Honeymoon: Phase Six: Overland Track: Day 1

The Overland Track is the much hyped week long backpacking trip from Cradle Valley to Lake St. Clair. On it, one travels through some of the more remote and beautiful areas of Tasmania. We got a good early start, which I was hoping for because a lot of people were probably making the trip up on a bus or some other form of transportation. There were a few people on the trail in the morning, but they were all day hikers who were staying at Cradle Valley. We knew that the trail was going to climb elevation quickly, but it was not too difficult to start out with as it was all boardwalk. We stopped to take a picture of Crater Falls that ran along the trail. Soon we were at the overlook of Crater Lake and Jacqueline was not happy about having to go up the steep rocky part with a full pack on. She handled it fine and we were quickly at Marion’s Lookout with great views of Dove Lake and Cradle Mountain. From there, the trail flattened out and it was much like the Hounslow Heath Track as we continued our trip on a high plateau. We eventually came to the Kitchen Hut, where we dropped our packs for a trip up Cradle Mountain. I was not too worried about this climb even though the mountain looked so steep, because there was a trail up it. Jacqueline and I started out just blazing up the trail, passing everyone as we went. The trail started to skirt a boulder field. Then it climbed steeply up a boulder field. Jacqueline was doing great, but we hit a wall literally. She could not see it but there were good holds and an easy spot to put her feet. I try not to push her to do anything she does not want to and she had enough at this point. So I left her sitting there and I continued up. I now moved very quickly without her to worry about. The climbing was great as it was mostly third class with some fourth class moves thrown in. I love mountain climbing and this reminded me why. It just felt great to be moving swiftly up this boulder ridden landscape. I wished that my wife could be there with me, but I am glad that she has limits and pays attention to them. Soon, I was on top and a German couple that were up there snapped a photo. The view was great as I could see in all directions where we came from and where we were going. I only spent enough time on top to take a picture, because I had to get back down to Jacqueline. When I came across the Canadian guy we had passed on the way up, he said to me, “Wow, you move like a mountain goat.” I felt pretty good about that. I made it back to Jacqueline and she was frustrated. She wished she could have made the top and beat herself up about it all the way down, through lunch, and as we continued on the Overland Track. The thought earlier was to possibly climb Barn Bluff also, but it was supposed to be more difficult than Cradle, so we decided against it. It would have been fun as it is an impressive landmark, but my desire to do it was not as great as it was for Cradle. The track continued with a lot of boardwalk. After the junction for Barn Bluff, it started dropping into what was called Waterfall Valley. I was expecting this dense forest with water all around us. We did not see one waterfall in Waterfall Valley. Instead it was wide open, but I could tell that when it rained the valley probably had a lot of waterfalls in it. This was where most people would spend the first night as it would have been a full day of hiking and there was a hut to crash in. We had not had our fill so we continued on past. The trail was still in such good shape and we knew that the Windermere hut was only 2.5 hrs away. We enjoyed all of the skinks that hung out on the boardwalk. These were small salamander looking lizards that seemed to hang there to soak up the sun. We came to a junction for Lake Will. We decided to take the hour roundtrip side track. It gave us some great views of the huge lake and Barn Bluff. I got to skip some rocks, too, which made me happy. We came back to where we dropped the packs off and were happy to see that the birds left them alone. From here on out, we were a bit tired and sore. Both of our feet were hurting and Jacqueline’s boots were really giving her pain as they were digging in to the back of her heels. We saw our only other fellow backpackers on the day, a father and son going just from Waterfall Valley to Lake Windermere. This part of the day seemed to drag on as we could see the lake, but the hut was all the way on the other side of it. We got to the hut, but we did not want to use it. Instead we put our tent on one of the many wooden platforms that they built for tents. I struggled with the devices meant as stakes to hold the tent down, but eventually figured it out. It gave us an easy surface to cook and get organized on, but I did not like the closeness it seemed to put us in proximity to others. On this night, it seemed no one was going to camp near us, besides the pademelons and wallabies, which was nice. We made ourselves some dinner, made preparations for tomorrow, played some card games, and wandered off to sleep. In the night we could hear the animals running on the platforms, which was fun. We could also hear the rain on the fly, which was an ominous sound for tomorrow. The tent did its job, but when the sun rose again, we would be slogging through the rain.