Along the Lyell Highway and Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park

Following the Lyell Highway from Meadowbank Lake, at the dam on the Derwent River, passing hydro-electric power stations and Bradys Lake (all part of the Upper Derwent hydropower scheme) you reach Lake St. Clair, Australia’s deepest freshwater lake, at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. Further west in the central highlands is the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park. The road leads to Queenstown, a copper mining town until 1968. Further North is Zeehan, once a booming silver-mining town. To the northeast is Cradle Mountain, a place of exceptional natural beauty in the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area, with wonderful views.

View of the dam, with Ellendale Road, damming the Derwent River (at right), forming Meadowbank Lake (at left).

View of Tungatinah Power Station, along the Nive River, from the bridge on the Lyell Highway in central Tasmania.

View of Tungatinah Power Station, from the bridge on the Lyell Highway in central Tasmania.

Bradys Lake, along the Lyell Highway, 6 kilometres south of the geographical centre of Tasmania.

Lake St Clair (Leeawuleena), Australia's deepest freshwater lake, at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.

The Cuvier River from the Overland Track at Lake St Clair, at the southern end of the Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park..

View of Platypus Bay from the Platypus Bay Track. at Lake St Clair (Leeawulwwna), Australia's deepest freshwater lake.

Clusters of button grass along the Larmairtemener tabelti Aboriginal Cultural Walk, at Lake St Clair.

Button grass and the landscape along the Lyell Highway, between Lake St Clair and Queenstown.

The Frenchmans Cap Suspended Bridge over the Franklin River in southwest Tasmania.

The Franklin River from the Frenchmans Cap Suspended Bridge.

View to Frenchmans Cap, in the Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park, at 1,446 metres above sea level.

Telephoto view of Frenchmans Cap, Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park.

Lake Burbury, a man-made water reservoir near Gormanston, at 11 kilometres east of Queenstown.

View towards Queenstown from the trail to Horseshoe Falls.

The trail to Horseshoe Falls, between Gormanston and Queenstown.

The old Post office in the mining town of Queenstown. Gold was discovered here in 1881, but copper mining and smelting became the mainstay until 1968.

Orr Street, at the crossing with Sticht Street, looking towards the Railway Reserve in Queenstown.

The Hunters Hotel, dating from around 1898, on Orr Street, in Queenstown.

The Empire Hotel, called the “grand old lady” of the West Coast, on the corner of Orr and Driffield Streets, across the road from the Queenstown railway station.

View of the wilderness, from the Lyell Highway, 23 kilometres east of Strahan.

Main Street in Zeehan, 43 kilometres north of Strahan. Once a booming silver-mining town, Zeehan has retained much of its original turn-of-the-century architecture.

Old locomotives at the West Coast Heritage Centre in Zeehan. There used to be a railway to Queenstown (38 kilometres to the southeast) and Strahan (43 kilometres to the south).

Main Street in Zeehan, with at right the West Coast Heritage Centre from the time it was silver-mining town.

Lake Rosebery from the bridge on the Murchison Highway, at Tullah. It is a man-made water reservoir in the West Coast region of Tasmania and fed by the dammed Mackintosh and Murchison rivers.

View from Black Bluff Lookout to the Vale River,

Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain, in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park, in the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

Dove Lake with Glacier Rock at its eastern shore, and Cradle Mountain in the south.

View to Cradle Mountain across Dove Lake, in Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park.

Cradle Mountain from the Dove Lake Circuit, on the south eastern shore.

Cradle Mountain from the Dove Lake Circuit, on the southern point.

Dove Lake, looking north from Dove Lake Circuit, on the southern shore.

Ballroom Forest, on the Dove Lake Circuit, on the southwestern shore.

Cradle Mountain from the Dove Lake Circuit, on the south western shore.

Cradle Mountain from the Dove Lake Boatshed, on the north western shore looking south.

A Tasmanian pademelon with its joey (Thylogale billardierii), also known as the rufous-bellied pademelon or red-bellied pademelon, the sole species of pademelon found in Tasmania; at Cradle Mountain Discovery Parks.

The replica of Waldheim, the original chalet of Gustav Weindorfer (1874-1932), an Austrian, who built it here and campaigned for a National Park to be established at Cradle Mountain. On 16 May 1922, the land extending from Cradle Mountain south to Lake St. Clair (some 161,000 hectares) was proclaimed a National Park.

The Maryland Track, boardwalk just south of Waldheim, one of the trails at Cradle Mountain.

Pencil Pine Creek from the Enchanted Walk, just south of Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge, one of the trails at Cradle Mountain.

Rapids of Pencil Pine Creek from Cradle Mountain Road, just south of Peppers Cradle Mountain Lodge.