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Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair is Australia's deepest freshwater lake. It is located at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park and forms part of Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage Area.
The Lake St Clair area of the National Park has spectacular scenery, an award-winning visitor centre, and a range of beautiful walks to suit every ability.
Glaciers carved out Lake St Clair over millions of years, and the environment around Lake St Clair is among Tasmania's most spectacular. Dense forests of ancient pines fringe deep glacial lakes, and the high mountains provide a dramatic backdrop.
Native wildlife is abundant in the area – visitors to the lake easily spot Bennett's wallabies and pademelons, and wombats, echidnas, quolls, and platypi are also residents.
The Lake St Clair Walk is one of the 60 Great Short
Walks of Tasmania
The Walk - 4.7 kilometres - 1.5 Hours - Grade 3
Starting at Cynthia Bay at Lake St Clair, three varied short walks offer a taste of the southern end of the famous Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.
We walked all of these in a circuit starting and finishing at the Visitor Centre at Lake St Clair.
Watersmeet Nature Trail - 3.4 km return - approx. 45 minutes
A lovely, short, easy walk, the track follows an old logging track and finishes at Watersmeet Bridge, where the Hugel and Cuvier Rivers meet.
Along the walk, you will see Banksia's, glacier rocks, button grass, Fagus and more beautiful plants.
Platypus Bay - 30-minute return walk from Watersmeet Bridge
From Watersmeet Bridge, we continued our walk to Platypus Bay, following the Cuvier River to the edge of Lake St Clair. There, we found a viewing platform where we could stop and look for the elusive platypus.
After completing the Platypus Bay loop and stopping at a lovely beach area to admire the views, we continued and started the Larmairremener Tabelti, Aboriginal Cultural Walk.
'Larmairremener tabelti' - Aboriginal Cultural Walk
Along this walk, we saw banksia, button grass, tea tree thickets, Tasmanian waratahs, rainforest ferns, and giant eucalypt stags. Several information boards about Aboriginal Culture and the area were also along the way.
On the way back to the Visitor Centre, we passed through Fergy's paddock and walked along the edge of the lake at Cynthia Bay.
Directions to Lake St Clair
Lake St Clair is at the southern end of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It is 2.5 hours west of Hobart via the Lyell Highway (A10) and a similar distance from Launceston via Longford and Poatina.
At Derwent Bridge, turn right onto Lake St Clair Road (C193) and follow it for 5.5 kilometres to the Visitor Centre at Cynthia Bay.