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September 15, 2022 VALLEY OF THE GIANTS TO BOXHALL ROAD Today we did a 14.5km walk on the Bibbulmun trail, from Howe Road to Boxhall Road and back again, and from there to the Valley of the Giants and back again. As we’ve done so many coastal trails recently, we felt like going back in …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2022 Volume 5”
We talked as we walked along, about how happy we always feel to walk in intact nature as it’s supposed to be, away from the scarring on the earth that has been imposed by broadacre agriculture, industry and urbanisation. The biological riches of these areas are mind-boggling and took millions of years to evolve. This is nature for millions of species, not nature stripped away to serve but one. When we walk along in places like this, the ratio of humans to landscape is about right and there is a pervasive sense of balance.
WALPOLE HIKING DAY Since we worked on Thursday, we hiked this fine Saturday instead, heading over to Walpole to attempt the Woolbales Walk Track. It’s a 90-minute drive to Walpole, so when you’re going there, you start early and try to get a full day in. Accordingly, when it was just warm enough to take …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2022 Volume 3”
PEACEFUL BAY COASTAL WALK We had a wonderful sunny day by the seaside today, doing a 12km hike of gorgeous coastline. Though we were only away for the day, it really feels like we’ve been on a much-needed mini-holiday, and I thought I’d share the scenery and some of the remarkable things we saw today. …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2022 Volume 2”
January 27, 2022 FICIFOLIA ROAD / NUT LOOKOUT REPRISE It took a while to get hiking during the 2021/22 summer, because of bereavement, heat, farmstay hosting and various projects. When we finally did, we went straight back to a walk from spring last year – because we wanted to see the red-flowering gums in flower, …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2022 Volume 1”
September 16, 2021 FICIFOLIA ROAD TO NUT LOOKOUT WALK I’m super happy because we went walking in spite of the sheep hypothermia weather alert that’s current with a very wintry cold front crossing the Southwest today. I completely missed out on hiking and outdoors time all last weekend because I was recovering from bronchitis. I’d …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2021 Volume 7”
August 4, 2021 EXPLORING PARRY BEACH TO POINT HILLIER After days of soggy, horrible weather, we finally got a slightly better forecast and ventured out to Parry Beach an hour’s drive from home, for a day’s happy exploration of the local area. We still got wet on and off, but it was good to be …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2021 Volume 6”
July 27, 2021 LIGHTS BEACH TO HANGING ROCK This little expedition was done on the Thursday just before the Sand Patch/Grasmere trek, but it can be hard to keep up with writing these things up if you’re potentially doing 2-3 of these a week because you’re on holidays. We don’t photograph and write up every …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2021 Volume 5”
July 18, 2021 FOREST OF THE ENTS: OLD-GROWTH KARRI/TINGLE FOREST We’ve been doing a lot of coastal walking, and Brett wanted something special for his birthday yesterday. I pored over the Bibbulmun maps near Nornalup and found a likely section which met with HRH’s enthusiastic approval, in the rare remaining old-growth Karri/Tingle forest, the majority …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2021 Volume 4”
This continues our series of photoessays on days spent hiking in largely unspoilt National Park and Nature Reserve areas on the South Coast of Western Australia – the places which escaped the bulldozers of the white settlers and are still clothed in the original Australian ecosystems that go all the way back to Gondwana. The …
Continue reading “South Coast Wilderness Walks 2021 Volume 3”