Hills Walk Saturday October 30th 2010

Kathryn and Megan are in Thailand till tomorrow night. I took the opportunity to have dinner with my good friends Tim and Ruth Moore. They live in the Perth "hills", actually a scarpe, not hills, but they look like hills from the coastal plain. After dinner, being a very pleasant evening Tim and I had a walk for about an hour, probably between 5 and 6 kilometres. The walk circuit took in part of the old railway line that is now a major walk, bridle and bike track from the base of the scarp to well in land. This track is part of the railway reserve trails, 59 kilometes or railway turned in a walkway. Another great walk with a friend.

Cape to Cape Day 7 Cosy Corner to Cape Leeuwin

 

Today is the last leg of the walk. Last legs should be the key word. I have found myself tired the last two days. The walk on Wednesday close to 30km seems to have used all my reserves up. Steve is the Alpha male as he seems to have boundless energy.

We departed from Cosy Corner at around 8:40am. We had a short half hour walk through the coastal heath before we came onto the beach. The beach area  was quite interesting as one half of the Cosy Corner beach is a low limestone ledge that when the sea has a large enough swell would have many active blowholes. Many sections of the ledges are collapsing into the sea.

On the next headland we came across two women in their 30s who had done in 5 days what had taken us 7! Their husbands were looking after their children, and they were collected each evening, just like we were. The next major beach was Deepdene. A very long and beautiful beach. It took about 75 minutes to walk the beach, most of it being quite firm to walk on except the last 15 minutes of walking. While trying to walk on the firmer sand close to the water edge I managed to get my shoes soaked, not a nice experience.

By morning tea time we caught up with the tour party at the south end of Deepdene beach and the beginning of a long rock ledge. From the Deepdene beach we could see just and faintly, Leeuwin Lighthouse. Unfortunately we turned off the beach too early, stumbling across what is planned as a track alteration and we walked well inland on a four wheel drive track, ascending to a great height, and breathless, before we realised we had become lost. This little adventure probably cost us 45 minutes of time, and much energy. Meanwhile we returned to the beach and continued along the rock ledge, ascending from the beach front to have lunch at a lookout, joining the the large walking party for lunch. We could now clearly see the lighthouse in the distance. Just before we departed leaving the main group behind, we heard their tour leader saying that the Cumberland rocks offshore were the antipods to Washington. rather interesting.

We then had a short walk, up an incline to a ridge that took us through some quite high coastal heath. We were about 8 km walking distance from the lighthouse. Probably in a straight line it was barely 6 kms away. It became very obvious as we got close to the lighthouse that the vegetation was becoming softer and lusher, an indication of an increased rainfall. Cape Leeuwin averages just under 1000mm of rain per year.

For the last kilometre we ended back on the beachfront. We came across the book registration location and Steve signed us off. On one of the last beaches we crossed it had freshwater dripping from the cliff face at a steady rate. We both filled up one our water bottles and it tasted pretty good. After completing the last beach and visiting the lime encrusted water wheel we walked up to the lighthouse coffee shop to meet Kathryn and Nola. This was the first time we were late, arriving at 2.30pm, when we estimated 2.00pm. We would have been early if it had not been for getting lost for a short while.  After a drink and obtaining our certificates for completing the walk I felt very tired but satisfied that we had completed the journey.

Cape to Cape Day 6 Booranup Forest to Cosy Corner

So far I feel yesterday’s walk was the most challenging. Today we arrived at our starting point in the Booranup Forest at 9:20am. The start of the walk was very easy, we made good time through an easy track in the midst of the Karri Forest. After 30 minutes the track turned towards the coast and the Karri’s were soon left behind. The track started to become an up and down walk over the coastal heath. After about 90 minutes we made it to the beach. The large tour group we catch up with each day was just in front of us on the beach.

The beach walk was a long one into Hamelin Bay. The beach walk was about 6 kilometres long not all that difficult as the sand was quite firm. It was a glorious day and we made good time. I had a chat with one of the ladies on the tour group and she explained that the walk was very enjoyable and well organised. We arrived at the Hamelin Bay settlement at about twelvish. The seabreeze came in as we had our lunch overlooking the beautiful waters.

