The Great South West Walk was one of my favorite hikes. Read on to find out why.
Nestled in the extreme southwest of Victoria, Australia, the Great South West Walk is billed as a trail in four parts: Tall Forests, Tranquil River, Wild Beaches, and Breathtaking Cliffs. While I might quibble about how tall the forests or how wild the beaches are, the trail delivers all four parts quite well.
The Four Environments
Starting from Portland, we spent the majority of our first day on trail walking north out of town, initially through parkland nestled between suburbia and the ocean, then along roads and eventually entering the Cobboboonee Forest, a large Eucalyptus forest. Very quickly, we saw our first koala, and over the next couple of days, saw countless wallabies, several emus, echidna, and more parrots than we could count. The forest was alive with animals in a way we had not anticipated.
Three days of walking through the forest brought us into the Lower Glenelg National Park, and for the next couple of days, we traveled along the cliffs high above the Glenelg River, which slowly meandered through a shorter forest, until it reached Nelson and emptied into Discovery Bay, on the Southern Ocean.
Another few days took us generally along the beach on Discovery Bay. The roar of the ocean was exhausting, and several lines of breakers showcased how much power was in the Southern Ocean.
A short jaunt inland over Mount Richmond (the only mountain summit along the trail) and down and along Descartes Bay brought us to the cliffs above Cape Bridgewater. The ocean continued to pound against the shore, but with that now consisting of jagged rocks and sheer cliffs, the surf was flung high into the air, an even more impressive display of the ocean’s power.
Rounding Bridgewater Bay and its seal colony, and Cape Nelson and its gannet rookery brought us back into Portland, concluding our 265 km, 14 day loop.
Each of those four sections were quite different, and each only a few days long, preventing them from getting tiring or boring. This was my first time in Australia, and I feel like this was just about the best introduction to the country and its wildlife one could expect.
Wildlife
I was quite impressed with the sheer amount of wildlife on the trail. Seeing my first koala halfway through the first day, coincidentally sitting in a tree above where we stopped for a break, was a highlight. I never really expected to see emus at all, so seeing a small herd running through the forest ahead of us was a delight. The parrots screeching overhead as we walked past made the forest feel unlike any other I’ve been in.
We also had plenty of run-ins with snakes, mainly highly venomous Tiger Snakes, one of which I apparently stepped right over on the trail without seeing it. Fortunately, that encounter aside, we were able to give the snakes a wide berth, and they didn’t give us much trouble. That said, it was exhausting keeping focused on the ground looking for snakes, while also looking up into the trees for birds and koalas.
The only animals we were looking for that we missed were the platypus, and leeches. (Well, it’s not so much that we missed seeing leeches, but the dry season made them fortunately not around to trouble us.)
The Trail
The Great South West Walk is a fairly easy trail, easily suitable for beginners or anyone else who doesn’t want to wrestle with a difficult trail. The trail tread is generally smooth and well-maintained, and frequently wide enough for two people to walk side-by-side. It’s also relatively flat (a total elevation gain of about 5900 meters over 265 km; 19,350 ft in 164.5 mi), which leads it to the trail itself not being a strenuous hike. The most difficult segments came along the Discovery Bay portion of the trail, with occasional steep scrambles off the beaches, and complete exposure to the ocean, wind, and sun.
The Great South West Walk is also one of the most spectacularly well-maintained trails I’ve ever had the pleasure of hiking. The shelters (including their signage) were all well-designed and in excellent condition. The trail tread was easy to walk on, and there was never any question about where the trail went. The only place that wasn’t exceptionally well maintained was a somewhat overgrown stretch between the beach and Lake Monibeong.
I don’t recall seeing any litter at all along the trail, which was quite impressive.
Along the trail are 14 campgrounds with a two-sided shelter and benches picnic tables, a privy, and rainwater tanks refilled from gutters on the shelter and privy roofs. We stayed at eleven of them. They were all fantastic: clean, well-maintained, and plenty of places to pitch a tent. The shelters all provided ample sun shade, which we were very happy for, since we often arrived in camp in the early afternoon when it was still hot out. And the rainwater tanks all seemed to have ample water. All of the camps are intended specifically for GSWW hikers, and the ones that are also located near car campgrounds are set far enough away from the car campground that there’s really not any issue — a couple of them are far enough away that you can’t even see the one from the other!
The only maintenance concern we saw at the campsites was that one of them had a leaky water tank. When we emailed the trail’s maintenance organization about it, we got a response back later that day saying they’d be out the next morning to fix it!
There wasn’t a whole lot of water available on the trail. Being that we hiked the trail in the summer, most of the smaller creeks were dry. The Glenelg River was usually far below the trail without easy access, and also brackish and unsuitable for drinking at any rate. And of course, drinking from the ocean is not advisable. But the shelters all had plenty of water, and the shelters are well within an easy day’s walking distance from each other, so there’s not a need to carry an excessive amount of water.
We took a well-deserved rest day in Nelson. The town has seen better days, and there are barely any businesses. But the food at the Nelson Hotel and the gas station were great, (and the hotel’s restaurant surprisingly busy in the evening) and the staff were friendly. The town’s tourist information center also had friendly and quite knowledgable staff.
Aside from a couple we met at Paterson Camp on Day 5, we didn’t see any other hikers at all on our loop. Only twice was there anyone else at our campsite. We did see plenty of people around Cape Bridgewater, near the Cape Nelson Lighthouse, and at the Point Danger gannet colony, and of course, in Portland and Nelson, but them aside, it was nice to have the trail to ourselves.
A Fantastic Introduction to Australia
The GSWW was my first trail in Australia, and it was a fantastic introduction to Australia’s wildlife — it’s hard to beat sitting down under a tree halfway through the first day and seeing a koala in its branches. The trail’s four different environments were distinct, and individually not too long, so it never got boring. And the trail was easy to get to and away from with public transportation. We hiked the trail in 14 days, but it could easily be done faster, or a little slower.
I enjoyed my time on the GSWW, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone else who has an interest in getting a taste for Australian hiking!