Tasmania: The Overland Track
- amandabethabc
- Dec 31
- 7 min read
Hi folks, happy New Year! We are posting from Collie, Australia on Jan 1, 2025,
November 3rd, Day 26, Tasmania
Arrived in Devonport, Tasmania and walked into town with all our gear, looking for a place to store it while we waited for the bus to Launceston that afternoon. A local hotel took pity on us and watched our bags so we could explore the town. Found a lovely walk along the shore to a lighthouse where we saw new Australian birds plus a wallaby - right away we were very impressed with Australian wildlife! Caught the bus and walked to our hotel, a quaint medieval stone building near downtown Launceston. Went out for dinner but it became clear I was coming down with something as I had a sore throat and body aches. Got some vitamin C at the store and went to bed early. Total expenditures: $224.77 (accommodation, gear, dinner, groceries, bus, coffees)
November 4th, Day 27, Tasmania
Felt a little better today so we went for a walk to cataract Gorge, located a block from our hotel. It was a beautiful hike along a river running through steep cliffs surrounded by forest. We saw so many animals including an echidna, lots of pademelons, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, kookaburras, and fairy wrens. We noticed that Tasmania had beautiful flowers blooming everywhere you went, especially roses. The gardens here were some of the best I’ve ever seen. Went shopping in town for a new pocket knife (lost mine) and food for our 3rd hike, the Overland Track. Total expenditures: $442.37 (accommodation, gear, groceries, lunch, coffees)
November 5th, Day 28, Tasmania
Caught our transport van at 6:00 am to Cradle Mountain to start the Overland Hike, a 40 mile track through the remote mountains of Tasmania, known to be quite challenging. It starts at Cradle Mountain and ends at Lake St Claire with several huts along the way. It allows 35 people a day to sign up for the trail, but after that there’s no rules about which huts you need to stay in. I met someone doing it in a day and another person doing it in 9 days, they both had to register the same way. We are all required to carry a tent in case the huts fill up, since the number of people varies so much. We planned to do it in 6 days with a ferry ride out at the end, several websites recommended this timeline which seemed a little slow to us but we figured we’d try it. The trail starts with a meeting with the ranger, focused on hypothermia and other trail safety measures, I guess they’ve had a few unfortunate outcomes. Then they take people by shuttle to the start of the hike - the shuttle also takes anyone wanting to hike in the area, no cars are allowed past a certain point. We were on the trail by 8:00 am, and by 8:05 we saw wombats, including a mama with a baby sticking its head out of her rear-facing pouch eating grass. Needless to say, we loved this trail! We continued walking in high plains topography that felt as remote as I’ve ever felt before, unique and beautiful scenery under sunny and warm skies. Stopped at our first side trip, Cradle Mountain. After dropping off our packs we ascended the steep trail that kept getting steeper, turning into bouldering where we had to use our whole body to get up the mountain slowly amidst a slew of speedy hikers bouncing past. We got to what seemed like the top and called it quits - I guess another, higher spot was located on the other side of the top crater. Neither one of us enjoy bouldering, much less so in a crowd, although the FOMO was strong. Made it down safely and continued on the trail until we arrived in the first hut, Waterfall Valley. It sat near a meadow with wombats, pademelons and wallabies grazing nearby. The hut was lovely but somehow we ended up in a room with a group of highschool girls who were very loud. We met some other folks doing the trail and after talking to them, decided to skip the next hut and go straight to Pelion Hut with a side trip to Lake Will, about 17 miles. Total expenditures: $125.50 (Overland Track, transport service)
November 6th, Day 29, Tasmania
Got up early to have time for a long day of hiking. The side trip to Lake Will was beautiful, one of my favorite parts of the trip. Continued to see wombats, pademelons and wallabies - what a pleasure it is to hike with these creatures! The trail was not the easy going boardwalk it was the day before and was often rocky, muddy and overgrown, much more like what I had been expecting. Close to the end of the day, the person walking in front of us yelled “snake!” and I thought she was pointing to my left so I jumped to my right, but she was pointing to my right so I nearly jumped on a tiger snake, one of the most venomous in Australia. That was a close call! Pelion Hut was packed - people can hike here from a side trail which many did that day, plus a tour group was camping next to us, it felt a bit chaotic. It was set in another beautiful meadow though so still felt magical to be there. Total expenditures: $125.50 (Overland Track, transport service)
