Cape Hauy
This is day 3-4 of our 11-day hiking and camping road trip circuit.
- Time (return): 4hs
- Distance: 4.4km
Some of the most spectacular highlights of Tasmanian landscapes are the cliffs and sea stacks located along the southern coastline. Here, there is a very popular Three Capes Track, a 48-km long, four-day trail that follows the southern coast and passes by Cape Raoul, Cape Pillar and Cape Hauy.
We didn’t want to spend four days in this part of Tasmania so we decided to do a day trip to Cape Hauy and spend the night conveniently in Port Arthur.
The Road to Port Arthur
Getting to Port Arthur ended up being more challenging than expected. Using Google Maps we drove via the A3/Tasman Highway all the way to Triabunna
After a quick lunch break at The Fish Van in Triabunna, the navigator sent us west to Buckland and to C335 which as we found out, quickly enough, was an unsealed road that just got worse as we started getting deeper into the forest. This is not a big problem if you are driving a 4x4 vehicle and if you are comfortable with this type of driving but when driving a 2x2, rental companies have a higher non-reducible liability if there’s any loss/damage/accidents on an unsealed road. Taking this route that looks like a shortcut on the map actually delayed us for a couple of hours as we could only drive at 20km/h at most of the sections of the road. In hindsight, it would have been faster and more comfortable to take the longer route, A3 to Sorrel and then A9.
Where to stay and eat
Nevertheless, we made it to our traditional Tudor style accommodation, Fox & Hound Inn, in Port Arthur. We still had enough time to settle into our nice lakefront room and visit the Port Arthur Lavender farm 5 minutes down the road for a delicious meal.
We highly recommend stopping at this Lavender farm to try their lavender-filled dessert menu, especially the ‘Lavender indulgence’ any time of the day really.
Initially, we planned to squeeze in two of the three capes the next morning however we realised it could be too rushed. Hence, we decided to only explore Cape Hauy and we were satisfied!
Of course another unsealed road faced us to Fortescue Bay Campground, where the walk started from.
The walk felt like a high-intensity workout with three steep peaks and lots of stairs to climb up and down. The cliff-sides were impressive and at the main viewpoint we even spotted numerous dolphins passing by. On our way back we were rewarded with Fortescue Bay’s cool crystal clear water.
Fortescue Bay offers a convenient car-accessible camping area just a few meters from the beach. It includes basic facilities like toilets and drinking water and it’s large enough that no bookings are required. We however, drove to Hobart to experience a bit of Tasmanian city life.
