Hiking Western Australia’s Cape to Cape track with gourmet guides is a lesson in sustainable luxury. And a tasty one at that.
“Once a trip someone will say to me, you can’t call this a job!" Elise Parker laughs as we journey towards the starting point for today’s hike. As a guide and driver, Elise is attuned to the envy her guests feel, having pressed pause on their busy lives and discovered the slow road. She sees it every week.
The drive to Redgate Beach, one of many famous surf spots along Western Australia’s Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park coastline, is stunning to the point of distraction: the forest-flanked roads, the shimmering blue of the Indian Ocean on the horizon and barely another soul to be seen. “Keep your eyes out for your favourite winery, because no doubt we’ll pass it," our lead guide Matt Fuller adds from the back of the bus.
Vans with boards strapped to the top are lined up in the car park when we arrive, their drivers scoping out the scene. The swell is not huge today, but a dedicated few paddle out for the chance of a clean ride on the rare beach break. We’re hitting the sand instead, walking the length of the beach to meet the Cape to Cape Track, which will steer us along arguably one of its best sections to the towering karri and marri trees of Boranup Forest.
From end to end, the Cape to Cape Track is 130 kilometres of ocean-hugging curves and stunning vistas between the lighthouses of Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin in the Margaret River region on Wadandi Noongar Boodja (country). You can hike its length in around five to seven days, but there are guided options for those who prefer to tackle it in smaller, more pampered sections, such as the signature four-day Cape to Cape Walk I’ve joined with Perth-based outfit, Walk into Luxury.
The birth of Walk into Luxury
It was on this track that the idea for Walk into Luxury was seeded 10 years ago, when founder Nikki King organised an end-to-end trek for herself and her husband. Then a time-poor solicitor, Nikki sought the escape and connection to nature. But, as a lover of good food and wine, she also wanted to enjoy the spoils this region is renowned for along the way.
Six weeks later, Walk into Luxury was born, with a guided package combining days on the trail with lunches at some of Margaret River’s best wineries, dinner prepared by a private chef and nights spent in luxury villas overlooking the ocean. It was an appealing recipe for low-impact luxury and just two years later, the Cape to Cape Walk was recognised as one of the 12 Great Walks of Australia.
A lesson in regeneration
We’re hiking in Djeran – the Noongar season that signifies the start of cooler weather; the Season of Adulthood – but layers are being stripped by the time we leave the beach, the sun scalding remnant clouds into remission. And, in step with the season, which is regarded as a time of renewal, today’s 14-kilometre amble is a lesson in regeneration.
Bushfire engulfed this area less than 18 months ago and while the plants that stabilise the dunes have regrown, the outlook is vastly more exposed than what would have once greeted hikers here. Charred tea trees stretch out either side of the sandy track, like sentinel skeletons reaching for the sky, with vivid green regrowth sprouting at their feet. The further south we go, the taller the grass trees reach – their cylindrical cores act like an insulated filter, protecting them from fire. A blessing when they only grow by about two centimetres per year. Through it all, the ocean continues its alluring dance.
“Welcome to Bob’s Hollow, or Mykonos as I like to call it," Matt jokes as we step down to our morning tea spot, aided by a chain balustrade. Turquoise water laps against limestone-capped rocks and our small group spreads out to claim a spot to ponder after filling stainless steel cups from the thermos.
“This is one of my favourite sections of the track," Matt says as I bite into the pain au chocolat Elise had delivered this morning. Originally from the Gold Coast, Matt cut his tourism teeth as a sports director on cruise ships around the world. “I came down here [to the Margaret River region] in the early 2000s with my wife and couldn’t believe it," he says. “I said if the east coast gets wind of this we’re screwed."
Southwest WA is a land of plenty
My eight walking companions and I – all east coasters bar Heather from Adelaide – are equally as bowled over by this land of plenty. Australia’s Southwest, which encompasses the region, is a biodiversity hotspot with 80 per cent of the flora found nowhere else, part of the reason the Margaret River region was recently eco-certified as a destination. Wildflowers carpet the dunes if you visit in spring and, come late April, you’ll rub shoulders with the pro surfers who flock here for the world-renowned breaks. Its vineyards account for only three per cent of Australia’s yield, but command more than 20 per cent of the premium wine market.
