Cape Raul

03/27/08

 
We decided to trek down to the tip of Cape Raul at the bottom of the Tasman Peninsula on the 27th of May.  It is reported to be a five hour walk and these damn Aussies are just so blunt and forthright that it actually took us five hours.  At least in the US, they give you times that you can easily beat, so when you get back, you feel like you are really fit.  Here, if they say it will take five hour, it takes five hours! 

The walk goes uphill for about an hour to an overlook where we caught our first glimpse of the cape.  The views from the overlook are grand and from there we could see the path we needed to follow to reach the tip of the cape.  It seemed like it was very close at this point and I was beginning to think we could finally beat one of their time estimates.....
 
                                                                                     
Here's Mary at the overlook with Cape Raul in the background.  The plateau below her looked so close at this point. The cliff face at the overlook.  The hill just behind the overlook is about 1400 feet above sea level. 
Our first view along the cliffs of the cape.  The track runs right along the edge for quite a while with views like this!   This is the actual tip of the cape.  There are two different types of rock here, the closer, lighter sandstone and the far, darker rock which is columnar dolerite.  In the two outermost parts of the cape, it looks as though the columns were sliced off with some sort of huge knife! 
Looking back away from the tip of the cape at the side of the plateau where it faces Tasman Island.  The cape from the east side.  There is a noisy, smelly seal colony at the very tip.  You can just see the discolored rock in this photo, right down next to the water at the far tip. 

On the way back to the overlook, we hiked in the clouds.  This is the part of the walk right along the cliff's edge and it looked so different walking in this low visibility that I worried we had taken a wrong turn and lost the path.

 When we arrived at the overlook again after a really steep, calf burning climb through the eucalypt forest, Mary noticed that the island just off the tip of the cape was starting to be visible, so I took this shot. 
Soon, the whole cliff face was almost visible....
 		 ....and the clouds formed only when the strong wind hit the face of the cliff and rose to pass over it.  A few seconds later, we were totally socked in again and couldn't see the cliffs at all. 

 

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