The Overland Track, Tasmania: 5 Reasons it's become one of my top hikes

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.

Looking down towards dove lake car park

Dove lake 

Mt Oakleigh

Looking down on the pinnacles

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.

Barn Bluff summit

The steep scramble on Mt Ossa gully

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.

Wombat

Black Currawong

Wallaby

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.

Clear weather on the start day

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.

Steps in the woods

Filling the water bottle

Our last night accommodation (shame there was no heater)

The walkway to the ferry jetty and our way out back to civilisation

The Whitby lucky duck on top of Mt Ossa

The Kepler Track; An adventure above the clouds

The Kepler Track is a 64km 'Great Walk' circuit on the fringe of New Zealand's Fiordland. It explores native beech forest, sandy lake shores and stunning alpine scenery. It was originally built to take pressure off the nearby Milford and Routeburn tracks but instead has turned into an easily accessible classic trip. You can run it, tent it, winter it or even day trip some of it. This is a super friendly track, which we decided to do in three days.

Two days after we had finished the Milford Track and we were again packing our bags for another 'Great Walk'. Once we had dried and sorted our kit, we knew this time was going to be different, this time we had clear skies and light winds forecasted. So with all our normal kit sorted I managed to convince Lucy that a bottle of wine was also essential.

Kiwi's!

 The 13.8km and 700m of ascent soon fell away to 4 hours of walking. The journey from road, to beech trees, to alpine tussocks seems to be becoming a familiar trend through NZ, but they always seem to give enjoyment and interest. We arrived at Luxmore hut in the early afternoon and settled in quickly. Luxmore hut coupled with the good weather forecast was my personal reason for buying into this 'Great Walk'. Being sat at 1080m and above the tree line, the views from the kitchen window are spectacular, with views of lake Te Anau and the Southern Alps.

Fern

Path to Peaks?

Stairs to Lake

Gap in the trees

Afternoon entertainment at Luxmore hut comes in the form of a limestone cave only ten minutes walk away. Being two of the first up to the hut that day meant we had the cave to ourselves and gave us the perfect opportunity for some cave photography. We weren't expecting too much compared to the Yorkshire pot holes and after a few tighter bits which had to be stooped and some photos we were content with our brief explore and returned to the warmth of the sun, this is earthquake country after all.

Cave entrance

Flow stone

Creepy flowstone

Meeting up at the hut with two doctors we walked with on the Milford Track, really highlighted the social aspect of NZ's Great Walks. Crisps, dips and wine on the huts balcony made for a fantastic night on top of admiring the view down to the lake and Te Anau flatter farm lands.
A clear forecast and a hut at 1080m, who could resist watching the sunrise? 6am and very cold feet, led us up the steps to the rise behind the hut and views across Te Anua and a beautifully coloured sky. Vibrant purple, mixed with a deep blue sky, framed by the dark valley and high clouds, gave a spiritual start to the day, quickly followed by a quick nap.

Lucky duck watching sunrise

Sunrise

Day break

The folks down at the Department Of Conservation (DOC) described the second day as six hours across the exposed tops and with our weather we didn't want a minute less. Big views across the seamlessly endless Lake Te Anau, a 10min summit detour and a cheeky Kea that stopped Lucy from using one of the shelter toliets, gave an unforgettable day across the alpine tops. The almost  first choice of beds meant we got a great corner all to ourselves and after the longest hut chat we've experienced (40mins) we took to Iris Burn falls for some night photography. A cracker of a day which we were sad to see end, especially as we knew the next day was going to be a long one.

Stairway to heaven

Big views

Clearing clouds

The cheeky Kea that stopped Lucy from using the loo

Haast eagle...?

Skyline

Iris Burn Falls

Stream

Bank and stream

From the Iris Burn hut back to the Control gates car park is 32km of fairly flat track, so we decided to make this our last day. We knew that we couldn't hang around as we wanted to finish in enough time to relax at the campsite before passing out. Although we had a good pace, we found it hard not to stop and soak in the amazing views at the spaced clearings. Lunch and a brief encounter of the ranger at Monturau hut and we knew it was time to move on, sightly jealous of the fun our Israeli friends would have at the hut chat that night. Despite what crazy old mountain runners say, I can definitely understand why people describe the last bit as 'the boring bit', 16km of flat winding track that in the end, I was glad I did. Suspension bridges, nice little views and the most important, the overall sense of achievement and completion.

Beach time

We chose to do the Kepler Track the day before we started it, when we knew we would have nice weather and the nice company of the lads we had already met. This coupled with the fantastic position of the track across the tops, made this trip one that seemed to nudge the recent wet memories of the Milford out of our minds. The Kepler has been a top NZ hiking experience for us and has created a very tough pedestal for the next adventure. The brochure claimed to deliver an adventure above the clouds and I am happy to say that it has lived up to its claim.

The long path home