PHOTOGRAPHS: PRIMROSE MONTEIRO-D’SOUZA (1,2), TOURISM WESTERN AUSTRALIA (3)THE WINTER LIST SOUTH WEST AUSTRALIA
SCRAMBLING
FOR THE ‘FRESH’
We climb out into the sunlight and decide to walk. If we had
the time (four days), we could walk from Cape to Cape – from
Cape Leeuwin in the South to Cape Naturaliste in the North –
that’s 41km, and we’d still be in South West Australia. We’re
walking just five kilometres of it, a distance I walk regularly in
Mumbai and double in world cities on family holidays, but,
since I am a city girl born and bred, and not as fit as I should be,
I enquire tentatively about whether I will be able to do it. Yes,
says our Walk into Luxury guide Anne, dismissing my concerns.
I’ve had 70-year-olds on this walk, she says, and they’ve done
fine. We set off at a brisk clip down the road to Smiths Beach.
I can do this, I tell myself. Then, before us rises a massive pile
of rocks – each like a humongous dinosaur egg, straight out of
The Flintstones. “This part,” Ann clarifies, “we call scrambling.”
Scrambling it is, over granite boulders that were once part
of Gondwanaland. This was once Sri Lanka, Anne tells me,
perhaps believing that the once-proximity of the stones to my
home country will make me feel better able to tackle them.
And tackle them I do. Everyone else has trekking poles and knee
and ankle support bands; I have only the help of a kind Chinese
journalist half my age and weight, whom I’m trying not to pull
over each time I must clasp his hand to haul myself over the
tricky parts. At last, Paul and I get to the other side of the rocks,
placed on that beach only to test me. We are now on flat ground,
albeit half-way up a hill, more of the slope on one side, the deep
blue ocean a long way down on the other. It looks like I will be
able to do this. Then, Canal Rocks come into view, dotting
the beach at water’s edge. Someone in the group has the very
bright idea that we should go all the way down and admire
them at close quarters. I know that going down means climbing
up again to continue on the walk, but my feet find themselves
edging downhill. Down to the water, to the Injidup NaturalEssentials- Walk into Luxury: 00-61-8-9528-4162; http://www.walkintoluxury.com.
au; all-inclusive four-day Cape to Cape Walk: ` 1,30,000 (twin share)
Spa, a sheltered cove that my fellow climbers shrug off their
clothes and jump into. I have not brought my suit, so I take off
my shoes, roll up my pants, and wade in. The Aussies, ever
enthusiastic, ever matter-of-fact, call it “fresh”. This is water
coming off the Antarctic; “fresh” translates to bone-chillingly
cold. But, standing there, knee deep in the clear blue, the heat
around me accentuated by the chill, my heart singing with
sunshine, I cannot remember when I felt so at one with nature.primrose is planning another run at the water
in the ‘spa’ at Canal Rocks, this time in a wetsuit.
She travelled with Australia Tourism for this trip.- Canal Rocks and the “fresh” spa
- Anne from Walk into Luxury
- Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
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