Point Road Campground to Deepdene Campsite, Cape to Cape Track, Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park - December 2019

Another day, another stunning beach - this time I'm walking Boranup Beach.

I had a very pleasant night last night at Point Road Campground. I’d been a bit concerned that with the camp being right beside a 4wd track that I might of got a few visitors passing through, however it turned out that I only shared the site with one other north bound C2C walker. I didn’t even realise the other bloke was here until I went for a bit of a walk as the sun was going down last night and bumped into him out doing the same thing. Once again this morning I was packed up and on the track before 7am, it wasn’t meant to overly hot (mid 20˚) however I had a fair walk in front of me if I was going to reach the Deepdene Campsite, which was the rough plan floating around the back of my mind.

The C2C passes beneath some huge and gnarly old trees this morning.

The C2C climbing Georgette Road.

Davies Road

I was going for the blogger arty wanker shot here!

I enjoyed this forested inland section way more than I'd though I would.

Today started with a long section of inland forest walking, including a fair bit of Karri Forest which was pretty sweet for an east coast walker. Even accounting for the slightly taller canopy offering a bit of shade I was still pretty happy to be walking this section on one of the cooler days that I’d experienced on the track. It’s a fairly long walk through here, being around 14 kilometres from camp before I’d set foot on the sand again on Boranup Beach. Two or three hours after leaving camp I arrived at the turnoff to Boranup Trig, that was all the excuse that I needed to drop my pack and make the 750 metre side trip out to check out the view. Now I have to be honest here, this little side trip probably isn’t worth it, well unless you like looking over the canopy of rolling green forested hills. With no ocean views (yeah, maybe I’d been spoilt!) I took a couple of half hearted photos and wandered back to grab my pack and continue my journey, vowing that if I return to Boranup Trig it’ll be in a 4wd.

It's hard not to be impressed with scenery like this.

Hmmm

The last short climb up to Boranup Trig Lookout.

The lookout allowed for a distant view west towards the Indian Ocean.

The view south looked a little inclement....

....and so did the view to the east.

Shortly after grabbing my pack and setting off on my journey south again the C2C started to drop down towards Boranup Beach. Firstly along Boranup Road (4wd track) before branching off left and dropping a bit steeper down an old closed 4wd track. The views approaching Boranup Beach once again being your typical C2C coastal scenes. After a little bit of soft sand dune walking the track dropped very steeply onto the sand of Boranup Beach…. yeah, the soft sand.

The C2C dropping down Boranup Beach Road towards the coast again.

Boranup Beach is another stunner.

Looking along Boranup Beach towards North Point.

Now soft was the relevant word as this next beach was a long one. I could see White Cliff Point in the distance however there was going to be a lot of trudging in my immediate future as it would be around 6.5 kilometres before I’d step foot off this beach….at least the beach was beautiful. Yep, Boranup Beach is another of those Western Australian white sand and turquoise waster stunners, so I never really needed an excuse to stop for awhile and take a couple of photos. Anyone following my footsteps along this beach might of assumed they were following a walker that had had a little to much to drink as I weaved my way along the beach searching out the firmest of the sand.

Fortifying myself for the struggle ahead.

Boranup Beach.

I was glad that I was walking down this one!

Ticking off the kilometres along Boranup Beach.

After covering a lot of distance walking up and down the beach instead of along it, I eventually settled on the tiny piece of real-estate just above the water line. While this bit of sand was arguably the firmest of the conditions I had to be constantly aware of the waves coming in, I was doing pretty good too until a rogue wave washed up on the beach and attacked me from behind! Trudging on…now with wettish boots covered in sand I was slowly getting closer to White Cliff Point and more importantly the shop at the Hamelin Bay Caravan Park, where I hoped to buy lunch. After being entertained watching a bogged 4wd being recovered while I continued my death march, I looked up and was able to identify people on the beach in the distance. Now I’ve never been accused of being overly smart but I figured that people on the beach must mean that I was getting close to Hamelin Bay, I’ve found that normal people don’t tend to move far from their vehicles.

Looking towards White Point - I'd be walking over it in a few hours.

I had some entertainment watching these guys trying to de-bog the Disco.

Boranup Beach

Sure enough I was soon shuffling my way through people sun baking and the children playing in the shore break. Climbing the second beach access stairs I was only a couple of minutes walk from the shop. Once I’d found myself a shady spot I dropped my pack for awhile and settled in for another extended break, I’d enjoyed quite a few of these long breaks on my C2C walk, however they are always better when I can by some food and drink I reckon. After enjoying a cold shower I spent the best part of three hours relaxing at Hamelin Bay, spending quite a bit of time chatting to a couple of English girls who were also walking the track south bound, about our various different adventures.

