Another delightful Tasmanian day for the walk to Echo Point Hut. The track was busy. Many passings of slower walkers and lots of hello's and best wishes for my birthday. This part of the Overland Track can be boring, but what the hell, being bored while you are hiking sure beats the hell out of being bored at work any day! The racers hit Narcissus Hut early and Sue and I straggled in, by now our feet were getting a bit sore and the "edge" was off our pace. (if it was ever on!)
The highlight of our rest time here was overhearing some of the guided hut people complaining about the weight of their packs and their desire for a cold beer now they had completed the walk. What you ask, hadn't their white wine been chilled enough each night at their hut or .....more seriously, hadn't the guides left the red wine to breath long enough??? THEY felt like a beer I commented to Sue, yep I pondered ........so did I.
We headed off to Echo Point, looking forward to our last night on the Overland Track. The frustrating thing , is that usually on the last day of a hike I am always keen to get to the destination, rather than enjoying the journey. This part of the track is wonderful, fantastic HUGE trees and delightful moss covered glades. A real "hobbit' environment. It is well worth taking this route (rather than the boat) and enjoying the last day. I probably did not do it justice and was very keen to get to Echo Point and put my feet up (and out the next day for that beer!).
We camped on the beach here for the first time. We had braved the hut in the past but the weather was just too good to stay in there and besides it would have been VERY cosy......bunks for 8, 13 of us to fit in there. What a TRULY GREAT camp site. Water within metres, views to die for and interesting vistas to absorb. The weather was so spectacular many of the group took to the waters of Lake St Clair (much to the amusement of a boat load of day trippers who took the visions home digitally) They had a great swim and washed a few days worth of grime off.
That evening we enjoyed many more laughs and great company. My personal highlight (as usual) was the food, ie. a shared plate of everyone's "emergency" rations of chocolate (see picture on the post "Pictures I like".
The original nine of us had been joined for the last few days by Phillipp, Andrea and Claudia. On each Overland Trip we have undertaken, we always meet great people and this time was no exception. The mixture of Aussies, German, Swiss, Canadian, Kiwi and the lone(ly) Pommy, meant a great mix of ideas, fun, laughter and interesting stories. Australia and multiculturalism at its best.
No comments:
Post a Comment