by beardless » Tue 24 May, 2016 12:44 am
When you walk the Three Capes Track you hear the word “experience” a lot.
Standing on top of the Blade at Cape Pillar is a remarkable experience. A grandstand view to Tasman Island, the other capes on the horizon, and if you dare look down on two sides cliffs plummet hundreds of metres to the ocean below. When the wind picks up it is even more exciting. But there is more to it than the Blade.
The Three Capes Track is like an easily digestible sample bag of Tasmanian national parks: white sandy beaches, huge majestic cliffs, and some stunning rainforest with giant ferns. All this with lighter packs (sans tent, mattress, and stove) and none of Tasmania’s famous mud.
My wife and I planned a few weeks of walking in Tasmania in Autumn 2016. We intended to explore the Tasman Peninsula with day walks. My wife entered a 25 words or less competition to win a ticket to the Three Capes Track. It was agreed that if she won I would buy a $495 ticket to accompany her. She won! This was to be my wife’s second ever overnight walk. The first was a two-night walk, sleeping in a tent in the alpine Walls of Jerusalem National Park.
The Three Cape Track is a 46 kilometre walk over four-days and three-nights. A maximum of 48 walkers commence each day walk. The journey begins with a short cruise. Walkers stay at each of the three huts for one night: Surveyors (night 1), Munro (Night 2) and Retakunna (Night 3). The walk ends at Fortescue Bay with a bus trip back to the beginning of the walk.
Day 1 – The elusive cape
Our journey began at Port Arthur where I received my Three Capes Track pack tag; hearsay evidence that I was the 3471st odd walker since the track opened in December 2015. All walkers also receive an 88 page Encounters on the Edge guidebook.
Soon we were aboard the boat cruising alongside cliffs near Port Arthur with about half of the walkers with whom we would share the next few days. The other walkers had taken the earlier cruise. The jocular captain spoke engagingly about the geology, birdlife and local history of the area. After passing Safety Cove, the boat paused whilst we admired the huge steep sand dunes rising from the stunning Crescent Bay. Then the boat set out towards the first cape. It was our first glimpse of Cape Raoul, over five kilometres away to the West. And that was as close as we would get to it. Our captain referred to it as “the elusive cape”.
The boat picked up speed. It headed for the other side of Port Arthur and entered Denmans Cove. We disembarked onto sand. Our feet remained dry. Most of the other walkers rushed off. There was no need to rush. Day 1 is a mere 4 kilometres of easy walking to Surveyors Hut. The highlight is Denman’s Cove. It is a narrow cove with a superb white sandy beach. If the weather is good, it is worth sticking around for while. I wish we had.
Stepping off the beach at Denmans Cove an elaborate sign marks the start of the track. After a few strides we joined the line for the boot cleaning station. Its aim is to stop the spread of Phytophthora (root rot). With clean books we hiked through costal heathland and eucalypt woodland (so the guidebook tells us). The track is over a metre wide and conducive to conversation. It is designed so that two walkers with packs can walk side by side. There is seldom need to look down. A wide track has come at a cost. In parts over three metres of vegetation have been cleared to construct the path. This brings a sense of distance between the walker and environment. Displaced trees and shrubs are cast to the side of the track. In time the surrounding vegetation will fill some of this space.
After a couple of hours walking we rested at Surveyors Cove. From this rocky cove it was a short stroll uphill to complete Day 1. Before we could see the first hut we noticed significant land has been cleared or burnt (a necessary part of the bushfire safety strategy we were told). For the very last stretch a boardwalk led us to Surveyors Hut. As we approached the ranger welcomed us and showed us to our dorm. On all three nights of the walk we shared a four-person room with two friendly university students from Sydney.
To call Surveyors a hut is misleading. It is really a series of impressively designed wooden buildings all connected by decking and boardwalks. Two large sleeping huts (each with a number of separate rooms sleeping four or eight on bunks) sit in a line along with two kitchen huts. The kitchen huts have cooking facilities (commercial gas cookers and stainless steel saucepans, utensils and kettles). Inside these huts are dining areas with stainless steel tables, benches and designer chairs. Behind the line of main huts is the toilet block, rangers hut and helipad; all connected by boardwalk.
As evening approached the ranger gathered all 48 of the walkers and gave us a “briefing”. He pointed out a Bennetts wallaby lurking nearby (one of the few marsupials we would see on the walk) and told where we had been, where we were going, and about the facilities (including library, board games, yoga mats, foam rollers and deck chairs). We cooked our tea in the kitchen. As the sun was about to set it we headed outside to the large deck at the end of the line of huts. It felt like we were on the top deck of a cruise ship. Straight ahead, through the cleared vegetation, was a stunning view of Cape Raoul: the elusive cape.
- Attachments
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- Port Arthur Historic Site
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- Cruise - sea caves
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- Crescent Bay
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- Denmans Cove
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- Start of the Track - Denmans Cove
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- Boardwalk approaching Surveyors Hut
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- Deck at Surveyors Hut – view to the elusive Cape
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- View from Surveyors – kitchen
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- Surveyors at Dusk
Last edited by
beardless on Wed 25 May, 2016 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.