Lake Ball Hut and surrounds

[frank_in_oz]

Heading from the Walls to the OT and north in a few weeks in a party of six.

The plan is to fly in in the am, transfer up to the Walls and then have a night on the platforms at Wild Dog Creek before using the following day to explore the area and then head off to the Lake Ball area for night 2. Because there are six of us we want to keep away from the usual camping areas so we don't "crowd" them.

We walked past Lake Ball Hut (pic below) last year in July and did not really explore the area.


My question is, are there any camp sites near the hut if we decide to stay there. Six in this hut would be unreasonable and not too fair if anyone else is there......

[kramster]

If I remember rightly, there are a few patchy camping areas on the flats on the lump that sticks out into the lake, 50-100m south-east of the hut.
When we visited, others were already camping there (and we ended up squeezing our two tents between trees either side of the hut).
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=lake+ball,+tasmania&sll=-41.842739,146.29055&sspn=0.003533,0.00824&g=tasmania&ie=UTF8&ll=-41.843446,146.291043&spn=0.003533,0.00824&t=h&z=18

Better / easier camping can be found around Dixons, about 1 hr walk further (but that may fall into the "usual camping areas" shoebox).
I'm not sure what the southern side of Lake Ball is like, and if there is any clearings down that way - might be worth exploring at some stage

[rucksack]

I agree. Better to stick around Dixon's Kingdom. Very marginal camping around Lake Ball hut. The southern side of Lake Ball isn't much better, although there are some possible spots down around the south east 'corner' of the lake around GR417669. I'd be inclined to find a spot around Dixon's, or push on to the the northern end of Lake Meston, which is an excellent camp with a great view (in good weather of course)!

[norts]

If I remember correctly there are a few spots around the Bernes Valley end of Ball

Roger

[Son of a Beach]

There's plenty of grassy areas right throughout Jaffa Vale (from Western side of Mt Jerusalem to the Eastern end of Lake Ball). A lot of the grass is tufty, and not suitable for tents. I suspect that you may be able to find areas that are suitable though. There's plenty of this grass around the north east corder of lake ball where it meets Jaffa Vale, and I'm sure I've seen people camping there before, camp fire and all (before the fuel-stove-only days).

My own preferred WOJ camp site is a not far from the northern (far) end of Jaffa Vale, but I'm not sure it would be suitable for 6 tents.

Otherwise, as has already been said, the North end of Lake Meston (quite a lot further on) has plenty of good camping.

[frank_in_oz]

but I'm not sure it would be suitable for 6 tents.

Thanks Nik and everyone else who has posted suggestions. I just wish I had taken more notice last year when we were there in July.
We will have three tents (and 6 people) which is the max number I would ever want to walk with. The party includes our son and a mate on their first Tassie bushwalk which should be great (we hope)

The carrot is a night at Cradle Mountain Lodge at the end......

[Robbo]

The northern end of Lake Adelaide offers good camping as well, and is not too far from the Walls. There is also camping at the southern end of Lake Adelaide - but I think top end of Meston is awesome...

Tony Robinson

[roseart]

We walked through there earlier this year. There is a fairly good camping place about 100 mts
south east of the hut. If I remember correctly there are several good sites for tents on abit of land that pops out in the lake. Don't stay in the hut as there is a local possum who knows how to made a pest of itself. Lake Ball is a magic place to camp - enjoy roseart

[Dylan253]

My family and I went in for an overnight trip circuit last year through the walls and out past Lake Adelaide and we camped in a really nice spot at the north-eastern end of the lake, near the large clearing that turns into the Jaffa Vale valley. The track goes right past the patches, and it is perhaps 15-20 mins walk east of the hut. We had nobody around and spent the night wandering around and watching the sunset over the lake.

[Penguin]

[/quote]

My family and I went in for an overnight trip circuit last year through the walls and out past Lake Adelaide and we camped in a really nice spot at the north-eastern end of the lake, near the large clearing that turns into the Jaffa Vale valley. The track goes right past the patches, and it is perhaps 15-20 mins walk east of the hut. We had nobody around and spent the night wandering around and watching the sunset over the lake.

I have camped at the same spot - excellent position

[Robbo]

Does this look familiar?

[dplanet]

I had afternoon tea here. For me, the camp site near southern end of Adelaide is nicer. It is also possible to set off from here to head to Lake Toorah, Three Arm, then Atimony.