This could be the longest walk on the Overland Track, so I got up early around 6.30am. I tried to have quick breakfast and hurry with packing my tent because there were some dark clouds and what I don’t like at all is packing my tent while it’s raining.
But fortunately it didn’t rain and around 8.45am I left Windermere. While packing I noticed I was able to pack my luggage without using the 20l extension of my 65+20l backpack, which was a good feeling, but it didn’t really change anything about the weight…
So I walked on and again it was a very nice walk through small forests and across lots of open fields until I arrived at Forth Valley Lookout, the first break and the only sidetrip on that part of the Overland Track (basically you could climb up Mount Pelion West and Mount Oakleigh, but I didn’t find the track to Mount Pelion West anyway and I wasn’t motivated enough to try Mount Oakleigh).
After the lookout break the walk continued mostly through beautiful forests where I met the first two snakes on the track. I heard lots of stories about snakes but until then I never saw one so I almost started to think that it’s probably not that dangerous. But when you walk alone through the forests and suddenly two metres in front of you a black tiger snake starts moving it’s a bit frightening, even though no one has died of a snake bite in Tasmania for the last 40 years or so. But it’s a welcome reminder to watch where your steps. Only a few minutes after the first snake I found a second one, a brown one this time.
At this point of time, the day had once again turned into a beautiful and hot summer day, I was really lucky with the weather.
After a while I arrived at Pelion Creek and filled my water bottle. A tour guide walked by and explained that this would be Australia’s cleanest water here. I can’t verify it but what I can say is that I’ve never tried such great and refreshing water before. Anyone who comes along should fill up their bottles there.
The next orientation point on the map was Frog Flats, but still a bit scared from the snakes before I didn’t want to sit down there for lunch and decided to walk on. It was a very hot day and I knew there’s a swimming hole at the old Pelion hut, so I wanted to be there as soon as possible and go swimming.
From Frog Flats it was a constant steep climb, but a really beautiful walk through the forest. It looks fantastic when the sun is shining and in the forest you have that permanent change from light to shadow.
After a very tiring walk I arrived at the new Pelion hut around 2pm. I took me more than one hour to fix my tent on the platform, but then the first thing I did was grabbing a towel and heading back to the old Pelion hut to check out the swimming hole. When I arrived there there was no one else around and I could enjoy a very relaxing time in the cool water until more and more people arrived. It was a really popular place thanks to the hot weather and the long walk.
Afterwards I felt much better and had a long dinner before I started yet another walk around with my camera. The sunshine at dusk was beautiful and I managed to get some great photos of wallabies sitting in the fields. Later I joined the others on the veranda of the hut to watch the sunset and wildlife. There were lots of red eastern quolls and wallabies around the hut.
What I especially liked about Pelion is that there were a lot of fascinating birds and parrots flying around the trees at the hut. The last thing you hear before going to sleep and the first thing you will hear in the morning is the weird sound of one of these birds, I’ve never noticed that before anywhere else. While I was having dinner I watched one of these birds for a couple of minutes because it was so incredible what strange sound they made. I think Pelion is a nice place to stay for more than one night if the weather is fine. You could do a daytrip to Mount Oakleigh for example.
