The Overland Track experience commences in the northern part of Cradle Mountain -Lake St Clair National Park, at Ronny Creek, climbing out of the Cradle Valley and finishes at Narcissus Bay on Lake St Clair.

The walk takes six days and although the track is well-maintained and clearly marked, for some the journey may not be an easy one. Some people may find the walk quite steep in sections and six days of continuous walking can be physically demanding.

The following extracts from Wild magazine's Spring 2003 edition provides an insight into the Overland Track experience:

"The first step is on to boardwalk, straight out of the car park... unlike my first day on the track all those years ago, the weather was atrocious. By the time we gained the barren plateau below Cradle Mountain - the most exposed walking of the entire trip, peak bagging was right off the agenda. Violent wind, driving rain and hail, frigid conditions and 20 metre visibility made sure of that. Despite having the best modern clothing and equipment, our boots were already full of water and all but a few parts of our bodies were soaked to the skin. Indeed, merely reaching Waterfall Valley Hut and securing dry sleeping space inside seemed a more than sufficient challenge for the day.

"Most of the track has been hardened or otherwise improved to protect its immediate environment. Much of it is duckboarded, particularly on the notoriously fragile and muddy buttongrass plains. Walkers are requested to keep to the tracks and it would seem that they do. Just metres on either side of the track the landscape is pristine.

"We were constantly charmed, delighted and surprised by the beauty, variety and spectacular nature of the flora and fauna we saw along the way... Wallabies and quolls abound and allow you to approach to within a metre or two?. Of the vegetation, the most spectacular varieties included pandani, King Billy pines and cushion plants, all endemic to Tasmania, and abundant.

"...the Overland Track is truly one of the greatest walks in Australia. It is the sort of walk to which you can return, confident that, while the experience may vary slightly, the unique qualities of the region are being carefully protected and conserved and that in, the end, 'the Overland experience' is what you choose to make it."

(The above extracts by Chris Baxter of Wild magazine were reproduced with permission)