Bookings for Three Capes Track now open

[walkoz]

Bookings for the multi-day Three Capes Track are now open via the new website, www.threecapestrack.com.au. The track itself will see the first walkers from 23 December 2015.

The new 46-kilometre track has been designed as an achievable experience for a wide range of ages and abilities. It’s been built to a dry-boot standard from a range of materials, including timbers, stone and gravel and is about one-metre wide, wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. Walkers will not need to carry tents, cookware, gas stoves or sleeping mats, as these are provided in each hut.

The Three Capes Track experience encompasses more than the track itself. Included in the experience is a pass to visit the Port Arthur Historic Site, where walkers will check in for the start of their walk. A 75 minute Pennicott Wilderness Journeys cruise then delivers walkers to the start of the track at Denmans Cove. Over four days and three nights, walkers will take in tall eucalypt forests, coastal heath and Australia’s highest sea cliffs.

Evenings are spent in warm and comfortable environmentally-sensitive cabins at Surveyors, Munro and Retakunna. Host Rangers at each hut will add to the walker's experience.

A bus transfer from the end of the walk, at Fortescue Bay, back to Port Arthur is also included in the price.

For more information and to book, visit www.threecapestrack.com.au.

[Orion]

What a bummer.

[Drifting]

FIVE HUNDRED dollars!!!!

Obviously not for Tasmanians. I am so very bitterly disappointed- there was talk on the Parks Tas website about having fees in the range of $200.

Thank you so much, Parks Tasmania, for making something that should be accessible to all of us out of reach to the average Tasmanian.

GRRRR!!!

[walkon]

this is a joke right

ha ha haaa you got me, how much is it really?

nah really how much is it?

[GBW]

Yer but you get "warm and comfortable environmentally-sensitive cabins"...that's gotta be worth something .

[Azza]

Deigned to cater for a particular market segment and ignore the fully/semi self sufficient walker that doesn't want all the comforts of home or to be herded around like cattle on a fixed itinerary.

I've been down the Cape Pillar several times - spectacular place, but I don't feel like I could part with $500 to visit now.

[Azza]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-17/b ... ck/6784448

Says day walks would not attract a fee.... hmmm.. I somehow doubt that includes day walking to Cape Pillar? all smells a bit rushed to market for the summer season.

[wayno]

hell, compare that to the milford track is around A$250 and that includes two ferry boats. and one of those is a 35k fast ferry ride... and they have to maintain 60km of track which requires a massive amount of maintenance to keep it free from tree falls and erosion in a very dense forest with the heaviest rainfall at sea level in the world... so how do they justify $500?

[MrWalker]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-09-17/bushwalkers-to-be-charged-500-to-explore-three-capes-track/6784448
Says day walks would not attract a fee.... hmmm.. I somehow doubt that includes day walking to Cape Pillar?

It should be less than 46km to just do Cape Pillar from Fortescue Bay and the track has been improved. So it could be possible if you don't stop to look at the views.

[Hallu]

500 $ ? You should be ashamed of yourselves. The walk is a mess it's not a circuit or a one way linear walks like the OT. It's best done (and cheaper) as day walks and going back to a nice comfy house, and this way you can do Cape Raoul as well (wasn't it supposed to be included initially ? Where is it ?), I can find a beachhouse for 100 $ a night on Tasman Peninsula... It's gonna be a miserable financial disaster...

[Nuts]

[beardless]

Had planned to try this walk next year thinking it would be a luxury at about $200, but I will not be booking it at $495. How much will it cost once the third cape is included.

[MickyB]

Thank you so much, Parks Tasmania, for making something that should be accessible to all of us out of reach to the average Tasmanian.

Not just Tasmanians. At $495 I wouldn't even consider doing it.

[sim1oz]

I was getting excited until I saw the booking page. To be precise the costs are:

Adult $495
Concession $396
Child $396

So that is $1,782 for a family of four. Really glad that I have booked a couple of NZ Great Walks for the summer instead of waiting for this... NZ Great Walks are $54 per night for adults and children are free, so $324 for our family of four (not including transport to and from track). And I paid while the Aussie dollar was higher than it is at the moment.

