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A quick lowdown on CAPE RANGE NP
KARIJINI NP
KENNEDY RANGE NP FRANCOIS PERON NP KALBARRI NP
ADVENTURES ON
Perth
WA’S CORAL COAST Words Catherine Lawson Photography David Bristow BEST KNOWN FOR ITS WATERY ADVENTURES on Ningaloo—Australia’s largest fringing reef—the Coral Coast is a surprising place to tackle a bushwalk. From the Kennedy Range and Karijini National Parks, to Kalbarri, Cape Range and Francois Peron in Shark Bay World Heritage Area, this collection leads you to remote river gorges for wild, wet walks and rockhopping adventures, and along ridges and sea cliffs to spot petroglyphs and marine life at play. Trails on the arid Coral Coast are characteristically short, so walkers can avoid the worst of the searing midday heat, but at its lowest latitudes in Kalbarri National Park, cool winter conditions allow for one classic multi-day wander. THE EASY
WANAMALU TRAIL
FRANCOIS PERON NP 3.6KM; 1-1.5HRS - EASY At the very tip of the Peron Peninsula, on the edge of Shark Bay’s vast, tricoloured World Heritage Area, this easy wander rates for its stellar ocean views. The national park’s only formed track, the gentle Wanamalu Trail winds between Cape Peron and Skipjack Point along a knife edge of striking, 250,000-year-old Peron sandstone. Lookouts at either end of the trail overhang white-sand shorelines where cormorants, terns and gulls move in a restless dance between crumbling red cliffs and an aquamarine sea. If you’re lucky, you’ll spot eagle rays and bottlenose dolphins hunting sea mullet in the shallows below. The soft, sandy trail that links the lookouts offers the only real challenge. Arrive in spring when a blaze of wildflowers colours the dunes, and start walking early in the day to catch wild creatures at play. THE CLASSIC
MURCHISON RIVER GORGE KALBARRI NP 38KM; 4 DAYS – HARD
Deep inside the Murchison River Gorge, on a cavernous stretch of crumbling Tumblagooda sandstone, adventurers rock-hop, climb and shimmy their way downstream through country the Nanda people call Wutumalu. It’s more scrambling than hiking, which is precisely what attracts off-trail adventurers to squeeze through rock crevices, skirt deep pools, wade and swim, and gather drinking water hidden in lofty rock pools. It takes four days to navigate from Ross Graham Lookout onto the Loop Trail at Natures Window, but some extend an already rugged wander by beginning 10km further upstream at Hardabutt Pool. Head to Ross Graham Lookout for easy access into the gorge,
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then allow two days (18hrs of walking) to reach Z-Bend. Between here and Four-Ways, significant wintertime rains can flood deep, sheer-sided pools, making passage difficult. To stay dry, many walkers detour around it, avoiding the long swim by climbing the Z-Bend access track to the gorge rim, and looping back down again to Four-Ways. Others stash a packraft at Z-Bend and use it to paddle and portage the route to Natures Window before climbing back to the gorge rim via the Loop Trail. The winter rains that replenish drinking-water sources in the gorge bring cooler temperatures and possible flash flooding. Register your hike with Kalbarri National Park rangers (phone 08 9937 1140). THE AESTHETIC
DRAPERS, TEMPLE & HONEYCOMB GORGE TRAILS KENNEDY RANGE NP 11km; 5.5 HRS – MODERATE-HARD
Scoured into the base of the little-visited Kennedy Range, three gorges—all accessible in steep, hour-long climbs—are best combined into one seriously good rock-hopping adventure. From the park campground, head for Drapers Gorge, where a trail climbs gently past rock canvases etched with Indigenous petroglyphs. From the waterhole at the head of the gorge, retrace your steps thirty minutes back down, admiring the expansive, mulga plain vistas en route. Turn north and follow the trail into Temple Gorge, named for the prominent rock formation that towers overhead. Boulder-hop back, and then follow the Escarpment Base Trail north, dwarfed beneath the Kennedy Range’s 75km-long plateau of rust-red sandstone. Steep, precipitous cliffs tower above the entrance to Honeycomb Gorge and its intriguing rock amphitheatre of rosy, pitted walls. Cool your heels with a dip in the rock pool, then complete the 11km-long loop by returning to camp before the midday heat kicks in. Arrive after winter rains when wildflowers colour the plains and the days are cooler (July to September).
