After a hot day at Launceston I drive south, back up into the mountains. Quite a difference in altitude, as Launceston is just above sea level, the steep and winding road takes me over e relatively short distance to an altitude of between 1100 and 1200 mm (according to my GPS), so its quite a bit cooler at this level, even though Lake Arthur is at about 950 m. There are quite a few caravans along the lake, most of them looking like permanently established, as almost all of them have a 'fence' around them made from shade cloth, some of them with sizeable supplies of firewood inside their fence. Many of the people that are here have come with their tinnies, small outboards attached, obviously to try and catch some fish. It is also very quiet, not even birdsong can be heard.
Lake Arthur
Fishing Alarm. The fishing line is run across a pin at the top of the arm on the right.
When a fish bites the line pulls down the arm, closing a circuit to turn on the light, come and pull in the line with the fish.
After a quiet night at Lake Arthur I continue to drive through the mountains to Deloraine. Most of the road still at an altitude of around 1100m above sea level. About 30km of the highway is gravel road but in good condition so driving at 70-80kmh is just right, hardly any traffic coming the other way either. I stop at Pine Lake to check old stands of Pencil Pines, coming away very impressed with their various shapes, even though there is a cold wind blowing at this altitude.
An old Pencil Pine
As usual, the descend to about 700m is steep and winding but I do notice an increase in temperature as I get to Deloraine which is only about 250m asl. Nice clean township but most shops are closed.
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