Storyseats

That day the woman, who shall be called Lady G, walked for another four kilometres and came upon another magical story seat, Waving Arms until she arrived at her first cabin, the Surveyors cabin, where – after a simple meal of dried Boeuf Stroganoff and a swig of whisky to keep away the bad spirits – she collapsed onto her bunk bed and slept a deep, dreamless sleep. Her encounter with a possum, in the middle of the night on her way to the toilets, marked her first face-to-face with the local fauna.

A Brushtail possum, she learned the next day with the help of a local poo guide. The possum’s poo, cylinder-shaped and much like a chocolate licorice bullet in shape and size, was easy to distinguish from the cube-shaped wombat deposits that could be found along the track of Day 2. And sure enough, the next storyseat she found herself resting on after having walked through wombat county, was called Who was here? Dry open eucalypt woodland with low shrubs and grasses, old fallen logs and branches, and plenty of cube-shaped wombat scats. It was said that the wombat only went to the toilet every 16 days. The young lady could certainly relate to that.

The track that day took her through burned bushland (Fire is Food), rock slabs and shades of dolorite (Jurassic Crack), wet forest and rainforest (Cloud Forest), and windswept heath blooming with yellow and white and pink tiny blossoms (One Small Patch).

She walked and walked along the shoreline towards the distant Cape Pillar and Tasman Island and wondered where the hell she was (Where the ‘ell are we?). She encountered the rare white echidna, who was busy sucking up ants with her long pink snout. The echidna, she learned at the next storyseat Love in the Woods, laid a soft-shelled egg directly into her pouch to incubate it for ten days until her little ‘puggle’ hatches. She also learned that the male echidna had a four-tipped penis – no wonder the female echidna preferred to raise their young on her own.

After 11 kilometres and 4 hours of walking, Day 2 was done and Lady G arrived at hut number two, ‘Munro’. After another measly meal of dried Pulled Barbecue Pork (which tastes just like the Boeuf Stroganoff), she retired to bed at 6:30pm, dreaming of spotting a Tasmanian tiger in black silk pyjamas.

Day 3 was off to a good start, as milady could leave her heavy backpack at the cabin to climb dizzying heights out to Cape Pillar and back. The length of this walk allowed her to rest on many storyseats along the way: My Blood Runs Cold, where she spotted a Tiger Snake soaking up the sun, lying across the boardwalk. Black and long and terribly venomous. The Lighthouse Keeper’s Daughter, that told the sad tale of a lighthouse keeper’s life. Curiosity that taught her what happened to the two cats the lighthouse keeper left behind and the dozens of offspring that turned feral. All of which got killed – just like the Tasmanian Aboriginal People of the area, the Palawa, that were killed by the English during the Black War (1825-1832). The Dark Side of history.

After 19 kilometres and 6 hours of walking, Lady G had made it to the first cape and back, and truly claimed her moment!

Day 4 was the last day of her adventure but also the hardest. 16 kilometres in length, over 3000 steps to climb. The heavy rucksack cut into her narrow shoulders. The hot Tasmanian sun burned down on her low-hanging head. She felt, indeed, as if she was crossing through The Dark Side and The Underworld. The two hobbits Frodo and Sam on their way to Mordor were on her mind.

On her journey, she heard orcas sing. She saw whales and dolphins swim in the Tasman Sea. The Humpback Whale swims 10,000 km round-trip to have its babies. Lady G felt as if she had walked almost as much – and only to have an adventure! But then she reached it – the second Cape – Cape Hauy! She was ready to throw her own ring into the fire. But no Gandalf on an eagle was there to sweep her up and carry her home. She had to walk the final stretch herself.

After having made it to Cape Number 2 and back, she was glad to rest on the final storyseat, the Southerly Pining, overlooking the clear turquoise waters and the white squeaky sands of Fortescue Bay. She had made it – she had walked the Three Capes Track (though really it was just two they reached) and fulfilled her dream of hiking in Tasmania.

And she lived happily ever after. The End

(The Three Capes Track offers 41 unique storyseats designed and installed along the track by furniture design students and lecturers over two years 2015-17. All stories and encounters can be found in the trail guide “Encounters on the Edge”.)