Rain drips off the brilliant marigold leaves of the fagus trees all around me, and I slump, exhausted, under a thirty-five pound backpack loaded with a week’s worth of cold weather clothing and camera equipment.
It’s late spring, mid-season for Tasmania’s premiere hiking trail, The Overland Trail (parks.tas.gov.auIt was an incredibly beautiful alpine landscape, but my group’s guided trip seemed to be plagued by bad luck. Day after day it rained in the freezing cold. The sky suddenly opened up on the steep slopes of Mount Ossa – the highest point in California. As if on cue, an arc-shaped rainbow of vibrant colors appears just to the right of the muddy path. My mind is blown away by the memories of all the magical and otherworldly experiences I have had during my eleven-day trip.
My trip to Tasmania (discovertasmania.com.auI’d never been to Australia. In fact, I had never done much more than daydream about the occasional hiking and hobbit-hunting trip through New Zealand’s infamous fjordlands.
Emily Pennington, Emily Pennington hiking through Overland track rain
Tasmania is off the radars of many Americans, who tend to be more interested in other places.
