Sometimes we come across fantastic trip reports and this one about the South Coast Track in Tasmania is a winner.

Maintained by “The Sons of the Desert”, this site is interesting, quirky, well written and contains some really great information.

We suspect very clever people , who can actually write and photograph, are behind it.

With “the Son’s” permission we have linked to a couple of their excellent images and stolen some amusing and enlightening pieces of text.

Please read the full trip report, it is well worth your time if you are planning the South Coast Track or just want to see why you might never go there….or, just live the adventure vicariously.

In no particular order,  some images and selected quotes:

But as we descended the south-easterns side of the mountains two things happened. The first was that the flora went from alpine to rainforest! A complete, dramatic change which contributed to making the thousand metre descent quite challenging. The other thing was that the well made track ended; that was the last of well made tracks until the final day.

So what we were left with was descending what was alternately a muddy trench or a root filled running watercourse down a thousand metre descent all overgrown with rainforest undergrowth. The horizontal distance was about 2k; it took almost five hours.

Top of Ironbound Ranges looking toward Louisa Bay and beyond

We then walked on to our intended campsite at Prion East. When we had almost achieved it we found that (not for the first or last time) storms had destroyed the track work, and there was a twenty metre almost vertical sand and slippery rock climb to get to the campsite. When we got the campsite, we found that there was no water: the only water was in soaks at the bottom of the climb!

Mmmm, water is king!

The people who came in the other direction arriving at Granite Beach camp were shellshocked. It started with a relatively tolerable 600m climb through moderate mud and up waterfalls laughingly called track. But when we got to the top, there was a traverse across the ridge line for a few km that was extraordinary. Many people were getting in the mud up to their waists. I managed my thighs but no higher.

South Coast Track mud - fun in the sun (or rain)

Interesting how psychology changes: at the cold moment I would have paid thousands to be transported back to civilisation. Warm in my sleeping bag I would have paid a lot *not* to be transported out and miss out on completing the walk!

Cold is bad, warm gear is great!

We hope you enjoyed the article over at The Sons of the Desert site. Many thanks to them for granting permission to share the information here.

Have you hiked in mud or water like this?
Enjoy or never again?
Shoot us your thoughts and experiences below, we love to share.

Congratulations and many thanks to the Bureau of Meteorology!

Drum roll…… the Overland Track now has its very own weather forecast.

Yep, a specific seven day forecast for the Cradle Valley.  It includes forecasts for “the Overland Track area”, New Pelion Hut and Lake St Clair. Up until now we have always relied on the Mt Reid and Lake St Clair forecasts. That left about 80km in the middle!

Head off to the B.O.M. site to check it out – Cradle Valley forecast.

Because this is a very short note, we thought some indulgence with a series of “weather” photos taken along the Overland Track might be fun.

Barn Bluff topped lightly in snow. This trip was in winter heading back to Cradle Mountain from the Walls of Jerusalum.

A wet day on the track as a walker tries to use a plastic poncho to protect his camera gear….

This was a trip in July, lots of the track was like this. Snow shoes weren’t necessary but the snow and ice was very slippery.

Speaking of ice, we loved these patterns.

This shot was on day five of a quick trip through from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair. We had not seen the top of ONE range in four days because of low cloud, rain and fog.  As we headed out on the boat, out came the sun!

Echo Point, a top spot to camp when the lake is low.

Ah, the last day on the track on a February trip. A few of us rinsed out some clothes or swam in them to freshen up. It was a beautiful day as we camped at Echo Point.

What sort of weather have you experienced on the Overland Track?

Have you had all days of sunshine, a mix of sun and snow or just terrible weather?

Shoot us a comment below or post your Overland Track weather images on our Facebook page. We would love to see them!

We are approached quite frequently by businesses keen to promote their ideas and/or products via our website. We have a policy of not accepting everything that come our way for a number of reasons. For example, we don’t want anything not related to the outdoors filling up the site with junk.

