The OzMcPs: Three Capes Walk in Tasmania

One Saturday evening, sometime last year, the Rivers came round to our house, we had a few glasses of wine/beer and booked ourselves a 4 day, 3 night, 46km hike in Tasmania. When we woke up the next morning the only person who was still excited by the prospect was Jules. The kids were horrified, Trudie and I were terrified and Sheldon was surprised. However, over time Trudie, Sheldon and I got used to the idea and started to get quite excited. The children remained horrified.

The walk was spectacular and we could not have been luckier with the weather. Tasmania is very well known for it's changeable weather and apparently the coast line where we were is well known to be extremely windy. We had blue skies and no wind for the entire 4 days with the exception of a light drizzle one evening whilst we slept.

Day 1 - Port Arthur to Surveyors, 11.4km: we started at Port Arthur with a brief walk around the historic site, a last filling lunch and a boat ride around Port Arthur which was one of the highlights. We got dropped by boat on a sandy beach and left. It was an easy 4km walk to our first camp although that gave us enough time to appreciate how heavy our packs were.

Historic Port Arthur

Walking to the boat

Waiting for the boat. There was still wi-fi!

Protective gear

The first camp in the glorious afternoon light.

The huts were architecturally designed and absolutely beautiful. The central living areas had basic cooking facilities and tables for people to sit around and were heated although it wasn't cold enough to need the heating. The bedrooms had 4 or 8 bunks and vinyl-covered mattresses which were surprisingly comfortable.

Day 2 - Surveyors to Munro, 14.9km: after a poor nights sleep for the adults, we accidentally left all the windows in our cabin open and it was a cold night, we had a hearty breakfast of pancakes and porridge and set off on the 11km hike to the next camp. We were lucky that Tess had recently completed some Duke of Edinburgh training in hiking and she was able to help us all adjust our back packs so they sat as comfortably as possible. Sadly she wasn't able to do anything about how much they weighed: 15kg for the big boys, 12kg for the big girls and around 8kg for the kids. I have 2 observations to make about the hike on that day: firstly I found that with this big pack on my back I was unable to easily look around and admire the scenery because I kept my eyes firmly on the track to make sure I didn't trip and fall over. That was quite irritating because the scenery was amazing and there was lots of interesting flora and fauna that I would have liked to linger over. Secondly, having the children with us meant that the hike was all about the destination rather than the journey. They raced ahead desperate to get to the next camp and we quickly realised that although we were one of the last to leave camp each morning we were also one of the first to arrive at the next camp!

A familiar sight - the backs of the people in front

Day 3 - Munro to Retakunna, 19.3km: this was my favourite day because we were able to walk the majority of the day with just a day pack as we hiked out to Cape Pillar and back. We hugged the coast line high up on the cliffs and it was truely spectacular. Having just a small back pack was extremely liberating and also allowed me to keep my camera to hand hence I have about 100 photos of this day and 10 of the other 3 days!

Amazing rock formations

Tasman Island - a well known landmark for the Sydney-Hobart yacht race

Tom and Sienna

This is one of my favourite photos. At this stage we were on the last kilometre of our 19km walk and the 2 of them were making up rap songs. I think they found the walk the easiest of all of us due to their boundless energy!

Day 4 - Retakunna to Port Arthur, 18.0km: we had a very early start without breakfast as we had 14 km to walk and we needed to make sure we didn't miss our bus taking us back to civilisation. The walk today started with a climb up Mount Fortescue and we were grateful that our packs were at their lightest. We had a choice to walk out to Cape Hauy and back with just a day pack but Trudie and I decided we would rather enjoy the pristine sands of Fortescue Bay, our final destination, so we left Jules and Sheldon with the 4 kids and headed off almost skipping with joy that we were on the last stretch and close to coffee! We arrived at Fortescue Bay and collapsed gratefully on the sand. Tess and Ruby showed up about 30 minutes after us - apparently they saw all the steps leading up to Cape Hauy and decided to give it a miss! The others arrived about 1 hour after us and they all ran into the 15 degree waters of Fortescue Bay to celebrate.

At the top of Mount Fortescue

In a shady glen

Spectacular views

The early morning sun filtering through the trees

The teenagers were amazing - not a word of complaint the entire 4 days

The pleasure of taking off your hiking boots and knowing you don't have to put them on again!

Fortescue Bay - worth spending a while at

In conclusion it is fair to say that we all enjoyed it - some more than others. Tess and Tom have said they are never hiking again. I have said I will definitely hike again but not with a back pack. Jules loved all of it!

After our hike we had a full day in Hobart before heading home so decided to go to Mona - the Museum of Old and New Art. It is an amazing place with some seriously weird and shocking art but very interactive so the kids were able to engage with a lot of it. I hope to go there again at some stage and spend longer wandering around - there's so much to see and it's quite overwhelming trying to take it all in. And Hobart is a beautiful little town with lovely old buildings, amazing restaurants and cafes and the leaves turning autumnal - so many beautiful colours.