Road Trip! (Hobart to Strathgordon and Return)

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Looking for one of the best road trips in Tasmania, combining fast, sweeping bends on well maintained roads, with spectacular scenery and a tasty lunch? How about Hobart to Strathgordon, in the renowned World Heritage Wilderness Area, and back, in one comfortable day?

Coast to coast perspective: Hobart to Strathgordon compared to the width of the state.

The route in detail Click to enlarge.

At roughly 315 kilometres and a conservatively estimated four and a half hours for the return journey by car, it makes for a proper day out, especially if you pull over to drink in the views of Lake Pedder and the surrounding mountain peaks, visit the Gordon Dam (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Dam) or treat yourself to lunch at the Strathgordon Lodge. All three options are highly recommended!

The Gordon Dam (Wikipedia image).

Also recommended is a stop at Maydena's Fika Time Cafe and General Store (https://www.facebook.com/FikaTimeCafe/) - named for the Swedish cultural practice of making daily time to catch up with friends and colleagues for coffee and a bite to eat - located approximately halfway into the outward leg of the trip. It's warm and cosy, the coffee's great, as are the staff, and they also sell fuel and other essentials. Don't ask for an extra shot in your large flat white, though! Even this coffee-dependent author thinks their standard four is sufficient caffeine for one drink!

A quad-shot flat white and camera shy passenger.

Maydena was formerly a forestry town, built in the late 1940s, providing accommodation for workers supplying timber to the Australian Newsprint Mill at Boyer, just on the Hobart side of New Norfolk, on the Derwent River. Around the turn of the 20th century, it was a settlement called Junee that serviced an osmiridium mine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maydena). It's now a world-class mountain biking venue largely thanks to the "gravity centred" - or down-hill focussed - Maydena Bike Park (https://www.maydenabikepark.com/).

Car of the day: the author's 1975 GC Galant hardtop outside the Lodge.

The only downside to this road trip is that the Gordon Dam, which holds back the river for which it is named, is the end of the road, meaning that travellers must return via the same route as they arrived and can only divert at the town of Westerway. Even then, their only choices are to retrace further along their original path towards New Norfolk or to turn left, heading towards Ellendale, which provides options to continue west or return to Hobart via Hamilton and the north eastern side of the Derwent River, until again passing through New Norfolk.

For those who favour a looped road trip to avoid retracing previously travelled ground, compensation can be had in the form of a stop off at the Pedder Wilderness Lodge on the shores of Lake Pedder (https://www.pedderwildernesslodge.com.au/). The Lodge has a comfortable dining area overlooking the lake, a lovely deck with further such views and also offers overnight accommodation. The menu is very good and, if the weather's not conducive to outdoor activities, there's also a bar with a pool table and an open fire. What more could you possibly ask for?!

The author is not affiliated with any of the businesses mentioned in this piece. He recommends that any vehicle taken on this journey be mechanically sound with good tyres and brakes, and that participants drive to the prevailing road and weather conditions. For more information, please go to https://hobartandbeyond.com.au/place/strathgordon/.

U M P H

(uppermiddlepetrolhead.blogspot.com.au.)

Images by the author, his camera shy passenger (in-car photos) or as attributed.

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