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Minimum age 14 years

Maximum 10

Itinerary

The Overland Track holds legendary status as one of the finest bushwalks in Australia. The schedule will permit time to visit the summits of some of the highest mountains in Tasmania, possibly even Mount Ossa, Tasmania’s highest. Your experienced guides will help to bring the track alive with their local knowledge and enthusiasm for the Tasmanian wilderness.

Experience close encounters with wildlife unique to Tasmania in their wild habitats, trek through relic Gondwanan forests, fabulous views over Tasmania’s Wilderness World Heritage Area, trek through terrain that varies remarkably moment to moment, experience a range of conditions and marvel at the sculpted landscape and vegetation they create.

Day 1.

Launceston to Cradle Mountain
Begin your journey to Cradle Mountain. After a group briefing in Launceston, you will be transferred to your cabins at Cradle Mountain. The drive to Cradle Mountain Lake St Clair National Park takes about three hours including a mid journey leg stretch in Sheffield – Tasmania's town of murals. Your guides will conduct a trip briefing and issue you with any gear that you need when you arrive at the Cradle Mountain base. This afternoon you have some time to relax and explore the area around your cabin. Your guides will prepare a feast for you tonight – your last dinner before hitting the track! Tonight you will sleep in the comforts of a warm and cosy cabin, well fed and rested and ready for the start of the trek tomorrow.

Day 2.

Dove Lake to Waterfall valley - 10km/5 hours hiking plus side trips
Your guides will have you up early this morning for breakfast and any last minute packing. Drive the short distance down to Dove Lake where the Overland Track Trek begins. Begin the long climb that takes you onto the Cradle Plateau. During the first few hours of trekking you will get a taste of what’s in store for the following days – open eucalypt woodlands, lush green cool-temperate rainforest and open button grass. Climbing through the splendid deciduous Nothofagus gunnii on to exposed alpine herb fields with spectacular views of Cradle Mountain and Barn Bluff (if the weather allows and a true appreciation of the Roaring 40’s if not!). After lunch by one of the cool streams or tarns you may opt for a side trip, weather and time permitting, to the craggy summit of Cradle Mountain. This first day is one of the longest of the trek as you make your way to Waterfall Valley for the first night under the stars.

Day 3.

Waterfall Valley to Lake Windermere - 8km/3 hours hiking
Today you will continue south from Waterfall Valley to Lake Windermere. A leisurely day that offers time to explore the waterfalls, and a side trip past the diggings of Joseph Will, a coal prospector in the 1800’s, to Innes Falls. By Lake Will you will have the opportunity for a relaxing lunch by the sandy shores and twisted pencil pines. After lunch you can stroll to the southern end of the lake to take in Innes Falls. Returning to your pack at the turn off to Lake Holmes, head back across the rolling button grass plains towards the campsite at Lake Windermere. Tonight you will camp amongst the Richea pandanifolia, eucalypts and many beautiful flowering endemic plants. You can spend the afternoon relaxing taking in the fabulous views and maybe swim in the lake. Lake Windermere is also a great place to meet some of Australia's native animals.

Day 4.

Lake Windermere to Pelion Plains - 17km/7 hours hiking plus side trips
Today is a wild day of moorlands and mountain views. The morning takes you across Pine Forest Moore offering spectacular views east across the Forth River Valley to the heights of Mount Oakleigh and to the day’s destination, Pelion Plains, at its base. From undulating button grass vistas into the forested slopes of Mount Pelion West, you will descend around the mountain to a popular lunch spot at Frog Flats. Surrounded on all sides by towering dolerite peaks, this is the head waters of the Forth River which spills off the plateau into the Lemonthyme Valley. The afternoon takes you up onto Pelion Plains with marvellous views of fluted Mount Oakleigh and some of the biggest wombats any guides have seen in the park!!! Make camp near Douglas Creek. The main food drop is hidden not far from here and your guides will make time to collect supplies.

Day 5.

Pelion Plains to Kia Ora - 9km/5 hours hiking plus side trips
Waking to the calls of several of Tasmania’s native birds, most notably the kurrowong and yellow throated wattle bird a spectacular day in the mountains awaits you. Climb off Pelion Plains through beautiful green forests of Sassafras and Myrtles covered in rich mosses and lichens. As you climb up you start to come into Eucalypt forests where before your eyes the view opens up to reveal Cathedral Mountain, Pelion East on your left followed by Mount Ossa on your right. Rest at the saddle (1113 metres) between Mount Pelion East and Mount Ossa (1617 metres). Mount Ossa, Tasmania’s highest peak, is without a doubt the highlight point of the Overland Track. In fine weather with time permitting, you can climb one of these peaks – perhaps even eat lunch on top! With magnificent views in all directions you continue south into beautiful Pinestone Valley. Depending upon the day’s activities you will set camp somewhere between here and Du Cane Hut – once the bush home of trapper Paddy Hartnett and his wife.

Day 6.