Recently we were contacted by Natureshop.com, who loved Our Hiking Blog and when we perused their website,  we found we loved them.

Nature shop is a carbon neutral online retailer selling products with a strong environmental and social ethos. A quick glance at their about us page will make you aware of how committed they are.  They specialise in a variety of  footwear and gear such as
Merrell footwear or Teva sandals and shoes

Johanna Beach - Great Ocean Walk - Frank used Teva walking shoes for a few trips here guiding, they were excellent

They did offer us a product each from their extensive range and we are both very excited now that our parcels have arrived. I am looking forward to trying out my new Merrell Siren’s while Frank opted for a pair of Teva Event M’s. We will let you know how these styles go, with consideration to comfortable and durability, two of the essentials of good footwear.

In the meantime we suggest you have a look at Nature shop . It great that they have done all the research about how the products are made and that everything availabIe has been produced in an environmentally responsible manner. It’s also good to know in this age of consumerism that when we go shopping the some profits are use for good.

Oh, and they offer free return shipping and a long return policy.  Quite a positive approach.

Do you buy much gear online? How has your experience been?

We’d love to hear about your experiences.

Sue

It was very hot in Tasmania over the New Year period.  We usually hike “out of season” when the days are cool and the nights cold and clear. It usually rains or there is heavy weather.

On this trip, out back of Cradle Mountain to celebrate New Year, it was HOT! We struggled with the heat and reflections off the hot track.

Looking back at Lake Rodway after the climb out from Scott Kilvett Hut

It was fun, of course, great fun!

We headed into a Lake not too far from the Overland Track and set up camp. Being a bit circumspect here as the area is delicate and there are no toilets so it is not a campsite we would want to see overrun.

Camping on the beach

It was late afternoon by the time we had set up and the sun was starting to drop thankfully.

The start of our New Years sunset fireworks

We had carried in plenty of nibbles, some wine and a small bottle of Coke (to mix with the bourbon of course)

The sunset started to change

Alone on the beach, it was calm and warm. The mosquitoes decided it was time to wake up.

The cloud patterns were amazing

As the evening progressed we enjoyed a chicken curry and rice for dinner. Nice and simple for a quick bushwalking meal.

The show started to include reds and oranges

The red wine was tasting quite good but our friends, the mozzies, were very hungry. This was made worse by our small supply of bug repellent.

Sunset hit its peak, this is one of about 30 images

It was an early night with us, well asleep before midnight. We stayed for two nights at this spot, enjoying a relaxed New Years Day. The trip out to our hire car at Cradle Mountain was broken up by a night at Waterfall Valley. We met lots of great people heading off to walk the Overland Track. It was fun to watch them set up on their first night out.

All in all, a terrific way to spend New Years Eve as part of a short Tasmanian holiday.

What did you get up to on New Years Eve this year? Were you out and about with friends, camping, bushwalking or working?

Shoot us a comment below, we would love to hear what you got up to.

Oh, if you want to check out more photos of our Tasmanian holiday, Sue put up an album over at Our Hiking Blog facebook page. They include Maria Island, Hobart, camping and eating!

Just a quick update to let you know we fly out tonight to our beloved Tasmania.

It has been a day of packing and trying to not exceed Jetstar’s baggage limits.  We have dehydrated a few meals but will do most of the shopping in Launceston tomorrow before we head up to Cradle Mountain.

The plan is for a couple of nights around Cradle for New Year, maybe at Scott Kilvett and then Lake Ball.

Then, back into civilisation and down to Lake St Clair and into Pine Valley.

We have hired a car and will end up at Hobart for a night or two.

Phew, quick trip but really looking forward to a stroll.

Have  a great New Year, where ever you are, and thanks very much for your support in 2011.

Frank and Sue

We love it when readers  share information and new ideas. Sonja contacted us recently about Food to Go and asked how many vegetarian recipes there were in the eBook. She is heads off on many multiday trips in Australia and was looking for some new  ideas.

