Lake St Clair

• Summary
• Weather for Lake St Clair

The deepest freshwater lake in Australia (190 metres), Lake St Clair was scooped out by glaciers over the past two million years.

Lake St Clair forms the southern boundary of Cradle Mountain, Lake St Clair National Park and the finishing point for the Overland Track, one of the world’s best multi-day bushwalks.

There are a number of short walks around the shores of the Lake at Cynthia Bay. Some of the most spectacular walks take three to four hours or overnight – such as the walks to Shadow and Forgotten lakes. Dolerite mountains – Mt Olympus, Mt Orthys, Mt Byron and Mt Ida surround Lake St Clair; at the southern end is a drowned moraine – an accumulation of boulders and debris carried and deposited by glaciers.

The Aboriginal people of the area called the lake Leeawuleena, meaning sleeping water. At dusk or dawn around Cynthia Bay you are likely to see wallabies, wombats, quolls, echidnas and platypi. Birdlife such as black currawongs, strong-billed or black-headed honeyeaters and the yellow wattlebird are also common.

Lake St Clair can be reached from Hobart along the A10 via Derwent Bridge in 2 hours.

• Take the ferry up the entire 18km length of the lake, 3 times daily (seasonal)
• Enjoy boating opportunities, boat launching is permitted at Cynthia Bay
• Go birdwatching
• See some rare species of flora and fauna
• Take some fantastic dawn and dusk photographs
• Take a tour
• Try fishing for Brown trout, Rainbow trout, Climbing galaxias or Spotted galaxias
• Camping is perimtted at Cynthia Bay. Huts are also located at Echo Point and Narcussus Bay
• Start or finish the demanding 5 to 8 day Overland Track here
• Canoes, dinghies or bicycles can be hired
• Take a short walk - day walk maps can be acquired at the Visitors Centre