Arm River Track Hike - Day 1

With a hot weekend forecast we were keen to start hiking as early as we could, however it’s a four hour drive from Hobart  so despite our best efforts (and a stop for a vanilla slice at Campbell Town) we weren’t leaving the Arm River car park until 1pm. 

The first hour is quite a steep climb but thankfully the straight up route has been replaced with lots of zig-zags, giving you a moment to recover between bends.  Once up on the plateau the views were immediately spectacular and we suddenly felt like we were right in the heart of the Tasmanian Wilderness.  

The track itself was just delightful, winding its way past tarns and through dark mossy forests, suddenly breaking out onto an alpine plateau where we could see the mountains all around us.   That's Mt Pillinger in the distance at the end of the lake below - one of our possible peaks over the weekend.

Pelion East appearing in the photo above. 

We could hear New Pelion Hut before we saw it - the sounds of relieved hikers (it's the stop at the end of their longest day) chatting & relaxing on the deck carried through the trees.  For us it was only a 4 hour hike but we were still pretty weary from our full packs, so once we got ourselves set up (just a few metres away from our previous camp site), we headed off to Old Pelion Hut for a swim.

It’s about a 15 minute walk but well worth it for the access to a deep swimming hole and cute little waterfall. Last time we came it was gaspingly cold but this time the water was much warmer (but still cold enough to be refreshing). Despite the crowds of hikers at New Pelion we had this place to ourselves which was a treat.

Whilst I relaxed in the stream I reaslised that my crocs made it really easy to float - they pulled my feet right up to the surface of the water.   As I floated around  I realised I'd discovered a fantastic new sure-to-make-me-rich invention..  in fact I can hear the TV ads now...  "Tired of not being able to keep up with your buoyant friends? Sick of sinking like a stone?.. try Float Feet™ - the easy way to float!'  

By the time we got back to our campsite it was time to cook up a delicious dinner (Marakesh Curry with rehydrated vegetables), which we followed up with hot drinks on the Heli Pad as us we watched the sunset behind Mt Oakleigh - one of our target mountains for the next day.