Car Shuffle
Thinking of driving your car to Lake St Clair and needing transport back to Cradle Mountain?
Our car shuffle page explores your options that can help.
The thought of having your car at Lake St Clair waiting for you when you finish the Overland Track is a great one. To have your dry, warm, clean clothes there in the boot waiting for you is appealing and we understand this.
Unfortunately due to logistics and there not being a direct road linking Lake St Clair and Cradle Mountain, resulting in a 3.5 hour drive via the West Coast, Overland Track Transport does not offer a regular service between the start and finish of the Overland Track.
We have 3 options for you to consider and welcome any further questions you may have to try and resolve the logistics with your car shuffle.
Option 1. Leave your car in Launceston
When arriving on the Spirit of Tasmania, you can drive to Launceston in 1 hour and park your car at your accommodation or long term parking (Drive,Park,Fly). This allows time to do shopping for supplies. This also allows you to avoid a 3 hour drive to Lake St Clair, plus the additional 3 hours back to Launceston or Cradle Mt. You would then spend the night in Launceston and we would pick you up from your CBD accommodation on our regular 6:30am departures the following morning to Cradle Mountain. Once you finish the track at Lake St Clair, catch our regular 2:00pm departure back to Launceston, where we would then return you to your car by 5:15pm.
COST: $165.00 per person total
Option 2. Car driven to Lake St Clair.
We will meet you at 1:30pm at Lake St Clair where you can park your car. You would catch our 2:00pm departure back to Launceston where you will arrive at approx. 5:15pm. You can then spend the night in Launceston and catch our 6:30am shuttle to Cradle Mountain the following morning, getting you to Cradle Mt Visitor Centre by 9:15am. (tip – just one person needs to drive the car to Lake St Clair to save additional fares)
COST: $165.00 per person total (cheaper if only 1 person drops the car off to LSC)
Option 3. Car driven to Cradle Mountain.
You and your party can drive to Cradle Mountain and leave your car parked at the Visitors Centre and begin your journey on the Overland Track. Once you arrive at Lake St Clair you can catch our departure at 2:00pm back to Launceston where you will arrive at approx. 5:15pm. The next morning you can then catch our 6:30am departure from Launceston to Cradle Mountain where we will drop you to your car at the Visitors Center. Estimated arrival time is 9:15am. (tip – just one person needs to catch the 6:30am shuttle to Cradle Mountain to save additional fares)
Cost: $165.00 per person total (cheaper if only 1 person goes to get the car from Cradle Mt.)
Are you thinking of hiring a car to leave at Lake St Clair?
Hiring a car to leave in the car park at Lake St Clair can be an option if you have extra time in your holiday after you have completed the Overland Track. This can be an expensive option to hire a car for 6 days when you are not using it, as well as having a 3 hour drive to get it to Lake St Clair (from Hobart, Launceston or Devonport) and then an additional 3.5 hour drive to Cradle Mountain on a shuttle service. We suggest not hiring a car for this period, spending a night in Launceston to catch our daily 6:30am service to Cradle Mountain and then when you have completed the Overland Track, catch either of our regular services from Lake St Clair to Launceston or to Hobart (both departing Lake St Clair at 2:00pm) and we will drop you to the hire company to collect your car.
Below is a map to give you a better idea of what access is available between Cradle Mountain and Lake St Clair as well as a diagram of the routes our Overland Track Transport Buses take.
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact us on email or by phone on 0474 172 012.
