Mt Ida Sunrise

The landscapes in Tasmania challenge people who have the standard international perception that all of Australia consists of hot dry flat land. This captures the first light of the day as it breaks through the clouds over a snow dusted Mt Ida and the Travellers Range. The prominent cliffs and columns of the central highlands are made of Jurassic dolerite. This shot was taken from the southern end of Lake St Clair which is Australia's deepest lake owing its depth of 160m (or 525 ft) to its glacial origin.

Unlike mainland Australia it is believed that Tasmania experienced four phases of major glaciation with a single ice cap covering about 4,000 sq km of the northwestern part of the central plateau along with other smaller isolated ice caps and valley glaciers. During these glacial periods sea levels were low enough to open the Bassian landbridge connecting Tasmania to Australia with grasslands and scrub heath found across the area where the Bass Strait now lies.

Mt Ida was featured in this old tourism poster used in the 1940's and 50's by the Tasmanian Government to promote tourism in England. The artwork on the poster was created by Harry Kelly who passed away in 1967. The Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park lies in the Central Highlands of Tasmania, Australia.

If you would like to learn a little bit more about who I am, and my background in photography, you can read the interview @photofeed did with me here

Robert Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

_{The photo in this post was taken by and remains the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com}