LIfe is a Rainbow

South Coast Track December 23-29th

After experiencing the Overland track I really wanted to do some harder walks in Tasmania. After some research and help from cousin Mark we decided to do the South Coast track. It’s an 85km walk between Melaleuca in the west to Cockle Creek in the east. To get to Melaleuca we have the option of boat, walking or flying. We chartered a light plane and flew in on a tiny single engine Cessna 172. It managed to get in a few good photos from the air, including Hobart and the Ironbound ranges we were going to have to cross on day 3

Day 1

The flight was at 11.30am but kept getting delayed due to wind. We eventually got up at about 5pm and got to Melaleuca at 6pm. Howling wind and a bit of sideways rain we walked the 3 ½ hours through buttongrass plains to our campspot along the beach. Bits of fishing rope, buoys and whale bones it was a scene out of Gilligan’s Island.

Day 2

A good walk with a lot of mud and a few rivers to cross. Wet boots from now on! We were extremely lucky to spot a Tasmanian tree frog, which is endemic to Tasmania.

Day 3

Today we had to get over the Ironbound ranges. It took all day. Very steep – 900m ascent over 6km, then back down again in very muddy conditions. So not many photos. It was Christmas day. We were so tired. There were a few other walkers at this spot. I managed to fall head first into the creek.

Day 4

It was to be pancakes for breakfast being Christmas and all, but it just didn’t work on the little Trangia cooker. No butter, no cast iron frying pan and no spatula. So I had pancake mixture instead. Today was a short easy day walk. There was mud. Prion Beach is 4kms long with huge ribbons of leather kelp washed up to shore along with bottles, ropes, fishing stuff and random rubbish. We saw a big rubber thing with a light in it. I later found out it was a piece of deep sea equipment used to measure seismic activity. We also saw a dead seal washed up and half eaten. Teeth like a dog. At the end of Prion beach we crossed the lagoon with the provided boats. It took about an hour and the whole time it was hailing and raining on us. The photo with Anthea in the boat has Precipitous bluff in the background. I hope to come back for it another time. We set up in the rain and we were completely soaked. We had to cook in the tent.

Day 5

This day was an extremely long day (about 4 hours walking) and we were feeling pretty lazy and wet by then. We decided to camp at Surprise Bay which is probably the best spot on the track. In the distance are little islands, I think Flat Top and Round Top islands. . I managed to capture one beautiful sunset. The light and colours are amazing. It’s not always like this, often being overcast or spitting.

Day 6

We had a huge day ahead of us. We walked to Granite Beach about 2 ½ hours. Then it was off to Cape Rivulet. It ended up being a 10 hour day all up, which included about 4-5 hours of mud. Serious above the knee depth mud. We got to Cape Rivulet and a man we had chatted with (then known as the poet) was having a naked swim in the beach. We had to cross the rivulet near the beach because it was the shallowest section. But he was getting out of the surf and we were worried he might want to chat with us without putting his clothes back on. We waded through the rivulet up to the waist and Anthea nearly got swept away. So much for being shallow! The poet did put his clothes on and had a chat with us. The campsites were busy and a few surfers were around. We looked around for a flat spot but came across a big black snake so we decided to get out of the place. We ended up having to walk for over an hour to the next campsite called Lion Rock.

Day 7

The last day. About 3 hours walk. We set up the SPOT PLB (personal locator beacon) so we could send a msg to Mark & Esther saying we were on our way out. We passed a lot of walkers on their way in for a day walk and heard about QLD floods & Sydney to Hobart yacht race.

When Mark picked us up we headed for a café for a hamburger with the lot. Later that night we had T-bone and a good sleep. Hopefully we’ll get back to do a few more walks in the area. It was a challenging walk but not too hard. Beautiful, undisturbed, and rugged.

Tasmania - Hobart, Kettering, Port Arthur...

