Tassie - how we love you...

From Sydney, we flew to Hobart for a 5 week visit to Australia's island state, Tasmania.



We had heard only stellar reviews about Tassie from our backpacker/outdoorsy friends and were looking forward to doing some long hikes and communing with some wombats. We were not disappointed. Not only did we have spectacular weather (abnormally dry and warm), but we saw almost all of the wild animals we wanted to see (except for the Tasmanian devil) and had some truly unforgettable experiences.

Five weeks might sound like a long time to spend on an island that is approximately the size of West Virginia (does that mean ANYTHING to anyone???? It's bigger than the Netherlands but smaller than France.) but we really wanted to have the time to explore on foot and with our camper. As it turned out, we could have used 5 more weeks to see all of Tasmania and its outlying islands.

The first week and a half were spent getting prepared for and then going on an 8 day backpacking trip on the famous Overland Track. We hadn't done such a long trip before (100 kilometers/60 miles) and we were a little intimidated by how heavy our packs were...but we ended up packing well. We had almost no food leftover and didn't go too hungry along the way nor were we too cold. In fact, with the warm, dry weather, we were more often too warm than too cold. We knew that the conditions could have well been VERY different. The area is known for freezing rain and snow even in summer, so our experience was atypical....which made us even more grateful!

The first 3 days on the track were the most scenic. As we walked through the pre-historic looking landscapes, we often had the feeling that a dinosaur would come lumbering towards us. Instead, we saw loads of wallabies and pademelons (smaller versions of kangaroos), some snakes, an echidna (a relative of the platypus in the sense that it is a mammal that lays eggs), a quoll, possums, and loads of opportunities for Michiel to get sidetracked with his eucalyptus tree bark obsession. There are over 70 varieties of eucalyptus tree in Australia and many of them have fascinating and colorful bark patterns. These never ceased to grab Michiel's attention.


on the trail


Cradle Mountain


Top of Mt. Ossa

Although there were small huts along the track, we hiked with our tent which we used almost every night. It was preferable to the snoring of the hikers in the huts, which are far less comfortable and "decked out" than those in New Zealand. Most of the hut areas had tent platforms so that we always had a flat and clean spot to set up. Some of the tent platforms were perfectly sited for sunset views or mingling with wallabies at cocktail hour.



The Overland Track can be done in 5 days, but we received good advice from our friends, Deneen and Kish, that we should plan to stick around longer so that we could do the side trips. We're glad we listened, because our finest memories are of the side trips up Tasmania's highest peak, Mt. Ossa and to Pine Valley.

The trek starts at Dove Lake. Here's a photo:



Here is only a small portion of the dozens of photos Michiel took along the route. We were entranced with the "festive" trees, called pandani and the button grass (habitat for wombats) landscapes, as well as the wonderful eucalyptus and craggy mountains!


Pandani tree


Echidna


Eucalyptus and views from Mt. Ossa


Bennett's wallaby




Skink






top of Mt. Ossa with cushion grass

We've done a bit of hiking over the years and we can easily say that the Overland Track is one of the most beautiful and interesting tracks in the world...especially if you have weather conditions as good as ours were!