After lunch we made our way along another small beach for about 20 minutes before the track turned inland. The walk inland was quite challenging over quite steep hills. After a strenuous and demanding walk we reached a small lighthouse referred to as Foul Bay Lighthouse. The view from the lighthouse location was beautiful. It was an easy 15 minute walk to Cosy Corner road for our pickup. We will start from this location for our last part of the walk tomorrow.

Cape to Cape Day 5 Prevally Park to Booranup Forest

We are into a regular routine. We all arise between 6:30am and 7:00am. after breakfast and final preparations for the days walk completed, we usually arrive at our starting point at 9:00am.

Today we headed off from Prevally Park (mouth of Margaret River), the walk initially went behind the township and quite some distance inland. This was to be a long walk at 26 plus kilometres. After skirting the township we ended eventually on the beachfront. Today was particularly beautiful, the most consistent day weather wise we have experienced.

After about an half hour of up and downs through relatively easy walking country we came to a very steep descent, about 300 steps down to the valley of a brook. The large tour group we catch up with each day were having their morning tea in a nice area shady area next to the brook.

We then followed the brook until it reached the ocean. We had a quite strenuous walk on the beach. the sand was quite soft, so it was hard work for an hour. We stopped at one location to watch these very small birds on the water edge running down to the water edge to feed on small somethings that the water washed in. It was quite humorous watching the birds running up and down the beach avoiding the waves.

When we cleared the soft beach section we had lunch at a place called Redgate Beach. The seabreeze had come in so the temperature had dropped a little. After another short beach walk we headed inland again with most of the walk being along the coastal ridge. the views were spectacular at times. This was a long walk through the bush, the low scrub was quite scratchy on the legs. At about 2.10pm we arrived at a place called Contos. From here it was another hour and half walk through four wheel drive tracks and some patches of Karri forest, quite a nice walk. We arrived at our pickup spot on the time we had planned at 4.00pm.

Cape to Cape Day 4 Grace Town to Prevally Park

 

Another close to 9.00am start. We were dropped off at Grace Town on the south side of the bay. After the usual photo session at the commencement of each day, we headed south. The weather very quickly looked like it was going to be unpleasant. There was some very dark clouds and a strong wind blowing. We donned our red ponchos, which are now starting to get very tacky. There was a lot of wind but not much rain, and the weather soon improved.

Much of our walk was along sandy paths. About 5kms into the walk we turned inland to Ellenbrook Homestead. I believe this was the home of Georgina Bussell. A very nice grass area was around the house. Although not far from the coast it was well protected from the prevailing winds. The walk then headed further inland to where a freshwater stream appeared from underneath a limestone outcrop, quite unusual, but very attractive. The walk then followed an old four wheel drive track further inland. It was worthwhile seeing some of the different wild flowers, how they varied from the coastal flowers. After about an hour of walking inland, the track made its way to the coast again.

As we headed along the coast again the weather came in bad, we headed for a clump of tea trees to shelter in to have our lunch while the weather passed over. After we emerged from our Tea Tree bushes the weather had cleared. The rest of the walk was mainly along the coastline. The wind was blowing very strongly as we made our way into Prevally Park. Fortunately we made our way across the river mouth easily as the sand bar was not open. We arrived at 2.00pm an hour ahead over schedule again. Tomorrow is our longest stretch at 26km.

Cape to Cape Day 3 Moses Rock to Grace Town

By the end of today I had a blister on my left and right big toe. We arrived at Moses Rock at about 8:50am. Unfortunately the weather today was not as pleasant initially as we expected. There was a drizzly mist for the first couple hours we walked. The disposable red ponchos I had bought some time ago came in very handy. When we passed the tour group with 15 walkers they referred to us as Russell and Russell!

We haven’t met a lot of people on the track. Today we saw a family group with mum and dad carrying large packs and the two boys with day packs. They had been on the track for 5 days, making their way north. There is not a lot of people who do the walk from South to North. The other two groups we have encountered are the 15 people who are part of Inspiration Tours and about 6 people who are walking on behalf of Mental Health Week, or something like that.

