Echo Point to Cynthia Bay
Overland Track
The Hike - The final day of the Overland Track. With my last morning on the track after an unforgettable six days, I had set my alarm for just before sunrise (4am), to catch the morning light show. Being in my tent right on the shores of Lake St Clair meant I was perfectly positioned to roll over, unzip my tent, and capture whatever magic might be on display. I don't think I even needed my alarm in the end, waking up to the slightest hint of light on my tent, I opened up the side facing the water and could tell I was in for a treat.
One of the solo hikers we had caught up to on these last couple of days was already awake and sitting on the jetty ready to bask in the magnificence of a glorious sunrise. Plenty of other hikers had the same idea as I could hear a bit of activity going on around camp but I was happy for now to rest in my tent and take in all in from here. The colours were slowly transforming, from a light purple, to yellows, to bright red at one stage, that prompted me to quote in my head Legolas from The Two Towers, "A red sun rises, blood has been spilt this night". Perhaps the leeches from New Pelion had attacked again. Deciding to take in the views from outside of my tent, I put on my jacket and exited onto the beach. It was another relatively warm morning, a blessing we had experienced over the week where the only bad weather we had seen was one medium shower on the afternoon of the third day.
The bright reds of the pre-sunrise light show were starting to peak and it was an awe-inspiring sight, wandering around in the still morning air. I could hear Obi and Rose stirring in the tent next to me as I headed towards the jetty to take more photos. The view looking down the lake is a captivating one, with the dark silhouettes of the western and eastern slopes of the lake converging in the middle and drawing your gaze to a singular spot. More and more people were starting to emerge as the sun eventually peaked above the distant hills. Echo Point has phone reception if you're on the Telstra network, so we knew that rain was eventually coming today, and it wouldn't be another warm one. Given the lovely lighting I had yesterday afternoon, I would take another cloudy day walking through the forest. With only 11km to get through today, no one was in any rush to get going, although everyone was keen for some proper food.
I was quite content to savour the last moments with what was left of our group, sitting on the jetty and chatting away while everyone drank coffee, ate breakfast or stretched our their weary muscles. It was a beautiful morning and a relaxing send-off for what had been a super memorable hike. Eventually it came time to start packing up, and it was a breeze packing up the tent, as there was no condensation or rain to shake off, and the underside was easy rid of sand with one quick sweep. I had been meaning to stay in my tent more often but the new huts were too good not to experience and by the time I got to Bert Nichols, all the tent sites had been taken. Ready to depart by 8:30am, I was planning on walking to the end in the close proximity of David, Alice, Obi and Rose but the call of nature struck just as we were about to leave, so I told them I'd catch-up.
I knew this wasn't going to happen, as I'd be taking way too many photos but you never know with these things. I was ready to go after the briefest possible visit to the outhouse (it will be much better if/when it gets replaced with a solar powered ventilation system), and I was looking forward to a merry jaunt through the forest to finish off the week. The area immediately around Echo Point was amazing, a continuation of the walking from the previous afternoon. A number of Strawberry Brackets were dotted around the place, along with some Leatherwood flowers that I had completely missed seeing on the edge of the beach when exploring camp. I definitely wasn't going to be catching anyone up today given the absolutely stunning scenery in front of me, with thick boi trees and a myriad of greenery all around. With excellent lighting and a new delight around every bend, I was in danger of intercepting the forecasted rain.
That wasn't on my mind right now, just enjoying what was in front of me, and soaking in the last 11km of the Overland Track. That was pretty easy with the great hiking that was on offer, with a good mix of lush forest and the occasional view of the lake to your left. Following the edge of the lake, I was expecting a pretty easy walk with little to no elevation change, and while the elevation chart at the top of the page looks quite hilly, the y axis is only going up in tens of metres, not hundreds like the other days. It is deceptively hilly as most of the time you have little ups and downs to negotiate, and while they aren't hard, the cumulative effect is that it rarely feels like a flat hike. That makes it feel more engaging if you're not trying to power on to the end in the quickest time possible, and there's plenty to engage with here.
Masses of fallen logs covered in mossy delight, boardwalk sections that look like they're leading into the abyss, a variety of fungi, even in the height of summer, large ferns in places, and carpets of leaf litter that makes some areas look like they are straight out of a fairytale. Having hiked the last section of the Overland Track leading into the lodge while exploring the day hikes around Lake St Clair, I was expecting more of that kind of scenery, but this was on another level of enjoyment. Conscious that the rain was coming, and I also wanted to shower and eat before my Overland Track Transport pick-up that afternoon, I was balancing my pace as well as could be expected given what was in front of me. It's easy to see why the campsite was so popular last night if this is the quality of hiking you can experience on an easily accessible overnight adventure.
