Tasmania Southwest Wilderness

Southwest National Park, Tasmania · Australia

Expedition Grade7 daysOceania~£3,500 est.

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Overview

Tasmania's Southwest is the empty quarter of Australia — a World Heritage wilderness of quartzite ranges, button-grass plains and rainforest hiding Huon pines two thousand years old, with no roads at all. A light plane from Hobart to the gravel strip at Melaleuca is the way in, landing beside Bathurst Harbour's tea-dark water where orange-bellied parrots breed. From there parties walk the South Coast Track's 85km of beaches and mud to Cockle Creek, or mount serious expeditions towards Federation Peak — the quartzite fang whose summit scramble above a 600m drop is often called Australia's hardest walk. The Southwest's weather is the examiner: fronts arrive off the Southern Ocean with horizontal rain in any month, the mud is permanent, and the Ironbound Range has pinned parties for days. Full self-sufficiency, tide timing for the creek mouths and genuine navigation skills are entry requirements. December to March is the season. Around £3,500 covers the flights in, park passes and two weeks of food; the Melaleuca air service books out, so plan months ahead.