One of the best things about Tassie is how quickly you can get from the city to the wilderness. A friend and I took a winter day trip from Hobart to south-west Tasmania and visited The Needles, Lake Pedder and Gordon Dam. It was a perfect winter’s day out with great views and lots to see. Here’s my account of our adventure.
We drove an hour and a half from Hobart to the start of the Needles track, which begins at the location marked as ‘Highest Point on Road’ with a sign and on Google Maps:
On the way we made an obligatory stop in New Norfolk for coffees and bakery goodies to pack for lunch at Banjos Bakery.
Friends and I have joked before that a stop at a Banjos Bakery, a Tasmanian owned bakery chain and local institution, is such an integral beginning of every outdoor trip in Tasmania, the company should sponsor Tasmanian bushwalks.
As we got closer to where the Needles track would begin, we were delighted to see snow on the sides of the road. We found the carpark and pulled in, followed closely behind by a mini-bus full of a group of high school kids from Hobart College who were doing the same walk as us as part of their outdoor education program.
The Needles Walk
The start of the walk was through bare sticks of vegetation and was underwhelming at first. Both the ground and the vegetation were black due to recent fires that had come through the area. Lots of little streams were beginning to trickle down from the hills above as the snow melted and it was quite wet underfoot.
However, as we climbed higher we were quickly surrounded with fantastic views. My friend had told me that the Needles is known as one of the best ‘bang for your buck’ walks in Tasmania, as you don’t have to walk for very long to get really great vistas.
The walking was very steep, although not difficult…until we got to the snow. Then it became really slow going, but also really beautiful.
After a little over half an hour, we made it up on to the first plateau. From here, we had views in every direction. There were jagged rocks and boulders in the landscape, including protrusions that were so large they were basically their own peaks. It was gorgeous, and crazy to think that we had views like this on an easy day walk, only an hour and a half drive from Hobart. We spent some time on the plateau catching our breath and taking some photos.
From here, we continued upwards towards the top peak, which took around another fifteen minutes. It was steep again and especially hard to climb in the deep snow, but it was really fun. At the top we stopped and sat down, with the mini-bus full of teenagers and their teacher for company. It’s so great school kids are taken places like this.
We made our way back down the mountain as the sun beat down on us. The path back was a LOT wetter than the way there, due to the snowmelt that was now forming larger streams down the mountain. The walk down took us around half an hour. We got back to the car, changed out of our wet, muddy shoes and socks into the spare pairs we had packed with us. We then made our way on towards Lake Pedder and to the end of Gordon River Road to check out the Gordon Dam.
Gordon Dam
The Gordon Dam is an impressive piece of engineering and an important part of Tasmania’s history, being part of the state’s hydro-electric network. The dam is:
- Australia’s highest arch dam,
- Tasmania’s tallest dam, and
- At full capacity, the area behind it, Lake Gordon, is the largest lake in Australia.
We visited the view point and walked right down onto the dam wall, which is free to access. It was pretty mind bending to stand on the dam wall and look down into the middle of its curve. It took us around 30 – 40 minutes to visit the dam.
Red Knoll Lookout
After visiting Gordon River Dam we drove back the way we had come and turned off down Scott’s Peak Dam Road to visit Red Knoll lookout. It was a long drive, and took around 90 minutes, but it very scenic and we chatted and caught up on each other’s news in the car.
When we arrived at Red Knoll Lookout, we spotted someone in the bushes, and this being Tasmania, it was someone I knew from primary school. He was busy capturing shots of Mt Anne, which was covered in snow and reflecting in Lake Pedder, as shown in the first picture below. It was a spectacular spot.
We also stopped at Edgar Pond to take in the view across the water towards the mountains further south, as below.
By this stage, it was getting later in the day, and as it was winter in Tasmania, we knew we had limited sunlight. We drove back to Hobart, cosy in our car and grateful that we call such a beautiful part of the world home.
Amazing photos and perfect weather!