OVERLAND TRACK TIPS & TRICKS | 10 things you need to know before hiking the Overland Track, Tasmania
Hey guys so as you all probably know we did the Overland Track in Tasmania a few months ago we did a seven day hike and we decided to make this video because there's a few things that we wish we knew before we started and yeah so we've put together our top 10 tips to help you guys make the most out of your time over there and most of the experience and I guess things we wish we knew and that we found out along the way so we'll go through them with you so tip number 1 from us is don't catch the ferry yeah so most people just tend to do the Overland Track over 6 days and from Narcissus Hut which is on the last day for them they just catch the ferry to Cynthia bay but the actual full Overland Track you keep walking from Narcissus so you do an extra like 30 kilometers yeah 30km's yep and camp one extra night at every point yeah and then keep walking to Cynthia Bay usually the next day so in our opinion you're missing out on a full Overland experience yeah you're not actually completing the whole thing and a lot of people don't know that like a lot of people just hear that okay you get to Narcissus Hut and then you catch the ferry but really that's not the whole hike and a lot of people don't actually realise that until they get there and it's kind of too late because i've already planned yeah so give it a go yeah it's expensive to catch the ferry i remember yeah it's pretty expensive so give yourself the extra time give it a go finish the whole Overland Track you've done the 6 days you might as well just finish it off and we'd highly recommend camping at Echo Point Hut because you actually camp on the beach there and it's so beautiful like a little jetty and we watched the sunrise and sunset there's only like two other tents because everyone else catches the ferry yeah 90% of people caught the ferry yeah and the track is really nice because it does follow the lake along um it is more untouched and a bit kind of overgrown in places because most people don't go that way but it's beautiful and yeah yeah highly recommend doing that and don't catch the ferry so tip number 2 be aware of leeches yeah so we didn't realise that they were as common and so many on the track yeah until we kind of started um we were warned kind of by a transport company on the way there they kind of mentioned it and like how to get them off the best way and all that but we didn't realise there was so many and we've personally never come along yeah like come past leeches before this hike so this this was a first for us so they're obviously normally found near uh water sources and damp places so down by a lot of creeks and rivers and that sort of thing um I had one on my water bladder walking through a forest so like obviously really dense kind of wet forest that you walk through yeah and somehow one attached itself to my little water bladder mouth bit so Tassie has the perfect climate for it you just got to remember that no matter where you are in Tassie there's going to be leeches somewhere and especially camping if you're camping um near New Pelion Hut it's kind of just a grassy section there's really like one tent platform which holds a few tents but most people will be on the grass and there's kind of a little creek that runs through it's so tempting to camp along the ground yeah cause it's beautiful like it looks amazing one couple did it and i'll tell you what their whole tent the next morning was just like speckled and black they were trying to shake it they're trying to flick them off everywhere it's disgusting yeah so be careful especially at that hut uh if you're camping but the best way the best tip that we were taught to get them off is actually using your little Overland pass so you get this when you start it's basically just a little pass to say that you've registered and paid for your trip basically you keep it on you the whole walk yeah and so the best way to get them off is to actually get on between their mouth and your skin and flick them off so you're actually trying to disconnect their jaw it's the jaw that like goes into your skin yeah so the way we got taught yeah it's a matter of getting this in between the jaw and your skin and doing one quick yeah straight off same as with credit card or license anything like a card but because we have this on us all the time it's accessible just get it on and flick them off because if you actually a lot of the traditional ways i guess of getting them off is with salt or like burning them or yeah don't pull yeah which does work and they will come off because they don't like that but they can actually regurgitate your blood back into you through the wound and obviously they're bringing their bacteria with it so then you can get an infection in the wound and so better to be safe than sorry yeah you will come past them yeah you will see them definitely all right so tip number three from us is protect your bag so mainly from Currawongs and we didn't know what they were before we started the hike either but they're evil they are they're kind of terrifying they're like little satans flying around so basically these black birds basically like crow they look exactly like a crow if yeah if you don't know what they are and they've just got yellow eyes like bright yellow and they're just smart yeah they are so smart they're used to hikers and basically for a lot of the side trips you kind of leave your pack at the trailhead so you don't have to carry it all the way up because you have to return back to that section anyway yeah so to make it easy leave your pack there and these smart little birds know that people do that and that obviously hikers have food in their bags and can smell it probably as well which isn't an issue until they learn to undo zips, undo buckles, peel your rain cover off your bag yeah they literally sit there undoing zips and stuff like we've seen someone's we've seen someone lose like all their ham and salami like rubbish everywhere because they've eaten everything they're unreal they are seriously it's something to be very