Feb 2-5: Three Capes Track

aliceesor

Port Arthur -> Port Arthur

The Three Capes Track is a 48km hut-based track, which requires boat access to start and bus return.

Day 1:

We packed everything into Alice’s big backpack and into Jessi’s little blue drybag pack.
The boat ride over to the trailhead involved a few scenic detours.
We stopped to look at cormorants, and found a couple of fur seals who were warming up by hanging out with a flipper in the air.
  Because of the calm weather, we were able to nose into a sea cave, but the swell was still pretty alarming.
We admired the rocks:
Jurrasic dolerite cliffs, some mudstone like that which formed the tessellated pavements, but differently eroded.
The purpose-built boat had a flap ramp bow (technical term :p).
After disembarking, we all had a lovely swim before trekking off.
Given the three sleeping bags and four days worth of food for three people, it was a heavy pack.

It was a short hike to find the “camp” – which was gorgeous and luxurious. Surveyors camp had incredible infrastructure: toilets, cookers, potable water, pots and pans, mattresses (three layers of foam!) on assigned bunks, decking, library, ranger, etc!

Other campers had brought steaks and wine and we had fresh wraps with tinned salmon. Luxury indeed.

Day 2:

Given that today wasn’t going to be a terrifically difficult hike, we had a lazy start, and were last to depart, except for Amanda, one of our bunk mates who had unfortunately forgotten some integral supplies in her car and went back to the trailhead to pick them up.
We saw several helicopters coming and going. Apparently, their heaviest loads are the 800kg full poop canisters, colloquially known as “sputniks”.
Standing at Jurrasic Crack, looking back past Arthur’s Peak
All along the trail, there were marked spots, which corresponded to sections of an educational trail manual.
One of the many species and ecosystems involving Eucalyptus
Some of the other species seeds require extreme heat (read: bush fire) to germinate.  Eucalyptus seeds require a Phillips head screwdriver.
Deliberate burning to mimic typical ecosystem cycling without roasting (m?)any cape walkers.
Although there were many cliffs, the trail was 1m wide and often boardwalk, and F insisted she could’ve managed it with a bike… even the stairs!
Looking towards Cape Pillar
We arrived at Munroe Hut with time to enjoy a hot shower from a bucket on a pulley contraption before the ranger there gave the nightly talk. This ranger talked so fast that he was nearly incomprehensible.
Sputniks at sunset!

Day 3:

Jessi was the only one of us who was up to see sunrise.
Amongst our camp compadres, we have established a reputation as ‘take our time’ folks…
…and today, this was the right choice.
We hiked through mist and fog…
and loitered at all the stopping points
and J read aloud from the information booklet.
We met many hikers from our cohort who had already been out to the viewpoint and were on their way back.
When we arrived at Cape Pillar, the fog lifted and revealed the spectacular views.
Views that those eager morning beavers would have missed!
Looking past The Blade to Tasman Island, with a remote lighthouse posting on it.
While watching the fog lift, we were visited by a cute echidna. Echindas are monotremes: mammals that lay eggs! Like platypus. But echidna eggs have soft leathery shells, and baby echidnas are called puggles! They mostly eat ants, and we watched this munchkin digging it’s nose through gravel, between the rocks and into the crannies in tree branches.
With the lifting fog, the wind picked up. It was quite gusty enough to discourage standing near this edge, which is the end of The Blade.
It’s difficult to capture just how sheer the drops were – dolerite is a very hard rock, and is resistant to weathering, so the track is able to be right near the edge without worrying it will collapse in a few years.
Eventually, we picked up the pace and headed off to our next hut, Retakunna Hut, followed by the sounds of a thunderstorm that passed well north of us. 
Definitely wallaby. We’re much better at distinguishing between kangaroo, wallaby, pademelon, and potaroo now!
Tonight was our last supper with Jessi.

Day 4:

We startled our fellow hikers with an early start (J was booked on the bus that left Fortescue Bay at 230)
But we kept up with rigorous stopping
And dedication to the educational manual
Photo credit to J, who spotted many purple mushrooms!
The trek out to Cape Hauy involved a lot of stairs – we were glad we didn’t have to carry the big pack for that part.
The ‘Totem Pole’ is the spindle of rock closest to the Cape Hauy cliff; it’s popular among rock climbers. There’s an epic story of a couple in the 90’s who were climbing this together when a boulder fell on the fellas head, knocking him unconscious and leaving him bleeding and dangling. Incredibly, his partner hauled him up the rope by herself and hiked into town to get help out to him, and he survived.

It was wild to be looking down on the birds as well as the climbers and seals.

We made it to Fortescue Bay in time for a refreshing swim.
Our last day as a Trio! 😦
F and I caught our later bus back to Port Arthur where we retrieved our gear and some fish and chips, before heading off to camp stealthily near Eaglehawk Neck.

Distance cycled: 17.3 km
Ave: 18.6 km/h
Max speed: 54.7 km/h

Overall, the Three Capes Track was a lovely walk going through amazingly varied ecosystems along the coast full of incredible cliffs, and I’m glad we were able to do it all together in the end. It was much more posh and accessible than expected. The trail was easy, with lots of amazing stairs, stonework, and boardwalks. The huts felt more like chalets than camps. Apparently, it was inspired by NZ’s “great walks” and overly high demand for the Overland Track. Three Capes opened in 2015, and is already so popular it books up as well.
Given that we didn’t need to carry a tent or mattresses, sharing a pack was totally doable. And as I prefer carrying the pack on the uphill, and F thinks its easier carrying it on the downhill, and Jessi thought the blue bag was much lighter to carry, we each thought we were getting the best deal.

– Alice with photos and input from both Jess and Flis

PS: Jessi says I missed the most exciting fact about the echidna – it’s the only animal whose penis has 4 heads!

Leave a comment