Nov. 2008 - Lake Pedder, South West Tasmania

I remember the first time I visited Tasmania. It was an exciting time, my first “big” trip away as a family interstate. We had a wonderful time travelling across the island over a few weeks, making the most of the time we had despite the sometimes inclement weather. The Tasmanian wilderness really struck a chord with me. So much so, that I’ve now been back another two times and would consider it my favourite place in Australia to visit.

My most recent visit was in November last year and I was eager to re-visit the places I held most dear to me from that first visit more than 15yrs ago. One of the places on my list was Lake Pedder, which although it had been dammed long before my visit the first time, still seemed very beautiful to me. I was shocked to say the least with what I saw last year. The water level has fallen remarkably, one of

the few clues that Tasmania was actually experiencing a drought. Also unlike my last visit, the lake was eerily quiet with very few tourists around.

I wouldn’t say it was a disappointment – the trip out to Lake Pedder was highly amusing for us given our GPS was happy to navigate us there but completely lost the plot on the return trip. But the difference that I observed was astounding. On the way back to “civilisation”, I noticed a sign strung between two trees….it reminded me that the battle might have been won all those years ago to save the south-west wilderness, but the war is still going on.

January 22nd, 2009 | Category: Ramblings |  Print This Post |  Email This Post | Subscribe to comments | Leave a comment | Trackback URL