Three Capes Track, Tasmania

The Three Capes Track promises to be ‘no ordinary walk’. A boat trip, three capes and four days exploring the wild coastal landscapes of the Tasman Peninsula. Meandering through fragrant heathlands, woodlands and lush green rainforests, climbing peaks, edging our way along some of the highest sea cliffs in Australia and being drawn to the swirling cobalt blue sea below.

Day 1: Port Arthur to Surveyors (1.5 hrs by boat and a 4km walk)

An almost effortless first day’s walk. Although the humidity and the climb up from Surveyors Cove reminds us of the packs on our back and the kilometres ahead.

The boat journey from Port Arthur is an exhilarating start to our four-day journey. Nudging into deep-sea caves, fluorescent blue plankton floating in giant kelp forests, a sprawling sea eagle’s nest, crescent-shaped bays, towering Jurassic sea cliffs, speeding in a swell across the open water to land on the sandy beach at Denmans Cove.

With only four kilometres to walk we take all the time we want, lingering on the rocky shores of Surveyors Cove, sitting on the first of the story seats to read tales of 19th-century semaphore stations, of convicts and their lost loves. Relishing the warm, languid afternoon we wander through coastal heathlands. Banksias and tea trees in flower, metallic skinks out on the hunt, black cockatoos screeching overhead.

We turn a corner and find a beautifully designed hut of timber and steel on which the play of light and shadow is a striking feature. Deck chairs for lounging on the expansive timber decks, dining tables and chairs aplenty, gleaming new stoves, cooking equipment and kitchen utensils. Views clear though to Cape Raoul and beyond. As a 10-year-old girl who ‘loves wilderness’ wrote in the logbook, ‘the huts are like out of a dream’.

Before dark we see Comanche, the lead boat in the Sydney to Hobart yacht race, streaking past Tasman Island, its black sails a commanding presence on the high seas.

Day 2: Surveyors to Munro (11 km)

Across button grass plains, through eucalypt woodland, then up into cloud forest. The air warm and the sun gentle. A pale sea eagle soaring, green rosellas flitting from tree to tree, songbirds sweetly singing. Out to sea, a fleet of yachts is racing towards Hobart. We climb up Arthurs Peak then walk along the cliff edge with views over Crescent Bay and through to Cape Raoul.

Another stylish hut and an even more stunning outlook, with a deck 250 metres above the sea cliffs of Munro Bight, a remarkably deep blue cobalt sea and the towering grey stone pillars of Cape Hauy.

Day 3: Munro to Retakunna, via the Blade (17 km)

A beautiful day’s walking. Through the bright green rainforest and banksia and she-oak scrub. Up along the sweeping boardwalk to the sea cliffs and some of the most spectacular views of the Three Capes Track. Towering dolomite cliffs, Tasman Island with its tall white lighthouse and sheer walls of sculptured rock, more racing yachts, seabirds, fishing boats, a seal colony (the seals barking and shimmying in and out of the water) and again and always the sea, more saturated blue than we have ever experienced.

We venture out onto the steep, narrow, tessellated blade at the end of Cape Pillar, for the thrill of it and the breathtaking views. Eye Bright, living precariously and prettily high up on the ledges and crevices of the sea cliffs. Then back again to Munro, past the story seats telling tales of the wing song of the sheoaks and the lightkeeper’s daughter. A tale of heartache, loss and love.

At the hut, one day’s tally of walkers mingles with another. Young girls perform cartwheels up and down the deck. The youngest walker we meet is an enthusiastic six-year-old, walking with his parents and three brothers. At the other end of the spectrum is a woman in her 70s, a keen walker all her life and grateful for the hut facilities now that she no longer feels up to carrying a laden pack.

After a late lunch we head off to walk the last few kilometres to Retakunna, the sun warm, the afternoon still. Who knew Tasmania could offer up day after day of perfect summer walking weather.

Day 4: Retakunna to Port Arthur, via Cape Hauy & Fortescue Bay (14 km)

Up over Mt Fortescue, through lush green rainforest and tree fern gullies, then out into open sunny woodland which after a time gives way to coastal heathland, its sheoaks red with flowers.

The track hugs the cliff edge providing frequent and spectacular views out over the Tasman Sea and back to Cape Pillar, the sea cobalt blue, the dolomite cliffs miraculously supporting a diversity of wildflowers. Quirky artwork and story seats to sit awhile as one or other of our party of four reads aloud the relevant story; ‘the dark side’, ‘10,000’, ‘pillars of the south’, ‘southerly pining’. The seats have been designed as a unique and creative approach to slowing the walker and deepening their sense of place.

Leaving our packs, we climb steeply up and out to Cape Hauy, its pillars sculptured and spectacular, its seas a swirling dark beauty. There are distant views of Maria Island and, still visible, the Tasman Island lighthouse. We find some shade in a grove of oyster bay pines and enjoy our last lunch of the Three Capes Track, taking in the blue splendour way below us. All that remains is a meandering ramble through the forest to Fortescue Bay with its white sandy beach and the promise of a swim.

The architecturally designed huts, the story seats and the artwork, the breathtakingly beautiful coastal landscapes of capes, islands and deep, cobalt blue seas. The Three Capes Track is, as promised, no ordinary walk.