Matt Down Under
Ruby developer, founder of choc media, bushwalker, MacGyver fan and hobby photographer, German citizen and Australian Permanent Resident.
In 2008 I moved from Germany to Australia, the best decision of my life. On this blog you can find stories and photos about hiking in Tasmania and on the mainland, travelling, and life in Australia — my journey from Working Holiday to Permanent Residency.
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26 posts tagged Overland Track
Back from the Central Highlands
I’m sitting on the Tassielink bus from Launceston to Hobart. Last night I returned from a terrific 8 day solo hiking trip across the Tasmanian Central Highlands. I walked from Lake St Clair on the Overland Track into Pine Valley, climbed the Acropolis and explored the Labyrinth. From Hartnett Falls I crossed the Never Never and walked into Walls of Jerusalem National Park, where I climbed Solomon’s Throne, the Temple and Mt Jerusalem.
I had 8 days of good weather, 2 days where I walked more than 9 hours each, and once I got home and prepared the best of the 1000 photos I took on the trip, I’ll post an extensive diary here, with stories of tiger snakes, how I got lost at Junction Lake, badly prepared Germans (not me) and the many other people I met on the track.
My bushwalking checklist
My leave got approved last week and I’m now in the final stage of preparing for my next big bushwalk. Last year around this time I walked the South Coast Track and even though it was frustrating to walk at times due to very bad track conditions, the pristine beaches and rough coastline were an amazing experience that made me want to see more of the South West National Park in Tasmania, especially along the coast line.
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Overland Track - Day 1: Cradle Mountain Visitor Centre - Scott Kilvert Hut
On Saturday 20th December 2008 I went to the Launceston Transit Centre early in the morning to catch the Tassielink bus to Cradle Mountain. There were heaps of other bushwalkers and hikers already waiting.
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Overland Track
In 2008 I decided to have a different christmas than usual (as if being lonely in Tasmania wouldn’t be different enough…), so I decided to do something exciting and walk the Overland Track, a world famous hiking route through the Tasmanian wilderness that takes around one week to walk. When the booking system openend on 1st July 2008 I booked my ticket and from the 20th December to the 27th I did the walk and had a fantastic time.
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Overland Track - Day 3: Waterfall Valley - Windermere
During the night the weather changed. It rained and there was strong wind, a real storm. In the morning it still looked a bit rainy, so I put on my rain clothes.
That morning I felt like I had been walking for weeks, my legs were sore, my shoulders were swollen, I had light sunburn everywhere and my hands were slightly grazed. Hard to believe that this was the first official night on the Overland Track, still one week to go.
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Overland Track - Day 4: Windermere - Pelion
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.
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Overland Track - Day 2: Scott Kilvert Hut - Waterfall Valley
The morning of the second day my legs were still so tired and sore that I decided to stay at Scott Kilvert Hut and spend another night there. The weather was brilliant that day so I planned to have a quiet day in the sun and relax down at Lake Rodway.
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Overland Track - Day 5: Pelion - Kia Ora
Early in the morning I woke up by the sound of that strange bird I noticed when I had dinner last night. I was looking forward to that day because it was Christmas Eve and one of the sidetrip today was Mount Ossa, the highest mountain in Tasmania. Of course I wanted to climb up there, it is simply great to tell people afterwards that you stood on top of Mount Ossa when they ask you what you did on Christmas.
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Overland Track - Day 7: Windy Ridge - Echo Point
When I woke up in the morning it looked like another sunny day, it really takes a lot of luck to get a whole week of sun on the Overland Track. Today’s walk would only be 3 hours to Narcissus Hut, so I wasn’t in a hurry.
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Overland Track - Day 6: Kia Ora - Windy Ridge
My sleep was interrupted by a very annoying visitor. I had stored my camping dishes in a plastic bag at the front section of my tent where I stored my shoes at night and a possum must have smelled the sponge that I used to clean my dishes, so it sneaked under my tent and tried to pull away the whole plastic bag. Of course I woke up by the noise and tried to shoo it away by rattling my tent, but it didn’t let go until I grabbed my torch and looked out of my tent. By then half of my sponge was already torn into pieces.
