Walking New Zealand

Overseas Walk: Soaking up the views in WA - Cape Naturalist­e Lighthouse to Yallingup

Cape Naturalist­e Light House to Yallingup

- By Yvonne van Eerden

We were visting Perth,WesternAus­tralia and had the opportunit­y of going to Margaret River to do some day walks on the Cape to Cape.

We chose to first walk Cape Naturalist­e in the Leeuwin - Naturalist­e National Park Lighthouse to Yallingup, a 14km walk along the coast and cliff tops.

Before we left Margaret River it was pouring with rain (they had cooler temperatur­es than normal) but by the time we were ready to leave the rain had cleared and we still had a 45 minute drive to the start of the walk.

We headed off on the Cape to Cape walk at 9.30am, and looked around the lighthouse first which was very special to see. Beautiful views with a light

breeze and sunshine and a temperatur­e of 24 degrees. Great for us Kiwis.

The first 3.5 km was a sealed path, great for families with children and prams, wheel chairs and grannies that definitely encourages families to walk.

The views were stunning, the sea so blue and the sky so blue. We had been told by a local that you could see the whales from the walk but the whales had already migrated away.

We came to Sugar Loaf Rock which was a great formation in the sea, we stopped for morning tea and to soak up the views.

The beaches were a beautiful white sand and some easy to access but others very hard to get to as we were above on the cliffs. We took our time as we stopped to take many photos and just look and soak in the scenery.

The track changed to sand and limestone and was very narrow in places. You also had to keep an eye out for snakes and yes we came across a black snake who had heard us thumping along the track and it slid off into the low bush to hide. We just saw about 20cm of the snake and were amazed that it was around in the middle of the day.

The limestone formations were incredible leaving amazing formations. There was so much to see and the scenery changed all the time.

The flys were around and they just stuck like glue so us Kiwis got the fly nets out to put over our heads and this made a huge difference.

We thought we would not see anyone that we knew and it made our life a lot easier and they said that the fly nets also protected you from the sun.

We had lunch on a seat facing the sea and just enjoyed the views of the coastline for kilometers.

After lunch we headed off and the sand became softer under foot as we came closer to Yallinghup, a very small surfing spot with beautiful beaches.

We had an absolutely fantastic day and ended up in a cafe for a cool drink and a cuppa and waited for our pick up to take us back to Margaret River.

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 ??  ?? Above: On the Cape to Cape Track. Below left: All ready to go.
Above: On the Cape to Cape Track. Below left: All ready to go.
 ??  ?? Above: The beautiful blue sea from the track.
Above: The beautiful blue sea from the track.
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 ??  ?? Above left: We all need fly nets. Above right: Admiring the sea views. Below left: The Naturalist­e National Park Lighthouse. Below right: A large roick on the coastline.
Above left: We all need fly nets. Above right: Admiring the sea views. Below left: The Naturalist­e National Park Lighthouse. Below right: A large roick on the coastline.
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