The Overland Track the Australia’s most famous alpine track, traversing 65km through the high mountains of Cradle Mountain-Lake St Clair National Park. It is regularly quoted as the best multi-day hike in Australia, having comfortable huts, questionable weather, muddy terrain, and the often changing scenery. It is a designed to be completed in seven days, but you can probably manage it in six, as we did.
- Embarking on the trip
First, let me tell you how in a classic impromptu fashion, we decided to embark on this trek. I was having coffee with my friend, Sergeant Pang Jinhao, who was complaining about having to put off many things he wanted to accomplish in life. One of it was this apparently super-easy, super-scenic, 7-day trek in Tasmania. One that upon completion, promised a huge sense of self-fulfillment and that “you will feel so refreshed!”.
I was instantly sold; so I called Eirene, my more objective fiancé, to see if she was up for it.
- Eirene: Sounds like it’s very mountainous and will be quite tough.
- Sgt Pang: Oh no, the entire trail is on relatively flat land. Not much incline.
- *swipes his palm facing downwards across my eyes*
- Eirene: Seven days walking is going to be boring isn’t it?
- Sgt Pang: Nah, the landscape keeps changing at every leg – mountains, lakes, plains, forest. You arrive in comfortable cabins at the end of each day. Every day you walk only around 10km to the next cabin, with lots of time to do side trips, play cards, or go swimming.
- Eirene: Okay, is the terrain very boggy? Easy to walk?
- Sgt Pang: Some places can be slightly muddy. But don’t’ worry there’re lots of boardwalks.
- Eirene: Ok, lets go then.
As it turned out, the Sergeant was mistaken in the most critical area: The terrain. It was absolutely not flat, and impossibly muddy at some many points.
- The Terrain
This was more or less how the trek went. Some ups and some downs, some periods of flattish.
Throughout the entire hike, we had grassy paths
Sandy Paths
Long boardwalks among short shrubs
Long boardwalks among tall grass
Steep Inclines
And gentle inclines
Paths of stone
And paths of trees
- The huts where we slept
The Overland Track is a typical Australian trail – we carry everything in (gear, food, powerbanks) and we carry all our trash out.
At the end of each day, we arrive at a campsite. Some days, we choose to pitch a tent while other days it may be just too cold to sleep outdoors. The campsites are have wooden huts that are wonderfully spacious, containing bunks for sleeping, table-benches for food prep, and containers that collect rainwater from the roof to keep hikers hydrated. Within the huts displayed on the walls are information on the next leg of the Track, some history of Tasmania, as well as a couple of tips to keep your food safe from rats and currawongs (crow-like birds) that generally roam the area. Some hikers were not so lucky and had their food stolen by rats overnight. Fortunately, they had generous hut-mates (us included) who gave them some rations.
- The food we ate
The more you carry, the more you eat. We brought a substantial amount of weight, much of which was food. Eirene, weighing 36kg, carried 15kg in her bagpack. I carried 21kg while Sgt Pang took 25kg. It was a tough initial climb, but we always had good food to munch on. At first it was fresh meat and vegetables, then it evolved to longer lasting vegetables, and finally transited to canned and freeze-dried food.
Ordinarily, trekkers want to travel light. They bring freeze-dried food, where they only need add hot water and wait for the delicious mulch to rehydrate. While there are a number of different meals, the theme gets boring and eating becomes pretty much functional.
We are however not ordinary trekkers – we are newbies. We hence brought with us an entire kitchen.
Here are some of our meals: Mala vegetable and rice with deep fried nuggets
Carrot Fusilli with pan-fried vegetables
Instant Noodles with stewed pork chops
Potato Wedges with nuggets
Avocado, pork and tomato tacos
Chicken and mushroom noodles
Sardine, tuna noodles
French Toast
- Our wild encounters
Throughout the trip, there are numerous side trails that you can embark on. Hikers would typically leave go only with a smaller pack, leaving behind their heavy backpacks. Big, black birds the size of crows, called currawongs, are clever and know how to undo simple knots and unfasten velcros. As we returned from one of the side-trips, we saw the currawongs scampering away from the carnage. The damage – our entire loaf of bread, and a torn trashbag full of our trash. Others were less lucky.
Aside from those pesky currawongs flying around with a sharp eye for bright, unwatched, backpacks to scavenge for food, there are plenty of wildlife along the track. We have on multiple occasions come into contact with the more docile ground mammals digging for food. There are echidnas,
Very shy wombats,
As well as close cousins of kangaroos – the numerous pandemelons.
- How to prepare for the Overland Track:
As with any trek, the terrain matters the most. There are plenty of boardwalks, so you will mostly have your feet kept dry. However, there are a couple of areas with ankle-deep bog, so you have to be mentally, and physically prepared with gaiters. Travel smart, and travel light. Ditch the camera, use your phone for pictures, bring a spare powerbank. Every gram counts – if I had a second shot, I would have gone freeze-dried for every meal, it’d let me shed at least 5kg off my load. I found the trek to be extremely do-able for an average person who walks a park once-a-month. That said, we did not simply waltz into attempting the hike. A couple of months prior to our trip, we started taking 15km walks with weighted backpacks to condition our bodies.
I hope my short article has shed some light on what to expect. Happy trekking