Kia Ora to Windy Ridge - 10km/4 hours hiking plus side trips
Wake up in your warm tent nestled beneath the crags of the Cathedral Mountain and Mount Massif. After breakfast, head off for a day surrounded by towering rainforests of leatherwood and sassafras tress, heading towards three of Tasmania’s largest and most spectacular waterfalls. The first you visit is Ferguson Falls, named after a former ranger at Lake St. Clair, followed by Dalton Falls. The third of these large falls is Hartnett Falls, once again named after the eccentric bushman with the bowler hat Paddy Hartnett. Hartnett Falls makes a great place to have lunch and relax in the afternoon sun, before returning to your pack and heading for Du Cane Gap and down into the rich Myrtle forests. Make camp around Windy Ridge. This valley is a great example of a U-shaped glacier; coming down into this valley you will notice large boulders - these were moved slowly down the valley by the last great ice age.

Day 7.

Windy Ridge to Lake St. Clair - 9km/3 hours hiking plus side trips
Today you pack your backpack for the final day on the track, which will take you through dry sclerophyll forest toward the shores of Lake St. Clair. As you near the lake, you can gaze up to the peaks of the Labyrinth and look forward to majestic Mt. Olympus. Catch a 30 minute ferry across Lake St. Clair, the deepest natural lake in the southern hemisphere, providing a spectacular conclusion to the Overland Track as you look back upon the mountains you have travelled through. After some time to inspect the visitor centre and indulge in a picnic lunch, you will board the bus for return across Tasmania’s Central Plateau to Launceston. You will be dropped off at your accommodation in Launceston at approximately 5:00pm.

Note: The above itinerary is to be taken as a guide only. Inclement weather, group fitness and a number of other factors may influence the planned itinerary causing delays and variations. The guide reserves the right to make modifications and/or alterations to the trip itinerary in the best interests of all involved.

Nature & Wildlife

The Cradle Mountain Lake St. Clair National Park is renowned for its beauty, featuring abundant wildlife, rare and unusual vegetation and dramatic scenery. Your guides take steps through training and education to minimise the impact groups have on these areas. It is a priority to leave these areas unspoilt and as they were for all future visitors to enjoy. Environmental policies together with your help and co-operation will ensure that the pristine wilderness areas are safeguarded.

Tasmania is a remarkable little island sculpted and shaped by the ‘Roaring 40s’. The precious and unique qualities are a result of a wind band at 40 degrees south which travels across vast oceans right around from South America and Antarctica.

Style of Tour

The Cradle Mountain ‘Overland Track’ Trek is a full-pack unsupported trek. You will need to carry all your own personal equipment. This includes your sleeping bag, sleeping mat and your half of a twin share tent, plus a very small proportion of the group food. On average this works out to be less than 15kgs. Included in these notes is a gear list that has been designed to keep your pack weight to a minimum without jeopardising safety. The items most commonly differentiating a heavier from a lighter pack are toiletries and spare cotton clothing – both of which we recommend you leave out. Your guide will conduct a gear check to ensure you are not carrying too little or too much!

Grading & Fitness

Grade: D
Average 4-5 hrs physical activity per day, up to 7hrs on longer days.
Pack weights of 10-15kgs on some days.
Altitude gains of up to 800m.
Some uneven track surfaces and river crossings.
No hiking experience necessary.
Agility and fitness required.

Thorough physical and mental preparation is important for your safe participation and enjoyment of this expedition. As with any active holiday, the fitter you are for the activity, the more you can enjoy your surrounds. Your guides can easily make the trip more challenging but it is impossible to make it easier. Fitness enables you to do more, see more and simply relax more. The best way to train for an active holiday is to simulate the activity you will be undertaking on the trip. Train for uneven terrain, walk in your trekking boots (nothing spoils a trekking holiday quite as much as poor fitting boots!) - splash in the puddles or kick up the dust, and prepare for adverse conditions. Train for pack-carrying by carrying a load similar to the one you expect to carry on the trip.

Guides & Safety

The guides are among the best in the field, with years of professional wilderness experience in Tasmania, so you will be in very safe hands. They are not only good cooks and have lots of local knowledge, they are also good company. For them the outdoors is not a job, it’s a way of life. All guides are qualified in Senior First Aid. They are chosen carefully, trained intensely and it is often many seasons before they become a group leader. Your guides will be interested to learn your motivation for joining the trek and will personalise your trip to maximise your experience. Your guides will be looking out for your safety and enjoyment and you’ll be amazed by their genuine, infectious love for where they are rain, hail or shine, sharing with you their specialty area - geology, endemic fauna, aboriginal history, etc. They will take into account inclement weather, group fitness and a number of other factors which may influence the planned itinerary. The group leader reserves the right to make modifications and or alterations to the trips itinerary in the best interests of all involved.

What to take

The following lists set out all the clothing and equipment you are required to bring to participate in this adventure. The gear check prior to your departure from Launceston will ensure that your have covered all aspects of the required gear without over packing.

Essential Items