Great South West Walk, Bridgewater Bay to Portland - July 2009

Over the years I'd managed to walk all the Great South West Walk except for the last section from Bridgewater Bay to Portland, so with Sam and I having a free weekend we decided to head across to Portland and complete the last section. We completed the five hour drive from home to Portland the night before, staying in a motel in town for the remainder of the night. Next morning we left the car at the cop shop and caught a taxi down to Bridgewater Bay.

Bridgewater Bay.

Cape Bridgewater behind us.

Day 1
As we set of from the kiosk at Bridgewater bay the sky was overcast which didn't do much for the photos, but at least it wasn't raining. We started with an easy stroll along the wide, firm beach for thirty minutes before climbing up onto the cliffs and eventually heading into the tee tree scrub where we reached Trewalla Camp. It was way to early to stop for the day but the camp made a comfortable spot for lunch.

Heading through the coastal scrub on the way to Trewalla Camp.

Lunch at Trewalla Camp, Bridgewater Bay in the back ground.

Setting off from Trewalla Camp we soon descended back to the sand for another couple of hours, just beating the rain, we finally arrived at the end of Bridgewater Bay. Luckily someone had the foresight to place a bench at the top of the climb away from the beach. It was while we were resting on the bench taking in the view that the rain finally caught up with us, the rain would now be our companion for the rest of the day and most of the night.

Foot prints on Bridgewater Bay.

Cape Nelson is getting closer.

Making the climb up towards Cape Nelson.

At the top of the climb from the beach.

Watching the sets roll in, near Murrells Beach.

The next section of the walk follows the bare cliff tops around Cape Nelson, it provides spectacular views along with easy walking, my kind of walking really! To top this magic part of the track off there is a cafe at Cape Nelson lighthouse,  a perfect place to stop for two wet and weary walkers. Lingering over our coffee and cake as long as we could, we eventually had to head off into the early evening gloom to Mallee Camp. Luckily it was only a couple of kilometres and we were at the camp spot, where we quickly threw the tent up between showers, managing to keep everything reasonably dry. Dinner was taken at the picnic table with a view of them massive wind turbine in the paddock nearby, not a typical wilderness camp bit still fairly good.

Sam on the track along the cliffs on Cape Nelson.

A plaque commemorating the opening of the Great South West Walk in 1983.

Sam's making good time heading to the cafe at the lighthouse onCape Nelson.

Mallee Camp.

Day 2
We had rain off and on all night and it was still coming down in the morning so we had to time our exit from the tent for a lull in the rain. We managed to get everything away in a fairly dry state and soon headed off in the direction of Portland. Today's walk would be all on the cliff tops or heathland, the closest we got to the water was a section near the start called the Moonah landslip, where the track follows the base of a cliff that has been the subject to a landslide, the track consequently has to negotiate a bit of rough terrain for about a kilometre, but really its pretty cruisey.

The outlook from Mallee Camp isn't your typical wilderness view.

Breakfast at Mallee Camp.

Nelson Bay, looking towards Cape Sir William Grant.

Once past the landslip we walked around the cliffs of Nelson Bay, the track providing numerous view points of both the bay and also the massive aluminium smelter at Portland. Crossing the across the back of Cape Sir William Grant we were soon at Point Danger, the smelter was now directly above us, but apart from a little industrial noise it really didn't negatively affect my enjoyment of the walk, most of the views were out to sea.

Looking back towards Cape Nelson.

The track through the Moonah landslip.

Before long we started to walk through the outskirts of Portland, we had been lucky today as the showers had more or less held off and we were pretty keen to finish off dry. Whilst walking into town we bumped into a car load of the friends of the south west walk a volunteer group that looks after the upgrade of the track, they mentioned that they are re positioning our camp from last night, Mallee Camp, because some people don't like having the wind turbine so close. By lunch time we were taking a photo at the sign post at the end of the walk, before we then adjourned to a local cafe to celebrate the finish of the walk.

Sam, heading towards Point Danger.

A track marker on Cape Sir William Grant.

The Dirt.
All up we covered around 38 kilometres over the two days, day 1 we did 21 kilometres and day 2 we did 17 kilometres. All in all, this is an easy walk on beaches and along cliff top paths. We used notes from Bushwalking in Australia by John and Monica Chapman, I found the maps in the book adequate for such a well marked and constructed track and didn't use any others except for  those on my GPS.

I've now finished the whole 226 kilometre walk.