Overland Track ... part 3 of 3

...continued from part 2...

Typical morning for Kimbo... groggy until coffee in bed.


... but one sip, and she turns into a ninja.


And that anxiety turns into eagerness to face the rainy cold day. She usually then does a long howl, and screams, "BRING IT ON!"


Suspension bridge... I was teaching Kimbo some Japanese while walking on the trail... and sometimes another hiker would come up from behind wondering what was going on... but it's all worth it, as now she can ask, "what is the name of your stinky dog?" in Japanese.


At the Echo Point Hut... by far the smallest hut we stayed in. Funny how the huts on Lake St. Clair were in the worst shape.... the new windy ridge hut cost 1.2 million to build last year, mainly due to helicoptor costs for material transport... there is a ferry that goes to these huts 3 times a day! Am I missing something?


Check out Joe's feet! He had been hiking in his "work" boots...


By this time my IPA stove was on it's last legs... not really working too well...


There is a ferry that eliminates the need to hike the last 16 km of the Overland Track... stopping at Narcissus and Echo Point. "Coincidentally" this section of the track is horribly unmaintained. By far the worst section of the Overland track, we figured the private ferry business prevents maintanence from happening, and the NPS succumbs to their every wish...


The last few huts, Narcissus, Pine Valley, and Echo Point are well regarded among rodents as fine places to harass humans... We took lots of precautions as we saw some scat, but we didn't wake up with rodents crawling over our faces like some of the other campers had at Narcissus on this same night...


Leaches... are one reason you want to wear some gaitors... they attach unnoticed onto your skin, suck your blood, and leave you with a bloody, itchy mark. They secrete some anti-coagulant, so it keeps bleeding... but other than that they are very cute. I nearly made it out without any, but I found one on my leg as I saw the Lake St. Clair Visitor Center...


Before...


And after...


Found another one crawling on my bag... this is what they look like skinny...


From the visitor center, it's 5 km to the Derwent Bridges hotel... we quickly hitched a ride there...


To quench our thirst... now THIS was good. Slowly the rest of the hiking crowd started mulling in. And since the weather was getting worse, the hikers behind us all took the ferry in, and skipped a day, so there were probably 30 familiar faces to eat, drink, and chat with. Great night.


The next morning came with it a stark realization. The tent. The tent we never used on the hike was missing... and we traced it back to the Echo Point Hut... where I had offered to carry out another hiker's backpack as she had badly twisted her ankle. Anyway, carrying the bag wasn't a problem, but amidst all the gear I had forgot to pack the tent... so we hitched a ride back to the visitor center... and off I went... 11 km back to the hut, praying that my tent was still there.

... and it was.


But running back to the tent meant we missed the only bus out of Derwent Bridges, where the weather is usually bad... so after an unsuccessful hour of attempting to get a hitch in the rain, we went back to the pub, had a pint...and stayed another night.


The next morning, I was determined to get out of Derwent Bridges and stuck that thumb up in the air with a 10$ smile... and after about 30 min, our 4th or 5th car picked us up... "where you going?"... "out of here... anywhere!" Boy were we happy. And with in 10 min of driving out of rainy, cloudy Derwent Bridges with nothing to do... we were in sunny country roads listening to transcendental meditation music with our new best friend Jonas from Holland.


In New Norfolk, where we got dropped off, we had a nice meal, did some shopping, checked e-mail, and saw this guy with a beautiful mullet... before catching a bus to Hobart.


In Hobart, we recharged our phone, I purchased "Audacity of Hope" and hopped on the bus from back to Lonnie (got the last 2 spots on the bus)... all in the span of 20 min or so.


Back in Lonnie, Vicky from warmshowers picked us up and fed us with a beautiful meal. I had a buzz from being out of Derwent, and eating good food for the next 48 hours...

In conclusion, we both agreed that this hike was worth it… the transport in and out from the hike needs to be significantly improved to keep costs down, but this was a wonderful opportunity to see such a different environment than we are used to. It's a shame that the Overland Track is so popular, and other very beautiful tracks are unheard of... but that is why so much $$$ is required.

Doing this hike made me well aware... and grateful of the Sierras... where the weather is bar-none, the mountains are larger, the tracks are well maintained, fish abundunt, and the hiking is FREE. Seriously folks... if you live close to the Sierras... take advantage of it, it's an amazing mountain range that offers so much. If I lived in Aussie I'd be dreaming of the Sierras everyday...

