Three Capes Walk - Call for Public Comment

[Son of a Beach]

As per this ABC news story, the government is calling for public comment on the proposed Three Capes Walk plan.

So this may be your last chance, if you want to have a say.

Does anybody have links to both the plan itself, and to where people can provide their input?

[pazzar]

You can download the plan here: http://www.parks.tas.gov.au/?base=25657

And I believe there is an email address on the parks page that is a channel for feedback. Public comment is open until December 23.

[Son of a Beach]

Thanks, pazzar. That page also includes information on how to submit comments on the proposal.

[alliecat]

Thanks SOAB and Pazzar.

I hope to have a good read of the plan over the next couple of days. If I have any thoughts worth sharing I'll post them to this thread.

From the news article on the P&W site:

“Once completed, it’s expected to generate about $20 million a year, and create almost 340 jobs."

and later...

The project involves about 60 kilometres of track, including about 40 kilometres of new track and upgrading of the remainder. The boat journey will need jetties or floating pontoons constructed at Safety Cove and Denmans Cove.

Around 85 per cent of track users will be “free and independent” walkers, who will stay in public huts.

The public huts are intended to have the capacity to accommodate 48 walkers and up to four PWS staff. There is also an opportunity for a commercial developer to construct smaller huts with a capacity for 10 walkers and three guides, for guided walkers.

When fully operational, the Three Capes Track will attract up to 10,000 overnight walkers a year.

So despite 85% of the walkers being "free and independent" (does that mean no fee to walk?), 10,000 people are going to generate $20M. Hmm, that would be $2,000 per person. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be spending that much to do the walk.

I am glad that the huts will be "public" though. I'd still prefer to be in my tent, but I realise that many people prefer huts when available.

Cheers,
Alliecat

[Mark F]

This the economic voodoo multiplier effect at work. You earn $100 and then spend the $100. Economic benefit (turnover) = $200

[alliecat]

Yeah, it's funny how those "economic" benefits add up...

On a first skim through, these are the bits that stuck in my mind.

• Basically the walk goes from White Beach to Fortescue Bay with 5 overnight stops and a ferry in the middle. (With a shorter “commercial” option of 4 nights.)
• There are 5 “overnight nodes” (huts) to sleep 48 people and have gas cookers and mattresses!
• Hut places are available via a fee and booking system (for the “free and independent” walkers…)
• Operating season is November through April.
• There will also be some commercial huts, separate (and probably not visible) from the public huts.
• Tracks will be of "dry boot" standard - no mud or puddles allowed!
• Huts might be available to the unwashed masses outside operating season, but without gas cookers and mattresses.

It is clear they are aiming at a market for whom the Overland is too long or too rough. Essentially if you can carry a sleeping bag and 5 days of food, you can do this track. I didn't see it on first read, but they could also make food available at the huts I suppose.

As for camping:

• Camping will only be allowed on hardened sites. (And this will be a year-round restriction.)
• “Up to” 2 hardened camp sites to be constructed on the Pillar/Fortescue side of the walk. "Up to 2" means 0, 1, or 2, so that's not much of a commitment.
• No fees to camp. Very big of them.
• To me, the implication is that there will be no camping south of Lunchtime Creek on the Cape Pillar track. Though how that would be enforced in the off-season is anybody's guess.

So not great news for those of us who like to camp as the proposed camping sites will be quite small (cant remember the size now but they mentioned "1 or 2 small groups").

One document I found interesting was the survey of existing tracks. There were quite detailed descriptions of a few existing taped routes that I didn't know about So that gives me some new places to explre before the hordes get there.

Overall the plan seems to me to produce a very sanitised walk for those who would rarely do more than short and easy day walks. At one point the documents refers to wanting to give people a "wildness" experience rather than a "wilderness" experience I'm really not sure what they mean by that.

The intention is to operate the whole thing on a full cost-recovery basis, so I don't know what that implies for the fees, but it ain't gonna be cheap!

Cheers,
Alliecat

[MrWalker]

I think it is going to cost $200 to use the accomodation provided during the main walking season (Nov-Apr?). You would have to be at the huts on specified nights and move on after one night. Although the weather is not as bad as the central plateau there could be times when the whole schedule is thrown out when some walkers don't want to leave the hut due to poor conditions.

It is clear that in contrast to the Overland Track it would be easy to arrange transport to walk sections as one or two day walks. I'm not sure how that will fit in with booking fees. In some respects it is more like the Great Ocean Walk in Victoria, which can be done as 7-8 nights, but is more commonly walked as a selection of 2-3 day walks, with camping sites booked for whatever sections are needed. I think it would be better than the GOW since our cliffs are higher and the walk is not mainly on sand.

I had difficulty finding anything about the boat section. If it is anything like the lake St Clair ferry it will only run a few times a day, won't run in bad weather etc. This could cause problems since there is no road access for the final section, so the ferry ride is critical to completing the trip. Because the trip is planned as one-way, the ferry would have everyone arrive at the same time in one direction but run empty on the return trip.

[flatfoot]

I was able to walk to Cape Raoul yesterday. A fantastic walk. I've got mixed feelings about the development proposal. It was fabulous to see it in a relatively pristine state. Whilst the proposal will improve the accessibility of the walk, I do think it will lose some of it's charm.

There were many ribbons in place marking the route. Presumably these may have been part of the official survey? Does anyone know? In one ferny grove at the base of Mount Raoul, I could see a blue ribbon tied to a tree about 10m from the current track. This suggested to me that the ribbons might have been marking the planned route.

Hopefully they won't put in rails at the Cape Raoul Lookout.

I just read today that submissions closed yesterday! I would have made some comments now that I've had a chance to walk part of the route