This is the story of the time I ran the South Coast track with Piotr Babis. It was in November 2022 on an uncharacteristically warm day for the Tassie south west. We always knew it would be a hard day but didn’t anticipate the scale of the adventure that eventuated.

It’s nearly three years later that I am writing this, so my memory of the event may be slightly flawed, but maybe that will lead to some entertaining embellishment of the tale. The South Coast track is one of the big challenging Tassie bush walks and the prospect of running it scared me a lot. The lead up to the run was a stressful flurry of planning and freaking out. The run itself turned into the greatest ‘epic’ of my life up till that point. Nothing really went to plan in the end, but it became one of the more memorable adventures of my life. I will do my best to tell you the story as best as my memory can recall.

Origins

The saga began one unassuming night at a dinner party and slide night. Daniel was presenting photos from his adventures in Europe and America. He started out with a goal to rollerblade across Europe that turned into a cycle touring trip thar culminated in him riding the tour divide. There were many adventurous spirits in the room that evening.

At this dinner party a lady called Ange was asking around to find the trail runners amongst the group. She worked for the Westpac rescue helicopter at the time and said they have a fundraiser event planned. A bloke called Piotr Babis was planning what he is calling the Impossible 7 project and was looking for runners to assist. I had heard of Piotr Babis but never met him. He has a reputation for doing monstrous trail running missions and I was mildly intimidated by him. I agreed to be added to the planning Facebook group but wasn’t super keen to get involved.

The Impossible 7 Project

At this point I should explain the Impossible 7 project. It was a ridiculous proposition that many including Piotr would consider most likely impossible. His plan was to run the following Tasmanian epic routes all within a 7 day period:

1. Southcoast Track (85km, 3500m +/-)
2. Federation Peak (43km, 2500 +/-)
3. Western Arthurs Approach (45km, 3500 +/-)
4. Frenchmans Cap (45km, 2800m +/-)
5. Overland Track (80k, 2800m +/-)
6. Three Capes Track (52km, 2300 +/-)
7. Freycinet Peninsula Loop (29km, 1200 +/-)

Not only is this a physically demanding project it is also incredibly logistically challenging. This blog post will reveal how difficult it is to pull this off when all of these routes are greatly separated and one of them involves a flight.

Read the ABC article about the project

The Gestation Period

I was added to the Facebook group and lurked in the shadows watching the mission being planned out. There were tentative dates locked in and various people put their hands up to join each leg. By the time I started to consider joining it looked like all of the roles were taken and most of the routes were being ran on work days. I decided I wouldn’t bother and kind of forgot about the whole thing.

2022 was the year that the UTA100 got postponed till October due to rain damaging the trails. I had put in a solid training block for it and was devastated when closed trails again caused the course to be changed last minute to predominantly fire trail. I still ran the event and had a great time but I was left wanting more. My mountain legs longed for the hills.

The week following the event I was sitting at work feeling the post ultra blues and looking for the next big thing. I had another look at the Facebook group and saw that the only route that needed any assistance was the South Coast track, the one that scared me the most. On an impulse I messaged Piotr asking if he wanted extra company for the South Coast Track and he was quick to accept.

Shambolic Planning Phase

The South Coast Track is a challenging 85km (more like 94km) with 3500m of elevation gain and lots of mud. At one end is Cockle Creek, which is at the end of the southern most road in Tasmania and at the other is Melaleuca which is in the remote south west, only accessible by plane or boat. Known for its unpredictable weather and river crossings, the track typically takes 6 to 8 days to complete and requires self-sufficiency.

This route is logistically challenging because it involves a flight and a lift to or from Cockle creek depending on the direction you run the course. The original plan was to fly into Melaleuca the night before the challenge officially started then run the track the following morning. This way the downtime from the flight won’t eat into the precious time needed to complete the other missions.

