SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST

HAVING walked from Penguin at the top of Tasmania, to the bottom of the Overland Track it was time to tackle the Frenchmans Cap Track. Day 1 starts with a 29km shuttle bus drive from Derwent Bridge to the trailhead on the Lyell Highway. As we walked across the swing bridge over the Franklin River we noticed that the previous day’s rain had swollen the river significantly. This put in doubt our ability to ford the river in three day’s time at Irenabyss downstream. The high water level on the South Loddon River confirmed these fears. The walk to Lake Vera hut was about 15km with 787m of ascent, so we got a good sweat up along the trail.

Day 2 involved an ascent over Barron Pass, which neither Shannon or I were able to cross on our previous visit due to bad icy weather. Today I was hit with gastro and had the wind knocked out of my sails before the real grunt started. The first part of the walk alongside Lake Vera involves careful walking over many tree roots and rocky protrusions. The streams were glorious and flowing after the rains.