Hike to Australia’s most southerly point

23rd – 24th April

Farewelling Ged and Karina we headed to Cockle Creek to camp at the most southerly campsite in Australia – “End of the road”.

We’d been warned about the last 19km of corrugated and pot-holed road and prepared the cupboards accordingly. The Hilux took it in her stride – no problems!

Our campsite is perfect – no neighbours in sight and the beach and bay just over the sand dune right beside us. Wow! 
Idyllic camping

For thousands of years Aboriginal people hunted and fished here for their food during the summer months. Many large middens have been found in the area. The French explorer D’Entrecasteaux visited in 1792 and 1793 and named the bay after one of his ships, Recherche Bay. White settlers soon moved in lured first by whaling, until they decimated the whale population, then timber-getting until all the good huon and stringy-bark trees were taken, then coal mining until that too ran out.
Today the area is a National Park, Southwest NP, which is part of the World Heritage Area.

Tuesday 24th

Our poor backpacks and boots will get another workout today – they’re holding up remarkably well considering what we’ve asked of them this trip. Today we walk the 18km return track to South Cape Bay, the most southerly point on the Australian Mainland. We nearly have the full set now – most northerly, mostly easterly, most southerly, highest point, lowest point, geographical centre – just missing Steep Point in the west. 

The beginning of the hike. Boot-washing stations help prevent the spread of diseases – chytrid, a fungus deadly to frog populations in this case.
The first third of the track passes through melaleuca and eucalypt forest.

Its lovely to see so many birds – the dusky thornbill, fairy wrens, New Holland honeyeater, two female lyrebirds and lots more we heard but didn’t see.

A lyrebird
We followed the pretty little babbling brook that is Cockle Creek for a while.
A few sections of the track had duckboards, but they were old and many boards broken or nails coming out, or wire mesh rusted away leaving them slippery.
The track was challenging – up and down, rocky, roots and mud.

Passing through the forest into button grass plains and reasonably good duckboards the walking got easier.

After a bit more forest, short ascents and descents, more mud, more rocks, we came out onto the cliffs above South Cape Bay with the most southerly point of Australia just there!

It was quite thrilling to have achieved this landmark.

We sat on the tiered rocks watching the might of the Southern Ocean as it rolled in, waves crashing on the already crumbling cliffs. The black rocks were unexpected but very striking. Lion Rock is the headland across the first bay.

Todays weather was pleasant with hardly any wind – I can only imagine what the ocean is like in bad weather.

As it’s an out and back track we knew what to expect, but good to see the sights from the other direction and in the fading light we met a few pademelons on the way. 

The flora was just as interesting as the fauna on this hike.
A rather stunning fungus.

Hot shower, hot dinner and warm bed listening to the rain and being thankful our walk was so perfect. 

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