The Overland Track

December 22, 2015 by ramblingsofanextrememan 3 Comments

After leaving Canunda National Park we made our way to Bairnsdale to drop the boat off, then to Melbourne to catch the ferry to Tasmania. Once we were there the first thing on our list was to hike the overland track.

And hike we did. The one word I would use to describe the overland track is moist. Our shoes were moist. Our socks were moist. Our jocks were moist. Our clothes were moist. Our tent was moist.

In between the rain we saw a fair bit of wildlife, wallabies, wombats and echidnas.

You meet all kinds of interesting people when you do hikes like this, we met a bunch of doctors from warnambool, a bloke that was the project manager on the WiFi project at CSIRO, some Dutch molecular biologists and a lady who once abused me and my friends for having a well deserved wee in the Jan Juc surf beach car park. Luckily she didn’t remember yelling out of her car “Have some decorum!” or me yelling back “Here’s your decorum!” while doing my best impression of a helicopter.

The Currawongs are well trained thieves in this part of the world. They’ve taught themselves how to pull off rain covers and undo zips on hiking packs. At the intersection to Mt Ossa a few hikers left their bags behind to hike the summit, when we got there possessions were scattered everywhere, baby wipes, trail food, even wallets.

The photos below show our experience of much of the overland track. In the first photo there’s a scenic mountain backdrop to the campsite, lovely. In the second photo it’s completely gone. One German hiker said she wished there wad photos of all the beautiful scenery we couldn’t see at each hut.

Getting to the overland track can be a bit of a logistical nightmare in itself. While there’s a few public transport options from Launceston and Hobart to the start and finish on certain days there’s limited transport options between the start and the end if you want to leave your car at one end.
We wanted to leave our car at the end of the hike and get a bus to the start. The only option was $140 per person, and that was the reduced rate as the bus had some other passengers. When you add that transport cost onto the $200 per person hiking fee and the $60 fee to drive your car into the park it becomes quite the expensive endeavour.

FACTS:
How to get there:
There’s a public bus from Launceston and Hobart to the start and end of the track. (Tassie Link and McDermotts Coaches) There’s also shuttle buses between the start and the end, these are expensive and must be pre booked as they don’t run every day (Tasmanian hikes, Outdoor Tasmania). It’s really worthwhile organising your transport before booking the hike.

Cost:
The hike costs $200 per person. You also need to buy a parks pass which costs $60 per vehicle and lasts for 2 months.