Day Trip From Launceston - South-West

 




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This trip would probably be good in snow season but you would need to be careful on the windy mountain road.

We detour to Liffey Falls and then back on the road to Breona and an amazing lookout over the great inland lake, then on past Liawenee which is the coldest place in Australia and then to the Great Lakes Hotel at Miena for lunch.

Then back via another scenic way.

So let's get to it.


LIFFEY FALLS



We took a drive to Liffey Falls on a separate occasion and didn't quite make it.

The previous night there was a big storm and this area was severely affected as you can see in the photos below.

We did, however, stop at a parking area and checked out the creek.

So, we haven't quite made it to the falls and I am not sure that I would do the walk in anyway as it is a moderate hike that takes about 2 1/2hrs to complete the round trip.  The reviews pretty much say that it's not the best falls anyway.  I am glad that we just found the creek.






















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BREONA

GREAT LAKE



The Great Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Australia.  It stretches from Breona through Liawenee and to Miena.  It is also the highest lake in Australia being 1,036m high up on the central plateau.  

We stopped at a lookout to check it out.  Just stunning.




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PINE LAKE


Update 2023 - We took a drive up here again as hubby had heard that the first snow for the season had fallen.  This was in May!

Yes, when we arrived at Pine Lake it was snowing.  Not the best weather to be going on the board walk here lol.

We didn't stay for too long as it was absolutely freezing cold.  Anyway, hubby's first snow experience.

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LIAWENEE


If you hear all the time on the radio Liawenee is always around 10 degrees lower than all other places.  In fact, if you hear that Liawenee has a temp in the mid teens, it's having a heat wave lol.

So I was interested in checking it out.

Well guess what?  There's nothing here lol.  Blink and you'll miss it.  Just a Police Station....?  We just happened to get caught up in a little traffic jam in the middle of nowhere.  

Liawenee must be some crazy God forsaken place in winter.





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 MIENA



This is where the Great Lakes Hotel is.  You can't miss it.  It has a prominent place on the hill with an awesome view overlooking the Great Lake.  The winter photos here with snow look gorgeous.

It was interesting to see all of the fishermen cottages around the area in amongst the woodland.  Well a lot of them are nothing more than shacks so no Council regulations and red tape here.  There should be more of that I reckon.  Who cares about how you live in the middle of nowhere?

Trout fishing is big here.  They have seasonal comps so I can imagine how busy it would get.  The Hotel would do a roaring trade.  I fact when we were here it was very busy too and it's the off season.  

Lunch was really good.  Hubby's pizza was very tasty and I had the arancini balls which were equally tasty but could have been bigger.  Smallest arancini balls that I have ever had.  The accompanying salad was nice with I think, blood orange olive oil.  I need to get some more of that.  It's lovely on salad.







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 POATINA



Poatina is the home of a big hydro power station that utilises the water from the lake.  The power station is built in a big underground cave.  Poatina means cave or cavern.

We drove past the huge water pipe.  Unfortunately I didn't get a shot but you can see it here on this link.

The road to Poatina is very scenic, driving through nice woodland.  Going back down the mountain, the road is very narrow and windy and you can see some great views of the valley below.

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CRESSY



 Back down on flat land we drove through fields of sheep with the mountains in the back ground.  

There's not much at Cressy.  Just a tiny village and  the starting place for hubby's school bus run into Launceston.  This bus run only has a few pickup spots with a lot of country driving in between.  Must get boring.  🙄

Anyway, the scenery in the middle of nowhere can sometimes be real nice.  Here are some photos that hubby took early in the morning at sunrise.







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