Kia Ora to Narcissus Hut – 18.6 km

Today was the day, the last ‘gradual’ climb of the trek!

My original plan was to stop at Windy Ridge, then bypass Narcissus hut and head for Echo Point the next day. Then the day after that we would walk around the lake and catch the bus at Cynthia bay back to Launceston. But you can catch a ferry at Narcissus hut to Cynthia bay, in fact 75% of hikers complete the trail that way. The closer we got to Lake St. Clair the more tempting the ferry sounded. I hadn’t made a reservation but I might be able to book a spot when we got to Narcissus.

I chatted to the kids about this and they were all for less walking. So today would be a ‘double hut’ day, we would stop for lunch at Windy Ridge and then push on to Narcissus hut where we would be there bright and early to book a spot on the ferry.

We left Kia Ora just before 8am (which is, as anyone who has hiked with kids knows, a minor miracle. Pun intended). We walked through more pretty, muddy, rainforest and stopped briefly at Du Cane hut which was built in 1910 and now only functions as an emergency shelter. It’s in a pretty spot and well worth a visit.

There are a couple of side trips to see waterfalls, all about 1 km return from the main track. The girls were not keen, and to be honest, neither was I. All the side trips were ‘gradual’ descents, and my knees were already at maximum creakage. Moving on I promised myself I would hit as many side trips as possible the next time we come on this track.

After the falls we got to the last major climb of the track, which was up and over Du Cane gap. This seemed to go one for a while, but honestly it wasn’t too bad. We took plenty of breaks along the way, and it was not as steep as some of the sections were when we climbed out of Frog Flats the other day.

We got to Burt Nichols hut at 12:30. This is the newest hut on the track and it is huge. It’s not my favourite though as it has stairs. Excuse me, but when I get to a hut I’ve done enough climbing for one day, thank you very much. We had a hot lunch and then pushed on the get to Narcissus hut. The girls started to waiver a little, but I cajoled them out the door with the promise of no more big hills to climb. There were still plenty of little hills though…

The trail to Narcissus is brought some familiar terrain and it felt more like a bushwalk on the mainland, with eucalypts everywhere and a lot less mud. Once the descent flattened out, the trees cleared and we got the rewarded with long stretches of duckboard across marshlands with what I think is Mt. Olympia dominating the horizon.

The kids took great delight in going over the swing bridge. And I took great delight in their delight. It was, all around, delightful.

Narcissus hut was pretty full when we got there just around 630 pm, but there were still some spots left in the hut, meaning we went the whole trip without pitching our tent. I felt a little guilty about this as, we really should have tried it at least once. I told the kids they would get plenty of practice next year tenting when we do the West Highland Way Booking the ferry would have to wait until the morning as they closed at 6pm

I made dinner, which the girls devoured at light speed and then gave me puppy dog eyes asking for more. I offered Clif bars which they (correctly) declined. Seeing as everyone in the hut had pretty much finished the track I thoroughly embarrassed Penny by asking if anyone had any food they could spare. Our American hut friends from Kia Ora declared that they had tons of extra food and kindly donated a Mountain House Lasagna. It looked and smelled delicious. The girls informed me that it was pretty great, after they fell on it like ravenous beasts leaving me with nothing but a licked clean packet.

Note to self: Next time bring more food