Lake St Clair, Frenchman’s Cap Suspension Bridge & Nelson Falls

I have lived my whole life in Tasmania and never once made it to Lake St Clair. It is unusual for me to travel inland as I often spend time exploring the coastline but I really wanted to go check out this area. I got to spend two days exploring with my eldest daughter Zali.

I placed Lake St Clair into Google Maps and found the route I was going to take. I also zoomed in to see any local attractions in the area along with looking at Wiki Camps, Waterfalls of Tasmania and All trails. Before we left, I had a schedule of places to visit.

Our first stop was the lookout over the Great Lakes. We then stopped at the Little Pine Lagoon Lakeside Reserve and had a little wander. The landscape here is so different to coastal landscape.

We jumped back in the car and kept driving. We crossed over a river and pulled off down under the bridge to check out the scenery. 

We noticed a lot of hydro pipes by the side of the road along our journey. There is also a wooden hydro pipe that you can visit. 

We drove to The Wall in the Wilderness which is a tourist destination where a local artist, by the name of Greg Duncan, has taken years to sculpt a wooden wall that is 3 metres high and over 100 metres in length depicting the harsh, historical wilderness of Tasmania. Out of respect, no photos were permitted inside this location but I highly recommend visiting and supporting this talented artist. For more info click here.

After visiting The Wall in the Wilderness, we decided to drive to our accommodation and check in and then head up to Lake St Clair to see Pumphouse Point. I stood on Franklin Beach to get some photos of the old pump house station that has been converted into a top end accommodation. It sits perfectly as a contrast to the environment, overlooking Lake St Clair.

We headed out for tea at the Derwent Bridge Wilderness Hotel. The rain had set in so it was nice to sit with an open fire and have some Sri Lankan curry to warm me up from the inside out. 

We settled into our accommodation with a warm, cosy fire to relax and unwind. 

The next day was our walk along Lake St Clair. I had got quotes to get the ferry up to the end of the overland track and to then walk back but this was around $150 and I didn’t want to pay that much when I can walk the track for free. So we decided to walk up so far and then return back on the same route. This map was my turning point to return. 

We walked through the Lake St Clair visitors centre and decided to head down to Cynthia Bay lookout. We then took the overland track to begin our walk. This would be the end point for many walkers who start at Cradle Mountain. 

The first part of this track involved a slight hill amongst tall trees. Along the track we walked past some massive fallen trunks wider than our height. The flora was magnificent with beautiful coloured plants surrounding the landscape and the smell made sure we knew we were in the Tassie wilderness. 

We crossed the bridge and decided to take the coastal track to Platypus Bay. I was keen to see a platypus but we weren’t lucky enough. We did do some bird watching though. 

We continued on along the track often stopping to go lakeside to take photos of the picturesque view. The mountains sitting amongst the clouds with the stillness of the lake was breathtaking. 

Upon our return we turned left at Fergy’s Paddock which is a campsite and we walked along the foreshore to Cynthia Bay Lookout. We had walked over 12kms exploring the luscious wilderness. 

We grabbed a well deserved hot drink from the visitors centre and hit the road. 

Our next destination on the map that I had pinned was the Frenchman’s Cap Suspension Bridge. This walk was not very long to make it to the suspension bridge and well worth the effort. The scenery was beautiful and the suspension bridge a lot of fun to cross with the clear, brown river below. 

After entertaining ourselves by bouncing on the suspension bridge we hit the road with our next destination in mind. Along the way we stopped at a lookout near the Donaghys hill walk and took some photos of the amazing scenery.

We finally arrived at our last destination, which was Nelson Falls. I love this waterfall and was excited to show my daughter. She took my camera and took some pretty impressive snaps. 

This waterfall is impressive showering over the rock face, falling so freely. The environment it sits in is simply calming with the beautiful flora of different shades of green highlighting the landscape. This was a great way to finish our two day road trip. We got in the car and headed home exhausted but refreshed.