3 December - D’Entrecasteaux National Park

3 December 2016 - 197 394

D’Entrecasteaux National Park

This morning we drove south towards Windy Harbour in D’Entrecasteaux National Park.  

https://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Attraction/Windy_Harbour_and_Salmon_Beach/56b267312cbcbe7073ae1146

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/windy-harbour

Our first stop was Mt Chudalup which is a large granite outcrop that projects above the surrounding canopy.  While it was a steep climb the views from the top were pretty spectacular.  

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/mt-chudalup

https://trailswa.com.au/trails/mount-chudalup/print

We then drove to Point D’Entrecasteaux.  

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/point-dentrecasteaux

We walked from here to Tookulup and then to Cathedral Rock – the winds were incredibly strong, blowing all of us around on the path, and yet, there were still flies!  The views however were fantastic.  

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/site/tookulup

Nature’s Window was an interesting rock formation with a view through to the ocean.  There was also an area of sedimentary rock outcrops that looked like a white version of the Bungle Bungles.  The beach at Cathedral Rock was beautiful clear green water, we didn’t swim however due to the temperature only being very low twenties and the wind chill factor – Windy harbour is appropriately named.

  

After lunch and a sleep at the van, we drove east to the Great Forest Drive in Shannon National Park – unfortunately only Snake Gully and Big Tree Grove were open with the remainder of the drive closed due to a fire in 2015.  

https://trailswa.com.au/trails/great-forest-trees-drive

https://www.westernaustralia.com/en/Attraction/The_Great_Forest_Trees_Drive/56b267c22cbcbe7073ae1a83

https://parks.dpaw.wa.gov.au/park/shannon

Big Tree Grove had some impressively tall and straight Karri trees that were up to 85m high!