P.S.... I've had many different opinions on this, and I think my mom was right... I may have a tapeworm... everyone I have stayed or eaten with on this trip has suggested the possibility...

Overland Track... part 2 of 3

...continued...

After 2 glorious days of full sunshine, we had a colder morning, but it really never rained on us. Day 3 was a longer hike (10 miles) to the next hut, New Pelion. The hike was mostly flat, went through some dense forests (the type where you wouldn't have been surprised to see elves running around).



Boardwalk...


No boardwalk... we're beginning to see what the $$$ is for.


In running up Mt. Oakleigh, I ran past the first group of guided trekkers we've seen. The overland track allows 60 hikers a day, 34 individual, and the rest are guided. Some of the guided groups camp out in the "group camp"… but the "Chardonnay Tour" sleeps in their own private huts. Alps-stylee with cooks, wine, guides making you tea, carrying most of your gear etc… at 2500$/person. The only prob I had was that these private huts were built by the government and run by a private company… I sure hope a lot of the $ goes to the NPS… and can pay for maintenance. Anyway, I'd have hated to been in this group… I took off at 3:15, passed them at 4 pm, got back to the hut at 5, and they didn't get back til 8… I heard they left at 12pm… wow.


Definitely the least maintained side-track... lots of muddy trails, and parts of the track was basically climbing tree roots up the cliff side in a jungle. I felt like I was back climbing volcanoes in Central America.


There's a great view from the New Pelion Hut (my favorite... also the largest one) off of the wrap around balcony.


At the "secret" waterfall next to the ranger's hut. Kim with Tadashi, a great Japanese hiker we met a few days back. He's been in Aussie for a while and was his first time backpacking for sure... pretty heavy bag.


Later that night, I went out to the helipad to stare at the beautiful stars. Must've seen a 100 shooting stars, and couldn't get myself to go back in. While staring at the stars with a big grin and my bottle of whiskey, a spotted quoll jumped in my lap scaring me enough to almost spill the precious spirits. He just stared at me for a moment, realized I didn't have food and trotted off...

The next day was a long one... First we went up a pass where the popular side trip of Mt. Ossa begins. Since Kim's knee wasn't feeling so good, we decided that I'd run up them, and she'd press on to the next hut. And since Mt. Ossa was in the clouds, I went up Pelion West first.

Summit shot on Mt. Pelion West


Back to the trail junction...


I ran back to the backpack, where I found Kim still there! Talking to other hikers, and told her to get moving. I grabbed another water bottle, and started running up towards Ossa. Looking back at Mt. Pelion West... that one took a little under an hour...


Mt. Ossa is Tassie's highest peak… it was a lot of fun to scramble up, but it's small. It's like scrambling up a mountain ½ the size of Tallac… a little more technical, but from the main trail it took me under 1 hour to and fro… the guidebook says 5 hrs… It was in the clouds so I decided to Mt. Pelion West first... but it stayed in the clouds by the time I got up there.



The top of Mt. Ossa... you can make cell phone calls... as well as drink fresh water from this little pond. Great hike too. All of these peaks require a bit of a scramble. The mountains here look like decomposed Devil's Tower, and I'm sure there are 1000s of routes to be done... but you'd have to be out here many months as the weather is so bad.


After running back to the pass, I started off the trail to try to catch up to Kimbo. I scared this Echidna along the way, which was happily walking on the trail. The male Echidna... like the male Platypus has a venomous claw...


After having lunch at Kia Ora... we had a decision to make. We knew that weather was coming in, so we decided to go another 10 km to the next hut. So off we went...

On the southern section of the trail, there are sections where you have to walk over "the tree roots of death," as one hiker called them. These roots were very tricky to walk on, and caused numerous twisted ankle injuries... I luckily escaped unharmed (Kim using her ninja skillz had no problem).


There are two side trips to waterfalls on this section of the hike... well worth it. BIG waterfalls with beautiful views.


If you look carefully... you'll see Kimbo at the top of this waterfall...


Got to the New Windy Ridge hut around 7 pm after 19 km on the trail, and 15 km of side trails... a long, wonderful day after summiting 2 peaks, and passing 4 waterfalls.

More wildflowers... (bonuses for those who can ID these...)