mindful and like i guess i have practice every single day because people do it every single day but clearly it's how they get their food so our tip to protect your bag from the Currawongs number one is if you can use a hair tie, use a zip tie, use something to actually keep the zips together yeah because if they can separate them they're in so we took a little travel padlock which you usually use on like planes and that sort of thing and that's what i use yeah i sometimes use a hair tie as well um but yeah even just like the clip buckles that you push and then pull they can do them so just if there's any that you know you're not going to use the whole time like a lot of bags have extra pockets that don't get used or just different access points then just keep them locked the whole time yeah um and a mistake we did see some people make was put you know how some bags you have your brain that separates from the bag itself they put their snacks and food in between that section so it's easy for him to get to but that's so easy for him to just like yeah so it's important whenever you leave your bag even if it's not raining put your rain cover on but actually tie the rain cover toggles at the back of the bag so it can't just be peeled back yeah yeah and then if you have more than one bag put them together so we would leave with tied zips and all that put the rain cover over it and then leave it face down so the rain covers up and there's nothing accessible and then because we have both of ours we'd sit the other one on top face to face yeah or back to back whatever you want just just so it's not accessible to the Currawongs so they are google birds so tip number 4 which is a big one from me is do the side trips yeah the hike honestly wouldn't be anywhere near as amazing in our opinion if we didn't do those side trips and we did all of them but one yes believe that so yeah yeah that's only one that we didn't do and the track itself is beautiful and obviously the nature and all that and wilderness is just insane but to get the best views you obviously need to go to the summits of a lot of these mountains yeah which are not included in the actual normal trip they're in the side trips so and it's not normal summiting like it's it's boulder scrambling like you know climbing so it's just it is challenging and it's not for everyone a lot of people probably don't have the physical capability to be able to do it but if you can at least do one at least try one go like maybe Cradle Mountain, Barn Bluff, Mount Ossa, just go to one summit because the views on a clear day yeah are insane and even just the challenge of getting up there like you said climbing on all the rocks it's 100% worth it for me personally that's what made the whole hike for me yeah it was all the side trips without those we sort of would have been pretty early to each of the hearts and it's a bit too quick track itself is actually very short like some days might only be three hours of actual walking which some people might want that they might want to get to the heart and relax that day but for us we definitely want to push and challenge ourselves and the side trips were amazing and even just the waterfalls a lot of waterfalls in the second half of the trip um and we'd come just after a lot of rain so they're absolutely beautiful and yeah it also just comes down to like taking your time as well like yeah we were big on not getting to the hut early not in the fact that we didn't want to be there early but we just want to make the most of our day and the hours in the day that we could be spending looking at all these beautiful sights and yeah yeah because getting to as you would know getting him to camp late it doesn't worry us at all there was nights where we got there and it was starting to go dark yeah but a lot of days you can do a side trip and still get to the heart by five o'clock you know or by daylight or yeah I don't know it's just a matter of getting up on time really get going and get back but definitely consider doing the side trips yeah so number five is pitch a tent our personal opinion is that camping is a lot better than sleeping in the huts that are provided each night we we just find that the huts are very crowded um most people would choose to sleep in the hut well when we went anyway we found that was the case yeah i guess it's a lot easier and you're obviously warmer and safer, sheltered all that sort of thing i guess it comes down to what you're comfortable with yeah my our personal preference we go hiking to sort of get away from people and see our own little escape and we just love nature and the full experience you know like we we're not going out there to sleep in a hotel basically especially the first night some of the new huts and the huts yeah just unreal it's like little chalets and that's not what we want our experience to be um i mean it's up to you all but we also found that a lot of people that were sleeping in the huts would actually kind of race it each night not race but go very quickly during the day and not do side trips just in order to get to the hut early and secure a spot in the heart because a lot of them are limited some might only be eight people yes so get smaller get the bunks that they want and so forth which that's not what we were about and that's not what the hike should be about um sleeping in the in the tent was beautiful yeah i don't know it's quieter more privacy you're not listening to people snoring and smelly clothes and everything yeah and it's so well set up for tents yeah um the platforms that they have available are amazing makes life so much easier everything stays dry yeah you don't have to put anything on the ground um and then how it even works pitching on the platforms which we've shown previously yeah it's awesome it's worth it yeah and it's just nice to open your tent in the morning and have this beautiful view and looking at a summit kind of alone and it's just it's so much nicer so if you're prepared which everyone has should be on the Overland Track take a tent anyways yeah four season tent um because it can snow as we all know in summer