Active Adventure 2025: Cape to Cape, Western Australia
Day 1 – Friday 7th November
Today most of our crew flew across Australia, getting in about 3pm. They settled into the hotel, some ran errands, others met up at the Irish pub, then we all convened about 5.30pm for dinner across the road from the hotel.
Dinner was better for some of us than others. Janet ordered bangers and mash, but got some kind of ham. She didn’t feel good eating it.
We retired early and excited to finally be getting underway after 5 previous attempts!!
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Day 2 – Saturday 8th November: Cape Naturaliste to Yallingup
We were all up early and enjoying breakfast when the news got around that Tracey wasn’t feeling well. She slept ok but her tummy started gurgling in the early morning, and disaster struck when she exploded in the bathroom. Hoping that that was the end, of it she made her way down to breakfast and attempted to eat, but failed. She spent the whole 3.5hr bus ride to Cape Naturaliste holding back her vomit, and had to skip the first day of hiking. She was delivered to our accommodation and spent the afternoon in bed.
The rest of us met Andrew and Scott, our guide for the day, and met up with Kylianne, the woman that inspired us to attempt the Cape to Cape in the first place. Kylianne blends movement with brain training to look after her clients and elite sports kids brains and bodies. This is her 9th year of running the Cape to Cape trek as a fundraiser for the Gidget Foundation. We were thwarted three times between 2020 and 2023 by covid, and it’s great to finally be over here and participating.
After a lengthy briefing, we headed up to the lighthouse where we saw whales and heard a bit about the history. Many of the place names here are French, because the French happened to be the first Europeans to chart this section of coast. Then we finally started walking! It was stunning from the first minute. Today was geology day, so our guide was showing us different rocks and petrified plants from tens of thousands of years ago.
With all the stops, starts, stories, and educations, we didn’t finish our 15km until about 6pm. But the water was irresistible so we took an extra half hour to take a swim before dinner. Dinner was pre ordered at the local brewery, and then we had a 40min drive back to our accommodation, so it was a big day! We are staying at the Surfpoint resort, and since there was the space, they have spread our team out so that where once we were all twin share, shared bathrooms, some of us now have a single, king bed room and an en-suite!! Whatever the situation, it is safe to say we all ended up crashed in bed as soon as we walked through the door.
Day 3 – Sunday 9th November: Yallingup to Moses Rock
We had to make our own breakfast and organise ourselves this morning, and everyday at this resort! Everything you need is there, but it’s not ready made. It’s a bit of chaos, with our group of 20 plus the other walkers all jostling over one tap for water, one toaster for toast, etc! All of us managed except Sandy who was 10min late for the bus! We never let her live it down either!
Poor Lou was next to go down with this tummy bug, But today had a half-day option. I can’t remember the topic for the days as I write this, but our guides were Foxy and Breezy, and the format of the day went much like yesterday – stopping for stories every half an hour for the first half of the day, then power walking the equivalent distance in half the time in the second half of the day! For morning tea we stopped at a natural rockpool called “the aquarium” which was a magic experience. Many of us swam in our undies and all of us had to walk the rest of the day salty. Foxy told us a story about a friend who went abalone picking on the other side of the pool wall and saw a 4m great white shark.
We also got to meet Uncle Bill, and local Noonjar elder and the first indigenous professional surfer. He told us some great stories about the place, then offered to let us try his dried snakes… then proceeded to pull out a bag of Natural Confectionery co lolly snakes – we had been tricked.
We said goodbye to the participants who elected to do just half the day here, then wandered south with the rest of our team. The wildlife went nuts from here. We saw a nob tailed lizard, a snake, dolphins, kangaroos, multiple goannas, and black cockatoos. We did a couple of short beach traverses, one which was quite hot as the sea breeze kicked in.
Some of our team made a little detour to see the waterfall, and we wondered how 17.7km became almost 20km…. it happened in the unsealed road we had to walk to get to the bus after we “finished”.
