Cradle Huts Overland Track

Arrive in Launceston and make your own way to the Red Feather Inn for check-in from 2pm, your accommodation for the night. Please arrive no later than 5:00pm. There will be a briefing with your guide at 5:30pm, for introductions and a gear check - your guides will go through your gear thoroughly to ensure you are well prepared. This will be followed by dinner full of seasonal and local produce, cooked by the in-house chef.

Meals:  D

After breakfast we journey to Waldheim in Cradle Valley. On the summit Cradle Mountain in 1910, Austrian-born Gustav Weindorfer proclaimed, "This must be a national park for the people for all time". It's fitting our walk begins at Waldheim, where Weindorfer's story is told. We will have morning tea here then set off on the track by 11am. By lunchtime we have walked through our first section of ancient temperate rainforest, have witnessed the dramatic glacially-carved Crater Lake and the steepest section of the whole Overland Track is behind us. The steep section is mostly stepped and takes us about an hour. It gets us onto Marion’s Lookout (1,250m) which hopefully offers famous and spectacular views of Cradle Mountain with Lake Dove at its base – worth every step. If the weather is fine, we stop for lunch by the peaceful Plateau Creek before continuing for about another 4 hours around the base of Cradle Mountain, out along the edge of a spectacular glacial cirque, then dropping into Waterfall Valley which we cross before arriving at our hut at the base of the towering Barn Bluff. Several hours of this day’s walk is over exposed alpine plateau which allows great views on a clear day, but in rough weather the wind howls over the land making for exciting, and sometimes challenging, walking conditions.

Meals:  B,L,D

The walking today is undulating with a few sections of exposed moorland. There are no large hills and the once notoriously muddy Pine Forest Moor is now a duckboard path over the mud! We travel across plains where glaciers once sat and slowly moved, scouring out shallow tarns. Now we see plains of button grass with ancient Pencil Pines sitting with their roots in the water. Rising from the moors, the peaks of Cradle Mountain and Barn Bluff are behind us to the North, and the stately Mount Pelion West directly ahead. We offer an optional side trip today to Lake Will if you are looking for an additional challenge. Keep an eye out for gravel mounds along the way, remnants of Joseph Will’s coal mining efforts in the 1890s. Further along the track, Lake Windemere offers an opportunity for an invigorating swim. This evening, at Pine Forest Moor Hut, enjoy dining with views out towards Mt Oakleigh.

Meals:  B,L,D

Today we venture through gorgeous myrtle-beech rainforest as we begin with a long, slow descent around the base of Mt. Pelion West down to the Forth River before it plunges into the Lemonthyme Valley. After a break at Frog Flats by the Forth River, which happens to be the Overland Track's lowest point, we have a long, gentle ascent out of the valley onto the beautiful Pelion Plains with uninterrupted views of Mount Oakleigh. There are many side trips in the Pelion Plains area with mountains all around, some excellent swimming holes, abandoned copper mines, or simply peaceful and humbling spots to rest quietly. This evening we'll be nestled amongst dry sclerophyll forest at Pelion Plains Hut.

Meals:  B,L,D

Today begins with a climb of almost 300m to Pelion Gap through beautiful rainforest. Pelion Gap is a plateau stretching between Mt Pelion East and Mt Ossa, affording fantastic views to the South as well as back to the North. There’s plenty of time for side trips from Pelion Gap including the option to summit Mt Ossa. At 1,617m, it is Tasmania’s highest peak. There are other less challenging climbs, including to the Japanese Gardens on the slopes of Mt Doris. It’s a further two hours of gentle downhill from the gap to the hut, so a moderate day with the option to make it more challenging. Once we arrive at Kia Ora Hut, enjoy a Tasmanian drop with spectacular views out to Cathedral Mountain.

Meals:  B,L,D

This is a day of icy-flowing waterfalls and majestic forests. We depart Kia Ora Hut and walk about an hour to Du Cane where a 19-10-built hut remains from the long-gone days of animal trapping. This is a fine spot to rest in the native gardens planted by trapper Paddy Hartnet’s wife during her long stints in the bush with her husband, overlooked by the spectacular Du Cane Range. From here, we wander through some of the oldest forest in the National Park with King Billy Pines as old as 2,000 years. Here we are above the Mersey River, which descends steeply Northward towards Bass Strait. There are three major sets of waterfalls and we opt to visit one or more of these, choosing the best to have lunch beside depending on the conditions. During the afternoon, we make our way over Du Cane Gap then descend beside the spectacular Falling Mountain to Windy Ridge Hut. Tonight is a celebratory one, our last evening on the track.

Meals:  B,L,D

Lake St Clair is Australia’s deepest natural lake, and as with most of this area, has been shaped by glaciers over 2 million years. The walk is mainly through cool temperate eucalypt forest, and birdsong is all around. We arrive at Narcissus at the Northern end of Lake St Clair in time for lunch before boarding the Lake St Clair cruise boat for the spectacular 17km cruise back to Cynthia Bay. There is a visitor centre at Cynthia Bay, and we usually have about half an hour to look around. The return trip to Red Feather Inn is through the trout fishing mecca of the highland lakes, descending the rugged Western Tiers to the broad plains of the Northern Midlands, and passing through the rural townships of Cressy and Longford. You should arrive at Red Feather Inn by around 5pm. There will be a shuttle bus departing at 6m which goes via Launceston airport at approximately 6:15pm, arriving back at Chalmers Church Launceston at about 6:30pm. If you are staying at Quamby Homestead, a shuttle will be organised.

Meals:  B,L