Lessons from The Three Capes Track

A while ago – quite a long while ago – a longtime friend and I were chatting, and she said that she would love to one day do The Three Capes Track. It seemed like one of those things you just talk about doing but never actually do. This friend was with me when I scaled Hartz Peak which had once been the same thing to me – something I dreamed about doing one day as I gazed up at it from Ladies Tarn and wondered if I could get up there one day. Then one day we just did it. We agreed that if at any point it seemed too much for either of us, we would turn around and head down. But we made it to the top and it felt amazing. 

The trouble with doing one of those dreams is that you then need a new one to take its place – a new improbability but an enticing one. It’s a bit like teasing oneself with a ‘maybe it will be possible one day’. The Three Capes Track had taken the place of the seemingly impossible Hartz Peak and there it had sat in the back of my mind for quite some while. 

Then one day I saw posts on social media from a bunch of people I know actually doing the walk. It started to raise some questions in my mind regarding the possibility of doing it myself along with my friend – maybe it would be possible. I knew that some of the people in the group were super fit but some of them were not necessarily focused on athletic strength or serious bushwalkers. Maybe I could attain a level of fitness that would enable me to do that walk.

Other obstacles stood in the way. There is a cost involved both for the walk itself and for the appropriate gear to carry in southern Tasmania where you can get four seasons in one day. I didn’t have a backpack or a proper waterproof jacket or a sleeping bag, and the list was actually quite a bit longer than that. I did have decent hiking boots though and some quick dry walking pants, so I had a start.

Tasman Island

Social media had some input to the discussion again when I noticed an advertisement for The Three Capes Track Winter Special. I rang my friend and we decided to go ahead. We chose the last weekend (four days Saturday –Tuesday) of winter and she booked and paid. I paid her back in installments as I’d not had ready cash at the time, and we were in. Committed and going to make it happen somehow. I’m not sure how many weeks we had to prepare but there was plenty of time – maybe 12 or 13 weeks – enough time to drop a couple of kilos and get some good walking practice in. 

My birthday came along, and my lovely friend and my mum bought me a beautiful Gortex jacket. One thing ticked off the list of gear needed. I bought myself a fine merino base layer top and bottoms at a half-price sale. I had good socks that I’d picked up on a sale long ago. It was a huge investment at the time - $100 for four pairs of socks – it felt like utter madness, but they have been one of the best things I’ve ever bought. They wash like a dream and show no signs of wear and tear even after a couple of years wearing them almost daily. Quick shout-out here for quality vs quantity (if and when you can). I was able to borrow a backpack (one that had done The Overland Track) and sleeping bag (tested to -8 degrees C) from a lovely personal trainer and health coach that I know, and I put together the rest of my kit from what I had at home. A generous friend let me borrow a head- torch and one of my nephews loaned me his waterproof camera. It took a team to make this happen!

Walking poles were a must as I have a bit of trouble with some joints occasionally and poles really help to take the load off. I bought them after a conversation with a young couple on top of Hartz Peak that day, who were using them and said they couldn’t do the walks they did without poles to help them, due to sporting injuries they both had. Recently I noticed one of the parts of one of my poles was missing so my friend borrowed some from her son and loaned me her new ones. I left those in my car when we headed off from her place to head to town the day before the walk, so I still didn’t have poles. Luckily, I didn’t need to buy a new set. 

Chasm

My friend had ordered freeze dried meals to take on the walk and we needed to pick those up on the way. The wonderful Three Capes Gear and Gourmet hire out gear for the walk! I was able to hire walking poles and wet weather pants (just in case, although the forecast was pretty good) and a super lightweight daypack for Day 3 which was a 16km walk (8 to Cape Pillar and 8 back) so we could leave the main pack at the accommodation and collect on the way, before walking on to the next ‘hut’. And it cost me only $51. They threw in the loan of a plastic bowl and plate as I had left mine in the dishrack at home. 

At this point you would be forgiven for thinking that with all that time to prepare I could have been better organized. And you would be right. I have recently been giving thought to the idea that I may have an ADHD wired brain. I don’t have a diagnosis, but the symptoms are there, loud and clear. 

