The South Coast Track (SCT) is undoubtedly one of the last great wilderness treks in Australia and is also known as one of (if not) Tassie’s toughest multi-day trek. Crossing the unspoiled wilderness of the island's southernmost shores, this challenging trek covers 85 kilometres over a variety of landscapes, from empty beaches and towering rainforests to alpine heights.
Signing up does not guarantee a spot on the trip. A confirmation email would be sent by 7th Jan (Monday) at the latest.
The schedule:
We are planning to start the walk on 19th Jan so be in Tassie no later than 18th! And we've come up with two plans for participants to choose from. One is to do the whole SCT from Cockle creek to Melaleuca and take the flight there on 26th/27th back to Hobart, which would take about 6 days for the walk and one buffer day for the possible delaying due to bad weather, and back to mainland whenever you like. The other is to get airplane food drop there (isn't this cooool?!) and continue to do a ~4 day walk from Melaleuca. In this case you would be back to mainland around 1st/2nd Feb.
Recommended itineraries of SCT could be found here: https://parks.tas.gov.au/explore-our-parks/southwest-national-park/south-coast-track/south-coast-track-walk-notes
The walk:
The terrain is very rugged and remote. Tracks may be long, rough and very steep (you climb from sea level to 1000m and back down again when crossing the Ironbound Ranges). Over the trip you will walk along boardwalks, along beaches, crossing rivers, up and down steps, through overgrown forests, through muddy sections that can stretch for kilometres and scramble over rocks. These altogether make SCT a walk for experienced walkers, but the adventure is well worth it.
According to hikers have done this before, we would be dealing with some extremely mud-walking and possibly heavily raining situations. Thus we are highly possible to be wearing a pair of wet boots for the whole walk and brushing leeches off very often.
The lucky thing is that there is highly adequate water supply along the track so we won't be carrying much water.
Pre-trip meeting and some requirements:
Tentatively on 13th Jan allowing some time to prepare.
Heading to the gear store once we are completely clear what to hire cause the gear store is open as requested during Jan 2025.
The participants should be fully self-sufficient, have quite experiences of multi-day bushwalking previously and know what a 6- to 7-day hike is like. Also we might need you to handle some tasks before, during and after the walk.
The cost:
The return flight to and from Hobart would cost ~ $300 and the flight from Melaleuca to Hobart costs $350. These two are the main expenses so I would say somewhere above $800 in total, including food supplied and some other fees like a national park pass($30).