So I left you with my foot poised above a dangerous snake - but before I get to that bit, here's how we got ourselves into such a perilous predicament.
The
Overland Track is a 80km bushwalk through the centre of one of Tasmania's many National Parks. The track itself passes through rainforest, over mountain tops and across buttongrass moorland. The wildlife along the length of the track is varied and interesting - and in some cases unique. The track can, however, also be notoriously unforgiving - several people have died as the weather turned from summer day to howling blizzard in a matter of minutes. So, naturally, we decided to give it a go.
We started the track on the 14th of march in portentously lovely weather.
The track quickly headed up steeply and we were quickly out of breath - not looking good for the next 80k... Taking frequent rest and water stops, we managed to negotiate the rocky terrain and managed to get up to Marian's Lookout by mid afternoon. The view from Marian's lookout is amazing.
The first night we spent on the OT we stayed at Waterfall Valley hut - the first of the track huts. By the time we reached the hut we were ready to collapse, but still had to set out our patch on the bunk area with our foam mats. That night we saw the most amazing display of stars I think I have ever seen. As the sky darkened, the stars began to appear in the cloudless sky. As we watched, first the major constellations appeared, then as we watched the rest of the milky way appeared - like a cloudy band across the sky. We stood transfixed as slowly the rest of the sky was filled in with tiny pinpricks of light until it seemed as if the whole sky was alight. There were so many stars visible that it was hard to identify constellations that are normally in plain view - such as the Southern Cross or Orion.
The next day was something of a slog - 25kms to cover (that's 15 miles-ish). We made hut 2 - Windemere - by lunchtime and stopped for a break. We found a sobering plaque nearby too.
I vowed to be more careful after seeing that plaque - but not careful enough apparently because only shortly after that I almost stepped on a deadly snake. Now normally they say that snakes hear you coming and slither silently off without you ever seeing them - so if you don't tip-toe around you should be fine. Believe me when I say that I was in no way tip-toeing around with a pack full of camping gear on my back - but apparently that wasn't enough for this snake who must be in line for least observant snake on the planet. Anyway, I was plodding down the track when, just before I planted my foot down, I saw something wriggling furiously off the path and into the undergrowth. I realised that I had narrowly avoided a potentially lethal situation: there is anti venom for the tiger snake, but given I was two days' walk into the Tasmanian bush and no way to call for a helicopter, I would have been in a distinctly sticky (and painful) situation had the little critter not decided to make room for me. I resolved to be
even more careful. Note this is
a tiger snake, not the one I almost stepped on - I was too startled to whip out the camera at the time.
Towards the end of the day we passed by Frog Flats - a campsite a few km before the hut where we took a rest - where another party said they had just seen a 1.5m tiger snake on the path. Anyway, I was quite relieved when we made Pelion hut safely and the promise of a well earned rest.
March 16th had some rain forecast and it didn't disappoint. We were quite nervous about setting out when it was chucking it down - so we waited around until the rain slackened off - after all we only had 8km to walk. So wrapped up in our wet weather gear we set out for Kia Ora hut. Unfortunately day 3 turned out to be pretty miserable all round - despite the short-ish distance, we were facing quite a climb and decent. We climbed all the way up to the 1113m Pelion Gap - where it was blowing a gale. 'scuse fingers - disposable camera.
We trudged all the way back down the other side and were MIGHTILY relieved to see Kia Ora hut appear in the distance.
Kia Ora wash room (a nearby creek). Brrrrrrr - it was SO cold!
Day 4 was still a bit wet, but although we had another 20+km day, it was blissfully flat and easy walking. We finally made the end of our journey - Narcissus Hut towards the end of day 4. We had heard that there may be platypuses nearby - so we sat out on the boat jetty for an hour or so watching. Finally, just when we were about to give up, Trace spotted something floating about in the river and to our surprise it dove down into the water displaying a wide, flat tail - our elusive platypus! We watched him swim around for a while before he got too far down river and we lost sight of him.
That night was a difficult one in Narcissus Hut. Unfortunately we were woken several times by the hut's other residents (mice!) who were trying to eat our remaining food - it was also kicking around freezing the whole night which didn't help us sleep much. Anyway by the morning we were very happy to see the ferry appear to collect us.
The VERY first thing we did was sign out of the park. This was closely followed by a HUGE breakfast. As other walkers joined us who we had met on the track, this quickly turned into a few beers - all after 12:00 noon I hasten to add - in celebration.
Here's some of the terrain we faced:
