Caves House to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse

Well, a great day to finish a fantastic walk – our last trip started a full month later than we have finished this one and, although the brooks and rivers are running fuller, the much cooler weather has made it a much more enjoyable walk!

We had a great stay at Caves House Hotel last night and this morning. This was the iconic hotel in the region when we first started coming to the south-west in 1976 and I’ve always wanted to stay there. It’s gone through some ups and downs in the intervening period but it’s back to being a great hotel – plus we had a really nice, big room!

Although we thought we would sleep in, given the short day today and no pickups necessary, we were on the road at about 10 past 9 after a lovely breakfast and with a very big packed lunch. We walked straight out the western side of the hotel, through a lovely garden, and bit of suburbia and 1 1/2 km later were on the C2C, having avoided the walk along Yallingup beach! From there we made great time past Mount Duckworth campsite along a wide trail before stopping, after nearly 5km, for a break and a snack. There haven’t been a lot of seats along the track but those that are all face into the breeze, and can be quite cold!

About 1 1/2 km past the seat, we dropped down the the beach at Three Bears, ascending back up to the path after a short 1/2 km walk along it. From there just over a km to another rest, again facing straight into the strong sou’wester and another 1 1/2 km to Sugarloaf Rock. Just before reaching the rock we were treated to an amazing display of breaching and fluke and fin slapping by three whales! It started when I pointed out what I thought was a bombie to Al but then we saw the whales playing. We watched them for about 500 m and then stood for probably another 10 minutes very close to Sugarloaf. It was the closest we had ever been to whales playing – so close we could hear the sound of their fins slapping the water! We had been seeing random splashes for a few days but it was hard to make anything out is the north westerlies we’ve been walking into so we think we have probably been seeing a lot of them without knowing it…

From Sugarloaf the path is bitumen or boardwalk so pretty easy walking, albeit a bit harder on the feet. Cape Naturaliste lighthouse keeps itself pretty well hidden apart from a short glimpse just before Sugarloaf Rock, so it was a bit frustrating knowing we were close but not able to see the destination. Nearly 2 km after crossing Sugarloaf Rock road, we finally turned inland, and, again, nearly 2km later, we were finally at the lighthouse!

By my count we’ve done a bit over 132km in 7 days, had a few slogs but mostly walked with great views of the magnificent Indian Ocean, through our beautiful bush and forests and have come across some amazing wild flowers and native animals! Might try going north to south next time…