An Early Start

Photography and words by Mont Ambassador Geoff Murray

Yesterday I walked in to Cape Raoul. The track in to the cape has been upgraded in line with the trackwork completed for the Tasmanian Three Capes Track located further east on the Tasman Peninsula and it is now a very easy walk. 

The forecast was for a relatively fine morning descending into a very windy and damp afternoon.

I decided to get an early start, leaving home at 2am which would give me enough time to walk into the cape and be there for a hopefully glorious sunrise.

I left the car at around 4.30am. It was clear and calm with a temperature of roughly 4 degrees. Perfect walking conditions.

Two hours after leaving the car I arrived at the end of the peninsula under almost completely overcast skies with a steady wind blowing. Not ideal but you take what you get and I still managed to capture a couple of reasonable images from the cape before heading back towards the car.

The plateau leading out to the cape is extremely exposed and open to the prevailing winds. As a result, much of the scrub has grown almost prone to the ground as it tried to escape the savage Southern Ocean blasts.

This day was no different with a strong and very cold wind scouring the landscape around me. So much so that it wasn’t too long before I added myZero Ultralight down jacket as an underlayer under myOdyssey waterproof jacket. This transformed my comfort level from chilly to snug and I was able to happily continue searching the plateau for engaging subjects to photograph.

The Zero jacket is my favourite piece of warm clothing, ridiculously light and compact but at the same time it offers a level of warmth far beyond what you would expect. It’s easy to throw it into the pack on every trip.....just in case.

I have had it for quite a while now and as a result it has had a couple of washes. A standout feature is how quickly it dries, much quicker than you would expect a down garment to dry, I guess due to Mont’s superb DWR down treatment.

Images safely captured, I wandered back to the car, enjoying seeing the emerging flowers and berries beside the track as I walked. Spring is definitely on the way!

Geoff Murray

Mont Ambassador
@geoffmurray