6 night bushwalks other than the Overland

[itsthesun]

Hello All!

I just got a rude awakening on the Overland trail website noticing it now costs $150 dollar to do it. It's quite unfortunate that one must be fairly well off to afford that walk now Guess there's really only one way to keep the numbers down on such an amazing trail. I'm more than willing to pay but its not just me on the trip this time and as a group it doesn't make sense for us. When I did it before in 2004 it was only about 40 bucks.. anyways its all good because I'd rather do something new and be on a less densely populated trail anyways.

Being the tassie trail experts that you are I figure I can't go wrong posting here! What other 6 - 7 night walks will knock my socks off? We'll be flying into Hobart and would prefer something thats bus accessible from there as it would expensive to rent a car and have it sit in the parking lot for some days. I'm not too fussed about hitching if i need to do that the last bit of the way there or something. I'm coming Nov 18 - 27th so got some time to do the walk and relax a little afterwards. I'd prefer something thats not all about peak climbing and with diversity of landscape like the overland. I'm also crazy about swimming and anything with lots of watering holes or waterfalls would be great (no it wont be too cold, i'm from chicago).

I'll go to any corner of your fair mini-esque country to get the best trail i can! Hit me!

[whiskeylover]

There are heaps that come to mind, but it really depends how fit you are, how experienced, how good at navigating and whether you can get to where the track starts and have a pick up arranged at the end.

Walls of Jerusalem comes to mind with a bit of exploring on the way - then past Lake Meston, Junction Lake, down the Never Never, across the Mersey, down to Lee's Paddocks and out (same road but further along). May be able to get a mini bus company from Devonport to take you and pre-arrange pickup.

Precipitous Bluff and then down to the South Coast track as a circuit would also be possible and they do run buses there, but you want to be pretty good with off track walking and not mind getting wet feet (legs, bottoms).

Frenchman's Cap and the Irenabyss would be another option - need to like mud - see other posts on this topic. Bus goes straight past the start of this one.

Penguin - Cradle trail a good one too.

There's more but access may be a problem by bus.

[Marky]

SW Circuit blew me away. But then you will have to pay for flights in at least, you could do the circuit 6-9days we did it in 5, then onto port davey(2-3) or the south coast track(5-8) to walk out rather than having to fly in and out.

a one way flight to Melaleuca is currently about $160

Having said that it was the best walk i have done to date.

[frank_in_oz]

If you still want a taste of the Overland Track and that type of scenery the Walk from the Walls of Jerusalum to either Cradle or Lake St Clair are options.

We did it last July and ended up at Cradle Mountain Lodge for a couple of nights which was a great end to the trip. Blogged about it here: http://frankinoz.blogspot.com/2007/07/d ... m-hut.html

We are heading back to do the same trip in early December with overnights at Wild Dog Creek, Lake Ball, Junction Lake area, Hartnett Falls area, Pelion area, etc,

We plan to try and keep away from the huts (as it is "in season")

Have fun

[scrub master]

There's lots of other stuff around besides the overland track and if you are fairly confident with navigation and off track walking and are prepared to get a little scratched by a bit of scrub, then the skys the limit. One thing to remember, the $150 overland fee is only if you do the whole thing. There's nothing to stop you from a shorter sortie coming in from either end or the middle for nix (apart from the $28 parks pass that is).

From the sound of it, transport is going to be your big limiting factor. This being the case then you will be restricted to where tigerline runs its' regular services (which is not many places useful to bushwalkers these days). Your best bet would be something that works in with the west coast (Queesntown) service. The obvious choice would be something out of Lake St Clair. There are several great possibilities here:

- exploring the Labyrinth and the peaks around it (Walled, Macs, Hyperion, Massiff, Eros, Geryon, the Acropolis). There is a great high level traverse over the Du Canes through to Falling mountain to pick up the overland just below Du Cane gap.

- a loop out over Byron to Manfred and Cuvier and out to Narcissus via Lake Marion or back over Gould to the Labyrinth

- one of my favourites is to arrange a ferry drop off at Sapho Ck at the base of Ida and head over the Traveller Range to Junction Lake and back to the overland through the Never Never.

Another posibility if the bus will do a drop off/pick up is a Frenchman's through trip heading down to the Irenabyss and back to the highway at Victoria Pass via Mary Plains and Bubs hill.

All of the above, apart from the Labyrinth, involve carefull navigation, off track walking, a bit of scrub and are very weather dependant. If you want more detailed information then send me a PM and I will oblige.

If there are 4 or more of you, the possibilites can be expanded somewhat by doing a charter service with someone like Maxwell coaches or even a taxi (see my comments about Huon Taxis in the Federation climb thread).

[Iluvtheoutdawz]

Something fairly uncomplicated, where you will still be able to enjoy the Central and Southern part of the Overland, without having to pay the full track fee (you will still have to pay for the Parks Pass). Walk into Pelion Hut via the Arms River Track, this will require you to arrange transport to the trail head, a company like Outdoor Recreational Transport would be able to pick you up from the airport, although more expensive than the standard coach service, if there is a group of you it is not unreasonable, Paul Grigg the guy who runs it is also a mine of local bushwalking information. The walk in on the Arms River Track is not difficult and then will open up Mount Oakleigh, Mount Ossa, the Southern waterfalls, and also opportunities for a couple of days at Pine Valley exploring the Labyrinth and the Acropolis. You then return to the Overland and down to Lake Saint Clair where you can pick up the regular coach service back to Hobart or Launceston. Could easily put together a 6-7 day itinerary that would take in some of the highlights of the Park. As previously mentioned another option would be to hike down through the Walls of Jerusalem, via Junction Lake and the Never Never, again joining the Southern part of the Overland. This is a great walk but the Walls is also not serviced by a coach service so you would need to organise your own drop off.