{"id":4396,"date":"2019-05-05T07:47:06","date_gmt":"2019-05-04T23:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.com\/?p=4396"},"modified":"2019-05-05T08:01:17","modified_gmt":"2019-05-05T00:01:17","slug":"overland-track-tasmania","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/?p=4396","title":{"rendered":"Overland Track, Tasmania"},"content":{"rendered":"

I realise it’s been three months since I had last written. It’s true – writing requires discipline and it’s all too easy to not bother when writing a personal blog isn’t my day job. But I’m reluctant to give the blog and call it a day even after 16 years. So it’s always at the back of my mind but I’ve lacked the will and discipline to take up the pen again.But I thought at the very least I should write about my trekking trip in February.<\/p>\n

This six-day trekking trip on the Overland Trek was planned way back in September 2018 with seven of my hiking friends from Hong Kong. We all met up in Launceston, a quaint and charming city in Tasmania with many old buildings in Victorian and Edwardian styles.We spent one night in Launceston and then it was off to the Overland Track. The track runs for 65km and we spent five nights camping in tents. Unfortunately we got the true Tasmanian experience – it rained continuously for the first four days and nights.<\/p>\n

By the fourth evening, we were at the end of our tethers and, quite frankly, miserable at being cold and wet for four whole days. But this is also when character is built. None of us whined or complained bitterly or broke down in spite of the physical and mental challenges. I guess because there was no way to turn back, and the only way to go was forward, we had to suck it up. We had waterproof gear but by the fourth day I think even the best waterproof gear wouldn’t have held up. Due to the wet weather the track conditions had also become more slippery and muddy. Surprisingly and luckily none of us got injured despite the conditions. We were also carrying ~13kg backpacks which had all our clothes and camping gear. For all of us it was the first time trekking with such a heavy pack over several days. Of course we did train for it and managed fine.<\/p>\n

Here are some pics.<\/p>\n

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That’s me walking along the broad walk on the right and in the distance is the famous Cradle Mountain. This was Day 1 of the trek. Not all parts of the Overland Trek are such nicely paved. This part is frequented by many tourists (i.e. those who come for the Instagram or Facebook profile pic) and day walkers hence the broad walk to prevent injuries as well as damage to the nearby vegetation.<\/p>\n

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Our all-women crew! Female power! The tourist shot before the clouds rolled in and the weather went downhill for the next 3.5 days.<\/p>\n

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After a day of walking on the second day, I’m about to reach the campsite for the night, Windermere Hut. Our campsite was next to Lake Windermere which you see in the background.<\/p>\n

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The Overland Track Pass which all hikers need to have. Numbers are restricted every day to ensure there is no overcrowding and that there are enough spaces in the hut and campsites to pitch tents.<\/p>\n

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Mount Pelion West in the background on Day 3.<\/p>\n

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In full gear. I don’t think I’ve ever packed so compactly and lived so leanly in my life. No shower for six days – too cold and no showering facilities anyway. You can imagine the first thing we did when we got back to our hotel after the trek was have a shower! I shampooed my hair four times! The first time I washed my hair there was no lather. Haha!<\/p>\n

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Finish line! We did it and we are so proud of ourselves for having pushed personal levels of mental and physical boundaries! It made us realise we were always capable of more. We kept one another’s spirits up by laughing at our situation instead of moaning about it. It’s about building mental strength and physical endurance and we grew stronger from it.<\/p>\n

What a fabulous experience and I hope to do more of these trekking trips in future!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I realise it’s been three months since I had last written. It’s true – writing requires discipline and it’s all too easy to not bother when writing a personal blog isn’t my day job. But I’m reluctant to give the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[347,12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-australia","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4396"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4398,"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions\/4398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dimsumdolly.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}