The Walk - Day 3

Anzac day today. Another beautiful sunny day, expecting 27C today. We will leave our Augusta accommodation today and walk into our next hotel at Prevelly. Should be a lovely day walking today, only 17.5 km, mostly along the cliff tops and only 1 long section of beach at the end of the day. We pack our bags and ourselves into Barry's taxi and head back to the Karri forest. Barry drops us off and then takes our bags on to Prevelly.

Warming up before the day's walk

The start of the walk is back in the Karri forest again, and it is a beautiful morning walking, warm with nice flat, firm walking tracks. There are lots of Bull Banksia's here, quite spectacular looking trees covered in evil Banksia Men. The track winds through the bush which gradually changes back to the coastal scrub as we near the coast. After passing through a lovely bush campsite surrounded by Peppermint trees we then climb up towards the coast along a wide, sandy track. It's hot work now as the sun rises in a cloudless sky and the temperature increases. We pass another bush campground, Contos, accessible by road so a few holidaymakers are around for the public holiday. From Contos campground, a narrow, sandy track winds along towards the coast. This track is full of limestone boulders, making progress a bit slower as we carefully watch our step.

Evil Banksia Man 

The track to Contos Campground

Bull Banksia trees

Grass trees growing along the track toward Contos Beach

Suddenly, we emerge from the scrub onto the cliff tops to one of the best beach views I have seen. Down below us is the gorgeous Contos Beach. It has perfect white sand and beautiful rocky platforms at the end of the beach. The sea is a gorgeous turquoise color and we can hear the waves rolling onto the beach. We wish we had time for a swim!

Contos Beach.......perfect!

Looking back through the limestone rocks towards Contos Beach

The track then winds through the coastal heath, along the clifftops for the next 3km. Beautiful views abound along this section of track and the walking is very pleasant indeed. As the track gets closer to Bob's Hollow, it becomes very rocky (limestone again!) and we have to watch our progress carefully. It is about now that I start to get quite severe pains in my knee whenever my knee is slightly bent, and especially when going downhill. It's quite uncomfortable, but the scenery is so nice I just try to ignore it and push on. It is very hot now, and there is not much respite from the sun. We approach some limestone cliffs with caves and decide to stop here in the shade for lunch. This is Bob's Hollow and there is an old spring at the bottom of the cliff.

Back into the coastal scrub

Bob's Hollow Spring, our lunch spot

Looking north, you can see the burnt out areas near Prevelly

After a relaxing, long lunch, we head off down the cliffs to get around the headland, and then back up to the clifftop track. From here, we can see north along the coast towards Prevelly and the areas burnt out in the November 2011 bushfires. Redgate Beach is also visible, and as we will be walking down to this beach, we both decide we will just have to stop for a swim when we get there. After about an hours walking, we reach the beach, which is also accessible by road, so quite busy on this Anzac Day holiday. It is beautiful relaxing in the warm water, feeling it rejuvenate our very tired bodies. We can see lots of small fish schooling in the shallow waves as we float in our own serene paradise. After a good swim and a rest on the beach we consider the rest of the days walk. We still have 4km to walk, and unfortunately it is all along another soft sandy beach. My knee is really painful now, so we decide to try to call a taxi from the car park at Redgate Beach, not certain that would would get mobile reception.

Redgate Beach

We pack up, and head along the beach, climbing up the rocky headland to the carpark. Arriving at the carpark, we must have looked quite lost, because a local guy asked us if we were OK and did we need any help. Upon hearing our story, Boyd announced that he had "better help you out then", and proceeded to pack us into his car and drive us to Prevelly. It turned out he was recently retired (he looked no older than me!) and was living a green, sustainable life at nearby Witchcliff. He had just finished catching his fish for the day, and was heading home. His previous work was in research, and interestingly he completed his doctorate on the endangered Helmeted Honeyeater, Victoria's bird emblem. As we approached Prevelly, he showed us a lot of the damage from the bushfires last year and explained how many of the people in Prevelly escaped to the beach, and were rescued by jet ski. The WA government apparently also has a Department of Sparks and Embers (DSE) similar to Victoria, and they were responsible for lighting the fire, meant to be a controlled backburn, on a very hot windy day.........

Boyd dropped us off at the Margaret Beach Resort, which had narrowly avoided being destroyed by the bushfires. The fires had burnt right up to the property on 3 sides. After checking in, we decided to enjoy a swim in the resort pool to help ease our aching bodies. Woah.....the water was icy! Freezing in fact. The beach was much warmer. It was so cold we could only briefly wade around and give our legs an ice bath.


So Day 3 was complete, and we finished the night with a lovely meal in the resort's restaurant. We were really tired now and fell into bed thankfully. I was quite worried about my knee, which, although it had improved with the ice bath, was still quite stiff. We decided that we would have to find a physio tomorrow morning to get it checked out.