A start date was nominated, Piotr, Hannah and myself were to fly into Melaleuca and run out. Then Piotr pulled the rug out from under us and changed the whole thing based on a good weather forecast. He wanted to guarantee he had good weather to climb Federation Peak, so when good day was forecast he decided to start with Fedders then run the South Coast track the next day and fly back to Hobart the following morning.

I was at work when he called and dropped this bombshell. It was a complete change of plans. The abrupt change rattled me and I didn’t agree at first. I needed to see if I could get the time off work and if I really wanted to do it. But after a day of consideration I decided to take the plunge and embark on a proper adventure. Hannah bailed out, so it was just Piotr and I.

The new plan was:

• Weds 9th Nov – Piotr runs Federation peak with Liam
  • Pick up Joe from Geeveston afterwards and drive to Cockle creek
  • Camp the night at Cockle Creek
• Thurs 10th Nov – Piotr and Joe run South Coast Track
  • Sleep the night at Melaleuca
• Fri 11th Nov – Fly back to Hobart
  • Piotr to run Frenchmans Cap
• Sat 12th Nov – Run another route TBC based on weather

A Stressful Day of Preparation

The day before was incredibly stressful. I took Wednesday off work to have a whole day to prepare. Since we were running into Melaleuca we needed gear at the end to stay the night. This involved preparing bags and dropping them at the airport for Par Avion to fly them in. While I was preparing and stressing, Piotr was already out running Federation Peak with Liam, his first companion. They were meant to have a Garmin inReach so I could track their movements. I was sent the link but it didn’t work. Turns out Liam hadn’t been paying his subscription so obviously it wouldn’t work.

The first and most stressful hurdle began when I was dropping off the bags at Par Avion. I asked about our flight home on Friday morning and they said judging by the weather they probably can’t fly that day. They operate small planes and fly by sight, if it’s cloudy and rainy they can’t fly. This threw the whole plan into question.

Piotr called me from the summit of Federation Peak, the only time he had reception all day. I told him about the flight dilemma. He was not happy with the prospect of us being stranded and jeapordising his challenge. He asked me to work something out and to meet him in Geeveston later that evening. This threw me into a spin. I was already stressing about the mission and now I had so many scenarios running around in my head. He mentioned that we might end up doing the Western Arthurs instead or something else, the uncertainty sent me into a panic.

I spent a long time contemplating our options. Finally, I decided to call Par Avion and ask about their latest flight out of Melaleuca on the Thursday before the bad weather arrived. They said they would be leaving at 330pm. This gave me a new plan. We needed to start running in the middle of the night and try to make the flight to keep the challenge alive. This plan concerned me a lot, we would have to start this monumental mission with almost no sleep, but it seemed like the only option we had.

Late Night Geeveston

I got a lift to Geeveston and was dropped off with just my bags and a hope that Piotr and Liam would eventually pick me up. It was a weird feeling having literally no idea where they were or how long I would be waiting. I sat on a park bench and contemplated my trail running journey. It was only a few years earlier that I was watching youtube videos of trail runners hoping to get into it one day. Now it felt like I had finally become the trail runner I aspired to be, on the precipice of a great adventure.

Geeveston is an interesting place to be loitering late on a Wednesday night. I listened to the sounds of cows in the distance and locals walked past giving me weird looks. One particularly tipsy bloke asked me where I was headed and I told him I was running the south coast track. He said ‘yeah I used to do that kind of stuff when I was younger, but yah got to be careful of the snakes down there’. He was friendly enough but I highly doubt that he did 80km trail runs when he was younger.

Thankfully my Geeveston purgatory was broken by a text from Piotr saying they were 15 minutes away. It was such a relief knowing I wasn’t stranded in Geeveston for eternity. My relief was short lived, I was still anxious about the adventure ahead. I had still not actually met Piotr in person, and we still didn’t have a set plan for the following day.

Eventually a white van pulled up and out hopped Piotr and Liam. They were filming me when they asked about the flight plans for the following day. I explained that our only option was to start running in the night to have any chance of catching the plane. Piotr asked if I was willing to start in the night and I agreed. It felt like I was on a reality TV show. It was an interesting interaction especially given this was the first time meeting both Piotr and Liam in person.

