Tourist First: Australia: Platypus Quest at Lake St. Clair

Saturday, March 25, 2023

Australia: Platypus Quest at Lake St. Clair

Our room at Pumphouse Point was in the building at the end of this pier. With water
all around it was almost like staying on a boat.

Among the things we had read about Tasmania was that the interior mountains are very beautiful. We wanted to go to Cradle Mountain, a popular destination for Australians, but it involved more hours in the car than we wanted, so we instead went to Lake St. Clair, part of the same national park as Cradle. Fortunately, it is nestled among gorgeous mountains.

Lake St. Clair is the largest lake in Tasmania and the deepest in all Australia. A multi-day trail , the Overland Track, from the lake's visitors center takes hardy hikers to Cradle Mountain, though I'm sure the more popular route is downhill from the mountain to the lake. A network of trails around the visitors center offers endless seas of ferns as well as deep forest immersion.

We stayed two nights at Pumphouse Point, a hotel created within an old pumping station far out on a pier, with more rooms, a dining room and reception in buildings on shore. The pumphouse was built to move water from Lake St. Clair to a lower lake when needed to keep water levels high enough for a hydroelectric generator. Over five or more decades, it was called on to pump water twice. So what was a white elephant is now functioning tourism infrastructure. This wilderness retreat is near no bars or restaurants, just miles of lake and miles of trails. Breakfast and dinner are in the dining room at shared tables, so guests get to meet each other. Lunch is provided in the form of provisions (salmon, luncheon meats, cheeses, etc.) stocked in the in-room fridges. There's even a backpack for taking your lunch along on your hiking day. Honor bars in each building are well stocked with liquor, mixers, beer and wine. And lounges provide more opportunities for guests to mingle. We met one man from mainland Australia who was as up to date on American politics as the most devoted MSNBC viewer. He credited his knowledge to the Australian news program "Planet America" and U.S. Internet news sites.

The only disappointment at Lake St. Clair was that we saw no platypus (though we've seen two at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park). We hiked to Platypus Bay. We stood at a platypus-watching blind. We scanned the lake from shore and from our hotel pier. Not a platypus to be seen. We know they're nocturnal, yet we had hoped to spot one.

Here are some platypus-free photos:

Signs near the Lake St. Clair visitors center point to some of the area's trails.

A sign at the Lake St. Clair visitors center marks one end
of the Overland Track.

The Aboriginal culture walk wends through thick
underbrush as well as under amzingly tall trees.

Trails keep your feet dry as you cross wetlands.

This poem is posted at a blind for viewing platypus
at Platypus Bay on Lake St. Clair.

Mountains surround Lake St. Clair.

Pumphouse Point has rowboats for guests' use.

Pumphouse Point's iconic hotel sits far out into the lake.

The first-floor lounge inside the Pumphouse
building includes an honor bar and lake views.

Throughout Tasmania we saw flashes of humor,
including in the toilets at Pumphouse Point.

I took this on the way back to our room
one night after dinner in the Pumphouse
Point dining room.

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Argentine Patagonia

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