Cape to Cape Track - Day 8

 Wednesday 19 August

Trails WA Cape to Cape Track  Friends of Cape to Cape Track

We were up at 5:30am and away at 7am for our last day on the Cape to Cape Track. It rained on and off as we were packing up so Drew has the extra weight of a wet fly. We walked south along Deepdene Beach. We removed our shoes and socks to cross Turner Brook. The sand was very hard to get off our feet, being course and sticky even after drying our feet. We did not do as thorough a job as we would have liked as we could see a rain squall approaching. Thankfully it was brief and we got our boots and rain jackets on in time.

Some areas of the beach had massive amounts of plastic rubbish piled up and others very little, presumably due to the ocean currents. I found it quite confronting just how many pieces of plastic were on beaches that have very few people physically visit them.  It has really brought home to me just how much of a global problem plastic usage and disposal is. I have been reducing my new plastic purchases, but this has motivated me to work as hard as I can at this, as well as making sure any plastics I do use, are utilised for the full life.

Some sections of the beach were steep, others flatter, but not flat. As we approached the Augusta Cliffs there were more rock platforms and sea spray from the waves crashing against them. This is not a section I would have liked to hike at high tide.  The climb off the beach was well marked and went through coastal heath before descending to another rock platform. There were large numbers of flies under the rock overhangs near the beach that would swarm out as the air was disturbed by walking past them.

Once off the beach the vegetation changed from coastal heath to small trees and was cooler walking. I spotted some wildflowers on this last day of the hike that I had not yet seen in this hike - bonus! I saw my one and only snake for this hike. Near the end of the hike there were some technical rocky sections and some oozy seaweed patches that could not be avoided. I did not enjoy the sensation of hiking across the seaweed.

On reaching Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, we were again allowed to go into the complex and touch the lighthouse. We completed our hike just before 2pm.  Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse  Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse (Lighthouses.org.au)

We contacted South West Driving Services, who promptly collected us and returned us to our car and van.  South West Driving Services We then drove to Busselton where we stayed at Discovery Parks West Busselton. We were set up, showered and clean by 4:30pm.  Discovery Parks West Busselton

Statistics

Distance                      17.68km

Time                            6h 7m

Ascent                         339m

Descent                       349m