My next adventure? The South Coast Track! | Welcome to the wilderness..
After several weeks of hiking and afterwards exploring Port Arthur, it was time to head back to Hobart and close the little loop I’d made along Tasmania’s east coast. The journey so far — Bruny Island, Freycinet, Maria Island, and Port Arthur — has been nothing short of incredible.
While catching up on travel videos, I’ve been finishing edits for both the Maria Island video and the Port Arthur video. They’ll be live soon. But the real reason for this post — and the title — is to announce what comes next: my biggest Tasmanian challenge yet.
The Plan
My next adventure is hiking the legendary South Coast Track — an 85 km wilderness trail through the remote south‑west corner of Tasmania. This track is one of Australia’s most isolated hikes, and reaching it is half the adventure.
The start point, Melaleuca, is so far off the map that the only way to get there is by flying from Hobart in a tiny plane. There’s no proper airport — just a narrow airstrip deep in the wild. From there, the walk crosses empty beaches, mountain passes, and dense forest before finally ending at the small settlement of Cockle Creek — the southernmost point of Australia you can reach by road.
What makes the South Coast Track so unique is that it remains completely untamed. There are no shops, villages, or infrastructure. There’s nothing but wilderness. Once I step off the plane at Melaleuca, I won’t see another sign of civilisation until I arrive at Cockle Creek — roughly a week later.
Each day can bring new challenges: river crossings, quick‑changing weather, and mud — so much mud. The conditions in southern Tasmania are famous for turning calm skies into horizontal rain in less than an hour. The track’s reputation is demanding but fair: it’s raw, beautiful, and unpredictable — everything a wilderness trail should be.
Preparation and Planning
I’ll be flying out on Thursday if the weather allows, and I expect the trek to take between 7 and 9 days. To be safe, I’ll prepare for the full nine, bringing enough food, fuel, and supplies to stay completely self‑sufficient. That means spending the next few days in Hobart testing my equipment, cleaning gear, and packing everything I’ll need — which is surprisingly more complicated than it sounds when you weigh every gram.
The idea of carrying everything I’ll rely on through one of Tasmania’s wildest regions doesn’t scare me — it excites me. It’s the kind of challenge that makes travel feel real again. If all goes to plan (and the weather cooperates), I’ll start walking the same day I land in Melaleuca. There are beach sections, alpine ridges, swampy plains, and river crossings where you wait hours for the tide to drop before wading through waist‑deep water. It doesn’t sound easy — and that’s exactly why I’m doing it.
For most of the track, there’s little to no phone signal. So if things go quiet on Facebook or here on the blog for a while — don’t worry! It just means I’m somewhere deep in Tasmania’s wilderness, hopefully still dry, definitely muddy, and probably smiling.
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