All the gaps in the list of gear needed were thus filled at the last moment and we were on our way. We stayed in town that night and headed to Port Arthur the following morning to check in. I hadn’t been to Port Arthur since the massacre there back in 1996 so it was with sombre heart that I wandered the ruins and pondered the awful history of the place. It was a glorious sunny day and the tranquility was beautiful to experience but underneath that was the knowing and the need to carry respect for all that had been affected by what had transpired. Then back to the here and now, there was a boat to catch! 

We had a wild and woolly ride (pretty gentle compared to more wintery days I’m sure) for an hour or so to enjoy the sights of the watery side of Port Arthur and the wildlife. We saw a sea eagle, a Shy Albatross and playful seals lolling about in the water and on the rocks. The coastline is spectacular with caves and cliffs and pristine white beaches. I was spellbound and took no photos. I was carried back to past days sailing on our boat and just enjoyed so much being out on the water again. 

Claim Your Moment - Almost at the end of the Cape Pillar track.

We also got to view Cape Raoul from the boat – so that was Cape 1 and needs to be walked another time as it is not a part of The Three Capes Track. Soon we were deposited on the beach at Denmans Cove and had to walk down the ramp off the boat into the shallows with our boots and socks suspended around our necks! There were about 25 of us in all and we didn’t know each other at that time but there had been a few brief hellos and quick chats on the boat. What a great bunch of people they turned out to be as we all got to know each other more along the way. After a quick bite to eat and experiencing the wonder of being dropped off with your backpack into the wilderness with only one way out – to walk - it was boots on and off we go! 

Well, I could continue in this vein and give you lots of details of the trip, but I think now I would love for you to explore that in your own way, and I’d like to talk more about what I found out about myself and hiking by taking on this challenge. I had a bout of covid just two to three weeks before heading off on this walk and it had sapped my energy and interrupted our training schedule. 

Curiosity

Walking with a loaded pack for at least a couple of weeks prior to doing a walk like this is imperative to build the strength and resilience you will need on the track. It will also help to prevent injury so make sure you practice if you ever decide to do a big hike. Build up slowly to carrying a full pack weight so that your body can get used to it. We did some practice and I’m really grateful now that we did. We walked in the rain; we walked up hills and we walked further than we really felt like walking sometimes. We walked and discovered some problems along the way – still at home so that we had the opportunity to solve them before actually being out there on the track with fewer resources at hand. 

One of the things I had to overcome was the result of an injury I sustained in the UK four years ago. I slipped down the stairs at my cousin’s house and went bomp, bomp, bomp down each stair on my coccyx. I only had bathers on at the time, so no real protection and they were slippery so once I slipped, I just kept going all the way to the bottom of the stairs. I had a massive bruise and walked for weeks like a child with a full nappy (use your imagination). I didn’t get any medical attention at the time and just knew it would take a long time to heal. I needed a special cushion to sit on to relieve the pressure on the coccyx bones and a lot of patience. 

Lovely wide boardwalks abound

Overall, it doesn’t give me any real problem anymore apart from, I have discovered, very occasionally, on a bush walk (and especially where there is lots of maneuvering around rocks and roots on the track so on uneven ground) I can get some leakage from my bowel. Now this is not nice to talk about, but I am sharing because I want you to know that there are ways around the problems we might encounter in the lead-up. I am not just some wonder woman who does things easily. There are often problems to solve. 

Now this has only happened three times in the four years since the injury first happened, but it happened on a practice trek only a week or so before the walk was due to start. I had been coughing a lot with covid and that probably didn't help the situation. And it broke me; I said I couldn’t do it. I pulled out. I felt terrible about it but felt there was no way around it. Everything has to be carried with you on 'the track'. There is nowhere to leave any kind of rubbish – what you carry in you must carry out and I just couldn’t imagine days’ worth of messy cleanup materials and possibly soiled clothes that I would have to cart with me. I was so sad and felt defeated by my own body. I felt like I had let my friend down terribly. It was an awful feeling. 

A short beach walk with another friend a day or so later quite unexpectedly provided the solution! I was telling her about the situation, and she said that her mother had a similar problem and just took Imodium if she was going out for the day as it slows ‘everything’ down for 12 hours without causing constipation. Woohoo! Off to the chemist I went and got some and gave it a trial run a day or two later and it seemed to work so I was back on board. Bad friend that I am it messed with all the fun plans my main walking buddy had made in the interim, but the walk was on again! 

