Sun, 24th May, 2015 Blackburn Park, Campbell Town to Conara Roadside Park (Poatina sightseeing)

Ran the diesel heater all night to see if that would help with the freezing up problem but at 5.30 I heard the tick tick of the fuel pump and then it shut down. It was 10 degrees in the van so just went back to bed. At 7am it was 5 degrees in the van and -7 degrees outside – WOW! The frost was thicker but I just popped my head out for a minute for a couple of photos.

The sun was just coming up but the colour didn’t come out in the photo.

The other van put on their generator and I noticed their poor dog was outside – Really!! 8am and it had dropped to 2.6 degrees in the van but warmed up with the sun to -4.2 degrees outside!! I thought this was dripping off the roof vents but it was still frozen.

Steve put on our genie and warmed up the van to 7 degrees by 9am while it had warmed up to 2.5 degrees outside. Getting water again through the pipes.

10am and the heater is working again so Steve coloured by hair. Texted Alan to wish him a happy birthday. Wispy clouds are coming over. Malcolm rang to see how we were faring with the cold weather. He said that in ‘winter’ the conditioner is automatically added to the diesel but as it was only autumn they hadn’t added it yet!! This is very unseasonal weather apparently!!

Had lunch then headed off to explore Poatina area. Passed St Andrews Inn at Cleveland which is one of the finest examples of an original coaching inn and has been welcoming travellers for over 150 years.

Turned off the main road at Powrama and were amazed to see emus. Not the extinct Tasmania ones though!! Certainly that was one animal we didn’t expect to see.

Heading towards Mt Blackwood where there is a lookout.

Another silhouette in a front yard of a property and then a golfer (which I missed).

Zoomed in on the penstocks coming down the mountain to the Poatina Power Station.

We were at 220m elevation and then started the climb up the mountain. After 2km we turned off to Poatina Village at 330m. Originally, Hydro workers lived here while building the Great Lake Power Scheme. Today it provides friendly accommodation with shops, tennis, restaurant and boasts it has the highest golf course in Tasmania, all with a spectacular view. Should have come yesterday as the view is hazy today.

Don’t think anyone will be using the pool as it is quite cold up here!!

The power lines head up the mountain beside the village.

The glass monument was made from 80% recycled glass in 2004 and it portrays the past, present and future stories of the Village and celebrates the age old proverb that ‘it takes a community to raise a child’. Unfortunately it was damaged in a severe windstorm in 2010 and they are fundraising to fix it all up. The info sign was all cracked too that we couldn’t read it. They used lots of things from around the village.

Info about the Hydro Power Scheme.

We didn’t see any sign for the lookout so kept driving to the top where we came out at Central Plateau at one end of the Great Lake (1150m). Looking up at the barren rock formations.

A group of flash cars going for a fast drive back down the range.

Turned off to Cramps Bay which is another trout fishing hut township.

Looking across the bay to the other side of Great Lake where we had been back in December. The Lake is located 1034m above sea level. It was one of Australia’s largest natural freshwater lake systems prior to its initial damming in 1916. When full, the lake has the capacity to cover 17,610 hectares and hold 3, 178 million cubic metres of water. The water used to be used by the Shannon and Waddamanna Power Stations at the south end of the lake then they changed it and now make the water go from the north, thru a tunnel in the Great Western Tiers and down to Poatina Power Station that we passed on the way up.

The water level is very low.

The broken up rocks, from the freeze/thaw conditons, are all around here.

Headed back down the range to try and find the lookout. Millers Bluff 1210m.

Found the sign on this side and we drove up a road off the range. There are lots of roads off here with boom gates and this one said ‘boom gate ahead’ and there are no other ‘look out signs’. The boom gate was closed but we could park next to the Telstra Tower (950m). Great view up at Mt Blackwood.

Great views.

Zoomed in on the Y’s and it was a dam we passed but not sure what the Ys are for.

Made a cuppa then walked up the road passed the boom gate, which said ‘temporarily closed, by Hydro Tas’.  This is where an adit was dug and obviously all the dirt was piled up here from the tunnel. You can see the old timber frames to hold up the dirt etc.

As we walked up we looked down on the rows of power lines heading off from the power station below us.

Another shot of the rocks and the entrance to the adit.

This area is listed as a camp for Big Rigs, m/homes and vans in my book and yes it would have been a great spot except the road was closed!! Fabulous view though we should have come yesterday when it was a clearer day. All the smoke haze from everyone’s chimneys warming up their homes.

The foundations are still here from when they were building the tunnel etc. Railway tracks obviously used to truck the dirt from the tunnel to where it was piled up down the road.

Found the toilet block.

The entrance to the Headrace Adit.

Peered in through the grill.

The pipework was sucking air into the tunnel.

A natural waterfall area goes down through the railway line grill to a pipe that goes under the road. There is a lot of water flowing out of the tunnel, under the pipework in a gutter, and that goes into this pipe and out the other side and down the mountain.

Back down the range to the Poatina Power Station, life house and transformer yard (380m).  Another boom gate. Obviously these places were open to the public to view (I have a brochure saying ‘walk to the penstock, etc’ but nowadays they only promote certain ones. The Great Lake Power Development – At this point, two vertical shafts lead down to the underground power station. One shaft contains the steel pipeline conveying the water to drive the turbines in the power station, the other shaft contains a lift ventilating ducts and electrical bus bars that convey the power generated to the transformer yard. The power station houses six 50,000 kilowatt generators, each driven by a Pelton Turbine, operating under a static head of 2,729 feet. The total capacity of the six turbines is 400,000 horsepower.

Quite an impressive view.

Looking at the railway line, it looks like this piece of the penstock could be slid sidewards.

Steve noticed that a railway line ran all the way up the hill beside the penstocks – maybe it is how they got them into place originally.

Zoomed in to the top – goes straight down, must have been scary working on this project.

Back to the bottom and we slowed down to get ready for a photo in case the ‘black things’ that we saw at this wood pile were out again. Steve thought they looked like little Tassie Devils but they weren’t out again!!

Last fuzzy shot back at Mt Blackwood and the penstocks.

Decided to go back via one of the back roads. More and more sheep with a few tree farms along the way. A cute little church in the middle of nowhere.

Another thing we weren’t expecting was a Bauxite mine – the sign said Bald Hill Bauxite Project.

It was 4.30 when we got back and starting to get very cold. We picked up the van and headed round to the other RV Stop to fill up with water and dump the toilet. Sounds funny that but there is a separate tap to fill up fresh water, well away from the dump point!! At 5 the sun was going down and so was the temperature. We drove 11km back up the highway to Conara to the roadsite camp we checked out today. Parked the van and got the heater going. It is cloudier so we mightn’t freeze in the morning. Ian and Cherie had texted that they got some winter diesel conditioner from Super Cheap so will get some tomorrow.

Erica rang for a chat.