After the three incidents in Perth a few weeks ago, I had real reservations about Australia and was close to canceling the rest of our Australian itinerary. Luckily, I gave the country another shot, and I am happy to say that what happened in Perth were unfortunate. The people in the rest of the country thus far have been nothing but pleasant. I’m especially glad that we came to Tasmania, because this place is the closest Australia gets to being like New Zealand in terms of nature and scenery. And after 6 weeks of 85°F weather, the cold air here is a welcomed change.
First order of business is to get in a long hike after a 2-month hiatus. The Cape Raoul walking track is an hour and a half of driving from Hobart. By the time we reached the trailhead it was already noon, and with shortened daylight hours in winter, we had a limited amount of time to complete the hike.
Now this is what I call good trail information. Estimated in-n-out time is 5 hours, which meant we needed to book it to make it back before the sun sets. I was especially concerned about driving on the roads after dusk because that’s when the nocturnal animals come out and risk becoming roadkills.Having been used to entering New Zealand and Australian National Parks for free, we didn’t realize we had to pay until we’d already finished the hike. Oops…Certain trails in Kaua’i have something similar to this. Goal is to minimize introduction of nonnative invasive plant species.
The 9-mile Cape Raoul trail keeps things interesting with constantly changing terrain and vegetations. The undulating nature of the track makes this an easier hike. What made it even better was that, other than one other person, we had the trail to ourselves. Judging by the size of the parking lot, this is probably a very popular weekend summer hike, not so much a winter hike on a Wednesday.
A couple of Tasmanian pademelons darted across the path, but all I got was this picture.
The first mile was a gradual uphill, and an intermittent light drizzle kept us company for that section up until the Cape Raoul viewpoint.
We made it to the Cape Raoul viewpoint in 30 minutes, but we were hiking faster than usual just to stay warm. The trail ends at the tip of the lower rocky outcrop you see in the distance.Past the viewpoint is a series of downhill switchbacks in the woods.Eucalyptus forestAfter a quarter mile of that, the path levels out and hugs the cliff overlooking the ocean.Strong winds buffeting the trees, which kept us protected from the elements.Mountain pinkberries – native to New Zealand and Tasmania.The dolerite columns in the distance.The timing couldn’t have been more perfect. By the time we reached the dolerite columns, the sun started to peek through.Dolerite columns are similar to basalt columns, except basalt cools much faster and is therefore much finer and contains no crystals. 40% of Tasmania is made up of dolerite rocks.Wouldn’t want to fall into these waters.The trail does continue for a little bit longer to offer views of the columns from different angles.The view at Seal lookoutThe view at Cape lookout
Seeing an approaching storm off the coast, we quickly scurried back. Finished hiking in 3.5 hours and well off the country roads before sunset. Phew!
FIRE'd @ 47 