Embrace the mud!

Other titles for this blog about the south coast track could have been: "leech attack on the south coast track" (Fabienne made that one up), "shoes on fire!" and "Timo's full of shit "(only people who know me best will get this one)

Friday the 15th of March we finally set off to Melaleuca where the south coast track starts.
We flew in to Melaleuca in a small aircraft and had a scenic tour with explanation about the area. We were wondering why the flight was so expensive, but apparently it was half a tour.
The flight was nice and the views of the south coast track (SCT) were amazing. We were even able to see the track and the people walking on it.
Shortly after we arrived on the melaleuca airstrip (just a flat plane with gravel) we started the track. The weather was not supposed to be that good, but during the walk we hardly had any rain and we were disappointed about the fact that almost everything was boardwalk.
We walked to point Eric, which is a nice sheltered campsite out of the wind, and as soon as the tent was pitched it started raining. We spent our afternoon playing Yahtzee and doing some kayaking warming ups to enjoy ourselves (it was "party-hopping" where there are four parties with different genres and you have to dance to each of them as you go to the different squares).
We had our lovely freeze dried meal and went to bed.

The next day we had to pack our tent in the rain... nice. Which meant carrying a wet tent and sleeping in it afterwards as well. Luckily we met some people at our campsite that gave us their tarp (a big sheet of strong plastic that you can hang to stay dry) and two ponchos.
We started walking to Louisa river which was a muddy walk (though by far not as muddy as other parts) and we had to cross the red point hills, a range of hills about 200-250 m. After the hills we had to ford three rivers/creeks, of which the biggest one was Louisa river. Just before reaching the camp I actually slipped of the stairs and really fell of the track but I survived with only my ego scratched and another dent in my cooking pot.
When we set up our camp we were soaked and cold and attacked by leeches (I was the first one to get one). Our tent did not get entirely dry unfortunately which meant packing a wet tent the next morning again.

The third day (actually my birthday) we had the toughest day ahead of us. We had to cross the Ironbounds range, a plateau which rises almost 1 km from the surrounding area. The weather was worst on this day but we were persistent enough to accept the challenge and go for it. It was a short walk to the beginning of the range but the climb was very steep and we had to rest ever so often. Luckily I did expect this to happen and persisted to buy special muesli bars that would help us to punch trough. Every time we saw a peak I thought that was the last part to climb but it took me about six guesses before I was right. On top is was pouring and it was very cold (the weather expected snow to fall above 850 m that day and we reached 950 m). In a stroke of power walking prowess we crossed the plateau sooner than expected and started walking in temperate rainforest. In this rainforest it did rain quite a lot and the spaghetti of tree roots did not make the walking any easier. The way up was tough, but at least it was easy, however on the way down you had to stay focused or you would risk serious slips and falls. Of course I lost my concentration way earlier and slipped a couple of times but was lucky enough to not end in a mud pool. This rainforest took hours to cross but when we finally ended up in little deadmans bay there was a big group and a fire going (little deadmans bay is one of the two campsites where an open fire is allowed). After being cold and wet the entire day we decided to dry our shoes and socks close to the fire, which was a great plan, however we did not foresee the heat and our shoes caught fire. Mine only melted a bit, however Fabienne's shoes were molten big time and here socks were burnt. She did not have laces afterwards and we were quite ashamed of our stupidness. When we finally set up our tent and tarp and and had our dinner we decided to celebrate my 23rd birthday. We bought those little stars in the shapes of a two and a three and had ourselves a party... not.
Everybody was already sleeping so we had to make do with ourselves so we celebrated for 5 minutes and went back to bed.

The next day our destination was new river lagoon. It was a short walk, but that was quite ok as we were very tired from the previous day. We slept till 11 before we headed out to walk.
Most of our clothes dried overnight and Fabienne especially liked the part where I tried to make a bridge for her through a small stream, but threw a big rock close to her making her all wet. No surprise she was nice to me all day ;-).
To get to the new river lagoon campsite we had to row across the lagoon. We were quite lucky that somebody was already heading to us with the two boats as we would have to row 3 times otherwise.
Today was quite a sunny day and for the first time our tent was really dry and we had a marvellous sleep.

Another dry day was from new river lagoon to granite beach. The track was muddy, again, but was doable and we had some nice stops on the way. At one point we had to cross a river, but because the water is tea coloured due to the button grass and tea tree you couldn't see the bottom. I thought the water would be waist deep so I put off all my clothes (almost) and with my pack above my head I started walking only to find out that it only reached my calves about halfway. It was quite a funny moment. When Fabienne had to cross I splashed her and even though she said she didn't enjoy that, she had a big smile on her face.
Later that day, just before we went to chill out on surprise beach, I saw a tiger snake of about 1 m long. Fabienne was really disappointed and even a bit mad that she was just a bit too late to spot it too but got over it in the end.
To get to our campsite at granite beach we had to climb a waterfall first to be rewarded with the campsite, however it was the worst campsite so far but we had a nice sleep there.

On our second last day we had a big challenge ahead of us again. We had to cross the south cape range (500 m) and it is the muddiest part of the track. Within the first hour we were near the top on which I saw another tiger snake. Fabienne was walking in front of me and did not even notice it and stepped over it after which it slithered away which made me notice it. This time Fabienne is even more disappointed as she is the one looking in 'snakey' places every other minute and not seeing one and I just see them crossing the track.
When continuing mud got an entire new definition in our heads as some parts were waist deep and dirty and disgusting, but we had no choice but to cross it.
In the end it was all worth it as the south cape rivulet campsite was tremendous. It had a nice beach and lagoon in which we washed ourselves and we spent some time at a campfire, even though it was not allowed here. The group we met up with every evening was great and we had a good last night. Fabienne and I even woke up at 1:30 am to check for the Aurora Australis (southern lights) but did not see any. The Milky Way was very visible though and it was beautiful.

To make it on time for our bus we had to wake up earlier than usual. I set the alarm at 6 such that we had enough buffer to reach the end of the track. It was raining again but we were both too bothered to put on rain gear that day. After reaching the end (Cockle creek) we found out no bus was driving that day, however a lovely ranger brought us to Geeveston to catch another bus. It was very nice of her as it was about an hours drive for her. It also meant that our bus tickets were decreased from 80$ to 6.50$. We were so delighted.
When we arrived in Hobart we were picked up by Fabienne's family where I'm staying at the moment and figuring out my next plans.
I found out time is running out as within two weeks I am back home again.