We’ve been in TAS since December 1^st. After the Overland Track my cousin called me and we’ve been staying there pretty much ever since. Mark & Esther took us to Bruny Island one day, and we drove to Port Arthur on Tasman Peninsula and spent a few days around there. Tasmania is beautiful. It’s quiet. People don’t care too much about making money. Everyone is friendly. You can park 5 minutes walk from the main street without having to feed the meter. Everyone knows everyone. We ran into some people we met on the overland track. We did all our xmas shopping in one day at Salamanca markets! Staying with my cousin & his family has been awesome. We met Kealy who lives in Sandy Bay (the oldest) then Grace who comes home to do her washing (just finished school) and Ben who is a nonstop talking machine who loves music! Esther has been teaching Anthea about growing vegetables & cooking and me and Mark have had time to catch up since there wasn’t much time last time we saw him at the wedding. We also did a 3 day walk with his son Ben in Douglas Apsley National Park.

Mark & Esther live on a hill above the bay at Kettering. 9 acres. Dogs, cat, ducks, sheds, wood chopping and all that. Spectacular view of Bruny. Unpredictable weather. We got hailed on yesterday, and it was sunny! But not cold. Haven’t had to get out the thermals. Sun light from 5.30am to 9.30pm.

Tomorrow (23^rd) we’re flying in a little Cessna with Tasair to Melaleuca – Australia’s most southern point (besides Antarctic territory) to walk the South Coast Track. It’s a 7 day stroll back to civilization weather pending to Cockle Creek where we’ll be picked up on 29^th December. We’ve just spent most of today shopping, preparing and packing. We’ve got pancake mix and lemon & sugar for Christmas day somewhere on the track.

Merry Christmas & we’ll update you not too long after we get back!

Photos:

1. Cooking lesson from Esther

2. Port Arthur

3. Lime Bay coal mine for Port Arthur prisoners

4. Maingon Bay

5, 6, 7. Port Arthur.

8. Esther & Mark doing the Toyota jump (my dad started it)

9. Anthea at Salamanca Markets

10. A chocolate moment at Douglas Apsley Park with Ben

11. One-Man Tent

12. Ben & Mark on Nichols Cap with Nichols Needles in the background

13. Ben jumping into the pool at Heritage Falls (it was freezing)

14. Us doing the Toyota jump!

Tasmania - The Overland Track

The Overland Track is Australia’s most famous walking trail. It is on par with Kepler & Milford in NZ, and others around the world. Many international people come to walk this track.

The overland crosses through Cradle Mountain – Lake St Clair National Park and is real wilderness. We didn’t hear any music, cars, machinery, planes the whole time we were there. The toilets are pit, the huts are minimal, the water is from the creek or tank and there is no electricity.

There are mountain peaks, forests, alpine moorlands, waterfalls, lakes and tarns. The weather is unpredictable with snow not uncommon in the summer. Wildlife is abundant and there are many species of animals such as the and plants endemic to Tasmania on the Overland. We easily spotted plants such as the Sassafras (can be used in beer), pandani, waratah, pencil pine & scoparia. Animals we saw included wedge tailed eagle, yellow-tailed black cockatoo, Tasmanian native hen (chasing a pademelon around a shrub!), southern boobook owl, pink robin, black currawong & ravens, echidnas, wombats, Tasmanian pademelon (like a smaller wallaby), possums, mice, lizards, snakes & frogs. Unfortunately we didn’t see any Eastern quolls, Tasmanian devils or Tasmanian tigers (not officially seen since 1934).

Preparing

Driving to Lake St Clair from Davenport our GPS navigator took us through dirt roads. There were many huge rumbling logging trucks going as fast as possible past us. Some trucks were empty, while others were full. It was a little frightening to realize how close logging is to the park, and that Tasmania’s forests are “working forests” as one sign said. By that I assume the sign was referring to economical work rather than ecological, otherwise there wouldn’t be logging trucks. We found a spot just down the road by a lake to stay the night and prepare our packs. We’d done the shopping and scrutinized every thing we packed. We decided to take 2 dehydrated meals. We ended up only eating one though. We only took one tin (pineapple) and one jar (spaghetti sauce).