There is a vegetarian backpacking food section in Food to Go but it is not massive. We sent Sonja a copy to check it out i.e. if she was not happy, she did not have to pay for it.

The upshot of these communications was we did a swap, Sonja received a free copy of Food to Go and she sent us some great vegetarian bushwalking meal options!

Over to Sonja:

I have read your book, Food to Go. It is very good and informative.  The examples by a range of bushwalkers is really interesting. I purchased two american trail food books (off amazon) that I believe were a waste of my money.  Your book is very good and offers a range of good recipes and meal planning information.

I recognised some of the recipes from the dehydrated bushwalking food blog, as I used this blog to learn how to dehydrate meals and prepare portions for walking. I have adapted some of the recipes from this blog and also added my own to my walking menu list.

I didn’t add the red curry or pesto meals as you have these recipes – only difference is I make my own red curry paste, make the curry then dehydrate as a complete meal that includes fish sauce and palm sugar.

Marrakech curried stew

Serves 2

Ingredients

In one bag
1 x vegetable stock cube
1 Tbsp madras curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 Tbsp raisins
1 Tbsp dried shredded coconut
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup coconut milk powder (available from indian food shops)
1/2 tsp dried garlic

In separate bag
Add dehydrated red kidney beans (400gms can). Other options include chickpeas or cannelloni beans.
Dehydrated vegetables – suggested options include eggplant, sweet potato, red capsicum,
carrots, zucchini

To assemble
Add boiling water to red kidney beans and vegetables and soak for 20-30mins
Add sufficient water to spices to create sauce and add to vegetables when rehydrated.
Bring to boil
Serve with rice or couscous.

Massaman curry

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 1/2 Tbsp Massaman curry paste (from supermarket or indian shop)
400ml coconut cream
400ml can red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp palm sugar
1/8 cup tamarind water
1/4 cup raw peanuts

Method (at home)
Pour thick coconut cream into wok and stir in massaman curry paste and cook for 5 minutes. Mix in red kidney beans
Add remaining coconut cream, fish sauce, tamarind water and palm sugar. Stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat, cool then dehydrate curry

To assemble

Place dehydrated curry in plastic bag and add peanuts. In separate plastic bag add a mix of dehydrated vegetables  (suggested vegetables: sweet potato, eggplant, spinach, zucchini, pumpkin)

To red-hydrate
Add boiling water to the vegetables and soak for 20-30mins
Add sufficient water to curry to create sauce and heat.  Add beans and vegetables when rehydrated. Bring to boil
Serve with rice (100g per person).

Variations
Lean minced meat and onion. Heat oil in wok, add onion and cook for 5 minutes.  Add small portions of minced meat to the wok and cook through (ensures the meat fries instead of boils).  Remove from wok and prepare curry adding meat to curry instead of kidney beans.

Dehydrated Rice

The main benefit of dehydrated rice is the quicker cooking time and less fuel used on the trail. The rice is cooked in 5 minutes instead of 15 minutes.

Cook rice as normal, spread out on fruit dehydrating sheets and dehydrate for approximately 6 hours. Bag and just cover with boiling water in camp.

Food to Go is not just about dehydrating meals but it does contains step by step dehydration, testing , packaging and rehydration instructions with examples of many different types of food.  The beauty of  dehydrating your own meals is that it inexpensive, let’s you eat “home cooked” food and you can create a lot of variety.  Dehydrated food will keep for weeks without  spoiling and you don’t need to carry an esky or cooler box!

Keep an eye out for more of Sonja’s recipes, they will be posted here soon. And, a huge thanks to her for sharing these great ideas!.

Do you dehydrate your own hiking food?

Have you got any recipes that work well (with or without dehydration) to share?

Shoot us a note below, we whould love to share them.

