I walked the Overland Track, which is a pretty famous long distance hiking trail in Tasmania, Australia. This is a summary of the 8 days, in which I walked 131 km and covered nearly 160 km in total.

On Cradle Mountain summit.
On Cradle Mountain summit.

Trip Overview

  • Name: Overland Track
  • Location: Cradle Mountain - Lake St Clair national park, Tasmania, Australia
  • Date: End of December 2013
  • Conditions: Summer
  • Total distance walked: 131 km
  • Number of days: 8
  • Peaks climbed: 4

Day 1 - Ronny Creek, Marion’s Lookout, Cradle Mountain summit to Waterfall Valley Hut

My journey did not start out too well. It was raining quite heavily during the night. The tent took a long time to dry in the morning. I was already late when I left the campsite. However, the weather was gorgeous this morning. And the queue of mainly day trippers and only a small fraction of Overland Track walkers was long at the Cradle Mountain visitor’s centre. The park management runs shuttle buses from the visitor’s centre to the actual starting points of a couple of shorter trails and the start of the Overland Track.

After about 45 minutes in the queue and another 20 min on the shuttle bus, I arrived at Ronny Creek. That is where the Overland Track starts. I entered my data and the start and expected end date into the Overland Track log book. This is how the park rangers keep track of all the long-distance walkers, in case something goes wrong on the way. At this time, I had not decided yet if I should walk for six days only or do the extension and stay a bit longer. In any case, I had packed food for eight days plus a bit extra for security reasons.

The Track started on a boardwalk that led me through buttongrass into a light forest. The first major sight was at Crater Lake. There was a small boat hut from which you could have a good overview of the small lake. The trail led further up to a plateau from which I could see both Dove Lake on one side and Crater Lake on the opposite side. The area was full of day-trippers who came up from Dove Lake car park below. A rather steep section leads up to Marion’s Lookout. The steepest parts are secured with metal instalments and chains. This section was a bit annoying with the heavy pack on my back. You could have a great overview over Dove Lake from about halfway up and of course from the Lookout itself. Most day-trippers did not go further than this.

The Track led up and onto a plateau. The view for the next days would be dominated by Cradle Mountain (on the left) and the characteristic shape of Barn Bluff (on the right).

Day 2 - Waterfall Valley Hut, Barn Bluff summit to Windermere Hut

Day 3 - Windermere Hut to New Pelion Hut

Day 4 - New Pelion Hut, Pelion Gap, Kia Ora Hut, Mount Ossa summit to Kia Ora Hut

Day 5 - Kia Ora Hut, Ducane Hut, D’Alton Falls, Harnet Falls to Bert Nichols Hut

Day 6 - The end? No! Bert Nichols Hut to Pine Valley Hut

Day 7 - Pine Valley Hut, Acropolis summit to Narcissus Hut

Day 8 - Narcissus Hut to Lake Saint Clair visitor centre

Summary

The Overland Track leads on narrow planks through amazingly picturesque country. Luckily, the weather was sunny and reasonably warm most of the days.
The Overland Track leads on narrow planks through amazingly picturesque country. Luckily, the weather was sunny and reasonably warm most of the days.
View down to Kia Ora hut from the slopes of Mt. Ossa.
View down to Kia Ora hut from the slopes of Mt. Ossa.