I Met Gina Chick Walking Barefoot on the Three Capes Track

After his dreams of walking the Overland Track had turned to dust, Frazer and his friends found themselves walking out to Cape Pillar on the Three Capes Track with some unexpected company…

The trail was noticeably quiet the day we made for Cape Pillar, despite the time of year and the hundreds of hikers who’d been diverted from the Overland Track due to fires. We were one such group who’d been turned away, so we made a last-minute plan to walk the cheap version of the Three Capes (AKA the Free Capes) as we mourned the loss of our Overland adventure. 

Read more: Our Group Hike on the Overland Track Didn’t Go To Plan at All

We trekked from Fortescue Bay Campground to Bare Knoll Campground, where we established a base of operations for our journey to the capes.

Whoever named the sprawls of heathland that the Cape Pillar Track cuts through was likely reading some dark fantasy at the time of naming. Once we made it through Desolation Gully, crossed Perdition Plateau, and passed by Purgatory Hill, the trail skirted along an awe-inspiring coastline, where sheer, sharp-edged cliff-faces race down to meet crashing waves in narrow corridors of ancient stone.

I won’t be getting any closer

We crawled out to the edge on our bellies to see how long we could stand the dizzying vertigo that made our muscles seize. 

Earlier that day, as I’m sure is a common topic for many hikers and campers, we chatted about Alone Australia and how we thought we’d fare. Most of us agreed we’d only make it past the first night, maybe the second on a good day.

‘What about Gina Chick, though? How awesome is she!’

‘I bet she’s like, one of the nicest people ever.’

‘Who’s Gina Chick?’

Read more: Interview With Gina Chick from Alone Australia Season 1

It was getting close to lunchtime when we reached the base of The Blade, another wonderfully named landmark. The Blade is a collection of stone pillars that rise steeply out of the ocean and overlook Tasman Island and the endless ocean beyond the lonely lighthouse situated there. 

Stunning spot for a fake proposal

We chatted away as we climbed towards our lunch spot and looked up as someone rounded the corner and stepped to the side to let us pass. We suddenly went quiet and said hello to the beaming, barefoot woman who greeted each of us, then continued on her way. Once we were certain she was out of earshot, we all turned to each other, our mouths hanging open in disbelief.

‘That was Gina Chick!’

‘I can’t believe it! We were just talking about her, and she just appeared!’

‘Guys, who’s Gina Chick?’

After lunch, we headed back down The Blade to make for Cape Pillar and sure enough, there she was again, walking barefoot along the rocky, dusty trail. We hadn’t imagined it; Gina Chick had appeared on the track as though our chatter had summoned her up from the earth itself.

How often do you run into a celebrity here?

We smiled at each other again, though most of us weren’t brave enough to say anything – except the one friend who didn’t realise who we were passing.

‘Barefoot, that’s pretty impressive’, he said.

‘It’s the only way to do it’, Gina replied.

‘Does it hurt at all?’

‘No, I walk just about every trail barefoot’, she said, then gestured to a pair of sandals strapped to the side of her pack, ‘I need these for the chicken wire though. It’s really tough on the feet, and I’ve earned my calluses, so I’d like to keep them.’

The rest of us nodded and murmured our approval.

‘Alright, well enjoy the sun!’, she said.

And on she went.

‘How did you know what to say to her?’ 

We asked our blissfully ignorant friend, envious of his confidence in the face of a celebrity.

‘To who?’

After we made it back to Bare Knoll and ate our bodyweight in trail mix, we played cards and wondered if we’d see Gina again.

Gotta get cosy

In the morning, we packed up camp and made for Cape Huay, then headed back to Fortescue Bay to conclude our adventure.

The Cape Huay Track was decidedly more difficult than Cape Pillar, especially since we now had 20kg of gear on our backs. The trail climbs a steep hill through dense rainforest; towering trees covered in lichen and moss, prehistoric ferns jostling for space, and the occasional bright pop of fungus amidst verdant green. Huffing and puffing, we climbed through the forest, the top of the hill seeming to get further and further away – this place, we thought, was far more deserving of the name ‘Purgatory Hill’.

Eventually, we broke through the rainforest, glimpsed the ocean, and marvelled at the now distant Cape Pillar track we’d walked the day before.

Cape Huay is close to Fortescue Bay Campground, which meant there were lots of people walking, especially with the clear blue sky that we’d been told was so unusual for Tasmania. We left our packs with the others in a small clearing, taking only the essentials: water, tuna, and slightly stale rice cakes, then set out along the narrow cape to its tip.

On the edge of the Earth

It’s a scrubby, dusty track that gets hot in the sun – the brown stone holds the heat and the foliage is too low to provide any shade. We reached the lookout, sweating and flushed red, to find Gina sitting and enjoying the view of the ocean. Somehow, the crowds of people we’d passed had all vanished and we were the only ones there. We proceeded with the usual greeting, smiling and nodding politely, then sat down to eat our lunch, quietly talking amongst ourselves.

‘Have you been staying in the huts?’, Gina asked, breaking the ice.

We told her that we were turned away from the Overland because of the fires and had been roughing it in Bare Knoll for a couple of days.

‘I’d love to do the Overland, I haven’t made it out there yet.’

There was a brief silence.

‘I know you know who I am’, Gina said with a small smile. ’I heard you giggling after we met yesterday.’

We laughed together, and the conversation proceeded easily from there.

One of the girls who works for an independent bookshop in Melbourne thanked Gina for her book, saying she really enjoyed reading it. Gina was humble and grateful and said how important it is that people support independent Australian literature.

She told us that she bought property in Tasmania when she started writing her book. The property was next to a lake, and one day, she went to its edge and asked for fish – writing a book is hard work after all. She caught three big ones that same day.

We told her how surprising it was to find her out here, considering how recently we’d been talking about her – in the same way that she asked for the fish and they appeared, we’d asked for Gina.

‘What do you all do back in Melbourne?’

We explained that most of us were artists. Actors, writers, theatre-makers – a troupe of thespians adventuring in Tasmania. Gina told us about Kim Farrant, a prominent Australian director and a close friend of hers who runs a brilliant acting course out of Sydney that she sometimes helps facilitate. We all took down the details.

‘Would you like a photo? I do about a million of them every day, so I’m used to it’, Gina asked.

We thanked her but declined, saying we’d give her a break. Pics or it didn’t happen? You’ll just have to take my word for it.

‘Alright then, shiny people,’ she said, dusting off her pants and wiggling her toes, ‘I’d better get going. Young people like you give me hope for the future.’

And on she went.

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