Ask anyone to tell you about the ideal setting for their dream vacation and they will probably describe a picture perfect vision of rolling hills clad in dense green bush, topped with towering ferns and crisscrossed by crystal clear creeks, all exuberantly tumbling down towards the shores of the deep blue sea where a curvy sweep of pale white sand neatly divides solid ground and whispering waves.

In short they will just have described the Abel Tasman Coast Track, one of New Zealand’s 9 Great Walks.

Totaranui Beach

Now, you would be hard pressed to find a country more hiker friendly than New Zealand: thousands of kilometers of tracks and routes wind around the countryside, and a nationwide network of backcountry huts provides safe shelter and welcome comfort at the end of a long day’s tramp (for in New Zealand you do not hike, trek or bushwalk: you tramp).

The Great Walks showcase the best of this system and make some of the country’s most iconic and beautiful landscapes accessible to trampers of all levels of experience and fitness thanks to benched tracks, modern huts and obliging hut wardens.

Whariwharangi Hut

Out of the 9 Great Walks, the Abel Tasman Coast Track is widely recognized as the easiest, and as such is an excellent choice for the novice tramper. Reasons for this are:

• By New Zealand standards, the walk is flat as – you will never gain more than 200m elevation.
• The days are short –an average of 12 km / 4 hours walking a day.

• The Tasman area benefits from the best weather in the South Island – from late spring through to the end of summer you can count on warm sunny days with only the occasional shower.

• Access is easy and the itinerary is flexible – thanks to bus shuttles and water taxis, you can get dropped off / picked up all along the track, which means you are free to decide whether to tramp its full length or only part of it.

However, no matter how smooth and easy the experience has been made by the good folks at the Department of Conservation (DoC), there are still a number of things to watch out for:

• First off, you must be aware that the Coast Track is peculiar in that it features 3 tidal crossings. This means you will have to time your trip with the tides in order to cross streams and estuaries at their lowest water level. Although an alternative high-tide track is provided at the 1st crossing (Torrent Bay), there are no alternatives at Onetahuti and Awaroa. It is essential to obtain a current tide timetable and carefully plan your trip according to it.

Awaroa Tidal Crossing

• Because the track is mostly wide, smooth and flat, tramping boots are not an absolute necessity and you can get away with walking in sneakers. Remember to bring a pair of sandals for the tidal crossings – you won’t want to wet your tramping shoes, but you will want to protect your feet from prickly shells, particularly in Awaroa Inlet.

• Even if you are sleeping in the huts, you will still need a good backpack with a hip belt to carry some heavier essentials such as a sleeping bag, a stove and enough fuel and food for the duration of the trip. There are neither supplies nor cooking facilities to be found along the track.

• Potable water can be found on tap at every single hut. Although all campsites also feature a tap, the water there is not potable and must be filtered or boiled for 3 minutes. This is especially important as giardia (diarrhea inducing parasite) is known to occur in the park.

• New Zealand being New Zealand, do pack a waterproof jacket and a warm jumper anyway, and never leave without insect repellent to fight off the sandflies!

• Because the Coast Track is extremely popular in summer, make sure to book your huts and/or campsites early.

You’ll need 4 or 5 days to complete the Coast Track. A classic itinerary is to start in Marahau, at the southern end of the park, spend each night at a hut (there are 4: Anchorage, Bark Bay, Awaroa and Whariwharangi) and finish either in Totaranui or Wainui. The latter is the true end of the track, and is thus located at the northernmost extremity of the park. Should you finish there, you will have no choice but to take a bus shuttle back as water taxis do not go that far north. This is the main reason why many trampers choose to finish a day early in Totaranui: going back to Marahau by water taxi is faster and a lot more fun!

Should you fancy doing things differently, getting away from the crowds and saving a bit of money in the process, there are about 20 campsites to pick from along the track. Whether you choose to camp outside or stay in huts, go north or south, walk the whole track or only parts of it, always allow yourself plenty of time. Although walking from hut to hut may take as little as 3 to 4 hours, there are many tempting detours along the way: descending to every single signposted bay or exploring the creeks on the inside of the park will take extra time and energy.