and any time um but you're going to have the warm gear and the waterproof gear and the good tent anyway so why not pitch it and honestly just sleep in the tent most of the nights we only slept in one hut and that's because we do want to try it for one night we do want to experience that um and it was a night that was actually pissing down like 40mm of rain 40mm so we just thought it came came sort of hand in hand we wanted to try one yeah it was a shitty weather yeah so why not we're glad that we experienced it we're also glad that every other night we slept in our tent because we prefer that i did not sleep yeah I can't handle people yeah a lot of people just rustling around sleeping bags are noisy and because you just lined up like sardines and you don't have fresh air, top and bottom, I like our tent yeah we stick together you don't smell it after seven days so number 6 is keep your packs in the hut overnight so I guess that is only if you are sleeping in your tent which we just recommended um but it's another wildlife that you need to be concerned or not concerned about but aware of um is the possums which are the same as Currawongs without wings just as evil they will rip into your tent for food they smell it from a mile away yep they're not scared of humans so you're definitely told at the start of the um hike also like to always keep your pack and anything with food remnants anything to do with snacks in the huts at night if you are camping um which we did every night but we still had a lot of encounters with them at night times there was a scenario where we were cooking dinner on our platform they're not scared to come right up to you and try and take it out of your hands like this is how used they are to people we had another night where we didn't want to wash our plates um oh I think we wiped them, oh I think we wiped it but not like properly yeah um so we've just put it in a tent with us for the or in the little vestibule um for the next morning and in the middle of the night i was wrestling a possum outside our tent like pulling our stuff back in yeah we just took them so your water bladder and everything water bladder yeah so anything that could even smell the slightest bit like food just keep inside the hut and most of them have like a designated kind of like a little wet area um which is for boots and wet clothes i guess as well but also for people who are sleeping in the tents can keep their packs in there which we found really handy and it is worth it as well actually just touch on with the condensation and with your tent it is worth to just keep your packs in there keeps everything dry yep it's so much easier everyone else's gears in there as well so don't worry about it it's all safe everything yeah yeah so tip number 7 from us would be plan your itinerary we found there were a few things which we didn't know that we could have the option to do and would have liked to i would have liked to yeah we would have done a few things different so we're going to run through some of those yeah so when you actually book the Overland Track the date you book is actually only the start date so it's the date that you leave Cradle Mountain um but then basically after that you can choose how many nights you want to do it over where you want to go there's actually a lot of side options like Pine Valley which we didn't actually know about till on the track so a little bit disappointing because we would have gone there probably we would have added a day or two onto the hike and just done it while we were out there because from pine valley there is the labyrinth and the acropolis which look like awesome side trips um but yeah as as i said just research as much as you can and plan as much as you can but also you have to still be flexible because you might get there and then it's pissing down and rain and you can't summit Mount Ossa so you know there's you might be flexible yeah um or if you think you might need an extra day to do a side trip then do that like so you can take as long or as little as you want because on the other hand you can do it over three days yeah well that's that's the other option like if you are time poor and you have other commitments it's something you can organise to do in five days there are definitely days there where if you wanted to skip a few side trips you could do smash out two huts in a day yeah so you can definitely shorten it as well if you are time poor to still have the experience yeah but it's definitely weather dependent and make sure you're doing it all safely um but as we said we just want to spend as much time as we can out there and take it all in so we definitely would have added pine valley so definitely consider that okay so number eight is buy a map so you specifically buy the map from Parks & Wildlife Service Tasmania um it just looks like this so basically just a little map um it folds out into a massive like full scale bloody map uh everything you need yeah so you obviously need that in case you do get lost especially in winter like this we didn't do it in winter but we've heard lots of reports that obviously once there's snow on the ground it can be very disorientating like because you can't see the path and a lot of the time there's not like snow markers along so you it would be very easy to get lost especially summit wise or side trip walls um the main track itself during the normal months of the year um a very easy follow but even the side trips on these like sunny days some of them got to sort of find your own way so it could be very hard in winter yeah so definitely take your own map just worst-case scenario type thing yeah but it also i've just followed out here it's got actually written all the suggested days and itineraries along with times distances your side trips like all the information you can need so yeah so if you don't want to sit down and wrap to research everything and make your own itinerary you can follow this this is an awesome itinerary to follow yeah a great hint that we actually got once again during our transportation to um Cradle Mountain was the time frames or the estimated time frames