Boranup Drive to Gnarabup

Another great walk today, although I got off to a bit of a bad start – when Andrea opened her boot for us to get our packs out there was water everywhere! My water bladder had leaked almost all of my water into my pack and her car! Lucky the weather was cool and I could share Al’s water.

We resumed our walk in the karri forest just after 9:00am and backtracked a bit over 1km to rejoin the track from our pickup point. A few brief showers but a really nice 1 hour/4km walk on good tracks to Point Rd campsite, where we stopped for a short rest. There was a bunch of magpies there that we super-friendly – you can see one on the table with Al!

From Point Rd campsite it was a short walk to Contos Camp, where I had hoped to find water but it was not potable, with the terrain changing from forest to bush. Shortly after Contos a bigger squall came through, which had Al scrambling for her rain jacket, but it passed quickly. The walk along the cliffs between Contos Rd and Bob’s Hollow had great views but the strong WNW wind make it a bit awkward at time navigating the sometimes very rocky path, and we had the occasional shelter from intermittent rain showers. About an hour after leaving Contos we were descending into Bob’s Hollow and the wind seemed much calmer at sea level. Al had a place in mind to stop for lunch, and you can see it behind her as she climbs back up the cliff after Bob’s Hollow, only she didn’t recognise it until after we were on the top!

We did stop for lunch in a clearing shortly after that and another nice cliff top walk for just under 3km before descending to Redgate Beach. Calgardup Brook was flowing and again we decided not to take our boots off – I (nearly) managed to rock hop across but Alison couldn’t and the girls in the picture helped her to cross. I think she ended up get wetter that had she made the attempt herself but it was nice of them to help. The beaches before Redgate Carpark were fairly manageable but north of Redgate (Boodjidup Beach?) was very difficult and just over 2kms took us 45 minutes. It was a relief to turn inland along Boodjidup Brook but the rain really hit us between the beach and Devil’s Pool, where a bridge takes you over the brook.

We had a brief stop at Devil’s Pool then ascended the 365 steps out of the valley, heading for Gnarabup. The rain caught us again and, an hour and a half after leaving the pool, we sloshed into Margaret’s Beach Resort where we’ve been drying things ever since!