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Huts
 There are bushwalker’s huts located at each of the five overnight stops on the Overland Track. Also at each overnight stop is a rainwater tank, camping platforms, other campsites and a fly-out bushwalker’s toilet.
The booking system manages departures and relieves the pressure at the overnight stops along the track and the amount and frequency of overcrowding at huts and along the track. So you don't need to rush to the next hut to stake out your territory, as nobody is allowed to refuse space to another walker. It is better to enjoy your day and take your time.
Each hut has long sleeping platforms and communal cooking and eating areas with benches and tables. There is no food, cooking utensils, cooking stoves, mattresses or bedding available at the huts.
It is essential that you carry a tent and fuel stove. The huts may be full when you arrive. A tent is actually warmer than the hut as it is an enclosed cell of air. Having a tent and fuel stove gives you the flexibility to stop and camp when it is unwise to proceed, due to poor weather conditions, injury or fatigue. When camping on the camping platforms or other campsites near the huts, you do of course have an equal right to use the hut’s cooking and eating areas, as well as the rainwater tanks and bushwalker’s toilets.
The huts (with sleeping capacity and AGD GPS co-ordinates) from north to south, are:
Converting from AGD66 to GDA 94 You can easily convert a map co-ordinate to GDA. These
equations will give about a 3-5 metre accuracy. AGD66 to GDA94 - add 112 metres to the easting (X)
and 183 metres to the northing (Y) GDA94 to AGD66 - subtract 112 metres from the easting (X) and s
183 metres from the northing (Y) More accurate calculations can be obtained from using one of the
many free programs available on the internet.
The above table is available as an "OziExplorer Waypoint File" for use within Ozi or a GPS. See our maps page to download this and other data sets.
| Hut |
Sleeping Capacity |
Easting (AGD) |
Northing (AGD) |
|
| Waterfall Valley |
20 |
412282 |
5381178 |
see photos |
| Windermere |
16 |
413139 |
5374873 |
see photos |
| Pelion |
36 |
420749 |
5368465 |
see photos |
| Kia Ora |
20 |
423691 |
5361602 |
see photos |
| Windy Ridge |
16 |
424359 |
5357179 |
see photos |
| Narcissus |
18 |
425500 |
5348260 |
see photos |
Huts are fairly evenly spaced along the track. Approximate times and distances between huts are:
Waldheim - Waterfall Valley Hut 10.0 kms, 6 hours.
Waterfall Valley Hut - Windemere 7.5 kms, 3 hours.
Windemere - Pelion Hut 16.5kms, 6 hours.
Pelion Hut - Kia Ora Hut 9kms, 3 hrs.
Kia Ora - Windy Ridge Hut 10.0kms, 4 hrs.
Windy Ridge Hut - Narcissus Hut 9 kms, 3 hrs.
There are three additional bushwalkers’ huts, mostly off the main track, at Lake Rodway (the Scott-Kilvert hut), at Pine Valley and at Echo Point. (Each of these has a bushwalker’s toilet.)
Three other huts are historic sites; Kitchen Hut (has a toilet), Old Pelion Hut and Du Cane Hut. These huts are not to be used except in a genuine emergency, to preserve their historic value.
The huts have either coal-burning or gas heaters. Think conservation! Don't light the hut heater if the thermometer in the hut reads 10°C or more. Supplying coal and gas to huts is expensive, and the ash waste from coal heaters degrades the environment around the huts. Putting on extra clothing is a non-polluting way of getting warm.
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