Cape Buffon Walk (Southend)

Where Canunda meets Rivoli Bay

At the sleepy holiday town of Southend, the northern tip of Canunda National Park juts into the Southern Ocean as Cape Buffon — and an easy 2.5-kilometre loop walk shows it off superbly. The trail runs along the top of wave-cut limestone cliffs, past sea stacks and reef platforms, with seats and fenced lookouts at the best vantage points.

A short climb to a trig point opens up the full panorama: kilometres of cliff and beach running south into Canunda's dunes, and the calm curve of Rivoli Bay sweeping north towards Beachport. On a clear day you can pick out the long Beachport jetty across the water.

The loop takes most walkers 30 to 45 minutes from the trailheads on Cape Buffon Drive. Stay on the marked track — the cliff edges here are undercut and unstable — and bring binoculars in winter, when southern right whales sometimes pass offshore.