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Day 4 – Monday 10th November: Moses Rock to Gracetown
Yesterday was marine day. I had forgotten but now I remember Foxy drawing a big map of Australia and antartica on the sand and explaining how the swells hit margaret river and why. Today was flora day. Breezy led our expedition and infected us all with her passion for the wildflowers and bush tucker as we wove through native meadows and forests. Again, it took us forever to get going, but we had lunch at 11.30 and powered through the afternoon on the promise of a swim.
Just before lunch, however, we had a minor rivulet to cross. Breezy and Lucy were cautious about where to cross, as the rocks were slippery. They decided on a place and across we went, giving thanks to our ancestors and the land’s custodians as we crossed. On the other side Robbie went to climb a sand bank and rolled her ankle. She attempted to walk but unfortunately had to be extracted. The car couldn’t access the closest road, so Robbie had to walk a couple of kilometres of fire trail before being rescued.
One of the more difficult and technical sections of today’s trail
Today’s walk was shorter, just 15km. It was also an iota easier. There was a bit of clambering over the rocks, but a lot less soft sand, and very minor hills. The water at the end was crispy but refreshing. Both Robbie and Di were in the bus waiting for us after our swim, and we went off to a winery to try some wine (and eat cheese and nougat). It was a relaxing hour but I am glad to be back in my room for a shower and to put my feet up!
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Day 5 – Tuesday 11th November: Gracetown to Gnarabup
Many of us slept in this morning as the day’s activities have started catching up. As such, today was a bit of a rush. We had our first, of four, 20km + day today, and I packed extra food for myself and Maia to make sure we were adequately fueled.
The full day hikers started where we finished yesterday at Gracetown, and we did a beautiful wildflower walk through the dunes for the first 7km. We met the half-day hikers at the 7km morning tea mark, a heritage house belonging to the Bussell family who settled this area. We were visited by an enormous male kangaroo, and had some fun with our “portraits”.
After morning tea we headed inland, walking through a forest and spotting monitor lizards and mantis orchids. Lunch was under a tree, where we realised we had only 1/3 of our hike to go – this was a change from the previous days when we were often only a couple of km in at lunch time and had to fang it in the afternoons!!
There was time for a spectacular swim at Joeys nose – a picturesque white beach dotted with rocks that looked like sculputres, then enjoyed watching the birdlife as we meandered the last 6km or so along the beach. We saw sooty oyster catchers and protected masked plovers, as well as black cockatoos.
We passed an Osprey’s nest and crossed Margaret river – the half way point for this whole hike.
The last 2km were hard, along the footpath on sore feet and in the heat, but we did it, of course, and enjoyed aother swim at the end. Robbie has spent the day recovering from her sprain yesterday. A couple of the other girls had a rest day too.
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Day 6 – Wednesday 12th November: Prevelly (just inland from Gnarabup) to Boranup Forest
This morning we woke to the news that a Wing foil had been bitten at Gnarabup beach – where we had our final swim of the day yesterday. He survived without a scratch but has a pretty gnarly bite out of his board!
Prevelly is just inland from where we finished yesterday – about a 30 second drive. Despite that, we all dutifully filed into the bus for the lift up the hill to the start of the trail. Today our guide was Cath, and the topic of the day was indigenous day, and Cath was very passionate and knowledgeable about the plants, the land, and rebuilding the indigenous knowledge that we lost with the stolen generation.
Cath was also very diligent in teaching us what was a weed, and what was not. She had us learn by heart that “all good weeds” came from “Africa”.
We walked along a ridgeline where we could see the farmland on our left, the ocean on our right, and grass trees hundreds of years old dotting the path. From there, we descended into the Birthing Place for indigenous people, a magical little clearing next to a river, then we followed that river back to the beach.
The next 40min is apparently the hardest of the whole week – 2km on soft, slightly sloping sand into a 25knt headwind. The company knew how hard it was though, and had hot coffee, tea, and fresh scones with cream and jam at the end of it! We met Jean here, at morning tea, and had another couple of hikers join us for a 2/3 day option. Jean is the owner of Cape to Cape Explorer tours. He’s not around much as both of his daughters are professional surfers, and he follows them around the world. We have been liaising with Jean now for 5+ years, so it was nice to put a face to the name.