The family group we encountered encouraged us to walk around the base of Willyabrup Cliffs, indicating it was one of the more attractive parts of the walk. It was a little tricky making our way around the cliff face, the views were fantastic. In one spot there were workers working on a pathway below the area where they do abseiling. In my wisdom I said to them as joke, “how many years will you be cracking rocks”. It wasn’t until I had walked past one of the bosses and noticed that he had on his lapel, “Corrective Services”, that I realized this were real life inmates working on a community project! Steve could hardly stop himself from laughing.

As the day wore on the weather lifted and it turned out to be a very beautiful day. We had lunch in a rocky bay called Whaleback Bay. After lunch we had a walk for about one more hour to reach Gracetown. We arrived about 1.50pm and had to wait till shortly after 3.00pm for Nola and Kathryn to pick us up. While we were waiting we enjoyed watching the surfers in the bay, especially those on rather large boards who paddle out to the wave, even using the paddle once they catch the wave.

Cape to Cape Day 2 Yallingup to Moses Rock

We commenced today at about 9.30am. The walk today is a little further, being 16 kilometres long. The walk was not too hard to take except when walking along the beach stretches or up and down sand dunes. Fortunately the sand stretches are not too long.

The wind was not as strong as yesterday afternoon. It really helps to wear a wide brimmed hat to keep the sun off your face, although my legs are getting a little over cooked. I also ended up with a blister on my right big toe. A bandaid on the toe and an extra pair of socks and my toe went well for the rest of the day.

There is an enormous amount of wildflowers that we had the pleasure of photographing. The scenery is very variable, frequently changing from cliff to beach, so it never becomes boring. Just before Moses Rock was reached we crossed over Quindalup Creek and in the background was the falls, we could not see much water going over the falls. It looked very soft sand up to the base of the falls, so we gave it a miss. It was bad enough walking up the soft sand path as we moved away from Quindalup Creek. The area has red “ocre”, so was a traditional aboriginal area for corroborees.

The photos tell more of a story than the words I write. We arrived at Moses Rock our meeting point at 2.50pm. Kathryn and Nola arrived about 10 minutes later.

Day 1 Cape Naturaliste to Yallingup

The day of the big walk has arrived. Steve and Nola collected us at 10.00am. The drive to Cape Naturaliste was a little over 3 hours. The traffic was quite heavy as this is the school holiday period, being Saturday many people would be commencing their holidays.

After lunch on the Busselton foreshore we made our way to Cape Naturaliste a short drive away. We commenced our walk at Approximately 2.00pm. The first leg was to Sugarloaf Rock, approximately 3 kms away. This was really easy as the walk trail is sealed, making it possible for those in wheel chairs to enjoy a short part of the walk.

There was many wild flowers, mainly in pinks, whites and purples to observe as we walked along. We passed one group of about 7 back packers, as they were carrying large packs we soon overtook them. I’m glad we only had to carry day packs as the sandy strips would become quite difficult walking with a heavy pack.

After we passed Sugarloaf Rock we were onto the sand tracks, which in some spots were quite soft. At times you walked on the ledge above the beach, other times there was small sections of beach walking. It was all very pleasant except for the quite strong wind, at least it wasn’t too hot. We also had a brief but pleasant encounter with Ray who was one of the authors of the guide book we were using. He was in the process of developing the 5th edition of the book. Steve said he was aware of him as a science teacher, although he was now obviously retired.

We saw some fauna, two kangaroos, nice red ones, they bounded away as we got near to them. Also saw a small goanna on the track, which didn’t move at all, maybe it was too cold. Also saw a beautiful Blue or Splendid Wren, tried to get a photo, but it was a little blurred.

The final stretch into Yallingup was along the beautiful Yallingup Beach, completing.approximately 14km on our first day, a 3.5 hour walk. We arrived in the car park at 5.30pm, Kathryn and Nola were waiting to take us back to Taunton Farm. Tomorrow we make our way from Yallingup to Moses Rock, approximately 17.5km.