South Coast Track

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6-8 day, roughly 85 km walk between Melaleuca and Cockle Creek along the rugged southern coastline, per the official walk notes on parks.tas.gov.au.

☰ Trail details

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Distance

65.02 km

Est. time

19 hr 40 min

Elevation gain

2027 m

Route type

Point to point

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In an emergency

Call 000 for police, fire or ambulance — Australia's emergency number works even with a weak signal, and without a SIM if any carrier has coverage.

You're in Southwest National Park, Southwest, TAS. Mobile reception in this area is not guaranteed — this is exactly why the offline map and GPS position on this page work without signal.

Tell someone your plan and expected return time before you set off. A PLB is the most reliable backup where there's no reception at all.

Tracks & plans

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Species to look for on this trail

Ancient trees and rare flora confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Ranunculus acaulisDocumented on this trail

Ranunculus acaulis

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened▾

Near Threatened — TAS: Near Threatened

Ranunculus acaulis, in Australia and New Zealand called dune buttercup, sand buttercup or shore buttercup, is a yellow-flowered, small, fleshy herb, that grows in mats in damp places mostly near the sea. It occurs naturally in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and the Falklands. It flowers between August and April and sets seed from September till July.

How to spot it

The dune buttercup is a small and hairless perennial herb that grows in matted patches, that are the result of numerous plants that develop at the nodes of long slender aerial shoots. The leaves form a rosette, are 12–45 mm long and have a stalk, are thick and shiny and have many very small light dots. The blades are three-lobed. The middle leaflet is entire or has three blunt teeth, and the lateral leaflets are entire with a blunt tip or have one blunt tooth at the basal margin. Flowers are 7–1

Family Ranunculaceae · Source: Atlas of Living Australia + Wikipedia: Ranunculus acaulis

Photo via iNaturalist Australia (CC0), collected by Peter Crowcroft

Huon Pine

Lagarostrobos franklinii

Ancient conifer — individuals exceed 2,000 years old▾

Ancient conifer — individuals exceed 2,000 years old

One of the world's longest-lived trees: individual Huon pines exceed 2,000 years old, and a genetically identical clonal stand on Mount Read has been dated at over 10,500 years. Convict work parties felled huge Huon pines on the banks of the Lower Gordon River in the 19th century.

How to spot it

A slow-growing conifer with arching branches, pendulous branchlets and tiny scale-like leaves 1-3mm long. Typically 10-20m tall. Found beside slow, dark rivers in the wet south-west, historically prized by boat-builders for its fine, oily, rot-resistant timber.

Family Podocarpaceae · Source: Wikipedia — Lagarostrobos franklinii; Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service — Franklin-Gordon Wild Rivers National Park

Photo: JJ Harrison (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Wikimedia Commons

Wildlife you might see on this trail

Animals confirmed in this park. Spot one? Add it as a sighting pin below.

Orange-bellied Parrot

Neophema chrysogaster

Critically Endangered (EPBC Act)▾

Critically Endangered (EPBC Act)

One of the world's rarest parrots, breeding only near Melaleuca in Tasmania's south-west before migrating across Bass Strait to winter on the Victorian and South Australian coast. The wild population fell to just 14 birds in 2017 but has since recovered to roughly 90 through an intensive captive-breeding program.

How to spot it

Bright grass-green upperparts, yellow underparts and a distinctive orange belly patch (duller in females), with a two-toned blue frontal band. Look for it feeding low in coastal dunes and saltmarsh in autumn and winter.

Family Psittaculidae · Source: Wikipedia: Orange-bellied parrot

JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Pedder Galaxias

Galaxias pedderensis

Extinct in the Wild (EPBC Act) — survives only via translocation▾

Extinct in the Wild (EPBC Act) — survives only via translocation

A small freshwater fish once endemic to Lake Pedder in what is now Southwest National Park. It was declared extinct in the wild in 2005 after the lake was flooded for hydro development, and now survives only in two translocated populations, including nearby Lake Oberon.

How to spot it

An irregular, highly variable pattern of alternating off-white and brownish bands reaching into the fins, greenish-brown above and silvery below, growing to about 160mm. Not visible to walkers in the original lake — its story is best told at Southwest National Park's Lake Pedder lookout as a case study in freshwater extinction.

Family Galaxiidae · Source: Wikipedia: Pedder galaxias