South Coast Track

DAY 5

Melaleuca - Point Eric

I was soooooo glad that I came all the way to Melaleuca the night before... it absolutely pissed down!  But I was snug as an insect of the order Hemiptera in a thick woolen floor-mat, just listening to it pelt down and feeling sorry for whoever was out there.  My roommate Rick took off for the South Coast track early despite the continuing rain.  Me, I just chilled.  Had gourmet delight for breakfast, stretched, waited, chatted with the rangers and then eventually left at about lunchtime.

The lagoon before Cox Bight... or as it should be known, Bight Cox.

Thankfully the first section of track was mostly boardwalk, and even though half of that was underwater, it was nice not to have to stress so much about where to put one's feet.  I met Hugh & Dan from Hobart who'd just taken an overnight trip to New Harbour on the South-West Cape track.  They said it was great.

You can see the track winding down to the lagoon behind the dunes.  It was great to see the surf.  I made it to Point Eric camp by mid-afternoon and enjoyed a leisurely afternoon.  Rick was already there and Hugh & Dan joined us later that eve.  Rick was using tent and tarp made from Cuben Fibre - ultralight, strong and waterproof.

DAY 6

Point Eric - Little Deadman's Bay

Don't try this at home, kids. Epic day.

I woke, packed and set out early.  The going was pretty good actually.  It was a pretty good mix of beach and rainforest and buttongrass peat so it kept things interesting.  The South Coast track is certainly spectacular - I can see why so many people do it compare to the Port Davey track.

After smashing it up the Red Point Hills, there was a gentle descent to the first in a series of creek crossings.  The book described how these crossing could be subject to strong current after rain.  Sure enough, the first one was flowing pretty well.  Nothing for Tristan Grylls though.  At the next crossing I came across a large group who were guided by an older bloke.  He told me they had turned back from Louisa River crossing because it was too strong to cross that morning. OK.  That's pretty sad.  Imagine paying (a lot) to do the South Coast track and then not being able to?  I found out later that apparently it all came down to one person who wasn't confident to cross - so they all couldn't!

Soon after I met some lovely folk from Sydney (Adam, Anthea, Brendan and Ash - or Brendantheadamash for short) who immediately offered me more food - they had overpacked, a common theme amongst South Coast hikers I was to find out.  The hiking was up and down and, of course, muddy in sections.  About lunchtime I came to Louisa River and descended into the beautiful riverine rainforest there to take photos.  Unfortunately my camera battery died then too :(  The river crossing was not too hard.

The Ironbound peaks.

It wasn't too late in the day and I still had plenty of energy, so I set out for the infamous Ironbound Range - over 1000m at its peak and characterised by a triple crown of protruding rock - see photo.  I steeled myself and set off upwards.  It was a pretty steep climb, but I prefer it like that.  It gets it out off the way quicker.  But what was bad was the lack of water.  Up until that point there had been no shortage of rivers, creeks, streams and streamlets to fill up from.  But on this side of the mountain there was nothing.  I eventually found tiny trickle but I was lucky because all that exertion made me thirsty.  I made it from Louisa River to the very apex of the range in 2.5 hours.

Louisa Plains

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

The Ironbounds and beyond

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

The vegetation on the top of the Ironbounds has been described as the only true alpine vegetation in Tasmania.  And it is exquisite.  Lush colours and textures kept short by the incessant wind.    The descent soon brought montane rainforest too, characterised by stubby wind-sheared trees, lots of moss and pandanus!  It was very beautiful up there.

And so to the descent.  Up until then I had been feeling ok.  I knew the descent would be tough,but what I didn't know is how tough.  Firstly it was all in rainforest, so everything was wet.  Plus, there was lots of large and deep mudholes.  Plus, the only way to avoid those mudholes was to step on roots, rocks or branches around them, which was often quite a slippery endeavour.  Plus, it was mostly very steep.  And with an extra 17kg on my back, my body was not happy with that equation.  The campsites on the range were not very good at all, so I continued all the way to Little Deadman's Bay.  It took a long time, and it never seemed to end - I was yelling at the land to let me get to camp.

My knees and ankles were numb and barely functioning.

