#2: [18-Jan-02]

26-May-2001 -- After the easy success of 43S 147E a few weeks earlier, this one was just never meant to happen. I didnt get away from town until early afternoon and had around a hundred kilometers to travel to the Central Plateau, a rugged highland area of Tasmania known for its many lakes, fine trout fishing and bleak weather.

Then I didn't stop to study the map carefully enough and overshot a vital turnoff. The correct road running alongside Arthur's Lake passed through a couple of small settlements of fishermen's shacks, with curious names of Wilburville (Pic 6) and Morass Bay (Pic 2).

By now the road was a rough gravel track through stunted vegetation and dolerite boulders and daylight was fast fading. A mysterious shipping container lay on the road side, with a slot marked 'Jawbones and Datasheets' (Pic 3) for the convenience of any postmen lost in the wilderness.

The last straw was an imposing gate at the entrance to 'Paradise Plains' with imposing signs (Pic 4) saying 'NO PERMIT, NO ENTRY, CAMP FIRES PROHIBITED', 'PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO THROUGH ROAD' and 'ABANDON HOPE ALL YE CONFLUENCE SEEKERS'. I was still a good 5 kilometers from the confluence with no obvious alternative route so I abandoned all hope as directed.

Back down the track a short distance, a rocky bump in the landscape looked to be a good alternative destination. A quick walk to the summit revealed a pair of Wedge Tailed Eagles soaring over Arthur's Lake (Pic 1) and somewhere to the east over the promised land of 'Paradise Plains' lay the confluence (Pic 5). I'll be back.