Continuing on and not sure when the excellent looking temperate rainforest would make way for the dry sclerophyll that is found around Cynthia Bay, I was hoping that it would last all the way to where the Overland Track joins the Platypus Bay loop. I had a bit of a laugh when I came across a patch of overgrown ferns that was fun to walk through, but would be nothing compared to the feeling of being swallowed up I'd experience later on. While the day is mostly forest, there are gaps in the tree line occasionally where you can see the lake, and hills on the other side of the shore. One particular spot shows just how much the larger trees block out the lake, as one had fallen down the slope of the hill and flattened a section of the forest below. It was an odd sight for there to be a narrow vertical gap in the forest but that's nature, and I'm sure something will take it's place given the access to an abundance of light.
On previous days it was quite easy to break up the day into highlights or features along the track to enjoy but this last section is pretty much forest, then more forest, then a bit more forest. If it appears like I'm waffling on a fair bit, it's because I am. Most of the time I'm providing a bit of information about what you'll see and referencing it back to the photos but through here there's only so many times you can repeat "walking through excellent forest". I wanted to showcase this section for the beauty it contains, and this was the bare minimum of photos I felt it needed. I took about 700 photos this day, and edited up 179 of them, of which only 125 appear in the final post you are reading now. It may seem like a lot to most people but for me, this is showing restraint. I could have easily edited up many more, as around every corner there was something that I thought was worthy of having a photo taken.
Off in the distance I could hear something unnatural yet familiar, the sound of a ferry motoring along the lake. Not being able to judge how far away it was through the tree line, I hurried along to try and find a gap in the trees. I made it just in time to give the 9:30am ferry a wave, knowing Jay, Laura and Ritchie were onboard and there was a slim chance they might see my hello. Laura and Ritchie had stayed the night at Narcissus, waiting on Jay to return from his adventures up in Pine Valley. Given the ferry looks small with my 140mm zoom lens, I doubt they would have seen me but I can pretend. Continuing along, the thick boi trees were numerous through here, and I soon heard a noise coming up from behind me. I turned around to see a trail runner closing at a decent speed, so I stepped to the side and let him through.
Not expecting to see trail runners, it makes perfect sense to be dropped off by the morning ferry and run back to Cynthia Bay, instead running it out and back style. With the combination of the lake, the Beech forest and knowing the lodge was waiting at the end, it was feeling very much like a North American style lake camp area, at least to me, a very different vibe to the wilderness I'd been wandering through over the past week. Throughout the morning I had been captivated by the volume and variety of different fungi I was seeing along the edge of the track. For the most part over the course of the week I had seen the same kind of species but along here there were some new ones that I hadn't seen. Fungi identification is on a whole different level to wildflowers as the experts always ask for photos from all angles, what moon phase it was, had a Pademelon looked at it before noon et cetera before trying to provide an ID.
Normally I don't have the time or angles to be able to provide that kind of information, so I tend to describe them as puffy white one, large brown one, or red spongey one unless I'm sure. Passing over several more creeks, I reached a patch of ferns that was the craziest I had seen all morning. Being 6ft 1, most of the time I could wade through these overgrown sections with relative ease, just raising my arms slightly to pass over the edges. These patches were comical in that they were head height in places and once I was in the thick of it, I couldn't see my feet or legs. I do wonder how many hikers have been lost to the ferns along here, agonisingly close to finishing the Overland Track but thwarted by ferns. It did make for some fun photos and videos as I crouched down to provide a better viewpoint. With the ferns dealt with, it was back into the last of the epic forest, with large fallen logs and patches of mossy woodland.
Coming across a moderate rock wall that took me by surprise, a quick glance at my watch indicated that I shouldn't be too far away from intercepting the Platypus Bay track. Then it happened, all of a sudden the lovely Beech forest ended, and I was walking through open dry sclerophyll forest that was similar to what I was expecting around Cynthia Bay. The end was close, and the abrupt change in scenery definitely hit home that this wonderful week was at an end. With a couple of kilometres of walking left, most of it familiar tracks I'd walked before, it was a case of savouring the last bit of the journey. The emergence of wildflowers among the undergrowth made for a good distraction, along with the spits of rain that had started to fall. Reaching the Platypus Bay intersection, I was now on the home stretch and knew what to expect from here.