We followed the coastline a bit longer then turned inland, enjoying magnificent views as we followed a limestone cliff through wildflowers. Our lunch spot was in a campground, very civilised with picnic benches – a luxury for this week! Here at lunch we picked up our final 2 hikers who had chosen a 1/3 day option.
We saw two snakes on our last 7km through the forest. One was just sunbaking on the trail in front of us, but the other came dashing out of the bushes in front of us, bolted across the path and into the bushes at the other side. Terrified Maia. Shocked the pants off me.
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Day 7 – Thursday 13th November: Boranup Forest to Cosy Corner
The forest just got better and better today. We spent the first 3km in silence, connecting with the earth, hearing the birds, and tapping into all our senses in a moving meditation. After that we got a bit of European history, where we learned that the trees in this forest were only about 100 year old, as logging only finished in the 1930’s. Up until then, the Jarrah trees were logged by hand, by men who were enticed here on amazing deals and promises, only to find no water, soaring temperatures, and an expectation to labour manually in English clothing.
We popped out of the forest and started making our way down towards the beach. Today was THE day. THE 7km stretch of sand day. The day that everyone dreads. It was hard(ish). It was long(ish), but everyone made it okay, in their own time. It helped that the beach was (mostly) flat with (mostly) hard sand. Mn of our hikers plugged into music and made their own way at their own pace. Karla and I chatted the whole way, and did a bit of rock exploring. We reconvened at the Kiosk, where almost everyone bought a snack or ice cream. Our half day hikers had done about 15km by this point, and we said goodbye to them here.
Our full day hikers then headed south, across another beach (this one only about 500m), up and over a sandhill and across a roller-coasting trail that culminated in a little lighthouse just up the hill from our destination: Cosy Corner. The rollercoaster hills were short and steep, slow to climb and scary to descend, but our full day hikers are strong, and managed to complete the 2hr section in 1.5hrs. This meant a 30min wait for our bus, and we spent it taking “camouflage” photos and playing a word game that had everyone in stitches.
Poor old Fee didn’t get a hike today. Two days ago she jumped in to Gnarabup beach with us, and her phone in her pocket. Unfortunately, the phone did not revive after 2 days in a jar of rice (would you believe they have one here especially!!) and she spent the day in Margaret River trying to get a new one sorted so that she can access her itineraries!
I almost lost my phone today too. My waist pocked on my backpack has broken, and as I took my water bottle out for a drink it fell out. I didn’t realise for a few meters, but thankfully spotted a shape that looked like it behind me. It was covered in sand and had a little drink of the waves in one corner, but for the most part we escaped unscathed. Tennille, who was coming up behind us at the time, was mouth-open gobsmacked.
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Day 8 – Friday 14th November: Cosy Corner To Cape Leeuwin
Our guide today was Hannah who was taking us on a Hero’s journey, helping us reflect on the past week, and putting together all our knowledge that we’ve learned from the other guides. From the start the walk was pretty exciting, along nice granite (that we learned about the first day), peering down blowholes and trying not to fall into any ourselves.
It was raining a little but not enough to bother us.
We enjoyed some very rugged rock formations, and were pausing for a wee break when disaster struck. From Janet:
“I was bitten on the path we all walked along which was a narrow sand trail between knee high vegetation. I felt a jab and looked down and could not see anything. I knew you were supposed to immobilise with snake bite, but at this stage I was unsure it was one. No way would anyone lie down where I was, the risk of another bite or people helping me get bitten was high. At this point I was completely on my own. I walked to a clearing of sand and then checked my leg. It was then I saw the puncture marks – which look like nothing. As I felt nothing I looked for somewhere to go to the loo, but did not go. I decided to check my leg again and rubbed a damp thumb over it which showed a tiny amount of blood. At this point I shouted Helen and went over to her, she didn’t move (!) and then they took so long to get the bandages on – the two Cape women were clearly panicking. Pressured by people to say how long I had walked for I said 10 minutes. The truth, I had, and still have no idea how long, but it was short. I remained calm the whole time, especially at the start when I was uncertain if I had been bitten.”
