Less trodden than Cape Spencer, the walk to Royston Head delivers all of Innes's big-coast drama - windswept heath, wildflowers and cliffs falling away to the Southern Ocean.
The quieter trail
Most visitors to Innes National Park make a beeline for the headline sights - Cape Spencer, the wreck of the Ethel, the surf at Pondalowie. Royston Head, the park's southern tip, sees far fewer feet, and that is exactly its charm.
The walk sets out across low coastal heath, gentle for most of its length, the kind of country that looks unremarkable until you slow down and start noticing. In spring it is anything but: native orchids, correas and coastal daisies bloom in the scrub, and the heath hums with insects and small birds.
The headland
The track climbs to a high, wind-scoured headland where the land simply runs out. The cliffs fall away to the Southern Ocean, and the views stretch back along the rugged Innes coastline in both directions. It is a fine place to sit and watch raptors riding the updrafts off the cliffs.
It is also exposed - properly exposed. Even on a calm day the wind finds you here, so take a hat, water and a windproof layer, and watch your footing near the edge.
Why bother
There are flashier walks in Innes, but few that deliver this much solitude. Royston Head is for walkers who want the park's wild grandeur without sharing it - the big sky, the empty heath, the roar of the ocean far below, and the satisfying sense of having walked out to the very end of things.