Side track - Cascade Falls

These detours are also very helpful if walking in a group of varying abilities: while novice trampers may walk straight on to the next hut, more experienced members of the party can check out all the side tracks, leaving everyone to meet up again happy and satisfied at the end of the day.

And here comes the best part: all huts and campsites are right by the beach. The sea beckons.

Te Pukatea Bay

Resources

• Abel Tasman Coast Track on the DoC website
• Lonely Planet: Tramping in New Zealand

Stephanie Cotteret is a freelance travel writer and photographer who is currently enjoying many “tramps” in New Zealand. She is a regular contributor to Australia-Australie.com , France’s leading website for Working Holidaymakers and backpackers. Check out her photography portfolio online , or contact her on toothbrushnomads[at]gmail[dot]com.

We have never set foot on New Zealand soil. We’ve  just never been able to make the time to tramp any of the wonderful trails that are available. It is something we need to fix in the future.

Rick from Best Hikes  just brought a new trail, planned to be officially opened later this year, to our attention.  It is well worth a look if you have some free time and a desire to walk a very long, tough track.

Stretching from Cape Reinga in the North of New Zealand to Bluff in the South,  the Te Araroa is one of the world’s longest walking trails. Hundreds of volunteers have helped create the continuous 3000 kilometre-long route.

There is a fantastic website devoted solely to this new trail.  Some of the highlights to look out for are:

- excellent, detailed track notes and descriptions following a really clear format – an example is the first section, Cape Reinga Coastal Walkway

- beautifully produced, 1:50,000 strip maps of the whole trail. We downloaded just the North section and there are 70 high resolution, pdf pages! (watch the size)

- fascinating “trail stories” with links to sites created by “thru walkers”  who tackled the trail before it was officially opened.  Some of these are real adventure stories we could only shake our head at after reading them…For example from Matthias ‘Matze’ Mard’s entry from 2004:

After a cold and very wet night I carried on. The path got steadily more extreme: the mountains became ever higher and they exist of a type of stone that gets slippery when it’s wet and from which large pieces of stone had broken off. As if that was not enough, I had to cross a few rivers again and I began seriously asking myself why I was there.

Congratulations to the members of the Te Araroa Trust board.  What a vision, what a project!

The trail’s official opening on the 3rd December 2011 in Wellington and is  a celebration of the success of 17 years of voluntary effort from many hundreds of New Zealanders up and down the country.

Full information is over at the Te Araroa official website. It’s well worth a browse.

Have you walked in New Zealand?

Would you consider undertaking a 3000km long trail?

Shoot us your thoughts below, we would love to hear what you think.

Phew,

Frank here. It has been a busy few weeks around the Our Hiking Blog household. Over the last four weeks I have led a seven, three and four day trip along the Great Ocean Walk in Victoria, Australia for Raw Travel. Today I am doing the preparation for my next 7 day trip commencing tomorrow.

It has been a fascinating experience. Having grown up in the region and explored many areas of the Great Ocean Walk for 40 years I have still been surprised by it’s magnificence.

This is a very different form of walking to what we are used to doing, i.e. it is fully supported with accommodation “off track”. I have met some fantastic people and enjoyed listening to everyone’s story. Interestingly, many people have underestimated the challenges provided by the GOW but everyone has been stunned by the beauty, isolation and magnificence of this part of the country. It truly a “Great Walk”.

A picture tells a thousand words so here are a few images taken over the trips for you to enjoy.

Wild day - Great Ocean Walk

Some wildlife we encountered

Leech

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A pair of very endangered Hooded Plovers

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Koala and baby

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Eastern Grey Kangaroo near Johanna

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Echidna on the track - Great Ocean Walk

Random shots
I would recommend strong walking shoes or boots. Parts of the track are very muddy (especially between Shelly Beach and Blanket Bay) Walking poles are also very handy and I have been over the moon with my set from Helinox. My knees and legs have been able to take a lot of pounding. Most people who did not have walking poles ended up using fallen tree branches as walking sticks.  These  are certainly not as effective.

