CAPE TO CAPE WALK - Margaret River, W.A. - 135 kms - 5 days - Overview

CAPE TO CAPE WALK, Margaret River, W.A.

 

 

A trip to Perth, Western Australia, to visit our son and daughter-in-law, during the winter school holidays, provided an opportunity to plan a few days to the do Cape to Cape Trek. This is a 135 km walk from Cape Naturalist to Cape Leeuwin and borders the famous Margaret River wine region. Given the unpredictable seasonal weather and the basic camping facilities (and we are not generally camping enthusiasts, if truth be known) we organised bed, breakfast and daily transport to each section of the track. We would highly recommend Lorraine and Richard Firth's Merribrook Retreat  www.merribrook.com.au. They are avid walkers and so are very informed about the route and have developed a comfortable lodge and high class cabin facilities to showcase the area.

 

The track is well marked and leads you along the beautiful rocky south-western coastline, by prepared trails through karri forests, on sandy beaches and some rocky outcrops. It has some excellent sections for shorter day walks. In fact, we would rate these stretches easy walking but the sum of the parts of the walk make it quite a strenuous undertaking. This is mainly due to the remoteness of the path and the availability for practical drop-off and pick-up points, if you are not camping on the track.

 

The daily temperature was about 18o C, which made walking very pleasant. We had some fine weather and some showers and fortunately, did not experience high winds or thunderstorms. Friends had warned us that this was a possibility so we were well prepared with wet-weather gear and long pants to prevent the pain of whipped-up sand.

 

The track itself was mainly flat and has been well maintained by the Friends of the Cape to Cape.  On the downside, a few essential guide posts had been removed at some intersections and we took some time to re-discover the correct path. The coastline is spectacular with fascinating bird and marine life and native vegetation. The wildflowers must be spectacular in Spring. The advantages walking in July are the cooler walking conditions, fewer annoying insects and snakes - although we did encounter 2 small innocuous pythons! The greatest disadvantage is the softness of the sand in the cooler weather, which makes walking slow and tedious -- and there are long stretches of beach track.

 

We didn't encounter anyone walking at this time, although there was evidence of others on the track in the sign-in books at both ends of the track. We were amazed by the number of surfers out every day off remote beaches, finding breaks in the treacherous reefs, often far from shore. Otherwise, the few coastal towns we encountered were deserted and summer cafes closed for the season. This made our evening returns to Margaret River all the more enjoyable each evening as we savoured the delights of the food, wine, conviviality and warmth of restaurants in the area.

 

Having walked to many destinations overseas in the past year we were delighted to be savouring Australian landscape as well, so pristine and well-cared for - with no language difficulties! Our warning is that on the face of it this appears to be quite a straightforward easy - medium walk, but because of the long expanses of beach / sand dunes, it can prove to be a difficult ordeal.

 

M&M

mm_smith@bigpond.net.au