I stumbled in to camp at about 730pm.  I had been slightly delerious for some time.  Full on.  I set camp, washed, met some of the others there, including Nathan, Joe & Steph who were with a group of 9 friends all hiking together.  They had a campfire going so I gladly absorbed the warmth and smoke while I ate all of my 2-person meal.  New Year's Eve consisted of not much at all really! Everyone was in bed by 10.30 pm.

So here's a hint - if you're going to do a 27km day, try not to include about 2500m of altitude change... 

DAY 7

Little Deadman's Bay - Osmiridium Beach

Things went pretty slowly on Day 7... you can imagine why.  Shortly after leaving Little Deadman's, the famed mud of South-West Tasmanian World Heritage Area reared its ugly head.  There was an incredible mud pit.  Very wide... and very deep, by all accounts.  One shorter woman I met said she had fallen in up to her armpits!  Although the Port Davey track consists of nearly all shallow peat soils, it is used by approximately 200 people per year.  The South Coast track receives over 1000.  Correspondingly though, it also has far more boardwalked sections (there were essentially none on the P.D. track).  So... less muddy sections, but those that were there were in far worse condition.

After an insanely steep mudslide down to the beach, I followed the sand for a few kilometres to the New River Lagoon.  By this point I had caught up to Nathan, Joe, Steph and the crew and we were happily chatting and hiking together in between doing our own thing.  The lagoon had to be crossed by boat 'Bathurst Narrows'-style - over, tow the other one back, then back over.  Although brackish, it wasn't an ocean crossing, so was a lot easier than the Narrows.  And as we contemplated crossing a friendly gentleman rowed over from the other side to escort us over, how nice! So crossing was actually really easy.

The islands off the South Coast from Prion Beach

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

Precipitous Bluff and New River Lagoon

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

New River Lagoon

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

On the other side the others stopped for lunch - I continued, following the lagoon down to a steeeeep rope-assisted sand dune descent.  But where did the track go then?  No markers beyond that, except for the vague hope of an orange buoy about 500m away near the mouth of the river.  More confusion.  The map was useless, and the book notes were on my camera - which was dead.  After about 30 minutes of trying to find my way, Joe and Nathan caught up.  I decided to give wading around the edge of the lagoon a go, even though it looked really deep.  By fully using my depth stick I was able to make it through, as did the others.  Apparently the location of the river mouth varies greatly over time as the sand bank changes location, hence the vague notes.  But still, another example of Parks Tasmania's selective concern about hiker safety.

Our destination that night was Omiridium Beach.  It was a nice campsite (despite the march flies).  But the beach was just lush.  Beautiful sand, crashing waves and lots of hidden inlets.  

DAY 8

Osmiridium Beach

After a pleasant evening, Steph & company and the others all departed and I stuck around for the day - and what a day it turned out to be! Proper summer :)  And it wasn't even windy.  I had the whole beach to myself.  I sunbaked most of the morning then invented a new martial art in the afternoon - called Buoy Swinging.  I found a well-weighted buoy and used the short rope to swing it around my body - great exercise for the core :)  Later, Jackie & Richard (whom I had met briefly at Louisa River) arrived and we all exchanged our stories of the ups and downs of this magnificent hike.  Richard had brought a mini bottle of champers for Jackie's 50th and cooled it bushie-style... in the creek :)

Honestly, this was one of the best days of my life.

DAY 9

Osmiridium Beach - Surprise Bay

An easy day.  I don't remember much about the walk itself except for the moment when one of my patented mudhole-avoiding leaps went perilously wrong.  I was aiming for the start of a boardwalk to cross a creek but fell just short - my left shin scraped the boardwalk instead.  It wasn't deep but it was extensive, all the way up my shin.  I actually got to use my first-aid kit and completely sealed the wounds by wrapping them in plaster tape.  Which was quite painful to remove, as it brought my leg hair with it.

I arrived in Surprise Bay around lunchtime and snagged the best spot - a camp site with a gorgeous view.  I had read on someone else blog that Surprise Bay was the highlight of their trip - and it didn't disappoint.  A sheltered bay, beautiful creek and rocky outcrops pushing into the surf to create beautiful wading pools.