We bundled into the van which didn’t actually have enough seats for us. Piotr squeezed into the back on the bed and put normatec compression tights on his legs while we drove south towards Cockle Creek. I chatted with Liam with Piotr occasionally chiming in from the back. They were both in fairly good form considering they had spent 14 hours on the trails that day.

The Midnight Start

We arrived at Cockle Creek at close to midnight and granted ourselves the luxury of one hours sleep. I rolled my tent on the ground and and laid on top of it. The temperature was warm and pleasant so it didn’t seem worth wasting precious time pitching a tent. In the whole hour on the ground I probably got 10 minutes sleep before my alarm went off.

Liam was a great help, he made me some peanut butter sandwiches and helped pack things away so we could hit the trail. I drank an iced coffee to start my day and scoffed some kind of bread to get some carbs in the tank.

The First Half

At 1:12am we began our long journey to Melaleuca. This time we had a functional Garmin inReach so people at home could follow us and we could send and receive messages. We needed to stay safe and ideally not get rescued. It would defeat the purpose of fundraising for the rescue helicopter if we had to use the service.

It was a warm and pleasant night and there was a full moon. The forecast for the coming day was mid to high 20s so we were happy that our midnight start might help us cover more ground before the day heated up. The initial sections of the track are nice and runnable all the way through to South Cape Rivulet. I was worried about the water in the rivulet being too high to cross. I had experienced this once on a bush walk and knew it would mess with our schedule if we had to wait for the tides.

Thankfully the water level was manageable and we got across easily. I was already noticing that our pace was on the slower side, especially given we were still on the easy stuff. We got up South Cape Range in the early hours of the morning. The sun rose as we reached a high point in the range and revealed an epic view of the south coast and the islands off the shore. It was a majestic start to the day.

The South Cape Range is notoriously muddy and rough. Our pace was frustratingly slow. Piotr was already getting angry at the state of the track. He had ran this track before but it was on another similar challenge (link to FKT page) when he had gone 30 hours without sleep. He keeps saying ‘this is a popular track, why don’t parks maintain it!’. I think he somehow forgot that the South Coast track has a reputation for being rough and immensely muddy.

Part way down the range Piotr gets his poles out and finds that both of them are siezed shut. We try as hard as we can to pull them open but have no luck. They are nice Leki poles too, supposedly good quality and somehow both are stuck shut. When we finally make it down to the campsite at Granite beach it is morning and the campers are awake and having breakfast. We borrow a multi-tool hoping to pull the poles apart but still have no luck. Being the good support runner that I am I donate Piotr my poles and carry his broken ones.

Piotr is concerned about a red sore patch behind his knee. It is the main culprit for our slow progress. He is avoiding lifting his leg due to pain and it’s a movement that is commonly required when navigating the jungle gym we are traversing through. He recalls feeling a tweak the previous day but didn’t think much of it. It seems to be getting more red and swollen the farther we travel. He even wonders if it’s a spider bite.

We slowly make it across Granite beach an onwards into the day. Having started in the middle of the night it kind of starts feeling like the afternoon even though it’s early morning. I am already thinking that we are going to miss our flight. The pace we are moving is far to slow, I am left wondering how long we will be on the trail.

Halfway Point

As we approach the crossing at New River lagoon I look at my watch and see that we’ve been moving for nearly 10 hours. This is approximately the halfway point. Our hopes and dreams of a 14 hour finish are long gone. Even though we are moving slow it is still tiring. At this point I thought of the FKT that was set by Stu Gibson of 9 hours and 5 minutes. We were only halfway done and he would have already finished. He also did his speed run in the cooler months and swam across the lagoon crossing to save on the boat logistics.

At the New River lagoon campsite I visit the toilet and come out to find Piotr laying in a makeshift hammock. It is so appealing to just stop and lay down but it’s not an option. We go down to the crossing to find two boats sitting on our side. This saves us time not having to shuttle a boat back across.