The boots below slowly delaminated their soles but we saved them with duct tape.

12 year old boot, failing on day two

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On the way to the Johanna Campsite - Great Ocean Walk

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Station Beach - Great Ocean Walk

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The 12 Apostles - highlights of final day

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Parker Inlet - crossing the river - Great Ocean Walk

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Wreck Beach anchor

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Guiding trips might be fun for me but keeping the home front under control can be tough. Many thanks to Sue for putting up with my absences.  I owe her a big one.

Every now and then we come across a jewel of information about the Overland Track in Tasmania. In the following video, shared on our Facebook page by Mark Finlay. you get a real feel for the track conditions, scenery and huts.  It is a delightful production and we enjoyed every minute of it.

Overland Track from rfphotographics on Vimeo.

.
If you have done the Overland Track and want some great memories, check out this video. Alternatively, if you are planning the trip from Cradle Mountain to Lake St Clair, study this video closely. You will learn a lot and see why you need to be prepared for all types of conditions.

Thanks Mark for giving us the heads up on the video and letting us know our How to Hike the Overland Track ebook was very helpful.

What do you think?

How was the video?

One common problem, if you are using a map on a long trip, is keeping it in good condition. Constant opening, folding, stowing and reopening all inevitably damage the map. Then there is the rain, wind and other conditions that can destroy it in minutes. After a couple of days, the map ends up in four or five pieces, damaged and degraded.

About 8 Overland Track trips ago, to save pack weight, we scanned and colour printed the maps for each day from John Chapman’s Overland Track book. Sue then laminated them and they have lasted very well for every trip. In fact, they are still in great condition.

This week Frank heads off on the first of 14 trips planned for the Great Ocean Walk between October and May. One map will not survive that many trips, so laminating sections of it is the best solution.

Frank reading the full version of the map

The Great Ocean Walk Map produced by Parks Victoria is a ripper. Set at 1:25,000 it is incredibly detailed and contains many notes, pieces of information, highlights and advice. This is great stuff but not all relevant if you just want to use the map, well as a map! It is a handy thing to take en route to show clients where they are,  judge  relative distances and where pick up and drop off points are located.

The “process” we followed:

• You do need access to a scanner and colour printer. We  upgraded recently to a very simple HP unit.
• Look at the whole map and, using a piece of blank A4 paper,  work out the  areas on the map that will be scanned on each pass.
• We just focused on “the track” part of the map i.e. where we are actually walking
• The GOW map is large so we needed 10 sections
• Carefully fold the map so the relevant section is about A4 size and scan it.  We used a higher resolution (dpi) than normal to get a good copy.
• Save the file as a .jpg (picture file) for simplicity
• Double check you have all the track covered, trying to overlap slightly the edge of each section
• Print out the m,aps. We used colour but black and while works just as well.

You now need a Laminator.  We picked up one at Officeworks but they are commonly available at stationers or Aldi, for example.

Feeding the scanned map through the laminator

The process is quite simple, Sue is the expert here. Just feed it through the machine. We did trim a few millimetres off one side and the end so there was a wider seal than normal. Hopefully this will increase the durability and reduce the potential for delaminating.

One large map into 5 sheets - laminated back to back

We laminated the sheets “back to back” , 2 map sections per page. This resulted in 5 sheets for the whole walk.

Reading the laminated map - much easier to handle

Because these trips are based off track and use shuttles to different points on the GOW each day, Frank only needs to take the relevant section of map for that day’s walking. The original map will be used for briefings and only really opened once a day.

What do you do with your maps? Take the original, take a photocopy?

Have you tried laminating sections? How did it work out for you?