Captivating Cape Raoul

Captivating Cape Raoul situated on the beautiful Tasman Peninsula, South East region of Tasmania has to be on my top five favourite walks in Tasmania. This half day walk was filled with the most amazing ocean views, dolerite landscape and surrounded by a colourful array of native flora.

We left Nubeena arriving at the car park at 9:10am. After signing the log book we hit board walk early on and realised how well maintained the track was. We walked around the corner and a little swamp covered in green flora came into view, with two wallabies knee deep eating the plant life. What a lovely welcome to their natural habitat. 

The first forty minutes was an upward steady hill testing the lungs out straight away. One of the first things that became apparent  was the amazing colourful native flora covering the forest floor attracting your focus as you wind up the hill. 

We reached the peak and was greeted by a sign post with the choice of heading to Shipstern Lookout or Cape Raoul Lookout. We headed left eagerly to see the first look at Cape Raoul. Upon arriving we were greeted with the vast Tasman Sea lapping up against the dolerite brown rock.

Continuing on, we welcomed a rest for our legs as we zig zagged our way down the hill heading out to the cape, with the sun rays finding slithers to shine through the green tree foliage. 

At the base of this main hill we found a few little areas to take in the captivating view once again. In one of these little locations I nearly placed my boot on a baby snake with it’s brown tail hanging out of a rock. 

We passed a lovely lady on the track who was a local and walks this track two to three times a year as she just loves it. She was telling us about keeping an eye out for the seals. I couldn’t wait to get down to the cape head. 

After another hour of walking we came to the most amazing view. We were captivated by the tall pillars of vertical brown rock layered, exiting straight out of the Tasman Sea, stretching towards the clouds. We spent a bit of time taking in the view and photographing the landscape. The ground had changed quite dramatically to a rocky, dry barron floor. We were also greeted by a large lake which reminded me of some of the lakes you find at Cradle. 

Next stop was the seal lookout. Upon reaching this lookout we could hear the seals easier than see the seals. They seemed to have located a nice large rock where they can bask in the sun all day long. Using my long lens I was able to capture the seals playing in the water and soaking up the sun.

After listening to the waves crashing on the rocky foreshore and the playful barks of the seals we turned back and made our way to the furthest point of Cape Raoul. We pulled up shop just around the corner from this lookout for lunch. What a view to have lunch. After filling our stomachs and hydrating we went and checked out the lookout and took some more photos. This lookout looked at the opposite side of the vertical dolerite rock with the sun shining on it bringing out a rich brown and red colour, framed by the clear blue sky.

After reaching our destination and being astounded at the magical view it provided, it was time to back track and head homeward bound. When we came back around to the initial first view I was able to find even more delightful scenes as I discovered some caves at the base of the dolerite rocks. 

We slowly climbed our way back to the original lookout. I was happy that the hill was a gradual hill that zig zagged through the forest making it easier on my tiring legs. We reached the Cape Raoul lookout and forged on until we got to the turn off to Shipstern Lookout which was a half hour return. We decided to take the extra time to explore Shipstern as we were keen to see the well known big surf destination. 

Heading down we heard a racquet as birds cried out fighting something that we couldn’t see. This went on for a fair amount of time and you could really hear the stress involved from the birds. 

We reached the lookout and snapped away and then turned back on our tracks, to come across a rather large slithering snake crossing the walking track. Thankfully we spotted it from a decent safe distance. The snake would have been a good three metres long. Obviously the bird we had heard earlier was either fighting the snake or warning others. 

After trekking back down hill we finally reached the carpark at 2:00pm. I personally had the most amazing day. Cape Raoul kept me mentally stimulated with its rich native flora, busy abundant fauna and captivating cape views. This would definitely be on my top five best walks of Tasmania and one I highly encourage anyone to do.