At the other side we actually run along the beach. This is the fastest we move in hours and the fastest we will move for the rest of the day. The pace is a measly 6:30m/km and it feels so hard. Mid way along the beach we pass a group of hikers, they are part of a tour. The guide at the back of the group generously donates us a muesli bar and then they were the last humans we were to see for the rest of the day. Not including the humanoid hallucinations that were to come.

We stop at the end of the beach to fill up water, it’s such a hot day, we are drinking astronomical amounts of fluids. I think by now we both know it is going to be a battle of attrition to get this monster done and no speed records are going to be set. Piotr and I are still handling the adversity well, both in good spirits still. It’s a lovely warm day on the south coast. I keep thinking how nice it would be to set up camp and just relax in such glorious conditions. It isn’t even lunchtime and I am already feeling mildly delirious from lack of sleep.

Ironbound Ranges

We stop again at the little beach just before the Ironbounds climb. I take of my shoes and patch my poor feet. They are looking worse for wear after a day of being waterlogged from river crossings and mud. The climb up the range is a good change. We both enjoy leaning into the climb, minimal talking just climbing. It feels like we are actually making decent progress. While we climb we hear a plane flying over head and both joke that we are probably going to miss our flight. It was a Par Avion plane and most likely was the exact one we were supposed to be catching.

The clouds closed in and the wind picked up as we ascended. The hot day was forecast to break with a cold change in the evening. We anticipated being finished before the cold front hit. Instead we found ourselves on the top of the Ironbound range, the most exposed location on the whole trail when the weather closed in. We were travelling dangerously light on gear because we were mostly worried about the heat rather than the cold.

As the squalls started to hit and our body temperatures dropped we both felt energised by the need to get down from the high point. Piotr even said to me;

‘I guess it’s run or die’

This bold statement got us fired up and we lifted the pace significantly. He was kind of right, we needed to run. I was snapped out of my delirious plodding state and felt euphoric from the excitement of being up high is dicey weather. This section was probably the highlight of my whole day. I felt like I was on top of the world. I was feeling the waves of emotion and immense gratitude.

It was trail running heaven but my body was starting to complain about the days exertions. My food stocks were running dangerously low. I didn’t bring enough for the length of time we were taking. I vividly recall running down the Ironbounds holding a stroopwaffel taking the smallest possible bites and savouring each little bit for as long as possible. Knowing this was my last solid foot and looking out ahead seeing the vast distances still ahead. I still had gels and tailwind but they do not help with hunger.

Hallucinating in the Night

Thankfully wind and rain the squalls subsided as we descended from the mountains. The plains on the other side of the mountain range offered some of the most runnable terrain of the day but it came at a time when our ability to run was severely inhibited. Piotr was doing a running type movement ahead of me but it was so slow that I could just walk behind him and stick with him. His injured leg was slowing him down considerably but he was still moving. My gut was starting to rumble and I fantasised about finding a toilet to visit at a campsite.

I filmed some footage of myself running along the plains shortly before dusk, I was in a state of exhausted delirium. My vision was already playing games on me, this was a hint at the wild hallucinations that were to come once darkness descended.

The run across the plains and over Louisa River is a blur. We plodded along mostly in silence slowly making head way. I did mental aritmatic and realised that we were moving at about 4-5km per hour, pretty much hiking speeds. It was getting dark and we still had 20km to go which translates to 5 more hours of running. It felt like the day would never end.

We were running down the board walk towards the beach at Cox bight at last light. I finally decided to bite the bullet and went off track to try to relieve myself. After my short stop I came back and found Piotr asleep on the board walk. He probably got 5 minutes of sleep and he said it was the highlight of his day so far.

By the time we reached the beach it was completely dark and we were running by head torch again. This was when the visual hallucinations started. I thought every piece of seaweed on the beach was a small animal or a bird. Then I almost stepped on an actual bird. I was seeing everything as birds except actual birds which I wasn’t even noticing.

