WET FERNS

Tuesday January 12, 2016
Day 6 Overland Track: Echo Point to Cynthia Bay 12 km

Last day and that’s it, the Overland Track is over. We just had three hours to walk along Lake St Clair to get to good coffee and a shower, in that order. We woke in our forest camp to a glimmer of sunshine over the lake. It turned out to be a stunning sunrise over the lake as the mist was being burnt off as the sun came up. We packed up and headed off, without breakfast, excited by the prospect of finishing.
As it had rained overnight the track was very slippery and we still had lots of tree roots to navigate. This and the thick fern cover in parts meant that we got soaked from the waist down even though it was not raining.  For me the walking felt hard right from the start. Not sure if it was the lack of breakfast or the fact that it was over and I just wanted to finish. I tried various ways to gee us up – singing, telling reminiscing stories and  running for a bit. And sure enough pretty soon it was over and we were at the visitors centre. Not sure I would recommend this section to others. Apart from the physical effort the scenery was pretty much rainforest until almost the end, where there is a sharp change to a more open tree cover and a noticeable change in the tree community.  Such a relief and sadness at the same time, that it was over. You kind of want the fellowship of the trail to continue but at the same time excited by the prospect of the next adventure.
I got coffee at the lodge but Hammer could not get a milkshake as they had run out of ice-cream. After checking out of the trail we headed off to the Hungry Wombat at Derwent Bridge and had the second best hamburger ever. That’s it, the Overland Track is over.  We learned so much about the history of this part of the world and enjoyed meeting new and interesting people. We got a glimpse of what lies ahead for our big hike later in the year.