November | 2023 | Beverley Lello

Shark Bay to Margaret River

Milligan’s Island

After leaving Shark Bay we drove to a camping spot at Milligan’s Island, south of Geraldton. It was hot and windy, not very pleasant, and that was before the arrival of the bees! We enjoyed a long walk on the beach, beautiful shades of colour in the water, white sand, the cry of seabirds and, on our second evening, a magic sunset framed in a gap on Milligan’s Island.

Then inland with a short stopover to do the three bay coastal walk at Greenhead. The sea just keeps on being stunning. Sea grass creates dark patches that contrast with the lighter aquamarine over sand then the scalloped edge of the white sand.

Leseur National Park

After almost three weeks on the coast we decided to go inland. Lesueur NP offered the prospect of more wildflowers. Karda Campground is next to the national park and was a real treat; gum trees and shady sites, open grass with grazing kangaroos and emus and only a few other campers. The down side: flies and heat (38 degrees by early afternoon). We stayed three nights with a day trip into Lesueur NP and an easy but hot walk up Mt Lesueur. Lots of wildflowers on the driving loop and then the walk with a single sighting of the rare black kangaroo paw.

The Pinnacles

On another day we got up early (not hard to do when it’s light at 5.30 am) and drove south to The Pinnacles. By being early we beat the influx of tourist buses and had an unimpeded desert wander amongst these amazing rock extrusions.

The Wheel Incident

A swim at Jurien Bay was an after desert treat before heading back to our campground and sweltering through a hot afternoon. Then disaster! The wheel came off our van at 100 kph near the coastal town of Lancelin, 100 kms north of Perth. The van stayed upright and Chris managed to slow down and pull over into a side turning lane. People stopped but our main saviour was a young man, Kim, living nearby who had heard the brake drum grinding on the road. Chris managed to drive the van around the corner onto his house block. We left it there overnight and drove to Perth, picked up a new brake drum and returned to Kim’s place in the morning. Apart from issues with the wheel nuts, we managed to get a wheel back on and the spare tyre – the original wheel was lost in the bush – and drive to Freemantle. We bought two new tyres from a mobile tyre service who came to our campsite in Freemantle and replaced the dodgy spare and fitted a new tyre on our replacement rim. Phew! Not a nice experience but it could have been worse.

With our rescuer, Kim, putting the spare wheel on

Rottnest Island (Wadjemup)

We had time to enjoy other attractions of Perth and Freemantle with time spent amongst the flowers in the Perth botanical gardens and an amazing day cycling – on hired bikes – around Rottnest Island (Wadjemup). The weather was perfect and the road around the island and in and out to the bays along the way, was easily managed. No cars either, just an occasional tour bus. There was so much more to Wadjemup than we had thought, not just a beach or two and quokkas! We were lucky enough to see a whale breeching out to sea and a colony of seals on the rocks at the end of the island.The bikes we’d hired were good and we finished the circuit with a beer before returning to the mainland on the ferry.

Margaret River

With our wheel disaster behind us, new tyres on the van and the memory of the enjoyable experience of Wadjemup and cycling, we drove to Gracetown near Margaret River to be in place for the Cape to Cape Track. Our walking experience has been given, a separate post so no more on that here. The Margaret River area, however, had other attractions being a wine and gourmet dining region. Over a hundred wineries, many of them with restaurants made it difficult to decide what to taste and where to taste it, but we managed, and with some beautiful string music provided at one of the wineries as a bonus. By the time we left, our car now had a modest cellar in the canopy for future drinking.

Mikis Restaurant – 3 of 28 tasting dishes

A PS to this post to showcase some of the beautiful natives in the Perth Botanical Gardens.

Onwards to the karri forest, cycling, kayaking and coastal walking.

Western Australia Wander – Part Three

The Cape to Cape Track has existed since 2001. It follows the coastline from Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwen. The official length of the track is 135 kilometres and is a mix of disused sandy 4WD tracks, narrow rocky paths and soft sandy beaches. We hiked south from Cape Naturaliste with the ocean on our right and the vegetated ridges of Leeuwen – Naturaliste National Park on our left. When the sun shone, the sky and sea were a brilliant blue contrasting in a stunning way with the green of the vegetation and patches of mainly pink wildflowers. The edge of this coast is also scalloped with sandy beaches defined by rocky outcrops and rugged headlands. Wildflowers in abundance and humpback whales out to sea. Gorgeous!

Our version of the Cape to Cape Track was completed over six days with two rest days. We skipped a few sections towards the end where long beach trudges on soft sand seemed to dominate but we were satisfied with our 90 kilometres. Our base was in our van at Gracetown Caravan Park. Each walking day we used a shuttle service. We drove to the end point for the day where we met our driver, Jye. He then drove us to our starting point and we walked back to our car. This flexible arrangement meant we could take a couple of days out for a winery lunch, a gourmet dinner in Margaret River and a whale watching boat trip from Busselton.

