TASMANIA – CAPE RAOUL – 12 February 2026
A year ago, I did the Three Capes multi day walk with Beth. The last day had a side-trip to Cape Hauy – an 8k bounce trip that you could by-pass. I decided to give it a miss (an 18k day had the potential to escalate into “survival” mode). I determined that if I came back to Tassi I’d do Cape Hauy as a day trip. So, I’m back in Tassi and have booked in to do Cape Hauy, but then I though “what about Cape Roaul, it’s supposed to be pretty spectacular”.
Now, I don’t usually do 15k day walks but I was willing to give it a go, because it SOUNDS FANTASIC!
A bit of history – the cape was named in 1792 by French Admiral Bruni d’Entrecasteaux after the pilot of his expedition, Joseph Francois Raoul.
So, I looked around for a commercial company who did day trips to Raoul, but there was nothing. Then I thought, maybe Jox (a Tassi local) will be willing to do the walk with me, I really didn’t want to do it by myself, it could be a remote walk, and not safe to do solo. Jox, bless his heart, was happy to go on the walk with me! He picked me up from The Hotel Astor at 7.30am and we were on our way, arriving at the track head at 9.30am.
The TasParks write up at the beginning of the walk told us that it was a 5hour return trip (15k), initially “meandering gently uphill through eucalypt forest to the Cape Raoul lookout for stunning views”, then descending steeply through magnificent rainforest … emerging in a cliff-side sheoak forest before opening onto a windswept escarpment with its extraordinary dolerite pillars”.
A few things to make sure we’re safe, have to say there weren’t many falling tree limbs, and the sign was correct, very high cliffs and few barriers.
The start of the track, already I’m impressed, apparently TasParks upgraded the track a few years ago. I really love the eucalypt forest, stunning.
Halfway to the lookout we came to (what I expected to be) a cool art installation, meant to be an echidna (the spikes at the back – and the cutout in the base), I was happy to sit down and rest for a while and enjoy the forest.
Almost to the lookout and the forest is not so thick.
The lookout. Pretty cool, right, the arrow shows our destination, the bluff at the left was a bit off putting, looked like a big drop down to get to the plateau.
We’re now on the way to the descent to the plateau. I was very happy with the zig-zag route that they’ve taken, nothing too steep.
The lookouts are now coming thick and fast, and yes, no barriers – I didn’t get too close! The route will go right at the edge of the cliff ahead.
Almost at the bottom of the bluff – more stunning views.
Half-way down the bluff. more stunning views.
We’re now getting our first view of the dolerite cliffs, and they are amazing, we thought about how long it would take for these cliffs to be formed, millions of years! No barrier so I wasn’t getting any closer than this. I’m sure Instagrammers would sit on that appealing rock for the money shot but not me!
Another view of the dolerite cliffs, they are like organ pipes.
This is a “lake” just behind the dolerite columns, it’s very shallow and dry at the moment, but apparently after rain it’s pretty impressive. In the distance is the bluff that we descended.
We’re now on the track towards the Cape, because the wind is so strong, the banksias and “trees” are dwarfed. The person in the image is a random person who was on a mission to get to the Cape and back to the parking lot so she could get picked up.
And finally, we can view the actual Cape. we’re not on the cape (that will come later) but this view from the “Seal lookout” gives you a much better view of it. Absolutely stunning, apparently the columns of Cape Raoul rise 300m from the seafloor! We had lunch at this spot and then watched as rain started to get closer to where we were. There’s a nice metal fence at the lookout, so I felt safe looking over the edge LOL.
Another view from the Seal Lookout towards Tasman Island and Cape Pillar.
We quickly walked around to the Cape Lookout – and across from us is the Seal Lookout, and there’s the rain!
Jox at Cape Raoul, close to the edge – no fence here so I stood well back! You can see the other dolerite columns from here, but I think there was a better view from the Seal Lookout.
We’re on the way back now and I’m looking at the bluff that we have to climb, a bit daunting.
We hightailed it up the bluff (hard work), dodging the rain squalls, once I was up the top of the bluff, I was able to be a lot quicker on the way down and we were at the cars right on 3.30pm – 5 hours on the dot!
On the Three Capes Walk, there was an abundance of seats, many of them artistic installations, I loved them. My only suggestion for TasParks is that there was only 1 seat where you could sit and reflect on the scenery, or a nice spot to take a rest (I sure needed a seat to rest upon), they need to put in more seats, but if that’s the only thing I can suggest, they’re doing well!
15ks was a little long for me, BUT it was worth it, thank you so much Jox for taking me down there. Starting at 7.30am (from Hobart) was a good choice Jox, we were on the track and back at the cars so that we were in Hobart late afternoon. The big surprise was the number of people on the track, for mid-week, I didn’t expect anyone and there were at least 20 – 30 people! So, we were passing a lot of people on the way home. The weather was fantastic, until it rained, and the scenery stunning.
Again, big thanks Jox!!! Loved it.
A few shots of interesting plants:
There are two types of Banksia in Tasmania, this one was widespread across the cape – honeysuckle banksia (Banksia marginata), there were large open ones like this and then small dwarfed ones where they were impacted by the strong winds.
Don’t know what this, saw it on the Three Capes Walk, I like how bright it is, not sure if you can eat the seeds or not.
A very weird fungus, this is the photo when we passed it (around 6cm across). When we returned after rain, it had gone all squishy LOL.
Looks great 😊