1.
PRELUDE
We did "Overland Track" for the second time.
From the 25th February till the 1st March 2020(5 nights 6 days).
Total distance was 65km.
I already knew what it was like.
I also knew I would be able to make it.
But still I was anxious (less than first time)
about this legendary hike.
Heavy tall backpack.
6 days.
Harsh weather.
No shower, no comfy bed ,no flush toilett
..... endless list of "no".
Neverthelss I was excited about this plan too.
It was like a gift that you were given this precious time
during which only thing you could do was walk.
In deep wild mountain areas with no human residing in there.
You tried hard to optimize and minimize items in your pack.
Even so your pack got tall and heavy with things necessary
for 6-day hike.
I was almost always amazed when we pulled out things from
packs and spread them around our bunk beds in the huts
or inside our tents.
So many things we needed to carry!!!
Too many things!!!!
Also when we finished packing in the mornings
and shouldered our tall pack
there left nothing where we slept.
Only barren bleak wooden bunks or dirts where we pitched our tents.
It always makes me think what you really need in your life?
You don't need to be obsessed with too many stuffs in life.
Last time I was overwhelemed with this hike and
when I was done even though my sense of accomplishment
was undescribly high I couldn't afford to think do it again.
This time when I was done I just felt as if I did one of my usual
hikes(?) but I started thinking when I could come back?
Maybe next year?
Also one elderly couple who looked like in their 80's on
the ferry to Cynthia Bay from Narcissus Hut inspired me.
Yes, we keep doing it as well as we get older just like them.
2
OVERLAND TRACK INDUCTION
We booked and paid online for Overland Track
several months ago
and we went to Cradle Mt National Park Visitor Centre
to register our hike beforehand.
Cradle Mountain National Park staff especially
I had to talk to at the desk was very aloof and inefficient.
She didn't tell us that we had to attend a stupid
induction and plus all the members of our booking
should be there.
Anyway we were there to attend this silly induction.
Another friendly looking female staff came along to talk to us.
In conclusion all she did was to scare us.
She started talking about an antarctica cold front coming
the next day and finished her session if it's too much better not to do it.
We were dumbstruck with this.
Who wanted to quit after all the planning and booking?
What about a lot of time ,energy and money you spent
to come here?
If they were that scared about the cost and tough procedure of rescue
they should have warned potential hikers on the website that
their gears would be thoroughly checked at the visitor centre
and if they would not meet the requirements their hikes would be cancelled.
Instead they simply accepted the gear checklist I ticked without physical checking.
I might be wrong but many of hikers didn't want to set up their tents
during the period at all and they tried to reach the huts quickly
to get spots inside the huts.
In fact some of hikers, their packs didn't seem to look contain any tents inside.
Even I saw some hikers have unsuitable disposable rain panchos
which never should be used for Overland Hike.
I told them we did this track before.
But they didn't seem to believe we were highly experenced hikers.
Ppeople from transport and these national park
people seemed to scare us with so many
unproved exaggerated tall tales.
All the main characters of their stories were Chinese
or Asians who were inexperienced and didn't prepre themselves
with proper gears etc.
It reminded me of similar Chinese story we heard when we
came to do our first Overland Hike 2015.
How come some people who prepared to do Overland Track
couldn't make it past Kichen Hut?
According to them one stupid( they didn't actually say this word
but clearly nuanced)Chinese was rescued due to hypothermia
near Kichen Hut.
They seemed to have very biased opinions about people
who are not like themeselves in terms of race.
It was quite offensive in fact.
3
First official hut named Waterfall Valley
was still on the construction(redo), we were supposed
to stay at Scott Kilvert Hut near Rodway Lake at day 1.
Eddie suggesed we take a new route along Lake Dove.
In that way we could explore more around Lake Dove
and reduce half of our hiking time.
Reaching Scott Kilvert Hut from Overland Track required hikers to have
extra 3 hours return trips going down and climbing up the steep track.
So I met a lot of people skipped the first hut and stragiht
to the second hut later on.
But I think our choice was better.
We didn't want to make ourselves too tired from the beginning.
Instead it was a new route with much better views( our very subjective
opinion of course) and less time and efforts.
Even though National Park staff was concerned about its steep inclines
we had no problem about that.
In the morning we took the bus and got off at Roney Creek
to take photos in front of Overland Track starting sign at the trailhead .
After that we got on the bus again reaching Lake Dove.
We climbed up to Hanson's peak(1100m) from Lake dove.
It was a perfectly beautiful day when we enjoyed our hike
and relaxing time at the hut.
To be continued !
