Day 3 - Bridgewater Bay to Bridgewater Lakes

18.6 km
Great weather for a walk,  fresh breeze and mid 20's temperature

Breakfast at 0730 then onto the bus at 0830 for to today's start. We got to today's start at 0850, had the walk briefing and assigned a new pilgrim to look after Gus today. We started walking just after 0900.

The track went through the location of the old town of Cape Bridgewater and then up for about 1 km to the highest coastal cliffs in Victoria. The track was low grass,  easy to walk and we took a number of breaks. We then started to drop down to the cliff edges,  stopping to view the seal colony (only mainland seal colony in Australia) and we had a close encounter with a swamp wallaby.

We stood on the tip of Cape Breakwater before starting to walk along the cliff top. The track went through an area of low scrub and was easy to walk. We had morning tea on the track at about 1105. Nick (the guide) was carrying 2 thermoses of hot water so I was able to have a cup of tea, nice touch.

The track soon went back to the familiar limestone cliff top walking. We stopped at numerous lookouts and viewing spots to check out the sea pounding in onto the cliffs. There wasn't a lot of wind today but the swell was a good size. Just short of the 9km mark we stopped at the petrified forrest and blow holes near Cape Duquesne, it's an amazing area. The bus was waiting there and we grabbed our lunches and topped up our water before heading off to the lunch spot.

 

The track continued as a limestone track and was a little uneven which made it a little difficult to walk on (but ok). At 1400 (12km mark) we stopped for lunch at the Spring Camp. This is one of the many camp areas on the Great South West Walk (GSWW). It has a shelter, tank water and a toilet. We only took about 30 minutes for lunch and headed off again along the cliff top.

The track headed inland at the 16km mark and changed to an easy sandy track through low shrubs. Nick nearly stepped on an echidna which was on the side of the track. We finished at the Bridgewater Lakes at 1705 (once again Mark and I were the first in) where we met the bus.

We were back in the hotel at 1735 and had to do a quick change so as to be back on the bus by 1815. All of us were on time and we set off to the Cape Nelson lighthouse where we had a great dinner (Moroccan dishes) and a guided tour of the lighthouse. It was a great tour and meal.

We were back at the hotel about 2115. The fun of getting ready for tomorrow started and including packing my suitcase as we are checking out early tomorrow. I have no idea how I managed to get everything into it originally as it is bursting at the seems and was hard to zip up; got there eventually.

Earlier start tomorrow