Day 1

We chartered a driver to take us from Cynthia Bay where we left our van (the end of the track) to Cradle Mountain (the start of the track).

Imagine if the character Sharon out of Kath n’ Kim had a mother who was a racing car driver, except the racing car was a Toyota Hiace. That would be our driver. Average speed was about 120km per hour. Windy roads. Anthea asked me to open the window because she felt car sick too! We stopped in Queenstown for a break before heading up to Cradle where it was raining.

The 1^st day’s walk was pretty short – 10kms with one big ascent where we had to pull ourselves up by the chain rail. It took about 4 hours with wind and rain making it a bit difficult. But it wasn’t cold.

At Waterfall Hut it was packed. We left at 2.30 and got there at 7.30 so everyone was settled in. We unpacked our tent on one of the already crowded tent platforms away from the hut. It was a nice night. There was a warden at the hut who loved his volunteer job. He also loved wombats and we had a good time listening to his stories about them.

Day 2

This was a long day. We walked to Windemere Hut (7.75km) and continued on to Pelion Hut (16.75kms). All up it was 8.5 hours walking. This was a big hut and there were many people. We staked out a bunk for the night. It was here we met many people. There was the family (Carol, Marty, daughter Shannon (also trumpet girl), and her friend Helen), the German Gentleman, the German doctor, the reader (who turned out to be Israeli), the German girl (Annette), the Asian Crew (2 guys and a girl, one of the guys did the Larpinta 12 days in NT all by himself), the two women, the French explorer man. There were many more, but these are the ones that would definitely star in Carol’s opera she was working on along the way called “The Track – An Opera in 7 Huts”.

Pelion Hut had beautiful backdrop to Mount Oakleigh. We didn’t climb it coz we were off the next day to climb Mount Ossa.

Day 3

We are in real mountain land now. Mountains everywhere. The landscape before was more flat and grassland.

We climbed Mount Ossa, Tasmania’s highest peak at 1617 metres high. At the top there was snow and kids were having snow fights. It was pretty hot so the snow was kind of unexpected. It was a tough walk. After lunch we had a little nap. On the climb down we saw the fellows of the Asian crew taking “natural” photos of each other!

When we got down I discovered a bird had unzipped the top pocket of my pack and removed my headlight!

We went on to Kia Ora Hut. It was small so we stayed in the tent on a platform.

Day 4

This was a short day (about 3 hours). Along the way we visited Hartnett Falls and the historic trappers hut called Du Cane.

When we reached Bert Nichols Hut at Windy Ridge we could not believe our eyes. It was huge! As big as a house. It had 3 bedrooms, a drying room, and a huge kitchen/living room. Ofcourse there was no electricity and the pit toilet was a few minutes away, but the view on west side of Mount Geryon and The Acropolous was awesome. There was a hut ranger and he was very interesting to talk to. They do 8 days in the park, then have 6 off. What a job!

Day 5

This day we ventured off the Overland track heading west to Pine Valley. This was a beautiful forest area and after reaching the hut after some rain and wind we went up the mountain to the Labyrinth. We stayed the night in the hut. The French explorer man told us in a French accent about a small mammal that comes out at night so we should hang up our food. And at 10.30 when all was quiet a mouse came out to rustle some plastic bags. It visited each of us on the bottom bunks and caused a lot of nuisance for such a small mouse!