Day 1 Cape Naturaliste to Torpedo Rock (Yallingup) 21.5 kms

After our driver dropped us off we had some time before the lighthouse opened so we completed a 5 kilometre circuit around Cape Naturaliste.This seemed like a good idea at the time, not such a good idea when we were trudging the last 5 kilometres of the day to our car at Torpedo Rocks. However, that loop was a great introduction to the wildflowers in the area. Many of them we would see in abundance as we made our way south. At one point we stopped to watch several whales, mothers with calves about to begin their journey to Antarctica. After a coffee and a warm choc-chip muffin at the lighthouse cafe we started on the track, well graded, wide and firm for the first few kilometres to Sugarloaf Rock with panoramic blue sky, blue sea views all the way. The walking was varied, ups and downs, sometimes on the old 4WD tracks, sometimes on narrower pathways through the vegetation and several soft sand stretches on the beach. The constant was the ocean, the crash of the waves as a backdrop to its vastness.

Starting out at Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse

Diplolaena dampieri – Southern diplolaena

Day 2 Torpedo Rocks to Moses Rocks 18.5 kms

Still a bit weary and footsore from our long day yesterday, we were on Smith’s Beach trudging south by 8.30 am. After the beach came a climb up a rocky slope. The track meandered through boulders to a rocky outcrop and a stunning view of the coastline heading south. The day had been grey to start with but the sun was now shining and the sea a deep cerulean blue. The map has names for all the beaches and cliffs. They’re a mixture of English and French – Smith Beach, Mitchell Rocks, Cape Clairault and indigenous. Many of the names in the local indigenous language end in ‘up’ meaning place in the Noongar dialect: Wyadup, Quininup, Injidup. We concentrated on the views and the track, the names too numerous to remember. Our 18 kilometre day began to seem neverending but we did manage a short side trip to Quininup Falls a couple of kilometres before our destination end, Moses Rocks. Looking back, we thought this was one of the most stunning days of the walk.

Day 3 Moses Rocks to Gracetown 15 kilometres

Our base was the Gracetown Caravan Park which is about 3 kilometres inland from Gracetown Beach, our end point for day three. A sunny day that became quite hot by early afternoon and made the walking harder. It was a great day for the wildflowers and more of those stunning ocean and coastline panoramas. Towards the end, we negotiated a difficult rock scramble around North Point before eventually reaching Gracetown Beach and a refreshing swim in clear cold water. Another fabulous day, equal to day two.

It was time for a treat. Anticipating an earlier finish, we had booked into one of Margaret River’s top rated restaurants, Mikis. Showered and dressed up, we fronted for the late sitting of a Japanese fusion degustation of 23 delicious morsels with matching wines. A reward for our efforts so far.

Duck, beef and fish, three of the twenty three at Mikis in Margaret River

Day 4 Ellensbrook to Prevelly and the Margaret River mouth – 15 kilometres

We cut out a section from this day. We were weary and thought a shorter day was in order. Our starting point was Ellensbrook Homestead. This restored, historical site provided some variety, particularly as the track wandered away from the coast through scrubby forest. Much of the walking after that was along a path carved into the tall heath, rather like walking along a closed in corridor. The skies were greyer and the day cooler, something of a relief after yesterday’s heat. The downside, grey ocean and duller light for photos. We had expected to wade the River mouth at the end of our long morning but managed to cross the sandbar between the river and the ocean. Ate lunch at a cafe overlooking the mouth.

Day 5 Redgate Beach to Hooley Road Junction 12 kilometres

This was another shortened day. It’s great when you can manage your own timetable – our driver, Jye, was happy to do whatever we wanted. We’d declared the day before to be completely free of walking and opted instead for a late start and a winery lunch at Amelia Park winery. The lamb shoulder was delicious! Excellent wine too in a beautiful restaurant. Anyway, we were once again back on the track and spent some time watching the surfers ride the waves at Redgate Beach. Then away from the beach and along a 4WD track with some different wildflowers. After about 7 kilometres the track passed through a bush camping ground, Contos. We had originally intended to move to Contos but decided to stay at Gracetown because a hot shower at the end of a long day walking is so good. Beyond Contos was a long stretch of track through forest that had been burnt some years ago. The regrowth was abundant, both greenery and wildflowers, particularly the Kennedia Coccinea vine with its clusters of bright orange pea flowers. The last kilometre to the car was into unburnt karri forest.

Day 6 Hillview Road to Cape Leeuwen Lighthouse – 11.5 kilometres

It is a 70 kilometre drive south from Gracetown to the lighthouse. We parked our car in the lighthouse carpark and a different driver, Cy, drove us and a party of six from Perth, to Hillview Road. We had all decided on this short option to avoid a very long walk along a soft sandy beach. We had stopped on the track and talked briefly to different people on previous days, but we actually walked with this group, three older couples, for about an hour. Nice to talk to someone else apart from each other for a change! Another grey day so not so much temptation to take photos but the views were good and those wildflowers just keep on blooming. At last the lighthouse and the end of our journey. Today’s treat, a lovely lunch in a restaurant in Augusta.

	Maree Missen on The Cape to Cape Track
	fbalkau on The Cape to Cape Track
	beverleylello on Western Australia Wander…
	maree missen on Western Australia Wander…
	ericlarsen57 on HANOI

Beverley Lello

Monthly Archives: November 2023

Western Australia Wander – Part Four

The Cape to Cape Track