For 60,000 years it has been the Traditional Lands of the Wadandi (Saltwater) people, nature’s rhythms gently guiding them as it does us today. Free from desks, deadlines and grandparent duties, luxury walking holidays like this offer the chance to tread softly, to appreciate beauty and wildness while honouring the land and ourselves. Stressed-out souls start to unspool, including Megan and Cam – a couple from Sydney’s northern beaches who recently found themselves empty-nesters with a backlog of leave. “We’ve both got pretty frenetic jobs and these past two days have allowed us to relax and decompress," Megan says.
The track leads us to soaring limestone cliffs and caves, like nature’s cathedral presiding above a blanket of coastal rosemary that spills to the shoreline. Following the ridgeline, I fall into step with second guide Marcel Kempe, who is in a different mode today after serving as sommelier at our intimate, exclusive dinner at Injidup Spa Retreat last night. Local chef Andrea Ilotts served up a nourishing four-course feast, inspired by produce sourced at the Margaret River Farmers’ Market each week. While we devoured roasted sweetcorn and crab soup, slow-cooked local lamb, crimson snapper from the Pilbara and Persian love cake made with local almonds and served with roasted plums from Donnybrook, Marcel was on hand to pour matched wines from organic vineyard, House of Cards .
“This is the money shot," Matt announces as we reach a rocky outcrop overlooking Contos Beach – a great arc of golden sand where the swell rolls in from its 8500-kilometre journey from South Africa. “If I was going to take someone to the Cape to Cape Track to see one place, this would be it," he says.
Lungs full of sea air, we wander into Quenda Camp – the Noongar name for the southern brown bandicoot found here – to find lunch is served, artfully styled by Elise. Salad wraps are stacked alongside cheeseboards loaded with moreish seeded crackers and zesty green pesto, with hazelnut studded brownies for dessert. I’ve been on luxury hikes before, but this is on another level.
Forest bathing among karri and marri trees
The next two hours go by in a blur of conversation and contemplation as we pass Jurassic zamia palms and baby banksias and fall into step beneath the towering trunks of Boranup Forest – a two-kilometre-wide swathe of karri and marri trees. It had been at least 30 years since the last fire here when flames stripped the creamy white trunks – some 60 metres high – of their vegetation. Eighteen months on, young green shoots reach skywards, signalling a new beginning.
Like a genie granting another of our wishes, we find Elise waiting for us at the end of the track, handing out cold towels – a fitting complement to our forest-bathing high.
“I guess there was a bit of a gap in the market in terms of the way that traditional tours and walks are sometimes promoted," Walk into Luxury founder Nikki tells me during a later conversation about hitting the right balance of walking with premium food and wine experiences. “They can be quite daunting if you are not a hardcore, super-fit hiker.
“We choose our partners because we have similar values around quality and sustainability … and the already exceptional food and wine tastes that much better after a good walk," Nikki says.
A balance of excellence in views and food
From here, we’ll visit the hand-planted, hand-harvested organic winery Windows Estate for a private tasting with co-owner Joanne Davies. Then it’s onto Dunsborough for a convivial, and memorable, meal at Yarri Restaurant + Bar.
After tomorrow’s final half-day hike from Moses Rock to the Wilyabrup sea cliffs we’ll land at Vasse Felix – the Margaret River’s founding winery – to taste our way through lauded vintages and relish an incredible four-course celebratory lunch, toasting both our stamina and good fortune.
But that’s all still ahead as I return to my beachfront pad at Smiths Beach Resort, roll up the automatic blinds and drink in a glorious golden sunset over the water – a reward that’s just as tasty for an east coaster like me.
The tour details
The four-day signature Cape to Cape Walk departs weekly on Sundays from March to June and September to November with transfers from Perth, three nights in an oceanfront pool villa at Injidup Spa Retreat, four days of guided walking and all food and wine included.
To cater for increasing demand, Monday departures based at Smiths Beach Resort are now available for private group departures on request. As well as personally maintaining six kilometres of the Cape to Cape Track, the advanced eco-certified Walk into Luxury provides guests with the option to offset unavoidable emissions via a voluntary carbon offset amount.
Accommodation details
Nestled within Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, Smiths Beach Resort presides over an underrated beach where you’ll find a surf school in the summer months, and direct access to the Cape to Cape Track between the rock pools at the southern end (borrow snorkelling gear from reception to explore the ‘Aquarium’).
Part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World portfolio, a recent refresh and the installation of 270 solar panels has elevated the architectural award-winning resort, with its array of spacious and well-appointed beach houses, villas and apartments.
