The Overland Track Day 6 - January 6, 2009

Today we are truly on the downhill run, except there's still one range to cross. Thankfully the track crosses the lowest point of the Du Cane range and not over Castle Crag as shown in the photo. Today would be a beautiful walk through a lot of temperate rainforest and then into drier eucalypt forest.

Du Cane Range

After a short 45 minute walk we came across Du Cane hut. This is one of two original huts still standing (the other being the original Pelion Hut). For this reason it's heritage listed and not appropriate to sleep in although it does have some beautiful campsites around it.  

Du Cane hut was originally known as Windsor Castle and is home to the legendary "Possum Pete". This is an infamous possum of indeterminate, yet extremely old age. He has been considered responsible for opening any and every make of pack, tent, sleeping back, container and sundry other items. He can remove food from the most difficult and well hidden places and has never been able to be caught. Thankfully we didn't see him and our food resources stayed intact.

Du Cane Hut

 We walked past several significant waterfalls today, however considering the climb down to them we didn't head too far off track. We had some restful stops in the mossy, temperate rainforest before starting the climb to the 1070m high Du Cane Gap.

Trackside stop

 Once we reached the top of the Gap we noticed the environment start to dry out and the fauna start to change. After the steady climb to the top we then had a steeper climb down the other side of the range to reach our final nights accommodation, Bert Nichols Hut.

Resting at Du Cane Gap

 There was one last highlight for todays walk before we would reach the hut.  Once we reached the forest floor on the other side of the Gap we spotted the "Bottom Tree". It didn;t get it's name because it's at the bottom of the descent. If you look carefully at the photo you'll work out for yourself why it got it's name.

Yep, it's the "Bottom Tree" (look closely)

 Bert Nichols Hut is a very controversial hut. It was built about six months before we did the walk, and cost over $1,000,000 to build. Much of the cost was due to the fact that the materials all had to be airlifted in. the controversy arose because many trees were cut down to clear the space (you can see the firewood under the hut in the photo) and despite all this expense and tree clearing, it only sleeps as many people as some of the smaller, original huts on the track. Hopefully this isn't the direction that the rest of the huts go when they need replacing.

Looking back at Bert Nichols Hut

We had one final night with the friends we'd made on the track then settled in for a very early night as we needed to be out at the ferry pickup by 11:00 am tomorrow and we really wanted to be able to enjoy the last days walk. The early night meant we could be in the track by 6:00 am giving us 5 hours to reach Narcissus Hut and the ferry.