I had never really considered rating and listing past trails and trips, each one for me an adventure into a new part of the world, normally. Then I stumbled across besthikes blog, that not only states the best multi day in the world, but list's them into a top ten bucket list. This is where I was introduced to the Overland Track and since we were down in this corner of the world, it was the perfect opportunity to take a trip over to Tasmania.
Being the first multi day walk in Australia for me, I had an open mind and no pre judgements for the tenth best walk in the world. Luckily for me, it was an amazing trip. It was clear that a number of factors contributed to making this an awesome trip, but I believe the five reasons below took a good trip to the next level.
•The Unique Landscape
The dolerite mountain tops of the cradle mountain national park have a very unique stature. I was blown away by the tall dominating rock towers, rising out of the green bush that rolls around their bases. The dark towers that were formed by heat and pressure a few millennia ago, textured by columns and pinnacles, that would have been surrounded by glaciers during the ice age, which carved the surrounding bushland into rolling hills, deep U shaped valleys and extensive plateau's.
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| Looking down towards dove lake car park |
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| Dove lake |
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| Mt Oakleigh |
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| Looking down on the pinnacles |
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| Looking down the gully on Mt Ossa |
•The Possible Side Trips
On top of the 80km trail, The Overland Track offers a range of side trips to complement the adventure. Varying from tracks to the summits of some of the dolerite towers, including the tallest mountain in Tasmania; Mt Ossa, ventures to viewing platforms of impressive waterfalls, peaceful alpine lakes and to top it off, it even has a whole valley to explore, which in itself has more side trips to summits and hidden plateau's. I almost felt like a kid in a candy shop, with at least one side trip for every day. I'll have to admit that I found it near impossible to walk past some of the cloud covered summits without tackling their trails.
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| Barn Bluff summit |
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| The steep scramble on Mt Ossa gully |
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| The full and impressive D'Anton waterfall |
•The Wildlife
With Tasmania being detached from mainland Australia, it has a number of endemic animals, with the most famous being the Tasmanian Devil. Although we didn't see the shy and nocturnal devil, we did stumble across some sort of bone filled scat and due to our lack of knowledge in all poo related matters, we decided that it almost certainly was devil poo, or maybe even the traces of a thought to be extinct, Tasmanian Tiger. Although we didn't see any devil's, the range of furry and seemingly exotic critters was more than enough to captivate an English hiker like myself. Our trip was filled with Black Currawongs (crows), that can raid zipped pockets and possums that are so chilled you can practically stroke them (touching one's tail counts as petting... right?). Then you have the nonchalant wombats and the erratic wallabies that seem to appear from nowhere and everywhere.
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| Wombat |
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| Black Currawong |
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| Wallaby |
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| Possums |
•The People
Heading on to the track a few weeks before the summer booking finished meant that there were only six others who started the same day as us. Compared to the maximum capacity of sixty four, we knew it was going to be a quiet trip. Even though it was a quiet trip, because most people tend to plan the same days and use the same huts, we had six days to get to know the people who shared the trail with us. From six people, there were three nationalities from all around the world. It's easy to image the multi cultural experience the trip would offer in summer, with comradery against the weather, a wealth of trail tales and a variety of new card games to learn.
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| Clear weather on the start day |
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| Lucy on the chains |
•The Detachment
Everyone likes a bit of escape from their work, routines and modern life, be it a spa retreat, beach break or yoga classes, but the Overland Track hands out a whole new form of detachment from the modern world. Just like any adventure where you carry everything you'll need for the foreseeable future on your back, the Overland tops off the experience with no man made infrastructure (except from the huts and trail) in sight, no light pollution and a very real sense of being in the back of beyond. The renewed sense of clarity as I stepped off the ferry, back into civilisation and in front of a bowl of chips was a very satisfying moment.
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| Steps in the woods |
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| Filling the water bottle |
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| Our last night accommodation (shame there was no heater) |
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| The walkway to the ferry jetty and our way out back to civilisation |
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| The Whitby lucky duck on top of Mt Ossa |
