Last week we took a picnic lunch to Castle Bay in the Meelup Regional Park, wetting our appetites for more. More of the park that is, not the picnic lunch…..We did still take a simple little picnic with us again today though. In fact we’ve decided to make Monday a picnic day for Paul and I to have somewhere in the great outdoors. We’ll use the days to visit some of the  places in the South West where dogs aren’t allowed to go. Mr Tilly gets out and about quite a lot, so a trip out for us once a week without him isn’t going to do him any harm, and I’m sure it’ll do us a lot of good.

We had a bit of a sample walk along the track from Castle Bay towards Meelup last week, however, my ankle at that time felt a little to fragile to go very far, so it was just a taster. A week later and I’m itching to get hiking. What better place to start getting serious about walking again than to pick up from where we were last week.

We again headed to the Meelup Regional Park. The park is classified as an A class reserve that stretches along the coast from Dunsborough to Bunker Bay. Approximately 600 hectares in size it’s similar in size to Kings Park in Perth. To protect the wild life, dogs are prohibited, so a good place for us to be on our Mr Tilly free Mondays. There’s plenty of walking tracks between the different Bays, so you’re sure to be reading a bit about a few of them as we get ourselves out and about.

We started at Meelup Beach today with the intentions of walking the full return distance to Castle Bay (2.4 kms in total – not far I agree, but I am still being cautious as my ankle returns to normal mobility and strength).

Meelup Beach is definitely one of the most popular family beaches in the south west. It’s a small bay with a white sandy bottom, and the water is usually gentle for toddlers that want to play in the shallows. For the older visitors there’s canoes, paddle boards, and beach games available for hire.

The shore is dotted with plenty of old trees providing shade for picnicking under, and picnic tables are abundant.

The toilet block is in keeping with the rustic surroundings, and have cold water showers, and flush toilets. Compared to the drop toilets at some of the other bays in the regional park, Meelup is quite civilised.

We arrived in time to see a pod of dolphins frolicking just out from shore. The pod were heading towards Castle Bay, as were we. They kept a similar pace to us all the way and whenever there was a gap in the trees we could see them just off shore.

With my ankle well supported in hiking boots and my bush stick for added stability, the 1.2 kms was easy enough, so we went the 700metres extra that took us past Castle Bay and right up to the actual Rock. Up close it’s massive.

The track was an easy walk, but not shaded all the way. Be sure to cover up suitably against the sun, and take some water.

Then from the rock it was 1.9kms back to Meelup where we enjoyed our cheese and salad rolls with a refreshing sparkling mineral water as a Kookaburra watched on from a neighbouring tree.

I love our South West. What a pleasure it is to live here!