“Make sure you take a good walking stick with you, there are lots of snakes,” explained Robbie, the caretaker at Macquarie Heads campground, who last walked the route 20 years ago. “You’ll need thick gaiters, it’s a tough track. You won’t see a soul out there,” he added.
Despite having hiked, sailed and kayaked most of south-west Tasmania, totalling almost 200 days in the wilderness, I’d never tackled the mid-west coast. A late summer jaunt was in order. The area spans 100 kilometres of rugged terrain from Cape Sorell near Strahan to Low Rocky Point and Elliott Bay, so I figured I had two options: either paddle the notorious west coast or take a month to hike to Port Davey, getting food drops flown in and then a seaplane pick-up. After one aborted departure, I instead conceived a three-week, 450-kilometre hiking and kayaking trip with far simpler and cheaper logistics. I wanted to spend time ‘with’ the coastline rather than time ‘doing’ the coastline.
Pushing off from Pelican Spit on a windy and drizzly morning, the swift current ripped out through Kelly Channel past Bonnet Island encouraged by two breakwater walls built in 1902. Petrels, cormorants, gulls and oystercatchers watched from the wall as I snuck through a gap into the calmer waters of Channel Bay, only hesitating to wonder if it would be worth throwing in a line to catch any escapees from the nearby salmon farm.
After a relaxed trip to Cape Sorrell I excitedly paddled south, hugging close to shore to appreciate the striking colours in the rocks, trees and buttongrass ridges as forest birds chirped a welcome.
I was momentarily tempted to sit out the wet weather when I reached my kayak-stash point, Liberty Butt, but opted to push on with the planned 12-kilometre walk to Gorges Point with a week’s worth of supplies. The commanding coastal views would have to wait for my return, and what’s a three-hour walk without a bit of torrential rain and a whiteout?
Humbled by the energy and expanse of the environment as I passed the middens of the Lowreene people, I took my time before reaching an eroded quad bike track leading over steep bracken slopes to meet the roaring ocean. I pitched my tent beside a small stream near Gorge Point, on a green pad above the high-tide mark. Ah, the aroma of rotting bull kelp! The hours of pre-trip dehydrating all seemed worth it as I tucked into a delicious beef and vegetable coconut cream curry while watching the sun set framed by the cove full of rocks, kelp and driftwood…
…read more in Wild issue 144.