Section 7: The Wild South Coast

The final stretch was beautiful, difficult and a fitting end to the journey. I always love seeing the ocean after a time away from it and this was no exception.

It's a coastline with rich blue waters hitting coarse sandy beaches and cliffs of black stone and granite.

This section offered challenging and well built trails, dense and rich native scrub full of life.

My last few days I had complex feelings - excitement to return to my family and comfort; some sadness knowing this peak experience was coming to an end.

I've felt something like this a couple of times when I've completed a major undertaking. It's a mix of deep loss mixed and elation. I suspect it's driven by the sudden end of strong purpose that comes with hard and prolonged challenges.

It really has been an amazing journey, exploring the natural beauty and the colonial and geological history of SA. I saw the enormous scale and effort of settlers developing agriculture here. I saw many thriving country towns and experienced great generosity from their people. I saw the terrible impact to the indigenous population and to the natural environment. Having grown up here makes it even more meaningful.

Would I recommend this to others? Unequivocally yes.

Day 44 - Myponga to Robinson Hill

This was the day I lost my cheese and saw a deer with fabulous hair. I'm not on drugs, I promise.

Jayne at Heysens Rest served a delicious breakfast and I was off. A steady walk took me to Myponga Conservation Park, which is beautiful. It was a decent effort to climb out, with views of bush, coloured stone and a waterfall in the distance.

As I left the park I saw very strange looking deer, and realised it had some kind of thread wrapped up in its antlers which made it look like it was wearing a wig. It was delightful and surreal to see it prance away, the first live deer I'd seen on trail.

I had my hopes up about getting lunch at the Inman Valley General Store, and was disappointed to find it closed. I stopped for lunch further up and realised I'd left my cheese behind in the fridge!

I arrived at the Robinson Hill campsite around midday and it's a fantastic spot. The tent clearings are nestled in dense scrub with many ferns and the platform has a huge overlook onto fields with kangaroos and a rolling hills backdrop.

I'd set up and was catching up my writing when I heard a 'Hello'. I wasn't expecting anyone and met Alex, a northbound section hiker. We chatted on many shared passions including hiking, running and travelling and later talked about life aspirations while watching the stars. Best of luck with everything and thanks for the great company!

Day 45 - Robinson Hill to Victor Harbor

Dave and I had been in contact and organised to reconnect at Newland Head, which meant I had a day up my sleeve. I decided to do 2 shorter days around Victor rather than take a full day off.

I took a slow start to enjoy the lovely campsite and sunny morning and headed off.

The trail was straightforward and I walked entirely on roads to Victor, although I later realised I missed a marker and could've been in fields for some of it.

The weather was great and I had lunch and walked the foreshore of Encounter Bay.

I dropped into the supermarket to resupply and pick up some whisky, it was so weird being in a mall again.

Hiking poles mustn't be a common sight in Victor, I had several jokes from friendly older locals that it doesn't snow there!

I spent the afternoon at the beach enjoying the warmth and headed to my friend Karen's. We had a great night involving a lot of whisky and laughter. There was no food so we shared a rehydrated meal and some lunch provisions which was hilarious at the time, you've gotta be prepared!

Day 46 - Victor Harbor to Newland Head

I had some time to spare so tried to fit in a couple of extra trails in Victor. The Paperbark Trail around Hindmarsh River was pretty, and after walking the foreshore again I decided to climb the bluff.

The views were great despite the rain and I learnt that Encounter Bay was named after an encounter between Sir Matthew Flinders and a French vessel which could've ended badly but didn't.

I started on the Heritage Trail which included a lot of indigenous history. I enjoyed walking along the coast.

The Waitpinga Cliffs and Newland Head Conservation Park are beautiful walking spots. The trails are well made, the scrub dense and the kangaroos are more used to humans than further north.

A distant thunderstorm provided occasional flashes of lightning accompanied by massive thunder that rolled through the landscape.

Day 47 - Newland Head to Deep Creek

This was a tough day, close to 30kms with a great deal of beach walking and many climbs.

Waitpinga beach was first up. I took my shoes off to cross a large outlet from recent rain and walked the beach barefoot. I enjoyed the sensations and suspect it was good for my feet.

A climb, Parsons Beach and a mix of road and paddock brought me to Tunkalilla Beach. The final descent looked dangerous in the strong wind and rain, so I made a wide path around the neck of the hill.

The beach is really pretty although a hard walk, almost 5km in soft sand. This provided a lot of time for reflection.

The climb out took me along a rugged cliffside and I took a lot of care on tired legs.

Entering Deep Creek Conservation Park was amazing. I haven't been for so many years and have wonderful memories, also it signified that I was nearing the end of the journey. The trails here are top notch.

Tapanappa Campsite had excellent facilities although I wished there was a shelter. I set my tent up in hunker down mode expecting hard rain and wind through the night.

Day 48 - Deep Creek to Cape Jervis

The final day! The map looked tricky, multiple hard gradient climbs and descents and to top it off it was rainy with strong winds.

We left early with an aim to hit the finish line at 4pm. The weather was intermittent, sometimes windy and cold, sometimes very wet and sometimes sunny.

Some sections were really tricky - steep, stony, slippery and wet. We got through fine with care.

The waterfalls were flowing in full force thanks to the heavy rain overnight. This meant a few tricky water crossings which I took barefoot while Dave just pushed through.

I saw a group of seals playing in the surf near blowhole beach, they were a treat to watch.

The final section was shoreline scrub, dense and green with white stone poking through. It reminded me of walking the lake around Yorke Peninsula.

With great anticipation we reached Cape Jervis and had completed the Heysen Trail. Sabine was waiting with wine and toasted sandwiches, what a legend. My parents had been to the pub where the publican had made us a finisher badge, and Marlene arrived with the girls shortly after.