Shelley Winkel had just finished up in a high-pressure public relations role when she decided that getting into nature needed to get back on the top of her to-do list.
A backpacker and avid traveller all of her life, Shelley has always had a strong sense of adventure, but this time around she was looking for something different. She wasn’t up for roughing it with a 20kg backpack as she had done in the past, and instead was looking for a more curated experience.
“I still want nature. I still want to feel like I’m at the edge of the world. I still want all the benefits of nature, but I don’t want to break my back doing it,” Shelley says, speaking to Women’s Agenda.
“I can’t do that anymore, and I don’t want to do it anymore.”
Alongside her close friend Toni, she headed to Tasmania for four days on the Three Capes Track with the Tasmanian Walking Company.
“I was burnt out. I was exhausted. Everything was ‘around the clock, do it, do it now.’ So this was my first nature break, and it was like green medicine,” Shelley said.
“We didn’t have to think of anything except walking, it was four days that felt like 10. Time was very elastic and slow… and we both felt incredibly relaxed at the end of it.”
Together, Shelley and Toni have been on many adventures over the years since they were neighbours in Hong Kong in 2000.
“We used to duck off to China and be really intrepid travelers, and now she’s in her mid‑60s and I’m in my late‑50s… it was like, we can’t be doing that anymore,” she said.
“Let’s get looked after, because we’ve only got four days.”
The sense of being looked after is at the core of the Tasmanian Walking Company’s approach to guided walking holidays. All the logistics, including locally-sourced, gourmet meals, what to carry and where to sleep (think super comfortable bed in a private lodge), are taken care of, and the hospitality is unmatched among outdoor experiences.
“That was a big thing: getting all the benefits of being in the wilderness and in a World Heritage listed area – it’s got a lot of brag factor, let’s face it – but doing it in a nice, gentle way for the age I am now,” Shelley says.
“For me, luxury is time with friends and really good food. We had super‑comfortable beds, hot showers… and at the end of 18 kilometres you come back to something hearty and toasty and communal.”
Little touches of luxury along the way were a highlight of Shelley’s experience.
“The guides would fill hot water bottles with hot water and you’d put it in your bed… I haven’t done that since I was a kid. It was almost like going back to that childhood memory,” she says.
“[After a day of walking], you re‑congregate around the burning fire over a beautiful glass of local wine… and then, my god, the charcuterie board – smoked wallaby, local cheeses, everything curated from local foods as you sat in front of that crackling fire, looking out at these magnificent dolerite cliffs.
“That’s luxury.”
‘We didn’t want to race’
Part of the beauty of Shelley’s Three Capes experience was how it allowed her to slow down and recalibrate. It was the perfect “green medicine”, as she describes it.
“Toni is in semi‑retirement, I’d just come out of a massive job, and we didn’t want to race,” Shelley says.
“We would be stopping going, ‘Oh, look at that plant. Tell us about that plant.’ We literally had a David Attenborough moment with us for the whole 50 kilometres.”
Shelley says her adventures in her younger years were all about physicality, but this trip was all about connecting with and learning about the land. Tasmanian Walking Company’s expert guides were key to that.
“This [walk] was about the interpretation and the understanding of the landscape…” she explains.
“We got extra dimensions and layers out of the walk than if I had just grabbed a backpack and done it by myself.”
The power of nature to heal
Like many women in midlife, Shelley has spent her life and career at full pace. Stepping back from a demanding job before this trip meant she was very excited to slow down. The Three Capes track delivered everything she needed to do that.
A particularly memorable moment for Shelley was a 30-minute section where everyone was instructed to walk alone.
“That half an hour where you can’t see anybody – you feel safe, but you can’t see anyone – it’s the awe of the world, and it reminds you that your problems are not that big,” she said.
“When you’re out in nature, the problems seem to work themselves out.
“They’re not insurmountable… things you thought had to be done today don’t really have to be done today.”
Discover a Wildly Comfortable Walk.