for the side trips and the day-to-day it's good to suss out where you sort of fall in on that very first day or with your first side trip because that gives you an idea of what to follow yeah through because the estimates sort of say like you know four to six hours walking so then what we would do is walk that distance and be like okay that took us five so we sit right in the middle yeah of that or you might be earlier than the four and then you know that all these estimates are allowing for more than you need so just kind of working weeks on that scale was because then it made the rest of the six days way easier we knew we knew what time frames were looking at to get to the hut what time we'd be having lunch as a you know approximately yeah but it did help a lot yeah um we didn't have to double guess didn't have to second-guess ourselves and yeah yeah and it's really interesting got heaps information even on the vegetation and wildlife sort of thing it's also waterproof so you don't worry about getting it wet and i think it was it's less than ten dollars i think it's pretty cheap so definitely invest in one of these maps there is an option to buy it when you buy your ticket for the overland it's called something slightly different to on what there is on the Parks Tas website so we accidentally bought it twice that's right but get it with your ticket i think it's discounted with your ticket as well and there also is a booklet as well like a little more detailed description it's not actually a map though it's just more like the wildlife yeah and a bit of a day-to-day like run through as well so either would be good but i think i would recommend this one yeah so tip number nine is take zip lock bags so specifically these big ones we found really handy um mainly for rubbish and food so all rubbish has to be carried out on the Overland Track uh so we found keeping one of these to put all your rubbish in um to carry out is probably the best way to do it because it stops everything else smelling and getting food remnants from other things and just keeping your rubbish also flat so rather than scrunching it up just keep everything flat and then you can actually fit so much rubbish in one of these things really used we used yeah it feels like one and a half yeah for the entire trip which is pretty good yeah um which probably it's worth doing a bit you know invest a bit when you are packing as well to get rid of as much rubbish as you can prior to going yeah um but it fits a lot in there yeah and so we actually use these to put our food in for each day so say this would be one day we just put all our bricky snacks dinner lunch keep it all separated by day um so these are really handy and those have so many uses but obviously it is plastic and it's creating more rubbish so another good idea that we used also is yeah dry sacks standard dry sacks um which we always had one of these for our sort of i guess camp clothes and our second which was our second backup pair of clothes so for me i kept yeah my second pair of clothes a set of thermals a pair of socks that was my night gear or my backup set and you know no matter the weather no matter what happens you're always gonna have something dry to get into at night which is really important um especially if you get smashed by rain and you just need to get out of wet clothes at night time yeah don't want to get sick and even if you do have a few it's good to just separate your clothing in these in your bag we also use some packing cubes just little um they're not waterproof or anything but if you do have multiple of these you could just you know put socks in one put tops in another electronics kept all of it katelyn's camera gear yeah in them um all of our power banks all that sort of stuff keep your electronics warm yeah at night yeah drains the batteries big time yeah the cold can do that so now yeah definitely some dry bags dry sacks just get everything separate and clean basically yeah all right so our last tip is number 10 which is make friends on the track which is not something we went into like thinking we're very very like kind of independent and like yeah i don't know it wasn't really ourselves yeah we're not we're not really we're not out there going people even though we do do youtube it's completely different to talking to people in person so we're not really and it wasn't our goal to like go out there and make it friends but we met some really nice people on the track um and you kind of if most people follow the same itinerary which most do yeah you end up staying at the same hot with them each night and stopping at you know lunch spots with them and stuff and it's just it's nice to get to know them and have advice from other people as well and see how other people do their normal hiking like what gear they use tips and tricks from them yeah um we've met a few when we're doing our summits and we do them together um it's just nice to have someone around where you can i know and especially if things go wrong if you need someone to give you a hand you've got that sort of relationship yeah a few people that we like spent a lot of time with they're also doing it by themselves so yeah it was good for them to have reassurance with other people and that sort of thing and yeah it was just really nice something that we kind of didn't expect and no it sort of surprised us and we always we still talk about um talk about it and those people and wonder what they're up to so yeah it's pretty cool yeah um so yeah basically just have fun um these are some tips that will hopefully help and just make your experience even better um but yeah just enjoy it yeah take it take in every moment um i guess it is important you do get distracted staring at your feet a lot of the time make sure to just look up look around enjoy it see what you're walking through um even if you're sore and tired just appreciate where you are that's exactly right the fact that you are able to do that and be out there and Tasmania is just a different world in itself the wilderness is so beautiful out there so enjoy your hike hope this helps a bit
2021-05-29 08:25