There are some Stingrays that come into feed near the boat ramp at Hamlin Bay.

Eventually I could procrastinate no longer and I grabbed my pack and once again set off on my journey south. The C2C climbs onto White Cliff Point along a well constructed boardwalk (incidentally the only spot in Hamelin Bay that has Telstra mobile service). Dropping down off White Cliff Point to follow another beautiful beach south for 15 minutes before heading inland and starting a tough section of the walk. The C2C from here to Foul Bay Lighthouse goes a little against the grain of the land with the track climbing and descending a couple of big dunes, although in today's cooler weather it wasn’t too bad.

There is a a well constructed boardwalk that allows easy access to White Cliff Point.

Looking back down along Boranup Beach from White Cliffs Point (this is also the spot to go too to pick up a mobile signal at Hamlin Bay).

Salmon Holes

Looking back towards White Cliff Point as I climbed up towards Foul Bay Lighthouse.

The C2C approaching Foul Bay Lighthouse.

Foul Bay Lighthouse - it's not the prettiest lighthouse that I've ever seen....

....although the view makes up for the drab lighthouse to some degree.

Reaching Cosy Corner Road I bumped into Ted, who was waiting for Sally, Harmony and Melony to turn up, which they soon did, closely followed by the English girls. It’s funny how some thing like a walk brings people together who would otherwise probably not cross paths, our little group spent the next thirty minutes chatting like we’d known each other for years. With time ticking by I figured that once again I should get going, it was now going to be a bit marginal whether I’d make it to Deepdene Campsite before it got dark.

Cosy Corner Beach - the C2C doesn't actually traverse this one!

Leaving Cosy Corner Road the C2C drops back down to the coastline again, the track walking an interesting section of honeycombed rock platforms. This section of the track isn’t one for anyone with a fear of heights I don’t think as quite often I found myself stepping across holes in the rock where I could look down and see the surging ocean 3 metres below me. After finishing walking the rock platforms I started making my way easily around Cape Hamelin. With a small beach and yet more rocky walking I rounded Cape Hamelin to be greeted by a wonderful sight, the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, although at this stage the end of the walk was still just a tiny speck in the distance.

Once back on the coast again I turned left and walked this interesting rocky section of coastline.

Walking this honey combed rock required a little caution.

Looking down from my rock platform to the Indian Ocean surging two or three metres below me.

Dropping onto the expansive Deepdene Beach I started trudging my way south along the last beach of the walk, a beach I wouldn’t finish walking until sometime tomorrow morning. For now though I was looking for an opening in the dunes which would lead me up to Deepdene Campsite, although with quite a few foot prints in the sand it wasn’t hard to work out where to head inland. What was a little harder than I thought it would be was climbing up to the campsite through the soft dunes, for some reason I thought that I’d be ambling up a sandy swathe between the dunes however in actual fact I climbed a fair way along the soft sand, something that I felt at the end of another solid day.

I'm successfully over the rock platform - this is looking back along the coast towards Cosy Corner Beach.

Rounding Cape Hamelin I crossed this nice little remote cove.

Cape Hamelin

The C2C at Cape Hamelin.

My last night on the C2C was another good one. I spent the night camped with a nice group of girls from a private school in Perth who were out walking a few sections of the track after finishing school for the year. Deepdene Campsite is an official C2C campsite and comes complete with a toilet, a couple of tanks and a couple of picnic tables. It was the tanks that I was interested in though, once I’d topped up my water supplies here I knew that I’d be right until I finished the walk tomorrow.

Rounding Cape Hamelin - Deepdene Beach has just come into view....

....and so has Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse.

Late afternoon and I'm about to start walking Deepdene Beach.

The Dirt.
I walked 33.4 kilometres and climbed 646 metres on what I’d call a hard days walking on the C2C track. Overall on the six days of my C2C adventure so far I’d walked 149 kilometres and climbed 3795 metres. The accommodation option today was at Hamelin Bay Caravan Park, which is also the camping option apart from where I stopped at the C2C campsite at Deepdene. The walking today was a little hard in a couple of spots, Boranup Beach was a bit of a slog and the section leading up to Foul Bay lighthouse also had it’s moments. The long forested section at the front end of the day was pretty pleasant walking this morning, although I’m guessing it would be a lot tougher in hot weather. I used the maps and notes out of the 8th edition of the Cape to Cape Guidebook by Jane Scott & Ray Forma as well as my GPS topo maps.

Relevant Posts.
Day 5, Cape to Cape Track, Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park, 2019.

I was looking for a big sand blow that would mark the spot to head inland to find the Deepdene Camp.

Deepdene Camp was a lot further inland than I'd imagined that it would be.

I had a comfortable camp at Deepdene Camp.