Turtle Tracks Travels

Oct 16, 20234 min read

Cape To Cape- The Untold Truth

How Long Is The Cape To Cape Track In Western Australia?

Most blogs you read say it's 125kms from Cape Naturalist to Cape Leeuwin BUT the sign at Cape Naturalist states it's 135km. After completing the Cape to Cape we definetly think it's more like the 135kms stated. There are also discrepancies between the distances on each day because 15km felt like 20km and 20 km felt like 25.

So, Where Can You Camp On The Cape To Cape Track?

There’s still a few websites that still say you can camp anywhere on the track BUT apparently that has changed and now you are not supposed to. Here are a couple of examples-

https://www.aussiebushwalking.com/wa/cape-to-cape-track

Camping by walkers without vehicle backup is also permitted in the National Park, anywhere along the Cape to Cape track.

https://quollingaround.com/2018/06/04/cape-to-cape-track-31st-oct-5th-nov-2015-reptiles-and-beaches/

A wonderful thing about the Cape to Cape track was being allowed to camp anywhere along it’s length (common sense being applied.)

https://www.alltrails.com/explore/recording/cape-to-cape-track-injidup-to-smiths-beach--2?u=m

You can choose to camp out along the Track,

The truth is the council have only allowed 4 designated walkers camps. We did camp out in several places along the track, not realising things had changed BUT we feel that we probably wouldn’t have done it any different because we didn’t want to stay in resorts or caravan parks, we wanted to camp out away from everyone as part of the challenge (we did cave in half way and stayed at Prevelly Caravan Park so we could wash our clothes and ourselves).

The official walkers camps are very far and few between and they’re not spaced out properly, they are-

Mt.Duckworth
Moses Rock
Ellensbrook
Deepdene

There is now only 1 National Park Camp at Contos for a fee because Point Road is closed due to a fire several years ago and they haven’t reopened it.

DAY 1- Cape Naturalist To Smiths Beach

A few highlights from Day 1 of starting THE CAPE TO CAPE TRACK in Cape Naturalist, only 135 kms to go, LOL 😂. You soon realise that other peoples blogs may not be realistic. We found the first designated camp is too soon to stop (Mt.Duckworth) and the next one is too far (blow that) so sleeping on Smiths Beach it is (Hiked approx 16 to 17kms).

Day 2- Smiths Beach To Moses Rock

DAY 2 OF THE CAPE TO CAPE HIKE- 135kms in total (today is 16 to 18kms), Smiths Beach to Moses Rock Campground. Aqua tablets are essential especially when filling up from waterfalls. We filled up at the falls because we just wasn’t sure how much further and if the water tank would have any water in it. Well, we made it to Moses Rock but couldn’t see any signs of a campsite and carried on walking for another 50mins. After a while we thought that maybe the campsite didn’t exist, exhausted we set up camp on the beach…check it all out in our video out in our VIDEO BELOW……

Day 3 and 4

We thought the Moses Rock campground didn't exist but we did finally stumble across it on day 3. We found a wonderful little stream to get water, being fully independent and unassisted you can't rely on the water tanks (we soon realised the council have made a right hash of installing the water tanks and some of them are really difficult to get water out of). Day 4 we finally make it to Prevelly and a well earned rest at the caravan park. We were able to shower, wash our clothes and rest our weary bodies.

Highlights from Day 3 and 4….endless stunning coastline with long sandy beach walks truly makes the days long and hard but we enjoyed every moment of this difficult challenge. One well deserved reward was a swim in the ocean at Gracetown and then finally arriving at the half way point in Prevelly. Our faith in humanity has been restored when a complete stranger in Gracetown went off to make us a coffee and came back not only with nicely brewed hot coffee but a chocolate muesli bar each, bloody legend!

PLEASE CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

DAY 5 and 6

Day 6- Well, we didn’t stay clean for long after our day break at Prevelly (where we washed our clothes, ourselves and rested on Day 5), our shirts are sweaty and smelly already LOL 😂….So onto Day 6 and the 2nd half of The Cape To Cape Hiking Challenge, we hiked approx 19/20kms from Prevelly to Conto/Point Road. This sure turned into quite an ADVENTURE with amazing views, fantastic fauna and spectacular caves. We met another couple as mental as us who were also doing the whole trek unassisted, Anna and Simon from Germany.

PART 3- CLICK ON THE LINK BELOW

Day 7- Point Road to Hamlin Bay

DAY 7, and we’re still smiling…Point Road to Hamlin Bay, approx 17kms. Thru the forest and lots of beach walking….Did we make a mistake?? Blisters galore and Denise got a rash…but we kept on battling thru.

Day 8- Hamlin Bay to Deepdene

On Day 8 we were finally able to model the latest fashion with our ever so cool pack-a-macs LOL 😂…..The rain set in but we couldn’t give up now. Hiking from Hamlin Bay to Deepdene campground, approx 10to 12kms. We kept on hiking thru the rain and wind. This was one of the most challenging days for us.

Day 8- Deepdene to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

On the last day Denise is very sick but the only way out is walking out, approx 16kms to go to the end…. Thank you so much for all the lovely messages of encouragement we received whilst we were hiking the Cape To Cape track. We hiked for 135kms over 9 days and now we have time to reflect, we can’t believe we did it. Even Terrence The Turtle made it to the end LOL….. It was such an adventure full of laughter, tears and determination….Why did we do it? (Someone asked)….it’s really hard to answer but if you do this sort of thing….you know!…