Looking for trails open after the bushfires?
5 Feb 2020: Kangaroo Island was devasted by bushfire in January 2020. Some parks and trails remain closed. View our article of 13 walking trails open post-bushfire.
- Distance
- 9 km return
- Duration
- 3 hours return
- Suitable for
- Walking, Hiking, Trail Running
- Grade 3, Moderate Hike
- Terrain
- Undulating
- Park
- Ravine des Casoars Wilderness Protection Area
- Region
- Kangaroo Island
- Download maps & GPS files
- 1 map PDF
- 2 GPS files
- Photos
- 12 photosJump to Photos section
- Travel options
- Car
About the Walking Trail
This hike follows the lightkeepers’ old cart track used for transporting supplied between Harveys Return and Cape Borda, which they called ‘The Return Road’. The first 800 metres wanders through sugar gum woodland to the Lightkeepers Cemetery, which is an option for a short hike (1.6km return). The trail continues, roughly parallel to the road on to Cape Borda. The road is rarely seen. As the trail heads west you leave the forest behind for lower scrub. An optional but rewarding sidetrip is to walk 300m down Scott Road when the trail crosses it, to reach Scott Cove Lookout. Another alternative is to walk from Harveys Return Campground to Scotts Cove Lookout, which is 3.4km return. The trail finishes at Cape Borda, where you can walk the short Clifftop Hike to a lookout.
Keep a watch out for cobblestones which indicate the alignment of the original track.
The trail begins near campsites #2 and #4.
Photos
The Return Road Hike walking trail
Headstones at the Cape Borda cemetery on the Return Road Hike
Headstone at the Cape Borda cemetery on the Return Road Hike
The plaque reads: "Harvey's Return Cemetery. This cemetery is the resting place of sixteen persons who lived at the Cape Borda Lighthouse complex. The earliest contemporary record is the burial of Captain Woodward on the 13th September 1858. 'A memorial to those early pioneers when the only access to this area was by ship at Harvey's Return.' Erected by the Department of Transport 1984."
Walking through sugar gum forest from Harveys Return Campground to the cemetery
First glimpses of the Cape Borda Lighthouse on the Return Road Hike
The Return Road Hike between Harveys Return Campground and the lighthouse keepers cemetery
The view from Scotts Cove Lookout on the Return Road Hike
Interpretive sign about the horse cart that was the Return Road
The walking trail along the Return Road Hike offers less shade as it heads west
The Return Road Hike is well marked
The trailhead of the Return Road Hike is between campsites #2 and #4 at Harveys Return Campground