Trekking the Three Capes Track - Day 1
Denmans Cove to Surveyors Hut – 4 km
'A hike without hardship is just a walk in the park'
The day began at 4:32am to the sounds of the garbage truck
on Argyle st. Our accommodation in Hobart, had been chosen for its centrality
and convenience, not for its peacefulness. My two beautiful daughters and I had
arrived in Hobart the previous day, found our inner-city apartment, wrangled
our packs into some semblance of order (apparently, I didn’t need 46 Vitamin C
tablets for the 4-day hike ahead!), shopped for the food we would need, dined
in a bustling historic hotel and settled in for a good night’s sleep in
preparation for the days of hiking ahead.
Argyle street, however, was not particularly serene. As we
were trying to get to sleep there was the sound of a lone male voice singing
loudly and discordantly on the street below; seems the hospital opposite our
digs was going to be the least of our problems when it came to noise. And now,
the city was noisily coming to life long before we wanted to be awake. We stuck
it out until 6am, when we had determined we should be up and going, had
breakfast and set off for the office of Pennicott Wilderness Journeys at
Hobart’s Franklin Wharf, just a 10-minute walk to the end of Argyle st.
Checked in, and luggage stowed ready for our scheduled
7:45am departure, our amiable driver, Phil, suggested coffee was an option
before we left and pointed us in the right direction. We thought this was a
very civilised approach to running a wilderness tour company and coffee in
hand, we joined the other two travellers (Emma and Julia) on our rather large
bus for the first leg of our journey to Port Arthur. We left the city and drove;
all the while being kept informed and entertained by commentary from Phil. A
stop at the not-to-be-missed Dunally Bakery provided a supplementary breakfast
party pie and the opportunity for more coffee before we were delivered to the
Three Capes Track office at the Port Arthur historic site.
Our cases of unwanted luggage were able to be stowed safely
here and we were supplied with our track passes before setting off to explore
Port Arthur, not before Phi purchased a new hiking jacket however! The faithful
hiking jacket she had brought with her, the same as the one I had packed, which
had its genesis in an Ultimate Frisbee trip to Dublin, Ireland for the World
Championships in 2012, had failed at the last minute, her arm passing through
the side of the sleeve instead of the end, as she put it on to go outside. We
had a bit of a wait for the gift shop to open and she was able to kit herself
out in a brand-new hiking jacket which promised to protect her from any wind
and rain we might encounter on the track.
After losing ourselves in the past for a while, we were back
in the café for sustenance, Tess changed into shorts in preparation for our boat
landing on the beach at Denmans and we left for the jetty. Here we met another
couple, Kat and Saroop, and a single traveller, Tania, who were all going to be
our buddies on the track (Emma and Julia had gone out on an earlier boat). The
water was very choppy, but we had stunning full length red ponchos to protect
us from the spray as the boat took us on a tour along the coastline before
crossing the bay and reaching Denmans Cove. The landing involved us removing
boots, socks and the bottom half of our hiking pants in readiness for wading
through the icy water to the shore, however, we barely got our feet wet on this
particular occasion, the skilled driver steering his vessel right up onto the
white sand for our disembarkation.
Re-socked and re-booted, we set off with vigour and
enthusiasm for the adventure ahead. We had to pause for the compulsory
start-of-the-track photo, and we all obliged by taking photos of each other for
posterity. Leading the way for the short hike to Surveyors Hut, Tess
encountered a ‘blond’ and disarmingly, fluffly echidna by the side of the
track, who distracted our disparate band of hikers for a while, posing for a
flurry of photos. We continued onwards and upwards past pebbly Surveyors Cove,
soaring wedge-tailed eagles above us, until we reached our rest for the night at
about 3:30. We were greeted by Ranger Renee, who gave us a brief tour and
permission to select our huts. We caught up with our compatriots from the
morning’s bus and introduced them to our fellow hikers. It seemed we were lucky
enough to only have the 8 of us on the track for the next few days, a far cry
from the possible 48!
After settling into our 4-bed bunk room, we changed into our
camp attire and joined all the others in the dining hub. Here we enjoyed a
well-deserved cuppa and a briefing by Renee about what we could expect on
tomorrow’s hike, as well as a potted history of the earth beginning with creation
on January 1 and ending with Captain Cook sighting Australia on December 31! An
interesting perspective indeed. We enjoyed a sneaky red wine (smuggled in by
one who shall not be named), a pasta dinner and a side of quiz, which everyone
contributed to (the quiz, that is). Then there were multiple games of
Banangrams to enjoy.
We were snuggled into bed soon after 9:30, but sleep took a while
to come, owing to it being rather chilly in sleeping hut number 6, but as our motto for day one suggested, it wouldn't be a hike without a little hardship!
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