With having decided to accept an offer for jobs in Hong Kong (we expect lots of visitors!) for next academic year, we headed to Australia. I realised that I hadn't been on Aussie soil for almost 20 months-far too long! Our original intention wasn't to do the Cape to Cape, but when flights from Bangkok to Sydney kept sending us to Perth, we decided to make a detour, especially as neither of us had been in Western Australia before. And glad we are that Tiger Air have a hub in Perth. The Cape to Cape is a pristine coastal walk and the whole area is stunning and we will definitely be back for more exploration in the future. We didn't muck around, heading straight to Dunsborough, in the Margaret River area south of Perth, from the airport. A cliche about Australia is how much space there is......and nowhere is it more obvious that is Western Australia; on the journey south there were swathes of untouched bush and empty coast line. Fabulous.
We hit Dunsborough and the sun was shining, so we partook in the usual Aussie activities of drinking beer in the sunshine (though I have to say Margaret River does go beyond the normal 'scooner of new' with it's fancy handcrafted beers and micro breweries) and eating fish and chips on the beach!
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| Fish and chips- Aussie style |
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| James with a fancy 'smoked ale' |
The Cape to Cape officially starts at Cape Naturaliste, but there is the 16km Meelup trail heading from Dunsborough to the beginning of the Track, which gave us a taste of the stunning coast line we would be following for the next week or so.
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| Heading off from Dunsborough |
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| Heading from Cape Naturaliste |
The first day of the walk was the toughest. We were back to full camping gear and it was pretty hot, still and humid. We also were carrying (and drinking) a lot of water which made the packs feel really heavy. Because of the distances between towns, and the remoteness of some parts of the track, there are four 'bush camps' along the path (though you can camp where ever you like) which are complete with rainwater tanks for drinking water, picnic tables and long drop loos (that actually have loo paper in them- you have to love Australia!. Pretty good. We were happy that the rainwater tanks always had water in them, so we didn't always need to be completely loaded down with water.
The following day we awoke to a stunning blue sky and a breeze and this pretty much describes the weather for the whole trip. So even though it was the height of summer it was excellent walking conditions- and only felt really hot when you were more inland from the coast or in thick scrub. A life guard on Smiths Beach told us we were doing the track "the brave way". When we asked why he said we would mostly be heading into the wind......whoops! When not on the windy cliffs, we were walking across secluded beaches (the longest was Deepdene Beach- a l-o-n-g 7kms on the sand -luckily it was fairly hard, but the novelty wore off after the first 3kms!), or tramping through shady forests, or clambering around rocky headlands. As usual, the pictures tell the story best.
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| Wow! |
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| People enjoying Australia day on the beach....this was a 'crowded' one |
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| Cool rock formations |
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| Near Canal Rocks |
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| Hamlin Bay |
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| Another totally glorious and deserted beach |
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| Margaret River |
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| Sweeping views |
One of the other things we loved, was that while the path feels really remote in places, it does pass through some really beautiful towns- with some spectacularly located cafes, where hungry walkers could have fantastic breakfasts, snacks, coffees and shakes. It made a fantastic contrast to the dehydrated food we were cooking up at camp!
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| Local Cafe |
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| Prevelly |
Being Australia, there were plenty of encounters with wildlife (James was very casual about leaving the tent open.......luckily no spiders or snakes made their way in). Twice when we sat down at a view point looking over the water to have a break, we saw huge pods of dolphins playing on the reef and in the breakers. There were snakes....some of them big and some very big reptiles basking in the sun. We saw galahs, cockatoos, kookaburras and lots of other birds whose names I do not know, but want too, as they were stunning shades of green and yellow. In the night we heard the thump, thump, thump of Kangaroos moving through the bush- luckily no collisions with the tent -and then, to our delight, saw them up close in the daylight.
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| Cheeky water monitor taking in the sun |
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| Skippy! |
And of course, this is wine country! After 3 days of walking we decided to take a break in the beautiful beach side town of Prevelly to indulge a bit. The ultimate indulgence being an all day wine and gourmet food tasting and tour. What a brilliant way to spend a day- or several- I would definately do it all again!
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| James practising his swirl, sniff and sip |
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| More different types of olive oil than you could imagine! |
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| Beer tasting! |
Needless to say, it was tough getting back onto the track and back to dehydrated food after a fantasic break in Prevelly, but we survived! The wind picked up a little in the second half of the trip, and we even had the threat of a storm (which blew over) , but made for some spectucluar skies, but an annoying head-wind!
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| Up we go! |
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| Thundering seas near Prevelly |
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| Beautiful beach to walk on.......exciting! |
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| Billions of kms and a head wind later........this was a long beach!!! |
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The end was in sight!!! Cape Leeuwen Light House
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| Celebrating completing the walk with a few drinks at Augusta Hotel |
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When we reached the end, we relaxed for a few days in Augusta and Margeret River, where more indulgence of food and wine was our reward for out 160kms of walking. And now we are back on the East Coast of Australia, where the weather continues to be spectacular. I write this sitting at Dad's place where I can hear the sea, smell the delicious concoction that Dad is cooking up, and can almost taste the scooner that we will no doubt head to have this afternoon at the spectacularly located Husky pub over looking Jervis Bay. Nice to be back in Aus. Really, really can't wait to see Mum, Kim and the kids tomorrow!
