Western Arthur Range – Day 3

April 10th, 2004 at 12:00am

Lake Oberon campsite. 4 km today in 4 hours. We got really lucky with the weather today. Although it rained off and on nearly all night, we woke up this morning to clear, calm skies. It was a cold night last night – Evan and Gaye both woke up to find ice on their tents. We made an attempt to dry out our gear before setting out, but the cloud was coming in and covering up the sun. Last night we were unsure if we were going to continue on or start to head back, but with the good weather this morning, we decided to go for it towards Oberon. And we were all really glad we did because the weather was absolutely perfect today. We had sun and a bit of cloud but absolutely no wind and that, my friends, is quite rare in the Western Arthur Range of Tasmania. It was a beautiful walk through the rocky peaks, and we had great views all around. It would certainly be an unpleasant walk in bad weather because the trail was pretty exposed.

We arrived at Square Lake at 12 noon where we passed 3 Aussie guys heading back from Oberon to Lake Cygnus. Those were the only people we’ve seen all day. The sun was out at lunch so I was able to dry out my tent – oh joy! It’s always a great feeling to get the tent dry. After a good hour’s rest and a fine lunch of apple, peanut butter, brazil nuts, an apricot bar, and 2 yummy chocolate biscuits from Gaye, we started out for the final 1.5 hours to Lake Oberon. We had a steep ascent and then a very steep descent to get down to Oberon. The views of the lake from the top of the ridge were fantastic! Even if we have bad weather going out, at least we had views today. The 3 of us are sharing one tent platform and it’s a bit cozy with 3 tents, but good fun as we’re all just laying in our sleeping bags and chatting at the moment. Hope it’s not too cold tonight!

Views above Square Lake

The beautiful Lake Oberon

Our cozy little tent platform

Entry Filed under: Australia,Hiking/Trekking,Tasmania