Windemere to Pelion Hut.
The weather did really cooperate, the evening at Pelion hut had clear skies which meant astro shots where on the table 🙂 It can be challenging to stay up late since the hut and most people get to bed pretty early (for good reason), normally I would be out shooting astro for an hour or more, but given the fact I had to sneak back into the hut and also get up early for the next day I restrained myself with only a few astro shots. These were taken on the helicopter landing pad with the noising wombat snuffling and sneezing all over the joint.
The astro shots are taken using the Viltrox 16mm f1.8 lens, quite a versatile lens for this trip, doubled as my wide angle shots in the forest and also for astro stuff whilst not as wide as my 14mm f2.8 samyang (or 14-24mm f2.8 nikkor) nor as fast as say my 20mm 1.4 it certainly does pretty damn good for something that compact and also very cost effective. Its also pretty water resistant too, proof tested :).
Pelion hut was a bit of a surprise, it was peak hour there when we got there, we are certainly not the fastest hikers and typically would be at the tail end of the day, in this case when we got there it was pretty packed, camp ground was chockers (there is a overflow on apparently which we did not know about) and the hut was a hive of activity.
I did like the way the hut is set out tho, there is heaps of verandah space and hooks and spots to hang your gear for drying, the newer huts are a bit smaller and for 30 people it can get a bit tight when everyone has to dry gear etc out.
This hut is kinda like the centre piece of a lot of walks, seems people come here and base themselves from the hut to do Mount Oakleigh, Mount Ossa and probably others, it does make sense I reckon staying here (camping) two nights would be the ticket, since there is no hope for us to do the 17km and then another 8km to Mount Oakleigh (for example). Its also one of the huts you can hike to from the other direction, ie along the Arm river track, we met an older couple who had done this track and were doing Mount Ossa the next day, I did actually see them on the walk up Mont Ossa, hats off to them, they were in their 60s/70s? if i’m still walking by that stage I’ll be stoked. Worth noting they had no fancy new gear like sleeping mats, old school hardcore for sure 🙂 probably looked at us and scoffed 😉
What I do like about this national park is that they have seemed to try and strike a balance with visitors, they accommodate the private tour groups (not glamping but private huts and obviously fairly expensive), the overlanders (which is not cheap – but a small fee given the cost of maintaining the track tho) and then also people who just want to get into the heart of the park without having to spend a bunch of money but still access some of the speccy places, like Mount Ossa. I’m sure many have varied opinions on this, but i think they have done pretty well…
Anyways, here is Day 3 part 2
Gerry’s hot tip for this day, have lunch (its a bit later but worth the wait) on the track near Mount Proteus and before Mount Pelion West, there is some nice open places which are a welcome reprieve after some hours in the forest and muddy tracks.
