In January 2005, Thorsten & I spent 9 days hiking the Overland Track in north-western Tasmania. Below are a few selected images of our 120km+ trek.

Our first day of walking (carrying ~25kg backpack each) afforded us a view of Lake St Clair (our starting point) while we were climbing up the Labyrinth to camp near the lakes.

After ~15km of walking, we camped near Lake Elysian. Thorsten went for a swim, while Scott caught up on some washing!

Reflections of The Acropolis, just before sunset. We wanted to climb The Acropolis the next day, however the weather didn't permit it.

I was awake very early the next morning & was lucky enough to view a spectacular sunrise. By 7:30am, a change in the weather arrived & we rushed to pack up & get down from the Lakes to the relative safety of lower ground.

A few hours later & we were back down from the Lakes & away from the brunt of the storm. The Asics (shoes) still had a whitish lustre on day 2.

At the end of the second day of walking (~16km), we spent a steamy evening with Matt & Kate (a very funny couple) in Windy Ridge hut. A party of 26 rovers arrived & the pyromaniacs amongst them managed to raise the inside temperature to 27°C with 100% humidity! Matt started a silent strip protest at the abhorent temperatures - we eventually hid the coal bucket to halt the rising temperatures.

The third day of walking allowed us to see a number of waterfalls.

After sitting around in New Pelion hut for 2 days, the weather finally cleared & we grabbed our daypacks & climbed up Mount Ossa - the highest mountain in Tasmania.

Near the top there were many snow-covered sections we had to traverse.

The view from the top of Mount Ossa was spectacular & well worth the effort. The view of my Asics was less spectacular.

We saw 3 echidnas during the course of our trip.

After climbing Mount Ossa & returning to the hut, we decided to pack-up & head to Windemere hut. By the end of the day we spent over 11 hours walking & covered a distance of ~34km! This picture looks back at Mount Ossa (on the horizon on the right-hand side) which we had climbed earlier in the day - it's a long way away!

The next day was only a short ~8km walk to Waterfall Valley hut, where we were fortunate to see these flowers - they flower for only 1-&-a-half weeks of the year.

The next morning we walked ~10km to Cradle Mountain - the finish! Visibility was <20m for the entire journey until we descended to Dove Lake. If it weren't foggy, you would be able to see Cradle Mountain in the background.

We spent lots of time with Leigh & Megan throughout the trip - they were excellent company! They were travelling the Overland Track in the same direction & we frequently bumped into them along the way.

Just as we were catching the bus to Launceston, the fog lifted & we finally got to see Cradle Mountain.