Last time I was here in 2021, it was the day after a large snowfall and we had decided to do a short hike in the surreal weather. We spotted two girls who had almost run the final section of the Overland to reach the lodge and get dry. Arriving at Watersmeet, I had been telling everyone that for the longest time while visiting I had been calling it "Watersmeet", instead of "Waters Meet", which everyone found hilarious. Having not caught up to David, Alice, Rose and Obi but getting through the morning at a good pace (for me at least), I was half expecting them to be waiting at Watersmeet. Spotting a group of hikers on the other side, I thought it was them but alas it wasn't. I don't blame them, the allure of a hot shower and meal this close to the end would be too enticing. I instead stopped at the bridge and admired the spot where Hugel and Cuvier Rivers join up (hence Watersmeet). The last 1.5km of the Overland follows the Watersmeet Track that provides access to some of the day hikes in the area like Platypus Bay, Larmairremener Tabelti and the Shadow Lake Circuit. It's a pretty straight and wide track, a shock if you're coming off the Overland but it's a pretty nice way to finish the week. Reaching the Fergy's Paddock turn-off, I knew this was a more scenic, albeit longer, way of getting to the finishing spot outside of the Lake St Clair Lodge. With the rains coming in, things were looking a bit gloomy when I arrived at the beach but I got some moody shots looking across the water to Pumphouse Point.
Walking along the beach, I reached the stairs up to the lodge and was soon staring at the Overland Track signage that meant I had completed the track. It didn't feel like a significant moment, as to me, the destination wasn't important, it was all about enjoying the hiking over the previous week. A bit of a cliche but I always find the end of these journeys a bit of an anti-climax. With the rain starting to fall, I found the others, who were feeling good about finishing, and ready to enjoy a meal. There are hot shower facilities for hikers here, so I grabbed my change of clothes and enjoyed the feeling of the hot water washing away the day's hiking, and a week worth of built up dirt I couldn't wash off in the lake the previous afternoon. Feeling refreshed, I joined the others in the main lodge ready to fill my belly and have a wrap-up chat about the track, while it started to bucket down outside. Unfortunately the vegetarian Overland Burger wasn't available, so I settled on a Margarita Pizza that I'm not exaggerating was the worst pizza I've ever eaten (was basically a cheese pizza with bland dough). It was a bit of a shame but not entirely unexpected given our experience the last time we were here. With a bit of time before the trip back to Launceston, I enjoyed the last bit of socialising before we grabbed out packs to meet the bus. I asked the driver to drop me off at a nice burger spot to make up for the disappointment of my pizza, as I had a few hours before my flight home. Having woken up on the shores of Lake St Clair, I had hiked the last section of the track, flown home and was in my own bed on the same day. What an Overland Track adventure.
Final Thoughts – The Overland Track...I won't talk about the last day here, as the post is above, instead I'll reflect on the week that was.
If you've read all the posts up to here then you'll get the impression that I quite enjoyed my time on the Overland Track. It was one of those big ticket hikes that I'd seen plenty about, talked about it on the podcast, but I just needed to commit and book it in.
Having hiked the South Coast Track the previous summer, I was more confident I would enjoy a summer Overland more than I initially thought a few years ago, so joined the queues in July to finally book it.
Even though it's one of the most famous, if not the most famous multi-day hike in Australia, it certainly lived up to the hype and then some. There really isn't a dull section throughout the week, or even a section where I thought to myself that it was just a matter of getting it over with. The highlights are spectacular, with some iconic places along the track, but even the common scenes you walk through are amazing throughout the walk.
Each day presented a new challenge, new scenery, and plenty to enjoy scenery wise. Having the optional side trips is a fantastic idea, as it means it's accessible to most people, with those wanting more of a challenge catered to as well. Granted we got amazing weather throughout the week, but a little bit of rain here or there would have probably added to the experience.
The facilities are top notch, and there may be people that will comment that they might be a little overboard, but the newer huts in my opinion don't take anything away from the experience of hiking the Overland. It was great to have open and sunny spaces to relax, both inside and outside, without feeling like you were cramped or getting in the way of others.
Being a bit of an introvert, the social aspect of the track was one of the things I enjoyed the most. It was great how quickly everyone bonded and even though I've not connected with everyone from our main group post hike, thinking back over the experience and remembering various discussions, rest stops or evenings still brings smile to my face. To the group that started on January 1, 2024, thank you for being apart of the journey and providing such an amazing experience.
Lastly, a big thanks to the Tassie Parks Department, who have provided an outstanding world class hiking experience, but also maintain and improve the track throughout the year. You can tell there is a great deal of care goes into making the hike a great one for everyone.
If you've read all these posts and still aren't convinced to hike the Overland Track yourself, I'll quote the great Emperor Palpatine and say "do it!!!".
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