Narrow steps up to The Blade. I chose not to go up this time.

Whatever is getting in the way of you doing what you want to do is probably get-around-able if you are willing to share and let others help you. Just keep your goal or dream or desire in front of you and keep working your way slowly towards it – even if it is just talking about why you can’t do it! My main walking buddy and I walk together quite a lot, but it is usually on relatively short walks, and we natter a lot along the way and maybe walk her dog at the same time. We keep pace with one another fairly well and it’s a comfortable and enjoyable time. 

Things didn’t work like that on the longer walk. Turns out she walks a lot faster than I do and I turned up sometimes hours after she did at the day’s destination. I didn’t want to hold her back and I simply couldn’t keep up with her so in the end we experienced very different walks. And I learned a lot. I hadn’t ever considered what I wanted to get out of the walk, other than being outside and giving myself a challenge and getting to see more of Tasmania’s beautiful wild places. But there is more to it than that and this is part of what I learned. 

Sometimes people just love the physical challenge of a walk – getting from A to B and enjoying the surroundings on the way as they pass through at quite a steady clip. Others like to socialize all the way, keeping close with their walking buddies and sharing every new sight and eating lunch and snacks together at stops along the way. Still others like to walk on their own and savour every scent and sound of a bird and notice the minutiae such as tiny fungi or a miniature flower suspended in a spider’s web or the blurring of the distant horizon. I’m sure there are many other ways to enjoy a walk, but I tend to fall into the last category I described here. 

I want to see everything, and I am SLOW. I am especially slow when I am carrying a bloody heavy pack! I am a one step at a time gal. I am a get there in the end gal. I am really frustrating for the speedy group, I am sure. Now, I know that I can be in the sociable group too, but for this to happen I have to be walking with a buddy who walks the same speed as me and who also loves to stop and look at everything. I didn’t know I needed to consider these things before doing this walk but I know more about it now. Reflecting on any experience can give you valuable insight.

 

Steps, steps and more steps! Beautifully crafted

I would never ask my friend to change. We have been great mates for the best part of three decades. I can’t change myself in that way either, nor would I want to. Being one’s authentic and true self is a life’s work. Discovering who you are truly comfortable with being is a wonderful thing and I am becoming more and more comfortable with who I am as the years go by. 

For a long walk it is really important to walk with someone who keeps a similar pace, just in case something goes wrong. You get to share the experiences along the way, but you are also a safety net for each other. My friend felt comfortable walking ahead and knew that I have walked alone quite a lot and that I am very careful (but even careful people can slip down stairs – I’ve proven that). And I really appreciate her trust in my ability, and I appreciate knowing that I can trust myself. Realistically though, accidents can and do happen. 

I realise now that if I had fallen and injured myself after the last people in the group passed me, about an hour and half from the final destination, I might have been stuck there for a really long time before anyone realized that I might have a problem and come to look for me. I didn’t think about this on the track; only afterwards when I thought back over the days. For this reason I think a personal EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) would be a great investment for me and it is on my list for purchasing before I head out again. I have become more aware of my vulnerability. Ordinarily I’ve not gone too far on my own and only in places where I’m sure there will be other walkers but a little insurance is not a bad thing. 

So many beautiful vistas

The other thing I have learned through doing a bit of research since, is that it is vital that each person in a walking party carry all the gear they need to go it alone if they do become separated for any reason. On this particular walk my friend had carried a trowel (for emergency toileting en route if the need arose) and I carried a fairly comprehensive first aid kit. It would have made very good sense for me to carry my own trowel, especially given my particular circumstances, and of course it would have been good for her to have her own first aid kit in case of insect bites or injury. This also is a very good lesson. We can share and support each other when we are together but also must be prepared to cope on our own when necessary. 

Whilst the prior lessons are important ones there are others which I find interesting to ponder. One is that we had to provide all our food for the four days: four lunches, three dinners and three breakfasts and snacks if desired. It was fun choosing foods that would not need refrigeration and that would travel safely in a backpack and not be too heavy. I managed to eat a fresh apple each day and savoured every mouthful. My breakfasts were quinoa porridge and walnuts. Dinners were single serve sachet meals from Woolworths. Lunches were crackers and salmon in a foil pack. Snacks were almonds, bliss balls and a few eucalyptus sweets (salute to the lingering cough after covid). I ate really well and on the odd occasion when I thought I would like more, I reminded myself that I would go short the next day if I over indulged. So my food made the distance. I didn’t eat the last day’s lunch and only grabbed a few almonds from the snack bag that day. Most of the sweets came home with me. 

