GOURMET TRAVELLER 133Clockwise from
above: scenery on
the Three Capes
Track; boat trip to
Denmans Cove.
Opposite from top:
Fortescue Bay; the
dining room at
Cape Pillar Lodge.But as welcome as a massage, a glass of Tassie pinot
and a three-course meal are after six hours of walking,
the stars of the experience are the guides. They deftly
interpret the geology of the park’s mighty dolerite cliffs
and the secret life of a temperate rainforest. They know
the flora and the birdlife, and inspire guests to tread
lightly. “These spaces are becoming rarer and rarer,
and our guides help adventurers become advocates,”
says Godfrey. “If you really want people to protect
national parks, first they have to care about them.”
The peninsula is busy with projects opening in
the next 18 months on privately owned tracts of land:
Remarkable Lodge by Baillie Lodges (Southern Ocean
Lodge, Longitude 131), and a retreat at Port Arthur by
the Federal Group (Saffire Freycinet).
The private lodges on the Three Capes Track are
a “test bed”, says Godfrey, for the next project by sister
company, the Australian Walking Company: a four-
day guided (and pack-free) walk on the 61-kilometre
Kangaroo Island Wilderness Trail. Two private lodges
and three restored lighthouse cottages at Cape du
Couedic are due to open in October to coincide
with the park’s centenary.
On the last day, when we reach the creamy sands of
Fortescue Bay, a whale and her calf are lolling offshore.
I’m handed a glass of Tasmanian sparkling and, feeling
brave, I peel off layers of thermals and dive into the icy
blue. If this is shinrin-yoku, I’ll go another round.
The four-day Three Capes Lodge Walk operates year-
round and costs from $2,790 per person. This includes return
transfers from Hobart, boat transfer from Port Arthur to
Denmans Cove, three nights’ lodge accommodation, national
park pass, the use of a backpack and weather-proof jacket, all
meals, non-alcoholic drinks and a selection of Tasmanian
wines. taswalkingco.com.au●the guides don aprons to prepare dinner, guests browse
well-stocked bookshelves and gather around a pellet fire.
As handsome as the lodges are, however, all eyes
are on the great outdoors. “We wanted to create
lodges that had all the comforts of a boutique hotel,”
says Tasmanian Walking Company co-owner Brett
Godfrey, “but the star attraction had to be the
wilderness itself.”
I haven’t spent much time in national parks – in
fact, I confess I’ve never hiked. And that’s the point
of the lodge walk, says Godfrey. “These lodges are for
people who won’t visit otherwise,” he says. “Many
think of hiking as too challenging, but I want people
to see that you can do it tough during the day, and
recalibrate and re-energise at night.”
The three-night, four-day guided hike starts with
a private boat trip to the beach at Denmans Cove
and finishes at Fortescue Bay, both locations about
90 minutes’ drive from Hobart. We walk between
two and seven hours a day on a mix of wide timber
duckboards, dry gravel and pavers made of locally
sourced rock, predominately dolerite, each of us
carrying a supplied backpack containing only our
clothes and incidentals. We stop for ploughman’s
lunches featuring Tasmanian produce, and for tea
and coffee at themed sculptural seats along the
route. Despite its name, the walk spans only two
capes (Cape Pillar and an optional side trip to Cape
Hauy); the third landmark, Cape Raoul, is at the
southern tip of the peninsula and can be seen from
Crescent Lodge and the summit of Arthur’s Peak,
which we climb.
By the time we arrive at Cape Pillar Lodge on the
second night, we’re eager to retire to the Relaxation
Pavilion, where an indigenous-inspired treatment
begins with a smoking ceremony and, afterwards,
a slice of ginger-and-pear cake straight from the oven,
or a dip in the 9,000-litre outdoor bath (just don’t
call it a pool).