Overland huts - Changing room & ipad/phone charging

[Tai]

Hi,

Appreciate input re the following:

1. Getting out of wet gear on the Overland Track. Is there a changing room in the hut or ?

2. Also read somewhere that usb charging port for phone & ipad available in huts, is that correct?

Thks

Tai

[doogs]

1. Nope. Everyone else is very respectful and gets changed the same way.
2. Nope. I think there is on the new 3 Capes track though.

[Tai]

Thks. This just make the OLT a bit more challenging.

[MickyB]

If you're worried you could always get changed in the toilet.

[Mechanic-AL]

If you would like to eliminate the challenges......try leaving your phone/ipad at home.

Just a thought

[Scottyk]

what is the world coming to?

Last edited by Scottyk on Fri 11 Mar, 2016 10:04 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Strider]

No one cares about who you are or what you look like in the bush. It's one of the best perks of bushwalking - everyone is equal. Enjoy your walk on the OLT!

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

[DaveNoble]

Hi,

Appreciate input re the following:

1. Getting out of wet gear on the Overland Track. Is there a changing room in the hut or ?

Most of the huts have some sort of veranda, sometimes an enclosed one, where people hang their wet parkas and packs etc. They are often good places to get changed in wet weather. So if it raining - then when you get to the hut, get out of your wet clothes and take off your wet shoes and socks, put on a dry set of clothes from your pack, and then you can go into the hut and see if there is room for you to sleep inside or whether you will need to pitch your tent etc. In conditions like this - you often find the huts crowded, with wet clothes hanging up trying to dry out all over the place and a certain unpleasant "fug"......

As for your phone or iPad, you will have not have network reception for most of the track, so will not be able to use it for Instagramming or Facebook status updates until you get to a high peak. If using your phone for music or using apps (e.g. there is an app by the National Parks people with birds calls etc), or for navigation (GPS and maps) then you can just switch the phone on when you need it or use a low power mode (e.g. aeroplane mode). You can bring an external USB battery and charge your devices off that.

Dave

[Tai]

Thks all. Think i will stick to the tent for shower and changing into dry gear. If weather is really bad, then the sarong will be my other option.

Being a ipad addict, will bring extra backup power pack.

[aloftas]

if the weather is REALLY bad, you may freeze to death in your sarong.
There is frost up there already in the mornings.

[Tai]

Surely changing with sarong, i.e. in the hut if weather is bad would not kill one unless its like the Deepfreeze movie.

Suppose its all a matter of choices and respect for others.

[aloftas]

Yes, I perhaps was confused at the use of the sarong. But I see now.
I think, what the guys are saying, is its so so much less about us, our egos and insecurities and perhaps ascribed values. Everyone is in the same boat out there. I would have little fears about privacy, and discretion is a given in most cases. I caution you against ambivalence regarding the weather conditions, as, whilst it is a walk in a park, it is a 65 km walk, and may I suggest that it s fundamental, and basic, at best.
I would also urge against taking extraneous weight.

There are far better heads than me to explain the rapidly changing conditions to sub zero.

Wind chill


Precipitation

Shortening days.

Peace.

[Tai]

Thks.

Pack weight at the moment is 12.4 kg including food, fuel (210g and 110g gas canister - gross wt 400g and 230g respectively) plus 300g of water.

Am still fine tuning the whole thing.

Will be in Cradle for 3 days in late April just to try out the walk to Marion lookout.

I am a safety girl.

[aloftas]

That's the spirit
I take a thermos as well...


But yeah, be careful of the weight factor and knee elastic supports are a bonus as well as ankles and some sorbothane innersoles to reduce jarring.



Plus, the walk around dove lake is inspiring, so is th ehorse track and the changing vistas as you walk, along with the variables in weather will give you a feeling of confidence which you may later call on, as a knowing, rather than a guess and a decision made under stress/duress etc.

Knots are harder to undo in the wet, take some twine into the shower and see how different it all is.

I'm sure you will be fine

[Nuts]

Haha, who better to ask (for an opinion on the necessity of feminine modesty) than a bunch of middle age blokes

There are separate shared bedrooms in two huts, a drying room in one. The rest are 'open plan'. Toilets, if you can stand the stench, have hanging hooks though thats all i'd touch, the hooks. The smell is more bearable late in the day/ early AM.

You can get Telstra reception on the track from a number of high points of the first three days (heading south) and usually from Narcissus area. Other than needing reception, I use my phone a lot as well, apps, books etc. As for charging, well, while technically 'possible', no, no ports supplied in huts... though there always seems to be some loud geezer with the bottled variety

Personally, i'd avoid the huts, you can go to the local backpackers for similar. Camping only enhances the adventure, experience close encounters of the furry kind, surviving 'blizzards', counting stars etc etc Wholesome, scout badge type fun..

Have Fun