I Love a Sunburnt Country.

#D is for Derwent Bridge and Dove Lake situated in picturesque Tasmania, Australia’s island state. Tasmania cannot really be described as a sunburnt country; it is a heart shaped island sitting between 40 and 43 degrees south latitude, the most southern of the Australian states where the climate is cooler and can be wet and windy. This little island is so beautiful that driving around it is a WOW! experience at the turn of every corner.

The word Derwent frequently features in Tasmanian geography. There is the Derwent River, its source rising in Lake St Clair and flowing southeast through Tasmania’s capital city of Hobart and the Derwent Valley with its rich farmlands and hop fields.

But we are going to Derwent Bridge, a tiny little town in the Tasmanian Central Highlands named for its crossing at the source of the Derwent River and an access point to some of Tasmania’s most stunning wilderness. In the 2016 census Derwent Bridge had a population of 23(Wikipedia). Derwent Bridge sits just 5 kilometres from Lake St Clair which is at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair wilderness and wildlife National Park.

The Overland Track is an 80 kilometre, 6 day bush walk through the Tasmanian World Heritage Wilderness area, between Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair National Park. In pre covid times it was trekked by over nine thousand people each year. And this brings us to Dove Lake.

Dove Lake literally sits in the cradle of Cradle Mountain. It is a glacially carved lake filled with pristine snow fed waters. There is a 6 kilometre walking track around the lake from which the lake, the mountain, the changing vegetation and unique Australian wildlife can be experienced. The Dove Lake walk is a most iconic Australian bushwalk and one can barely say they have been to Tasmania without a trip to Cradle Mountain and a walk around Dove Lake.

Tassie, the apple isle, the holiday isle, the isle of beauty, history, wilderness; what ever you want to call it, Tasmania is one of Australia’s gems. Absolutely worth a visit.