Saturday, February 18th through Tuesday February 21st, 2017 - Bloody Brilliant, Mate!

After a day of planning and food procurement in Hobart, Nadine and I met up with a friend of hers, Katrina Shields, and nervously drove south-east out of town for an hour or so to the Tasman Peninsula.

Why nervous? We had signed up for a four-day, 46 kilometer (29 mile) hike called the 3-Capes Walk - a reference to Cape Raoul, Cape Pillar and Cape Hauy. We were uncertain how our older bodies would appreciate carrying backpacks with all our food and essential supplies for uncertain weather. However, we were grateful that we did not need to carry tents and cooking gear as we would be staying in well-equipped huts for the three nights.

We began our experience in Port Arthur with a delightful boat trip to the end of the port where we were able to peek west to Cape Raoul. You can see it off in the distance in this photo. Although this is included in the name of the walk (it's really the '3rd' cape), it was the one cape we didn't walk to.

Saturday sfternoon saw us being dropped off on Denman's Cove opposite the historic Port Arthur, (a convict prison with a sad history) and off we set. 

Katrina strides off the boat with great confidence!

And here are all three of us as the boat pulls away! Now, we are committed!

The first day was pretty easy, for which we were grateful. It was only a 4 km hike to the first hut - although it was mainly uphill.

Each hut had a sculpture of some sort to greet one. This first hut, Surveyor had some eggs! I didn't ever figure out what they represented...........

......because arrival had some lovely creature comforts that looked pretty spectacular. This is looking west to Cape Raoul again.

Rather than detailing each day, I will share with you photographic highlights and provide you with a link to the website http://www.threecapestrack.com.au/ for any specifics that might interest you.

We had a very intense hail storm the first night, but it cleared quickly and gave us this lovely sunset.

The ocean vistas were spectacular. This was one of the last glimpses of Cape Raoul as we headed to the other side of the cape.

There were some lovely benches dotted along the way and little bits of art work that represented a different aspect of history or ecology which was explained in an accompanying booklet. I really liked this seat, as it allowed me to put my feet up and go 'aaaaah'! I think Katrina may have agreed with me!

We saw quite a few echidnas (spiny ant eaters), a lovely little monotreme (lays eggs and suckles its young). They are very shy and dig their nose into the ground when first discovered. This one lifted his head to check if we were still there!

One of the great pleasures at the Munroe hut was a bush shower. One had to fill the fire bucket with (blessedly) hot water, then pour it into the shower 'basket' in the little corrugated shed. I was surprised with how long the water lasted and didn't even need the full bucket to feel well washed. It was my first bush shower.

As  we headed for Cape Pillar, one could see the dolerite columns appearing.

They form the highest sea cliffs in the southern hemisphere rising 300 meters (980 ft).

I was chicken, so I didn't stand on the very end rock. It was very beautiful, but I posed with Cape Hauy in the background - our destination for the next day.

 Beyond the cape is Tasman Island, a forsaken outpost for light keepers and haven for seals. In the Sydney to Hobart yacht race the boats have to sail the large seas around the island and can't take the protected channel between the rock and the cape. 

We did have a brief spate of rain, but you will be relieved to know that we were well prepared for such adversities as Katrina and I demonstrate here!

Each of the huts had a helipad. This one was bringing in a new ranger for her shift and taking the other one back. We also had a helicopter ambulance come in to lift off a walker who had fallen and deeply scraped her forehead when her walking pole became caught in a crack. The helicopters are also used to fly out all the human waste (that's our pee and poo, folks)! The toilets were basically pit toilets over these large plastic containers which are flown out and treated elsewhere when they get full!

This was our last glimpse of Cape Pillar on the last day........

.....because we were headed to Cape Huay...........

.........although all those steps looked very foreboding, especially after having trekked over a mountain in the morning!

Nadine and I were very pleased to have completed the trek to the last cape of the journey! This was the only place there was fencing to protect us from the cliff faces.

This skinny rock at Cape Huay is called the Totem Pole and is a popular climbing destination. If you look closely toward the base of the pillar, you will see something that looks like a fly sticking off the left hand side. That is a climber who had rappelled to the bottom of the cliff and was starting his climb. If you like drama, there's an interesting story about one of the early climbers who was not successful in 1998. Paul Pritchard Climbs theTotem Pole After it Nearly Killed Him. It describes a daring rescue by his girlfriend at the time.

Finally, all those steps behind us, we turned around (mostly downhill!)  to Fortescue Bay to be picked up by a bus for then ride back to Port Arthur.

While civilization can feel odd after a wilderness adventure, wheels never seem to be a bad thing to tired feet! It was a wonderful experience, which an Aussie might describe as 'Bloody Brilliant, Mate!'