The weather from the bus didn't look so good, but once we started walking it cleared up a bit. We climbed towards the Cradle Mountain, passing by beautiful lakes.
Cradle mountain and all the other mountains in the park are rocky and bold. Probably Cradle mountain is the most rocky.
The Overland trek includes lots of side trips. Climbing on the Cradle mountain is one of them. We left our backpacks at the junction of the side trip and the main track and started climbing to the summit.
Within 20 minutes the track became really rocky and steep. From this point it was almost wall climbing, but without the ropes. Climbing from one big rock to another using the hands and feet. At one point we decided to stop because it was too scary and it was late and started to go down. Few minutes later we met someone on his way down and he told us we were only 10 minutes from the summit, but the views at the top are not that impressive and not worth the effort.
From this side trip it was only 1.5 hours to the first hut. The thing about the Overland track is there are less bunks in the huts than the amount of people walking the track. That's why you're required to carry a tent when you walk the track, you're not guaranteed to get a bunk in the hut. We were lucky, when we arrived to the hut there were 3-4 bunks left unoccupied.
The huts on the Overland track are not as nice as the huts in New Zealand, there are neither mattresses nor gas cookers, most of the huts are just one big sleeping hall, with platforms to put your own mattress on.
We woke up at the morning of the second day, looked through the window and saw rain. The first 2 hours of walk were along open flats but because of the rain we couldn't enjoy it much. The next 5 hours of walk were boring walk in a bush. The rain didn't stop, it even got stronger.
Finally we got to the third hut (we skipped the second). It was quite new with a room for each 6 bunks. At the evening the rain stopped for awhile. We went out to the hut's balcony and saw animals outside. That was the first time we saw Wallaby - a small version of Kangaroo.
The third day our plan was to climb on Mt. Ossa, the highest mountain in Tasmania. We woke up and found out we can't see nothing - everything was covered with clouds and fog. We started walking and got to the starting point of the side trip. We skipped the climbing because we couldn't even see the mountain. We were quite disappointed and depressed. An hour later we arrived to the hut and enjoyed ourselves by playing cards the entire afternoon (5-1 to Sarit).
The huts on the Overland track are not as nice as the huts in New Zealand, there are neither mattresses nor gas cookers, most of the huts are just one big sleeping hall, with platforms to put your own mattress on.
We woke up at the morning of the second day, looked through the window and saw rain. The first 2 hours of walk were along open flats but because of the rain we couldn't enjoy it much. The next 5 hours of walk were boring walk in a bush. The rain didn't stop, it even got stronger.
Finally we got to the third hut (we skipped the second). It was quite new with a room for each 6 bunks. At the evening the rain stopped for awhile. We went out to the hut's balcony and saw animals outside. That was the first time we saw Wallaby - a small version of Kangaroo.
The third day our plan was to climb on Mt. Ossa, the highest mountain in Tasmania. We woke up and found out we can't see nothing - everything was covered with clouds and fog. We started walking and got to the starting point of the side trip. We skipped the climbing because we couldn't even see the mountain. We were quite disappointed and depressed. An hour later we arrived to the hut and enjoyed ourselves by playing cards the entire afternoon (5-1 to Sarit).
We woke up early on the morning of the fourth day and saw perfect blue sky. We looked at each other and immediately said that this is a perfect day to be at the top of Tasmania. We left most of our gear in the hut, took a bag with water and food and went an hour back to the junction where the side trip begins. This time we could clearly see the mountain. We were so happy about the weather that we climbed very quickly - 1.5 hours and we were the first to reach mt. Ossa summit that day. It was worth every minute of it. The landscape at the top was so unique and we could see 360 degrees around.
One of the mountain reminded us the table mountains of Venezuela.
One of the mountain reminded us the table mountains of Venezuela.
On our way down we saw large groups of people climbing up. Luckily we woke up early enough to enjoy all that beauty alone...
We came back to the hut, took all our gear this time, and continued to the next hut, another 3 hours of bushy walk. On this section we encounter more animals, the snakes. For those who ask themselves all the snakes in Tasmania are lethal. Fortunately, the snakes are more afraid of us than we afraid of them. As soon as we saw a snake on the track we made some noises and it ran off to the bushes. Still, it was a scary moment. Apparently this is the price of sunny day, on the way to the hut we had 4 more snakes encounters. We arrived to hut exhausted from the long walk (25km in total).
The 5th day of the track was Roi's birthday. we had fine weather, 3 hours and we arrived to the following hut. Most of the way was boring bush, except for short section near a nice river.