I think this is Surprise Bay

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

Another great day.  Richard and Jackie arrived later, as did Brendantheadamash and we chatted into the evening.  Ah such bliss :)

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

DAY 10 

Surprise Bay

Another rest day.  I didn't have it to myself all day like I did at Osmiridium, but this was just as divine.  I explored both ends of the bay as far as I could, rock hopping out hanging with the waves and oystercatchers and seaweed.  The water was beautiful of course, but very cold, so a quick dip followed by warming up in the sun.

Hugh & Dan arrive towards the end of the night and they took pity on my no-camera situation.  Hugh offered to share their photos with me and we exchange emails.  So all the photos from the Ironbounds onwards are courtesy of them - thanks very much guys!  Apologies if it appears like I've butchered the originals - I used a lot of 'Auto Fix Lighting' so they might have changed a bit...

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

DAY 11

Surprise Bay - South Cape Rivulet

Unfortunately all good things must end, so they say.  And yes I had to say goodbye to Surprise Bay :(

It was quite a hike to South Cape Rivulet.  At the start of the trek this section might have been fairly easy actually, but by this time all the hiking and climbing and epic jumping I had done was starting to catch up with me - I think my body was in wind-down mode after my series of easy and rest days.  I wasn't too happy to have to climb and descend, and yet that is what I had to do.  So I ended up being a bit cranky this day.  I realised my neck and upper back muscles had seriously cramped up, despite my best efforts to give them some relief every day.

Many people had described how hard the South Cape Range was to cross - it was hard, but not as hard as the Ironbounds descent.  It did take quite some time though.  I met and passed several people on the way - I was definitely in 'get it done' mode now... I just wanted to set camp and enjoy my last night out.

Granite Beach - the rocks here are believe it or not, granite.

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

Apart from Granite Beach, one of the highlights of the day was passing a Leatherwood (Eucryphia lucida) tree, source of the famed fragrant honey.  The flower smelt amazing! I've never smelt anything like it, so rich and complex.

Eventually I arrived at the beautiful South Cape Rivulet.  What a place!  With the rest of the afternoon I took some sun and explored the area, including rock-hopping all the way out to the eastern point to look into the next gorgeous bay.  On my way I came across pools full of diverse seaweeds and fish and rock things... sooo cool! I stayed out on the point as the sun went down.  I didn't want this to end.

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

DAY 12

South Cape Rivulet - Cockle Creek - Geeveston - Hobart - Melbourne

At a beach similar to Granite Beach, I searched for and found a suitable massage stone - about 12cm long, fairly thin with a rounded, pointed and thin end.  Don't tell Parks Tasmania please :)

Photo: Courtesy of Hugh Maguire and Dan

The hiking was, as usual, gorgeous.  I realised soon enough though that I needed to step up the pace if I wanted to make the 11.45 am deadline for the bus to Hobart.  I had thought it would be an easy stroll into Cockle Creek.  Everyone had been telling me that it was boardwalked all the way.  It was, once you started to head inland.  But the thing was that there was a lot of beach hiking to do before you got there.

So soon enough I was stepping it out, aiming for around 6 or 7km/hour.  I honestly don't remember much of the countryside, except for the distinctly different vegetation and geography of Moulder's Hill as I came closer to Cockle Creek.  Just as I was arriving (with 20 minutes or so to spare!), I met three very young women (late teens I'd say) heading off to climb Precipitous Bluff, and considering there is no official track, that's quite a challenge!

At Cockle Creek I cleaned myself up and changed into my Sunday best and waited for the bus.  As you can see I made it back to Melbourne that evening, which was a ridiculously fucking epic mission.  But I had some hours in Hobart, including getting a strong latte from Straight Up that would compete with the best in Melbourne, and a fat greasy burger and fries from The Standard as per Hugh & Dan's recommendation.  I also visited the Botanic Gardens, which were small and lovely despite being next to the motorway out of town.

It had been an amazing experience.  When people were asking me how it was, the most I could come up with was 'it was beyond words'.  So that's how it is really.  Beyond words.  

PS But really, don't do the Port Davey track unless you're a sadist :)