Interesting rock formations, including several blowholesKylianne and the two guides were giving first aid, while the rest of us waited. After about 10min of treatment, KA walked over to us, because she knew I had two snake bandages and it was apparent the one they had wasn’t sufficient. They could use an extra set of hands so I came over. There had been some confusion between Helen (the guide who was on the phone to 000) and Hannah about how to apply the bandage, and when I arrived it wasn’t on. So I began wrapping it from the wound to the toes, and then back up the leg to the groin how I’d been taught. Even as we wrapped the operator was giving us conflicting information, but I was not taking that bandage off!! On the 3rd bandage, when I was going to go to the groin, the operator was clear about going over the original bandage from the ankle to the knee, so that’s what we did, leaving her toes open to check for circulation.
By that time about an hour had passed between the bite and now, and it was clear that she was going to be ok. The ambulance was still a little while away though, so we left Helen and KA to wait for the ambo’s and Hannah and I took off behind the rest of the group that has started walking when they got cold.
We had another 6km on sand. Soft sand this time. Into a head wind. And it was hard. We sheltered under some melaleuceas for little lunch, then did another 3km before big lunch. By this time we had heard that Janet was on her way to Augusta hospital, and KA and Helen were on their way back to join us.
After lunch we could see the lighthouse was closer. It was like a beacon. We set a cracking pace, telling war stories from past trips to pass the time. At 2km to go we met a couple of the half-day hikers who didn’t want to do the 20km walk today, and continued on. We were so close, but every corner turned out to be a bay with a little beach and it felt like we were being teased! The rest of our half day hikers met us about a kilometre out with a bridge made of hiking sticks, and we all walked to the lighthouse together. Maia ran up on the promise of hot chips from the guides!
When we walked back to the buses we were met with snacks and champagne and spend about an hour revelling in our success. We are now waiting for a fish BBQ and slide show to round up an intense, epic, and wonderful week.
Also, Janet is still ok. The bite was dry, but she’s being kept in overnight in Busselltown just in case.
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Day 8 – Saturday 15th November: Back to Perth
Last night we had a beautiful fish BBQ dinner with a beautiful salad, crusty potatoes and home made tartare sauce. Afterwards we enjoyed a slideshow of our week here. Every time a photo of Janet came up, the crowd would sigh “aw, Janet” and I felt the need to remind them “she’s not dead”!!
Elle purchased a snake book from the gift shop at Leeuwin lighthouse and passed it around for everyone to sign. They decided Louise’s message was the best: “Ssssorry a slitherer decided to taste-tesst your leg” or something along those lines. It was clever either way. There was a snake bite on the northern beaches that same day, and quick as a whip Louise’s response was “didn’t have to go all the way to WA Janet!”.
We were back on the bus at 8am for our departure back to Perth. A couple of the girls had packed Janet’s bag for her, and given them to KA for delivery to Janet.
The rest of us had a half hour lap around the Margaret River farmers market. It was small and delicious, but didn’t stock much that we could take with us. Most of us purchased a snack and a coffee and were on our way.
Next stop was Bussellton. KA had busted Janet out of hospital, and taken her to her place for a shower. We were supposed to meet them at a service station just off the highway, but they had lost track of time and were about half hour late. We wandered into the station for more snacks, before they finally showed up and we were able to cheer Janet on board.
The verdict was that it was a large snake, and a dry bite. She has two very clear little scars from the fangs. She is very disappointed that she missed hiking the last day, and is trying to get a guide and hire a car so that she can finish it before the 20th when she’s flying home.
We finally made it to Perth about 1.40pm. Considerably later than we thought we’d be here when we embarked on the 3hr drive! Most of the team have scattered; Janet for a walk, others to the pub, others having a nap, Karla and Mark made it to Fremantle. The next two days are spent at our leisure – some of the team have checked out Rottnest Island, others watched the sunset from Cottesloe Beach.
It has certainly been another trip to remember!
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