The Arch - Cape Queen Elizabeth Track

The Arch is located on the Cape Queen Elizabeth Track on North Bruny Island. I have wanted to do this walk for a while but the last time I was on Bruny the weather was torrential. My partner’s son had a scout camp on down at Bruny this weekend so I went along for the ride.

We woke up on Sunday morning to a beautiful day with the sun shining. The walk starts opposite Bruny Island Honey where you will find a car park and a sign post to signal the start of the track. 

The start of the track was extremely flat and very muddy from the rain we have had over the last few months. Mick and I were both fine as we had some good walking boots on. It was amazing how many tourists we walked past though that did not have decent walking shoes. As we walked along this track we noticed quite quickly that a fire had gone through both sides of the track and the aftermath showed burnt trees and a lot of regrowth of ferns covering the ground. 

We walked past a couple of lakes buzzing with the vibrant sounds of frogs. There were plenty of colourful plants lining the track catching my eye as we walked by.

This track goes for about half an hour slowly winding down to a sign that allows you to choose to go up over the headland or if the tide is low then along the beach. I looked up the tides on my phone and it was still low so we walked down to ‘The Neck’ beach. Unfortunately, when we got down there the tide was right up to the rocky cliffs. So we turned back around and ventured upwards. 

The walk is labelled easy but when you have lost all physical fitness from being on chemotherapy to fight cancer it did not feel easy. I slowly but surely made my way up the headland. The views were spectacular keeping motivated to keep putting one foot in front of the other. Halfway up the hill my back fatigued and was causing me some pain. I felt like a little old lady walking up the hill. We walked past an echidna rustling in the scrub. 

I slowly, but surely made it to the peak of the hill and started the descend down to the beach. We hit the soft sand at the bottom and walked right, back up the beach in the direction we had come to find the Arch.

We reached the Arch and it was pretty impressive. The brown, sharped-edge arch, framed the gorgeous blue shades of the ocean. The beach sat beneath a rock cliff face showing geometric patterns and a blow hole at the end of the beach. 

We spent a bit of time exploring the area and had some lunch. We then started the walk back. Along the way I came across a mountain dragon chilling in the sun.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first bush walk since finishing chemotherapy. It was a great start to my 6,000 steps a day for the month of October, raising money for cancer research.