested peaks and bluffs! This is a man-made lake, created from the recent damming of the Meander River and several tributaries seeping from out of the tiers, for the purpose of irrigation, although there is a small amount of electricity generated here, enough to provide electricity to power a town of roughly 2,000 homes.

We left the road and drove two and a half kilometres into the Meander Dam and picnic area, from where there were the most spectacular views across the water to the surrounding landscape. A couple of utes were parked near the boat ramp, their trailers empty and no immediate sign of the boats out on the water. We climbed up to the edge of the dam where a sign offered a few statistics but little walking access to either the dam or the bush land around.

Meander Dam

Here we learned that the Meander Dam was completed in 2007, is 170 metres wide and 50 metres high. The lake covers an area of 364 hectares and is capable of holding 43,000 ML of water, and providing 24,000 ML per annum for irrigation.

We ate our lunch at this fabulous spot, before returning to the road and continuing up the valley, turning up a gravel road into the Meander State Forest Reserve, then again up a forest track, Scott Road, promising a lookout in four and a half kilometres. This had to be the one marked on our map, so off we went, up a road rarely travelled, probably not maintained for the past fifty years although there was evidence of a chainsaw wielder since the last big storm. Branches lay across the road, some at a height we were able to just pass under and some requiring a detour into the undergrowth. Parts of the road were clear but for the moss and ferns, and all the way as we climbed steeply, was the glorious gold, red and brown of the young foliage of the beech and eucalypt saplings, and to our joy, great shows of warratah, emblem of New South Wales, the first we had seen in the wild, and here it was in Tasmania. This grew only at the higher part of the track, but there were plenty of other wonderful wild flowers all the way up and down.

Trackside Warratah

On our return, as we passed by the Huntsman Lake, we pulled into the Dairy Picnic Area, thus called to memorialise the Payne family who settled right here back in the 1920s and milked  cows on the spot until they sold out in 1989 when the Irrigation Scheme was mooted. Here we struck up conversation with a woman and her two teenage sons, recent immigrants from far off Hobart several months ago and enjoying the different lifestyle of rural northern Tasmanian. I have detected on several occasions a real adversity or competitiveness between some of those who live in the north and those who live in the south; a bit like Aucklanders versus the rest of New Zealanders, inexplicable but very real. I wondered how the locals had taken to her and her family; I suspected kindly because she spoke well of the community. She had not ventured up the intrepid Scott’s Road although had been encouraged to on several occasions, but had found her two dogs were quite content to frolic in the lake waters here rather than seek opportunity to hunt echidna up in the hills. And here is an opportunity for me to mention the many echidna we have seen her in the wild over the past few days, or in fact our entire time here in Tasmania. These have been numerous and just fabulous. They are almost comical to watch as they waddle across the roads in front of us.

We left soon after this local trio, or should I say fivesome, if I am to count the dogs. As we passed through Meander one of the boys gave us a friendly wave and we drove on out with warm fuzzies for this lovely part of Tasmania.

Back at camp I found the laundry sun-warm and well dried, and Chris crawled under the caravan to clean the plumbing out, a fairly regular task which always renders a sweeter smelling environment. We opened a bottle of cheap red, watched a replay of New Zealand’s thrashing of the Scots in the Rugby League World Cup 40:4, finishing with an interview with the player of the game; an incoherent Kiwi who speaks in eh-boy lingo which leaves me embarrassed to be a Kiwi, no matter how great an athlete this beige champion is. 

Tomorrow will be our last full day here in Tasmania and I have a full schedule planned and the weather forecasters have promised a whole day of sunshine.