Care free hiking...

I planned to spend my last couple of days in Western Australia visiting a lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin near where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet and doing some coastal hiking along a striking seaside trail known as the 'Cape to Cape' trail.  The good news, I thought to myself, is that there are unlikely to be any snakes so close to the ocean and I will be hike worry free without a care in the world-

Yep, no worries at all.  

When I visited the lighthouse, I asked one of the rangers there what section of the Cape trail he recommended and he said he thought Hamlin Bay quite scenic, except that he always saw deadly Targa snakes in that area and it was best to be constantly on the lookout as you walked.  Oh, goodie.  A  hike where my eyes would never look up from the trail 8’ in front of me.   But still, I thought, what were the odds of actually encountering one? 

I did see where the 2 oceans met from the top of the lighthouse and that was quite interesting.  You could actually see the swells coming from different directions and then smashing into one another.  One of the guides pointed out a rock in the sea and said that spot was actually the anti-pole for Washington D.C.  Yeah, I thought, except the rock seemed a bit more productive than D.C., or at least less baleful in its effects.  

En route, I did got through a Kauri (name of the tree here) forest, which had something of a middle earth effect

The day I took up the Cape to Cape trail in earnest was a windy and cool day- quite a contrast to Rottnest Island- and the swells and breakers coming off the Indian Ocean were really large.  At one point, I walked along the beach and never I have felt the power, force and awesomeness of the ocean- as opposed to say, that of Justin Bieber- as I walked along the sand.  It was almost frightening, but it certainly was truly impressive and resulted in a little different experience from my other coastal hikes.  The huge waves just blasted into the beach and rocks.  A good day to car park surf. 

And then, as I was making my way quickly back, I encountered a large black Targa snake about 6’ ahead on the trail.  I skidded to a halt and we looked at each other for a second, as it was not entirely clear who had the right of way....  Pondering for a moment, I decided it was only polite to defer to the native and I waited until the snake crossed before continuing on my merry way, entirely unperturbed.  And then.....I changed my underwear when I got back to the car. 

 Finally, I found a place within my comfort zone-