November 7th, Day 30, Tasmania
Based on all the weather reports we knew this was likely to be our last sunny day, the forecast called for cold and rain for the rest of the trip. We woke up early to get started up Mt Oakleigh which was pretty steep but had great views at the top and of course, lovely marsupials along the way. Came back to the main Overland trail and did a side trip to Mt Doris which led to a mossy garden with beautiful views known as the "Japanese Garden" - one of the prettiest parts of the trip. Made our way to Kia Oru Hut as the clouds started rolling in and the temperature was dropping just before the rain started. It was blissfully quiet and cosy. We ended up walking 11.5 miles with the side trips. Total expenditures: $125.50 (Overland Track, transport service)
November 8th, Day 31, Tasmania
After a leisurely morning with dread of hiking in the rain, we set out for Windy Ridge Hut which wasn’t far but located over the pass which I knew from the Milford Track might not be much fun in a storm. We went to a couple of waterfalls along the way via short side trips and continued on the trail which was the most brushy and rocky it had been. The weather picked up and at one point a very large branch fell right between Koji and I - it could have been pretty bad had it hit one of us. Once at the top of the pass the rain turned to snow, then hail, it was so cold! We reached Windy Ridge Hut by mid-afternoon and met up with the other couples we had met on the trail. The Australians were so happy to get to see snow! We were not, I love snow when I’m planning for it but it’s just a slushy mess to me most of the time. It was quite a novelty to the Australians who were so excited about it which was fun to be around. We all had to work to get to the business of drying clothes and getting warm as the temperatures were very low. Once we warmed up we had a relaxing evening since we’d only hiked 8.5 miles that day, albeit in the toughest conditions of the trail. Total expenditures: $125.50 (Overland Track, transport service)
November 9th, Day 32, Tasmania
We only had to get a short distance of less than 6 miles to Narcissus Hut Hut today, as we were scheduled to take the water taxi from there to the Overland finish point at Lake St Clair National Park the next day. Our friends were all hiking through without the water taxi, an extra 11 miles. The weather was better, less cold and rain than the previous day, more of a day-long drizzle with occasional gusts of wind, so still not really comfortable. We got to Narcissus and ventured down the trail along the lake to Echo Hut, before heading back up the trail, managed just over 15 miles. Saw more pademelons, we saw them daily on this and every trail, they are one of my favorite animals now, plus wombats and wallabies and several birds. Some of the trail was set over planks that were completely submerged in water and mud so once again we got very wet. Made it back to Narcissus and found the original group of highschool girls we’d left on the first night there, although they were significantly quieter this time, apparently they were getting tired. I was actually very impressed by this group of young women who gossiped loud and continuously, yet made such a difficult journey together. The tiny hut was packed with all of us so at least we all stayed warm. We went outside to the dock for dinner in hopes of spotting the platypus known to live there but after a freezing hour I went in while Koji stayed out…and spotted the platypus once I was back at the hut, ugh. Total expenditures: $125.50 (Overland Track, transport service)
November 10th, Day 33, Tasmania
Woke up early to look for platypus which I didn’t see but saw lots of wombats and pademelons. The girls from our hut went out and saw the platypus right after I left the lakeside of course. We took the 9:30 water taxi to the lodge at Lake St. Clair where the hike ends. We took showers and met up with our friends from the trail. The people we met on this trail really added to the experience, they were some of the nicest and most interesting people I’ve ever met and it was great to meet up with them again. We finally had to say goodbye as we met our guide for the trip down to Hobart.
Comments