OLT flashback

Trip reports, stories, track notes. Multiple/large photos are OK in this forum.
Forum rules
Posting large/multiple images in this forum is OK. Please start topic titles with the name of the location or track.

For topics focussed on photos rather than the trip, please consider posting in the 'Gallery' forum instead.

This forum is for posting information about trips you have done, not for requesting information about a track or area.

OLT flashback

Postby Johnnie Walker » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 9:56 pm

I had many questions when I was preparing for the OLT, luckily I found a lot of answers on this forum and found out a few things myself as well. Finally I've made a short summary of our hike mid December 2015.

Preparation:
We booked flights and OLT in August 2015 for mid December 2015. For preparation we used John Chapman’s Overland book and the $36 Info pack (National Park map and the Visitor Guide). We did a lot of research on our gear since it was going to be our first multi-day hike and we had nothing. Commercial OLT hikes are like $2500 per person so for us that justified buying some gear ;-)

Training:
We did a few day walks with a day-pack, walks in local parks and one overnight walk (fully packed) to Deep Creek. We walked from Cape Jervis to Eagle Water Hole (detour 20 km) and back via a short-cut (18 km) the next day. We’re not super fit or super slim but motivated and go-getters. Looking back, the OLT was not hard but the weather was really good.

Gear:
Shoes: Scarpa Kailash GTX (mid) and low Scarpas. No gaiters, didn’t get wet feed.
Poles: Black Diamond Z pole aluminium (one pair). I used them for knee support, my partner used one pole once for balance.
Packs: Mammut Hera 55 ltr (12 kg packed), Osprey Atmos AG 65 ltr (14 kg packed) and a Mont Bell shoulder bag for camera & equipment (1 kg)
Sleep: Two Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm, a One Planet Cocoon -8 sleeping bag and an Enlightened quilt.
Tent: Kelty TN-2
Cooking: JetBoil Flash Light, we used 1.5 small canisters.
Food: Dehydrated meals (store bought), dried fruits (home-made) and candy like Snickers, nuts, raisins.
Drinks: Instant coffee, tea bags and pre-mixed cacao powder & milk powder for hot chocolate.
Water: Plenty of water on the trail, both of us carried a 750 ml water bottle (PET supermarket water bottle) and filled it up during the walk or at water tanks. Carried one Evernew 2 litre flexible bottle to have water at the tent for cooking / brekky. We took a Sawyer filter, just in case. It fits the PET bottles and Evernew but we didn't use it.
Electronics: Small battery pack, 2 mobile phones, Canon camera with 2 batteries and a Nexus 7 tablet. All lasted for 7 days. We kept the phones switched off, most of the time you have no reception anyway.

OLT diary:
Sunday: Arrived from Launceston by commercial tour operator in the morning, took the shuttle bus to the interpretation centre and checked in at the Waldheim cabins. In the arvo we walked the Dove Lake Circuit.
Monday: From the cabins to Waterfall Valley. Easy going, steep climb and snow on the plateau. Skipped Barn Bluff, too much snow / ice to get up there so we were at Waterfall Valley around 2 pm and the first ones. Got a perfect campsite. It got really busy after 4 pm, our camp site was soon built in with lots of nice people around us.
Tuesday: Waterfall Valley to Lake Will for brekky, then Windemere hut for lunch. Still early so we kept on going to Frog Flats (I think 22 km in total). The last bit was muddy and a lot of roots, slow going, wet and ankle twisting.
Wednesday: Frog Flats to Old Pelion Hut and then New Pelion, about 5 km I think. Plan was to go up Mt Oakley but the view from the Pelion veranda was too good and I had a nap after lunch.
Thursday: Pelion to mount Ossa summit and Kia Ora hut. From the junction to Mt Ossa summit and back took us around 5 hours. When we left our packs, we used cable ties to lock the zippers. When we came back, a few other packs were opened by birds. For day-pack we used a Sea to Summit Ultra-Sil. Kia Ora has a small hut but nice platforms and the creek was our bath for the week.
Friday: Kia Ora to Narcissus with lunch at Bert Nichols (Windy Ridge) hut. Horrible hut, glad we could skip it but we didn't see / check out the tent platforms. Total that day was 18 km.
Saturday: Narcissus to Echo Point, 5 km. A lot of people took the ferry from Narcissus in the morning so Echo point was quiet when we arrived and we camped on the beach. Later on people arrived from Windy Ridge.
Sunday: Echo Point to Lake St. Clair. The 12.5 km took us 2.5 hours. You’ll follow the lake but it’s all covered and not much view but we wanted to do the WHOLE Overland Track. The forecast of food made us go a bit faster. At the end, after all our gourmet dehydrated meals we didn't feel like the Lake’s café food. We signed out and waited for our pick-up.

Lessons learned:
- I wore a 500 gram merino vest only for the first day. Didn't calculated it for my pack weight but carried it for the rest of the hike. I was better off without it and use my jacket and rain jacket for the first and only cold night.
- We had not enough scroggin and just enough meals. Last night’s dessert became last morning’s brekky.
Attachments
_MG_0456.JPG
First day
_MG_0768.JPG
Echo point
OLT food collage1.jpg
Food
Johnnie Walker
Atherosperma moschatum
Atherosperma moschatum
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue 01 Apr, 2014 10:03 am
Region: South Australia
Gender: Male

Re: OLT flashback

Postby Johnnie Walker » Sun 23 Apr, 2017 10:25 pm

Few more pictures.
Attachments
20151214_160012.jpg
Waterfall Valley
_MG_0708.JPG
At Windy Ridge, collecting some waste
OLT food collage2.jpg
Our cooking skills ;-)
Johnnie Walker
Atherosperma moschatum
Atherosperma moschatum
 
Posts: 84
Joined: Tue 01 Apr, 2014 10:03 am
Region: South Australia
Gender: Male


Return to TAS Trip Reports & Track Notes

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 6 guests