Lake St Clair and Mount Field National Park
A LONG WEEKEND
(Four days, three nights)
With its raging seas and dense forests, every bit of Tasmania’s landscape feels transformative. And nowhere more so than at its wild core, Lake St Clair and Mount Field National Park. This all-inclusive experience (walkintoluxury.com) is based at boutique hotel Pumphouse Point, where you’ll check in to one of the coveted rooms that sit suspended over the lake at the end of the jetty. From there, you’ll walk for three to six hours a day, covering a maximum of 14 kilometres in a stretch and exploring Russell Falls, Lake Seal, Shadow Lake – even the Derwent Valley Distillery for a replenishing dram. Wombats, wallabies, echidna and platypuses might make an appearance and each day finishes back at your high-end stay, sitting around the fire with a glass of spirited Tassie pinot noir to get you ready for the next day’s exertions.
The 101
This itinerary operates between October and April (to avoid the snow) and usually departs on a Friday. Transfers from Hobart are included and there are no bulky packs to hinder your progress; everything you need fits in a manageable daypack. All meals are part of the trip and if you find yourself peckish at an odd hour, your hotel room has a larder stocked with local cheese and chocolate.
The moment
“I love the mix of alpine terrain and lakeside walking – some days you feel like you’re hiking in the wilds of Canada, the next moment you’re passing a waterfall in a rainforest,” says Ed Miles from Walk Into Luxury. For others, that feeling of Survivor-like remoteness pushes their buttons (Survivor with very good food and accommodation, that is). “My favourite moment is the boat trip on Lake St Clair, where you get to see the mountains from the water. It gives a great perspective,” says Walk Into Luxury’s Paige Myles. “You dock at a remote jetty and the boat leaves you there, a 10-kilometre hike from civilisation.”