I would probably have eaten twice as much or more if I was at home. I discovered that if I eat protein at each meal I stay satisfied for longer. I was never over full and only one dinner didn’t sit that well in my tummy and made me restless that night. I guess I learned in a very real way that a lot of the time at home I eat because I am bored. That is a good thing to learn. Awareness that comes from experiencing something – one’s own awakening to knowledge – is more impactful than being told by someone else. I am grateful. Something to note here is that it’s a good idea to try food out at home and not try anything new, food wise, on the trail. 

Another small thing is that I’ve become more aware of the need to trust myself about the need to rest, the need to give myself time to gather my strength and the need to not worry about what anyone else thinks of my choices. I must honour myself and look after my own body in the ways that it needs me to. These are all things I kind of knew but taking myself out of my comfort zone brought it home to me in a stronger way. Let other people be them. You do and be You. It is the only way to be happy. There is nothing I need to do to prove my worth. 

Gnarled and twisted by wild winds

KEEN brand walking/hiking boots are THE BEST! Not a single rub or blister the whole way. This is also a good reason to do some training runs – to iron out any issues with clothing or gear you will be carrying. KEEN boots are wide in the toe and allow your feet room to swell as they get hot and for toes to spread out as you walk. They have completely revolutionized my walking experience. I used to get really nasty nerve pain from being in boots that constricted – and of course, you don’t usually try boots on when your feet have been walking a long way, but when you have stepped out of the car at the shopping mall. I went up a size for my walking boots and have been supremely comfortable ever since! 

When I am struggling, I go deep. I become quiet. I don’t shout about it or even talk much at all. I need time to process struggle afterwards as well. I recover gradually. I cannot respond easily to questions or suggestions from others when I am still struggling or under load. I just need time and space to process and then I’m ready for conversation again. Whilst this might seem extreme, there were times that I had to draw on my strength in the same way that I did when I was in labour birthing my children, going in deep. It works for me. 

I am proud of myself for saying ‘yes’ to this challenge. I am proud of myself for hauling my stuff on my back up and down more steps than you can poke a stick at – or a walking pole! I am proud of my friend for being fast on the track and for doing her. I am proud of the effort we both put in. 

I am grateful that I had the opportunity to experience being in such an amazing environment for four days and for the myriad people involved in designing and building the track seven years ago. I also acknowledge the people still maintaining the track on a regular basis so all can enjoy it. The host rangers need a mention here too. They were absolutely brilliant and ready to help in any way they could. The facilities were clean and functional – a pleasure to stay in. 

The Three Capes Track opened seven years ago and has been visited by 95 000 people. Only 10% of those visitors have been Tasmanian residents so I say to those of you who have this wonder virtually on your doorstep here in southern Tassie – consider doing it. Get your dream on. Think about it. Plan a few things. Start with a walk somewhere. Put a backpack on – just a day pack to start with and get outside. You will feel better and stronger for making the effort. Remember you are stronger than you think. 

The official end of the track - beautiful installation.

Your dream might be something else altogether. Most dreams promise to take us out of our comfort zone to make them happen. They call us and as we inch towards them we build confidence and resilience, and we gain the skills we’re going to need to make them happen. 

What are you putting off because you think it’s not possible? It might just be a hint of a thought in the furthest corner of your imagination. Entertain it and make a micro-move towards it. Write it down. Draw it. Make it real and then go do it. 

 As for me, sitting here today, what comes next? I am in recovery and enjoying the satisfaction of having done something that was once just a thought. It’s time for me to get life at home sorted out and my work life sorted out so there is room for me to sit and ponder and allow a new dream to float by and beckon me towards my next adventure. 

 With love 

 Kerry xo

PS The author is 64 years old (as of the purchase of the Gortex jacket) and probably about 15kgs overweight (none lost in the leadup to this walk, alas) and not remarkable in any way other than her annoying habit of saying 'yes' to things and having way too many great ideas.