The next level of the hallucinations were in my peripheral vision. I sensed movement in the corner of my eyes and sensed the switching on and off of lights. Like as if street lights were switching on and off all around me. There were large dark presences that I could sense, these ended up being large looming sand dunes that we were running alongside.

Point Eric, a little outcrop on the beach offered a brief change of scenery. There was a campsite on the point and I started having mirages of toilets. I kept thinking there was a toilet building and looked all around the campsite but everything I though resembled a toilet ended up just being a tree or a shrub. To this day I still don’t know if there actually is a toilet at that campsite. While I was seeing toilets Piotr was seeing faces in the scrub.

It was back onto the beach and into the trippy running trance. It would have been fun it if weren’t for the intense discomfort in my gut, the pain in my legs and the overbearing desire to lay down and sleep. When we finally reached the end of the beach it felt like we were on the home stretch to Melaleuca but there was still 9km to travel. This was at least 2 more hours of running at our pace. We were already over 21 hours deep, the prospect of an end was tantalisingly close yet still so far.

We ran as fast as we could manage. Both of us were so sick of being awake, all we wanted was to sleep. Piotr kept thinking he was seeing the lights of the Melaleuca airport. He had never been there and didn’t realise that there is almost nothing at the airport and definitely no lights. The kilometres have never felt so slow but at least it was mostly easy running.

In the final stretch the bad weather finally arrived and the rain began to fall. It started light and intensified. We were both so keen to finish that we didn’t want to stop and deal with rain jackets so we soldiered on in the rain hoping to finish soon and get into dry clothing. Eventually we started seeing signage that indicated we were close. Then we stumbled onto the airstrip. We stood in the middle of a white quartzite air strip with about 5 metres of visibility around us. We had arrived but we were lost. Piotr had to get his phone out to work out which direction to head to find the shed alongside the airstrip with our bags waiting.

With the help of his GPS map we realised we just had to walk about 20 metres across the airstrip to our salvation. Piotr went in before me to get his bag. When I popped my head in to say we should walk up to the hut he already had his sleeping bag out and was not moving. We were not going any further in the pouring rain I agreed to sleep in the little shed on the ground.

The little airstrip shed surprisingly had a wifi connection. So I was able to log on and send out a few messages to let people know we were safe and sound after an incredibly long day on the trails. Turns out there was a few people watching our dot slowly moving along the South Coast track hoping we would make it safely. As I got ready for bed my peripheral hallucinations were exacerbated by a small bird that refused to leave the shed and fluttered around my head. I think the bird, like us, just wanted to stay out of the rain but we were disturbing it’s peace. It was the best feeling in the world laying on the ground in a small shed in the South West. Finally we could rest.

Stranded in the South West

The next morning we wake to the sounds of people outside. There was a couple loitering outside using the Wifi. They were American Orange Bellied Parrot volunteers, the only other humans in Melaleuca. They poked their heads in and said ‘you can’t sleep in there’. We told them about how we arrived at after midnight in pouring rain after running the whole track. They said we were reckless and crazy for doing that and repeated that we shouldn’t be sleeping in there. A nice friendly welcome to Melaleuca.

The rest of the day was relaxing. Eventually we migrated from our shed up to the proper hut. We were stranded till the following morning so there was nothing to do except chill out. Piotr used the Wifi to try to plan the rest of his runs and try to diagnose the problem with his knee. I enjoyed a restful day after so much physical and mental stress. As the day drew on the weather started to clear up and we held high hopes of getting home the following day.

Getting Home

On Saturday morning we heard the planes approaching and felt immense relief knowing our escape was near. We bundled into a plane and had a wonderful flight home. It was epic to fly over and see where we had come. The pilot took us close past Federation Peak giving us an epic view of the mountain. When we arrived back in town Piotr continued on to run Frenchman’s cap that evening and I decided that I would head up to Launceston that night to run Triple Top Mountain run the following morning.

The Challenge Continues