Our little piece of the Cape to Cape

We were back down to Margaret River this past weekend. Sally was our fine organizer who had the exchange group stay at a place near Prevelly, close to where we would be hiking. We arrived Friday evening allowing us to rise and set off early on Saturday. Our weekend consisted of hiking the '3rd' section as per this map (click here).

The first day we did about 28km of the trail from Gracetown back down to Prevelly. The terrain was varied, with long stretches along the coast, but also traversing interior for some parts. Don (Sally's husband) was the 'designated driver' simplifying the logistics of one-way hiking. This also allowed us to be free of carrying our food for lunch as he met us at our lunch stop!

We were clearly further south here, as the flowers were still very much in bloom this late in the season. The entire walk we were surrounded with a variety of colours. One of my favourites was the vibrant pink 'pig snout' (sorry no photo!) Calla lilies, although a pest here since they are non-native, cover the forest floor in damper areas and are beautiful.

We stopped for lunch at the Ellensbrook homestead - the earliest European settlement on the west coast dating to 1850. Nearby was a pretty waterfall in a lush valley (photo of valley at left, waterfall / cascade below).

One of the reasons the walk is so interesting, is due to the underlying rock. There is a ridge which runs all the way down the coast from cape to cape. There is an underlying ancient granite bed, over which the limestone 'young' rock has been laid. So the exposed rock types alternate along the sandy beach and dunes which line the coast. It makes for interesting and varied terrain.

Most of us (except for Sally and our guide who walked back to the accommodations!) ended the day by crossing the Margaret River. In peak flow time, it can be a challenge, but on this day it came up to our knees and was not a problem - despite the many warnings we had received! Saturday evening we took our weary bones out for a nice dinner to a pasta restaurant in Margaret River - we deserved a meal full of carbohydrates!

The Ashwells - who are exchanged near Margaret River - joined us for the hike on Saturday only. That was nice since they have 2 sons aged 15 & 17, so Kyle was not the only teen for once! Also, we did not have our volunteer guide with us on Sunday, and one of the girls decided her back and legs had had enough! And so we were a smaller group for hiking on Sunday.

This time we headed south from Prevelly for about 10km. Again the walk was varied, this time I think even more enjoyable. We started on a tough uphill followed by a nice long flattish walk with wonderful views all around. That's us at left - Kyle way out in front, us three girls and Mike in the back taking photos - as was often the case.

After a steep descent of 344 steps into a beautiful valley, the walk continued along the valley then out into the sand dunes and finished along the beach. The final beach stretch of about 3 km was idyllic. It consisted of just our group hiking along white sand with blue water as far as you could see - the sun shining, a gentle breeze. The only other living souls we saw were dolphins playing in the water. It's hard to imagine a more peaceful place.

After a quick shower to freshen up, we visited a local winery for a nice lunch before heading our separate ways. Yet another successful exchange event with much thanks to Sally & Don for all their efforts.