It was still early when we reached the hut. The hut was quite neglected so we decided to keep on walking to the next hut, 2 hours away. The following hut was very small, very neglected, very smelly and apparently rats visit the hut at night. Roi wanted to keep walking to end of the track but after calculating the amount of km we need to walk we decided to stay and camp next to the hut.
The hut is located on the shore of lake st. Clair, at a beautiful spot. It seems like a special place to celebrate a birthday. At first it was only the two of us, but as the hours passed more and more walkers arrived. we were 13 people eventually. A nice couple from Germany donated a banana cake and some dried apricots to the improvised party, we brought our pack of cookies.
Definitely a birthday we will never forget :)
Definitely a birthday we will never forget :)
The next day we had breakfast on the jetty and less than 3 hours later we reached the end of the track, not before meeting another snake on the way.
Our bus was on the next day, so we had to spend another night camping not far from the visitor center at the end of the track.
Our bus was on the next day, so we had to spend another night camping not far from the visitor center at the end of the track.
We spent the following night at Hobart, the largest city in Tasmania. After a nice fish & chips meal at the waterfront in Hobart we went to our hostel. We went to bed early hoping for a good night sleep after all the sleepless nights in the track (thanks for the snoring symphony the other walkers played for us every night).
The hostel has 2 floors, the rooms are on the second floor, and on the first there is a bar and a living room to be used by the hostel's guests. The noises from the bar kept us from sleeping until 11pm, the time the bar closes. but, a group of the hostel's guests decided to have their own drinking party at the living room, with a lot of shouting and loudly music. The party went on all night. At 3am our roommate, who was one of the party participants, entered the room. He was so drunk he hardly stood straight. The second he put his head on his pillow he started to puke all over. Strong smells of puke and beer filled the room. Only after Roi shouted at him he agreed to take his stinky sheets out of the room. At last the noises from the party stopped, and everyone were in their beds. Then, a strong sound of fire alarm was heard. After we realized it wasn't going to stop Roi left his bed to see from where the sound was coming from. The drunk roommate was still sleeping, the sounds didn't wake him up. After exploring around Roi found out that the alarm sounds are coming from the drunk's phone! It took few more shouts until the drunk turned off the sound (he was hardly able to do that). Guess what happened 5 minutes after? the alarm sound again! and 5 minutes after again, and again.
Finally after we made sure the phone won't ring again the guy started his second set of pukes. That point we took all our stuff and left the room. We spent the rest of the night at the hostel's lobby, waiting for the reception to open. As the reception opened we talked with the lady there, telling her about our sleepless night and wanted some of our money back, if not all of it. Her answer was "Sorry, this is what backpackers hostel is all about, people having fun, and if the guests like to get drunk so be it".
Well folks, avoid the disgusting neglected noisy hostel called "The Pickled Frog" in Hobart.
The next morning we took a bus back to Launceston and the nice hostel there. The next day we flew back to Melbourne.
Tomorrow we'll pick up the camper van we're hiring and started touring Australia.
The hostel has 2 floors, the rooms are on the second floor, and on the first there is a bar and a living room to be used by the hostel's guests. The noises from the bar kept us from sleeping until 11pm, the time the bar closes. but, a group of the hostel's guests decided to have their own drinking party at the living room, with a lot of shouting and loudly music. The party went on all night. At 3am our roommate, who was one of the party participants, entered the room. He was so drunk he hardly stood straight. The second he put his head on his pillow he started to puke all over. Strong smells of puke and beer filled the room. Only after Roi shouted at him he agreed to take his stinky sheets out of the room. At last the noises from the party stopped, and everyone were in their beds. Then, a strong sound of fire alarm was heard. After we realized it wasn't going to stop Roi left his bed to see from where the sound was coming from. The drunk roommate was still sleeping, the sounds didn't wake him up. After exploring around Roi found out that the alarm sounds are coming from the drunk's phone! It took few more shouts until the drunk turned off the sound (he was hardly able to do that). Guess what happened 5 minutes after? the alarm sound again! and 5 minutes after again, and again.
Finally after we made sure the phone won't ring again the guy started his second set of pukes. That point we took all our stuff and left the room. We spent the rest of the night at the hostel's lobby, waiting for the reception to open. As the reception opened we talked with the lady there, telling her about our sleepless night and wanted some of our money back, if not all of it. Her answer was "Sorry, this is what backpackers hostel is all about, people having fun, and if the guests like to get drunk so be it".
Well folks, avoid the disgusting neglected noisy hostel called "The Pickled Frog" in Hobart.
The next morning we took a bus back to Launceston and the nice hostel there. The next day we flew back to Melbourne.
Tomorrow we'll pick up the camper van we're hiring and started touring Australia.
No comments:
Post a Comment