Trekking the Three Capes Track - Day 2

 

Surveyors Hut  to Munro Hut – 11 km

‘It’s the taste of the track’

 

We luxuriated in our sleeping bags well after sunrise, reluctant to leave their warmth, after it had taken us so long to get to sleep. Our towels atop our mattresses had been a game changer however, adding a barrier to the cold and allowing us to finally get some much-needed rest.

Eventually at about 7am, we all emerged from our cocoons and wandered down to the dining hub for breakfast. We enjoyed delicious muesli with the luxury of warm milk, and filtered coffee. Meanwhile the resident wallabies kept us entertained with their boxing antics just off the boardwalk. While preparing to move on, we were deterred from washing our coffee mugs by Phi, who insisted that they held the ‘taste of the track’, which would accumulate over the course of the hike, and therefore should not be washed, as in so doing we would lose the flavours of our adventure!

Packs re-packed, we set off just after 9 on the track to Munro Hut. It was initially a bit of a climb to Arthur’s Peak, standing at 312m, but finding various seats along the way and reading the related stories from our guidebook, kept us engaged and gave us an excuse to stop frequently.

After the peak we hugged the clifftops, walking past the spectacular Jurassic Crack and the unexpected shelter of the cloud forest with its own particular ecosystem, before discovering the new Tornado Ridge lookout cut into the top of the cliffs with amazing views across Haines Bight. This provided the perfect spot for our lunch of salami, cheese and cucumber wraps. We could almost see Munro Hut which sat directly across the bight, from here.  

We then crossed heathland and open moorland, before heading back into the shelter of the forest which led us to an intersection where the old Fortescue Bay Track met with the tracks to Munro and Retakunna huts. We took the turn to Munro with a spring in our step – the end was within an hour’s hike.

Tess spotted a wallaby (she was by far, our best wild-life spotter for the hike) with a baby in its pouch and it obligingly posed for photos, before we moved on. Phi spotted some weather coming in from the sea, so we hastened our footsteps and Munro Hut soon hove into sight, just as the first drops of ‘sea-mist’ began to fall. By the time we had selected our room (again number 6) the wet and windy squall had taken hold, and people who had stayed in Munro Hut the previous night and been out to the end of Cape Pinnacle for the day, began gathering in the dining hut to dry their belongings and wait out the storm, before completing the remainder of their hike to Retakunna.  Even the spectacular views over Munro Bight from the viewing platform couldn’t lure me back outside.

Finally, it was back to ‘the eight’ and we could relax and make the space our own. Some enjoyed the hot outdoor shower, others (aka yours truly, not keen on stripping off in the wind and the rain to get wet under a gum tree, even though it was with warm water) declined the tempting offer. The tipple of tawny tucked away in our flasks was a welcome antidote to the cold as we waited for dinner time to roll around. After our delicious dinners (Robbsy-safe chicken korma and curry for Tess and Phi), we watched the clock, until we felt it was a suitable time for bed (8:30pm!).

We put on our layers, laid our towels on our mattresses and hunkered down for the night, listening to the wind and the rain blowing in from across the Tasman Sea.

Capturing the view from Arthur's Peak

Tornado Ridge lunchtime views

The warmest view of Munro Bight