Three Capes Track – Day 1

By Stephen M on April 28, 2017

Departed: Port Arthur (Tasmania)
Destination: Surveyors Hut
Distance: 5km
Weather: Fresh with plenty of sun
Mood: Excited
Highlight: Lots! Port Arthur | Scenic boat cruise | New fancy huts

After hearing rave reviews of a relatively new walk down in Tasmania, Jenny and I put it on the “to do list”. We also threw the idea out amongst friends to see if anyone wanted to join us for extra company. (Jenny is never satisfied with just my company!). Surprising, we got a number of offers as well as discovering a number of others had already booked the walk for earlier in the year. The challenge was getting a booking for 6 or more as the walk is extremely popular and was booking out fast for the current season. We finally had to make the call and book the last 6 spots late in April just before they close the walk for the end of season maintenance. Our only real concern was going to be the weather for this time of year in Tasmania and how cold and wet would it get?

Our merry hiking band consisted of 3 couples. Meryl & Brett, Jenny & David and ourselves. A number of mutual friends expressed a strong desire to be “a fly on the wall” during our adventure. I’m not sure what their warped expectations were, but they would most certainly have been entertained!

Whilst there is a separate prologue to this adventure with a few days spent in Hobart and surroundings, including a visit of Mona. This might feature in a later post (or not).

The Carnival (Kia) was ample big enough to fit all hikers and their respective backpacks for the journey from Hobart to Port Arthur. We allowed plenty of time for a visit of the historic site (included in the Three Capes Track booking). But Jenny and I needed to make a last minute mercy dash to the nearest supermarket when we discovered that the visitors centre didn’t sell gas canisters for our portable stove, a luxury item for hot drinks along the trail!

After enjoying a stroll around the Port Arthur historic site and a quick bite to eat back at the visitors centre it was time to saddle up! A final backpack weigh-in with one of the Morey’s many gadgets had our fully laden packs weighing in from 14Kg to a massive 20Kg. The later the result of packing it on the coldest day in Melbourne so no chances were taken for that hiker to go cold or get wet! (Good on you Brett!)

The Three Capes Track started with a memorable boat ride with a very entertaining commentary from a young local lad and a different perspective of the coastline we were about to hike along. After being ceremoniously dumped on the beach, we donned our packs and enjoyed the brief and easy stroll to our first nights accommodation not quite expecting the pleasant surprise of such high standards in the design and finish of the accommodation!

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