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2007 : Lake Pedder
Lake Pedder Mini-Trek :: Done!
The trek started off as a small scouting trip to see if it was worthwhile visiting for two nights or so - so a quick overnighter is all that was planned.
Minimal gear, no tents apart from the the large one, head up at lunchtime on Saturday, and come back on Sunday at lunch.
Well I got all my gear packed on Saturday morning by about 10am, by which time Mike had arrived. We threw everything in the boot and headed off to grab Jim.
Jim grabbed his gear, card table, and we managed to rearrange the boot enough to get it all in there - Justins gear would have to sit between us. We got to Justins and loaded his gear in and off we went.
First port of call was the Brooker Inn to get grog! We picked up a slab of Kilkenny irish Ale, a small bottle of white wine, a bottle of red, and a 4 pack of Boddingtons English Ale (a pot luck guess as no-one had heard of it).
It was about 1/2 way to New Norfolk we realised that we hadn’t brought the Dutch Oven - so our dinner of sumptuous Irish Stew was off. Instead we called in to Purity in New Norfolk and basically bought the makings of a steak fried dinner - Steak, Onions, Eggs, Bacon - the usual good stuff! We also stocked up on numerous snacks and so forth.
We then hit the Roost for lunch - having a chicken, chips, gravy & seasoning all round, apart from Jim who had something else… Lastly we hit the New Norfolk bottleshop to grab some bags of ice. Off we went, tunes blaring from the stereo, everyone looking forward to the trip!
The weather was great, and before long we were at Maydena. A few kilometers further on and we stopped to stretch our legs at the highest point on the road. This place was where we’d stopped once or twice before - famous because everyone tries to hit an orange aircraft/power cable warning float strung across the road. We again all took turns trying to hit it - I think I did better this time - hitting it at least 4 times, the last throw was with a huge rock and the sound made a loud “Donk!” way funny stuff… at this stage the weather was looking grim, and the further we went the greyer and wetter it got.
We’d driven a few more kilometers down the road and were just rounding a corner at the legal speed limit of 100km/h when Mike is hard on the brakes and swerving to miss a bloody DOG asleep in the middle of the road - we’re like “WTF?!” As it turns out - greeny/ferrel idiots were camped out protesting about radioactive whales chainsawing trees or dolphins or something to that effect, and had pretty much closed off one of the logging roads with their vans, 4×4s tents, signs, banners etc… you’d think they’d pay more attention to their dog! Idiots…
Anyway - further on, we hit the turn off to Scotts Peak Dam, and after 1/2 an hour or so we were there. We got out at the Lake Edgar carpark, and had a bit of a wander around while there was a break in the drizzle. Got some good photos, then proceeded to the Lake Edgar Campsite - it looked ok, and had a few people camping there - but before settling we figured we’d have a look at the Huon Campsite about 6km further on. We drove off and about a kilometer down the road was Scotts Peak Dam! Time for a photo op! We got out and walked up to the dam wall, and had a bit of a look about, took some photos, mucked about a bit - and then headed off before we were eaten alive by small black gnats! they were everywhere! Gah!
10 minutes later, we got to the Huon Campsite - and fell in love with it immediately - there was a toilet, dry wood, a picnic shelter - it was awesome! There was no-one else camped there so we parked and set up.
We cracked open the Boddingtons Ale at this stage to celebrate arriving at a good spot. It wasn’t a bad Ale, just not as good as others we’d tried.
The weather was grey, bit very lightly sprinking with rain - not enough to ruin it for us. We got the bit tent up, after a bit of bother - the tent zippers appeared to be suffering from some sort of corrosion - not sure what from, as the zipper teeth were plastic and the zipper mechanism was stainless steel. After a bit of elbow grease, and a bit of Mikes olive oil we got them working again. Very shortly after we had the tent up, the table set up and some loud tunes cranking from the stereo. We got all our gear inside and stowed, and then set about making a fire!
Lukily we’d parked opposite the wood shelter - and wood was easy to find. We found some very dry almost rotten wood to start the fire with, and before long, we had a roaring fire going. We then set about making dinner - everyone had brought steak and we chopped up some onions, and bacon to go with them. Soon after everyone was chowing down on a hearty meal. Ahhh!
By this time the sun had set, and it was cooling down a bit, although not cold. We sat around the fire, first enjoying a few Kilkenny Ales, then on to the stronger stuff - we’d brought some Chival Regal 12yo Blended Scotch, and some Craigellackie 12yo Pure Malt Scotch to try as well. Justin brought out some Cuban cigars to also try. The night progressed as only nights do, and we drank and drank - the Ale was warming us and keeping the cold at bay. We also partook of the two wines, Justin & Jim having the Red, and I drank the white wine. By about 2am we were well drunk, and Jim decided to partake of his sleeping bag - the rest of us kept drinking, and telling war stories around the fire. By about 3.30am we’d drank everything except for the bottle of Tullemore Dew I took in case of emergency. We had a nice bracing dram (or two) of Tullemore while we watched the embers in the firepit. Then it was time for bed - it was 4.30am.
The next morning I was up at daybreak (just quickly) for a pee, then back to bed until around 10am when I decided it was time to eat brekky!
No one was feeling all that bad, no hangovers were in evidence - a sign of good quality beverages being consumed the night before.
We decided to have breakfast in the Picnic shelter, and we proceeded to cart all the cooking gear and food around there - fairly soon we had the sound and smell of sizzling bacon, onions, and eggs! Ahhhh! We also had the sound of bushwalkers preparing to hike for 7 days to Port Davey - they we’re getting their last smell of good food for a week!
After a very very hearty breakfast, we carted everything back and set about dismantling the tent. This we did in record time, and soon we were on our way back home. Justin was dropped off at work as requested, then Jim and myself were finally home.
All in all - a bloody good overnighter - we will be back! Oh yes, we will be!