Day 6

We planned to climb the Acropolis. But the rain and wind meant it was not recommended in such weather. So after hanging about talking to everyone we decided to walk out. It was 3 hours to Narcissus Hut where the ferry stops. We got there at 12.30. We met lots of people there including a mother whose son also learnt violin with my old teacher. The rain wasn’t heavy so we decided to save our $76 and opt for the 5.5 hour walk over the 30 minute ferry ride. It was a really great rainforest walk with tall trees and ferns with moss covering everything. After 2 hours we got to Echo Point Hut for a break and read in the communication book about all the horror experiences with the resident rat and visiting possums. We’re glad we didn’t stay there! It was a further 3 hours walk and we finally got out about 7.30. Along the way leeches continually attacked us. One planted itself on Anthea’s left cheek, performing cartwheels towards her eye, while one got on my leg inside my gaiter. At the end, everyone who caught the ferry was sitting in the restaurant by a large glass window and they all stared at us as we walked on by!

We ended up chatting to the ‘honeymoon couple’ and they were very nice and gave us the key to the showers at the campsite. We didn’t stay there coz it was overpriced, and still had to put $1 coins in for hot water.

After cleaning up we drove to Derwent River pub. We opted not to have the wallaby fillets. Instead Anthea had roast of the day and I had beef vindaloo curry with 2 boags 10 oz and sticky date pudding. It was a good meal, but honestly I can’t say that I was seriously starving. We packed really good food for the hike, which was much better than our other hikes.

Although the overland track was the longest walk we’ve done (81.9kms not including sidetrips), it certainly was not difficult. There was a lot of mud, at times up to knee depth, and wearing knee height gaitors and my new leather Scapa boots with goretex lining with wool blend socks helped. I didn’t get blisters even though the boots were new. There was some rain for which we had goretex jackets and overpants, but it wasn’t cold and themals weren’t worn. Considering we were carrying 7 days food our packs weren’t too heavy. Even though there are huts you still have to carry a tent. The huts can be full, or maybe you want some privacy, or the huts have resident mice, rats or visiting possums. All campsites have water tanks and creeks near by, pit toilets and sheltered tent platforms so it’s not as if you’re stuck in the mud trying to spark up your Trangia in the wind & rain. Overall the Overland track is a very comfortable (easy) walk with many interesting features of mountains, fauna and flora. We would like to experience the track when it’s colder, and free (April to October)

My warnings, thoughts & suggestions:

· It’s expensive! $160 each to do the walk during months November to March. $60 for the 2 month vehicle pass to all TAS parks. I’m not complaining. There are huts all the way along, water tanks, hut wardens, rangers, helipads, bridges, decking and platforms everywhere. You can see where the money is going, but be warned!

· Book ahead! It’s popular

· Transport – Can’t Tasmania Parks & Wildlife do something about this? It’s a one-way walk from north to south. Go figure. Ofcourse people want to park their car in the south and get transport to the north without paying $400 for a private charter or catching 3 buses and spending a night in Launceston which would cost the same as a private charter. TAS parks & wildlife should just by a Hiace and do a shuttle service.

· Don’t catch the ferry from Narcissus Hut to the end. You haven’t finished the walk otherwise! The last leg of the walk is probably the best. The ferry cost $38 for a 30 minute ride on a 24 ft motorboat. Your $38 would be better off spent at the Derwent River pub on some good grub & a beer

· Don’t stay at the caravan park at Cynthia Bay at the end. After seeing it and sneaking in to pay for a shower I agree with this review: http://home.vicnet.net.au/~badger04/parks_t2.htm#cynthiabaylakestclair. Instead stay by the lake when you go 1km up from Derwent River pub to where there is a sign for a boat ramp and camp out by the lake

· Take wet weather gear, thermals, gaiters, leather waterproof boots and salt for leeches.

· The Info pack has the Overland track book by John Chapman, a flora & fauna guide and a waterproof map. Although none of this is essential it is really interesting so spend the $48.50 and get it when you book.

We are now planning on our next walking trip. If John & Monica Chapman write it, we’ll walk it! Most probably the South Coast Track in South West Tasmania. You charter a light air plane to Melaleuca and then walk out to Cockle Creek, 84kms. We’ll see…

I’ll probably put together a short photo video clip of more photos of the walk to post up later on youtube. Will keep you posted.