My Time in Tasmania
- Jun 11
- 6 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Now that I have left New Zealand, I will take some time to compose a reflective on my nearly year-long experience there, but first I’d like to share some highlights from a two-week stint I had in Tasmania.
When I first planned my trip to New Zealand, I had zero intention of visiting the Australian island. But while I was on various trails in New Zealand, I met my fair share of Aussies who told me that if I like the tramping here, I should check it out. Figuring that it would never be more convenient than now (and having a couple of friends who were inviting me to do a trail there anyway), I happily appended it to the end of my stint on the far end of the world.
Despite its small size, two weeks is not nearly enough time to properly explore Tasmania’s natural wonders. There are an abundance of national parks, wildlife sanctuaries, and other wonders to appreciate that I did not have a chance to experience. Instead, my time was mostly divided into two activities: the Three Capes Track and the Overland Track.
The Three Capes Track
This is the four-day trail I did with two friends I made while hiking the Milford Track, Emily (a kiwi) and Jaslyn (an Aussie). They picked me up from the airport in Hobart upon my arrival, and a couple of days later, we found ourselves in Port Arthur, a world heritage site that used to be a penal colony for the British Empire. It also happened to be the ferry point for beginning our track. So, after enjoying some views of cliffs, some cormorants, and even a dolphin, we were on the track with about 38 others.
Unlike a lot of the other trails I’ve done, the schedule for the Three Capes Track is explicit, and you cannot skip a hut or stay in the same place for more than the one night allotted. This resulted in fairly straightforward days, leaving by 7:30 each morning, and arriving at the destination by 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon. The huts were pretty swanky, with mattresses in the rooms, heaters and gas stoves in the kitchen, and even books, games, and yoga mats available for use. We began the trail on May 5, near the end of autumn in Tasmania. It is quite further south than Auckland, and the morning chills were significant. Although the weather was expected to be quite bad the entire time, the weather held off for the most part, offering clear views at critical moments, and never raining or hailing for more than a few minutes at a time (and never in tremendous quantities).
On the hike, I saw evidence of wombats and quolls, but only got glimpses of wallabies, which was still a very exciting moment for me, having never seen one in the wild before. (Later, at an Airbnb, wallabies would come up to the porch door because the lodging provides the opportunity to give them food. I wound up having one eat the pellets from my hand and even lightly pet the back of one – a tremendous experience.)
I did not see any snakes during my entire time on the island. Although there are 3 snake species in Tasmania, all of them poisonous, only 6 people have died from snakebites in the past century, with only one of them being a bushwalker. They are quite afraid of humans and stay away, so I had little anxiety over them, especially considering the lateness of the season.
Overall, the dolerite cliffs spanning the three capes were different from anything I saw in New Zealand, but there were moments, especially in the rainforest section, where I saw the similarities to its neighbor across the Tasman Sea. In terms of upkeep, it was one of the best maintained trails I’ve ever traversed.
The Overland Track
I did this one solo, and almost immediately after finishing the Three Capes Track. The following morning, I took a bus to the small town of Deloraine, which boasts of platypuses dotting the little river cutting through the southern section of the settlement. I was admittedly nervous about this trail, since it snows there even in the summer, and I was unequipped for and not used to dealing with such weather.
Somehow, though, I had perfect weather the entire time. It was quite astounding. Even the clouds were clear in a place notorious for its brutal conditions. This was particularly helpful because I was accomplishing this trail in four days, even though people usually did it in six to seven.
Because of this, the abundance of interesting side trails, and the limited daylight hours – the sunset occurred around 5:15 pm – I had little time to dally. On the first day, I climbed up to Cradle Mountain, which involved some serious scrambling, but rewarded me with an outstanding view of Cradle Mountain National Park. After descending, I walked past Waterfall Valley Hut and went on to Windermere Hut, arriving just before nightfall.
The huts were not quite as nice as those on the Three Capes Track. Although new and having electric heaters, in some ways, they fell below the standards of even the New Zealand huts. Mattresses were not provided, there were no gas stoves, nor any indoor sinks or toilet paper in the outhouses. Nevertheless, they were beautiful and quite spacious at this time of year. (Because of the risk of bad weather and hypothermia, all trekkers are required to bring their own tent and mattress, not only in case the huts are full, but so that they can make shelter if anything goes wrong.)
On the second day, I hiked an even further distance, skipping Pelion Hut and going to Kia Ora Hut. I also climbed the tallest mountain in all of Tasmania, Mt. Ossa. Although I made the most of my time by condensing the trek into just four days, it came at a bit of a cost beyond the exhaustion and effort. Although all the hikers I met were very kind and welcoming, I felt a significant difference between my connection with the people I met on the first night versus the people I met on my second night. The folks at the Kia Ora hut had already been traveling together for four days at this point, and the cohort had built their own community that, kind and communicative as they were, was nevertheless felt.
On the third day, I visited some waterfalls and again skipped a hut in favor of hiking further. I climbed to an area called the Labyrinth, but I had to turn around before I could make it all the way there due to time constraints.
The final night, where I stayed in Pine Valley, an offshoot of the Overland Track, also had me chatting less with my hut-mates than the night prior, but for different reasons. It was half populated with hikers who weren’t doing the full Overland, and thus kind of on their own agenda. Additionally, it was tinier and less modern than the other huts; there was a coal stove, which no one could get started, and no electric lights. This led to no one really staying up past 7:00 pm, instead huddling in the cold dark inside their respective sleeping bags.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the company of everyone I met. I also experienced more wildlife than I did on the Three Capes, running across 4 wombats over the first two days, several wallabies, a handful of possums, and what I believe to have been a padymelon. On the final day, I hiked to a beautiful lake and took a ferry across to the end.
Overall, the hike was better than I could’ve imagined, and the scenic wonders abounded. It was really fun coming across wildlife, especially since New Zealand was fairly limited in that regard. Although muddy at times, I really appreciated the varying landscapes.
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