Day 1: Rough Beginnings

With two weeks mandatory time off from work, we weighed our options and decided to explore a bit of Australia--Tasmania to be exact. itching to get out of the city and back to nature, we chose to put our boots to the ground and head out on the Overland Track: an 85km walk across Tasmania's most famous national park.

The following are my reflections from Day 1, Cradle Mountain to Waterfall Valley.

Day 1: The hardest. The climb was incredibly steep and I had to break about 10 meters. The beginning of the walk was good but it wasn't long before the weather turned really ugly and we were being pounded by rain and 35km winds. We were miserable. Jeremy's ears were killing him, my back was killing me, we couldn't see anything because it was a complete white out, and we feared that the whole trip would be like this. It was a pretty miserable day.

Heading off on the beginning of the track at 9am at Ronny Creek.

I was too tired and not willing to take my camera out in the rain so this is stolen from the internet but it's a good description of what we walked through.

When we finally reached the top of the mountain, we took shelter in Kitchen Hut (an emergency shelter which a second story door for use when the snow pile is high) and treated ourselves to lunch: oysters, crackers, and cheese. A few others joined us there and thankfully by the time we left, the rain had let up. We were able to walk with a small amount of view though there were still some clouds clinging to Cradle Mountain above us.

Also not my picture and there wasn't any snow when we were there but this is Kitchen Hut.

Looking up at Cradle Mountain as we passed Kitchen Hut. The weather was still horrible.

The climb across the high plateau was easy (except for the wind which nearly blew us off the path) but the walk down into Waterfall Valley was hard on the knees and toes. Lots of rocks. Giant steps.

A slightly nicer walk once the weather let up.

We were the last ones into the hut that night and some old farts (obviously more experienced than us) tsk-tsked the size of our packs, sort of chuckling under their breath about how hard it was for us. I was annoyed but they shut up quickly and started drooling when I started whipping up dinner: couscous, asparagus, and garlic butter. Turns out some things ARE worth packing!

Finally! Shelter, beds, food! Waterfall Valley hut.

Sleeping in a row across the hut, we all snuggled in like a big can of sardines, and though most people snored that night, I just put in my earplugs and went straight to sleep. Tomorrow would be Christmas and I was looking forward to an easier day.