P.S.... my favorite southern constellation?... gotta be the ship argo, which carried the Argonauts... Consisting of four parts (the stern, the keel, the sails, and my favorite part of the favorite constellation... the compass).

Overland Track... part 1 of 3

The Overland Track is easily Tasmania's, if not Australia's most famous hike… touted by many magazines, guidebooks, etc you hear about the Overland Track as if it's the only track in Australia. And we hadn't heard a single bad thing about it. So off we went... and from the pre-trip stages, this was quite a different hike compared to anything Kim and I had ever done in the past.

First… it was expensive… 150$ a person… then another 26$/person for the national park pass… then the transport (60$ one way from Launceston)… Even with the US$ being stronger than the AU$, this seemed quite outrageous to us, who are used to backpacking being a free activity.

Second… the track was very regulated… lots of rules. You have to carry a tent; you have to hike North to South, etc…

But as we hiked, although the cost and regulations could be modified, we understood and agreed with the National Park Service in their enforcement… and there are a few reasons for this. Compared to the Sierras (where I'm used to hiking) the Tasmanian backcountry is fragile. The grass can't be stepped on, the trails are muddy here (lot's of rain… 7 of 10 days on ave), and there are nice huts. Because of the fragile ecosystem, a large portion of the 86+ km track and side tracks are boardwalks, which was very easy to walk or hike on. Furthermore, as I've mentioned above, it's basically the only track you hear of oversees. It's as if New Zealand only had the Milford Track, or California only had the John Muir Trail. We've been told there are many more beautiful places to go, other than the overland track in Tassie by all the rangers and locals btw… But with such notoriety, everyone does the Overland, while many other track are neglected. Thus regulation is required to keep the numbers down, keep it safe, and to protect the ecosystem. Also, there are many huts on the trail, and most are really nice… sleeping up to 34? Because of the constant rain, snow, and otherwise terrible weather that is expected on the Overland (it snowed on the peaks on the last day) these huts are necessary, considering there are so many first timers and beginner backpackers on the trail (afterall… where could they have gone backpacking before?) In any case, the huts are nice, and the cost to maintain, or build new ones cost a lot of money as materials have to be helicoptored in.

OK, enough talk… let's get to some pics egh?

In Lonnie, while shopping for camping food, we met a bloke who led us to a health food store with good indian food packets... weehaw.

After the 3 hour shuttle (where I promptly got car sick), we arrived! Beautiful day...

Kim on the first section, up to Marion's Lookout with Dove Lake behind.

At Marion's Lookout looking out towards Cradle Mtn.

And back towards the trailhead.

Pandemelon? or a Wallaby near the Waterfall Valley Hut. They're used to people here... saw a few more cute ones.

Bunks at the Waterfall Valley Hut... typical bunk house... comes with at least one snorer on each level. Good thing we brought ear plugs.

There is drinking water at every hut... we didn't have to treat any water the entire trip... collected as rain water, safe, and tastes great.

Hanging out at the Heli Pad... all the huts have heli pads, used for emergencies and resupplies.

The overland track is a peak tagger's dream… when the weather is good. And it was good for the first 4 days… And on each of the 4 days, I got to run up at least one mountain… sometimes 2. It's always fun trying to get up a peak that says it takes 5-7 hours in under 2.

Top of Cradle Mtn...

Top of Barn Bluff... most dramatic summit in my opinion and had great weather.

View of it earlier that morning.

Miles and miles of boardwalk to protect the fragile Tassie environment.

Got back to the hut, and what was Kimbo doing? Drinking coffee ofcourse...

Went on a refreshing swim at a lake that we passed... no fishies... but the water was just as cold as the lakes in the sierras.

Second hut, bigger, and had great weather.

Other hikers taking in Vit. D at the Heli Pad.

A typical "composting" outhouse... the tanks are helicoptored out every once in a while...

Kimbo taking a capful of spirits we brought on the trip.

Lots of cute Pandemelon's at the hut... this one was still nursing.

Kim ready to go in her Humpy Smurf outfit.

...before we go to part 2...

Some wildflowers

P.S. I'm on a biography kick now… listened to "Fantastic: the life of Arnold" and started "The man called Cash" on my iPod… mostly while running. Fantastic is entertaining… The man called Cash can get a bit dull… oh and picked up Obama's book at a Target in Hobart. Will be starting that as soon as I finish Two Caravans...