HIKING

​The Central Plateau Conservation Area is a wild place of sub-alpine moorlands and a myriad of ​tarns on the northern edge of the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area. Flanked on the east by Great Lake and the west by the Walls of Jerusalem National Park, it is also known as the Land of a Thousand Lakes.​

​​​Anglers and bushwalkers are frequent visitors to the Central Plateau Conservation Area and, luckily for them, they have the interior of this vast tract of watery wilderness to themselves.

With over 2000km of walking tracks in Tasmania there’s plenty of walking to suit all levels of experience and fitness.

There are many guided walks available with expert local guides, comfortable huts and sumptuous Tasmanian fare to make for a memorable visit to our island state.

The area is studded with alpine tarns formed by glacial action between 8,000 and 20,000 years ago. Lunettes (alpine sand dunes) near Lake Augusta formed after the last glacial period. These are the only alpine lunettes in Australia!

Wombats, spotted-tail quolls, wallabies, ringtail possums and long-nosed potoroos can be seen by careful observers in the evening but during day there is plenty of birdlife including raucous yellow-tailed black cockatoos and majestic Tasmanian wedge-tailed eagles.

Reptiles abound in the low scrub. Be on the lookout for mountain dragons, snow skinks and snakes.

As well as introduced trout, the lakes support a diverse array of aquatic invertebrate fauna with many unique and endemic species, such as the mountain shrimp and the burrowing crayfish.

Hunting is allowed in some small specified zones where the practice occurred before World Heritage listing. The effects of hunting on wildlife are carefully monitored. A hunting licence and permit is required; more information can be found via the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE.)