Guess we are not the target market for the track....

[MickyB]

Any chance they left out a decimal point?

[Mechanic-AL]

I really feel sorry for younger generations who haven't had the chance to wander around down the Peninsula yet. A price tag like that most likely means they probably never will

"Exclusive' is the first word that springs to mind and I just can't agree with making any bushwalking experience an exclusive domain for anyone.

And just what sort of a Tasmanian bushwalking experience is a "DRY BOOT" walk anyway!!!

so sad

[Hallu]

Hang on, do they now prevent regular walkers from pitching their tent for free (or regular campground fee) on the Cape Pillar track ?

[whitefang]

For that price I better be getting all my meals cooked for me!

[scrub boy]

good news is any one can still walk on the nice new track but camp away from the huts at the old campsites and only pay a parks pass

[Drifting]

good news is any one can still walk on the nice new track but camp away from the huts at the old campsites and only pay a parks pass

I thought all overnight use is restricted to their fancy huts.

[Hallu]

I hope not, or there's gonna be a riot...

[photohiker]

For $500, all you have to bring is a pack with food and a change of clothes and toiletries. Everything else is supplied, right?

The website says you only have to walk 4 hours per day...

So how come this bloke is carrying such a monster pack for a 4 day 45km luxury walk?

[Mechanic-AL]

Because it's got his wallet in it.

[Drifting]

Well he's certainly not planning on a fourth night- that would be really naughty!!!

[Strider]

Which hut is that?

[photohiker]

Hard to say, there is little info on the huts other than their names, (Surveyors, Munro, and Retakunna) I couldn't find any interior shots either.

[wayno]

I was getting excited until I saw the booking page. To be precise the costs are:

Adult $495
Concession $396
Child $396

So that is $1,782 for a family of four. Really glad that I have booked a couple of NZ Great Walks for the summer instead of waiting for this... NZ Great Walks are $54 per night for adults and children are free, so $324 for our family of four (not including transport to and from track). And I paid while the Aussie dollar was higher than it is at the moment.

Guess we are not the target market for the track....

only the fiordland great walks are $50 a night, the others are around $30 a night, track maintenance is generally more work in fiordland

[doogs]

Cheaper than a weekend trip to Melbourne or Sydney!
I can also guantee the cruise at the start of the trip will be many times better than the Lake St Clair one at the end of the OLT. You also get bussed back to your start point. Neither of these two are included in an OLT track fee. The rangers on the track are 'host rangers' therefore I'd expect them to treat the walkers more as guests. $500 is a lot of money but when paying for alternative experiences it compares quite well in my opinion.

[Orion]

Maybe that's true, doogs, but it's not the experience I want when bushwalking. I know I can go to some spa and get a massage or stay at a fancy hotel and lay on the beach in Hawaii. But there's no way in the world I would ever sign up for this, at any price. You'd have to pay me.

It just isn't why I bushwalk. It sure isn't what attracts me to Tasmania.

But I guess they aren't "marketing the experience" to people like me.

[wayno]

Cheaper than a weekend trip to Melbourne or Sydney!
I can also guantee the cruise at the start of the trip will be many times better than the Lake St Clair one at the end of the OLT. You also get bussed back to your start point. Neither of these two are included in an OLT track fee. The rangers on the track are 'host rangers' therefore I'd expect them to treat the walkers more as guests. $500 is a lot of money but when paying for alternative experiences it compares quite well in my opinion.

NZ great walks have resident rangers in every hut during the booking season, you get a talk from the rangers in most of the huts as well, for between $30-$55 a night. as i said earlier the milford track has two boat rides, one of them takes an hour and the track walk for half the price.
I've been down to the capes, I wouldn't go back for that money when I can think of all the other things I could do for that price. I can fly from Auckland to queenstown in the off season round trip for $100 and complete one of their walks down there for just over A$100.... those huts on the capes better be serviced hotels for that price..