The Walk - Day 1

Our first day of walking had finally arrived! It is going to be 24C, sunny with a light breeze. Good walking weather. I have to admit to feeling very apprehensive. Today's walk is quite tough: 21.5km of remote tracks, including a long 8km beach and no short options or pull out points. Once we commit, the only way out is either back the way we came, or just continue on to the finish. I'm very nervous about how my ankle will cope, not having walked much on it for nearly 5 weeks. But, we came here to complete this walk, and that's what we intend to do. After a light breakfast and a quick visit to the local bakery to buy some lunch, we are ready to go. We have packed plenty of water, lost of energy snacks ( Kit Kats, Smarties, peanuts, jelly beans and chocolate), lunch, first aid kit and windcheater. Deb has strapped my ankle, as instructed by my physio, and we are ready to go. Barry, the local Augusta taxi driver picks us up at 8:30am and drives us to the lighthouse where the walk commences.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse was built in the 1890's, and is still in operation, using the original lens imported from France. The lighthouse sits at the very end of Cape Leeuwin, where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean.

Where the oceans meet

We walk down the road to the old waterwheel. This used to pump water from the fresh water swamp behind the sand dunes up to the lighthouse. Over the years, the wheel has become calcified by the fresh water laden with dissolved limestone, and it no longer operates. The track officially starts here and winds across the rocky beach and over the headland to Quarry Bay.

The Waterwheel at the start of the Track

This is where the stone for the lighthouse was quarried. After negotiating the weedy beach, we continue across more rocky sections.  The rock scrambles are very hard on my ankle, lots of jumping from boulder to boulder, flexing my ankle.  But the walking pole I am using for the first time, makes negotiating the boulders much easier. The next 8km  takes us around some more rocky headlands before emerging into low coastal scrub as the track climbs above the limestone Augusta Cliffs. The track here is good, smooth and firm. The Augusta cliffs are around 100m high, and there are plenty of lookouts from which to observe the ocean below. Gradually, the lighthouse grows smaller and smaller as we head north.

Deb is still smiling on the first morning as we leave Cape Leeuwin behind

Rock scrambles

Walking along the coast above the Augusta Cliffs

Looking back to Cape Leeuwin before dropping down to tackle the 8km long Deepdene Beach

Cape Leeuwin disappearing in the distance

After walking past the Augusta cliffs, the track drops down to Deepdene Beach. We now face 8.5 km of tough walking. Unfortunately, we will be walking at high tide, and the southern end of this beach has a lot of low limestone rock shelves just at the high tide level, so we will have to negotiate these. The shelves are full of "solution holes", left behind after trees that used to grow in the area were covered by sand. Eventually the surrounding rock calcified and the trees eroded away, leaving holes in the limestone rock. We have to walk carefully along these rock shelves. After a couple of kilometers, the beach proper starts and we begin a long slog in very soft sand to the end of the beach.

Limestone rock shelves

More rock shelves at the start of Deepdene Beach

This wide sandy swale took us down to the beach

Our last view of the lighthouse

Lunch time on Deepdene Beach

Finding some wheel tracks to make the walk a little easier

Looking back along Deepdene Beach

We finally reach the end of the beach, after stopping midway for a lunch break. It was quite hot now, and it was tough walking. There was no way to avoid soft sand, even down near the water it was like quick sand. Following some wheel tracks provided some relief, but it was hard on our calves. The compensation, however, was the complete isolation! We were the only people we could see, it seemed no one else existed. Powering along the beach we just worked into a rhythm, lost in the beauty of the beach and our own thoughts. Leaving the beach, we climbed up the sand dunes then along the coast to Cape Hamelin. Here the track negotiated around large pink granite boulders.

Climbing up to Cape Hamelin

Pink granite boulders on Cape Hamelin

The limestone platform

After rounding Cape Hamelin, the track descended to the coast again, but this time we were scrambling along a limestone platform, full of holes and fissures. Many of these holes connected straight down to the sea, which gurgled and blew below us. At the end of the platform, there were many people fishing off the rocks, catching herring. Leaving the beach here we climbed up the dunes and were shortly at Cosy Corner Rd, where we were greeted by Barry the taxi driver who was patiently waiting for us.  We had finished the first days walk at 4:45pm, and Barry drove us back to Augusta, dropping off at the bottle shop so we could buy a few well earned drinks.

So, we made it to the end of Day 1. I was very relieved to have made it without any major problems. It was a very long day, but we enjoyed beautiful scenery, perfect weather and each others company. We really enjoyed our cold drinks, and after a quick dinner at the pub, quickly fell asleep, exhausted, but happy.