KatieTheKat

Originally, we planned a 3.5 day hike along the "Coastal Plain Walking Track", starting in Yanchep National Park and ending not far from one of Perth's northern suburbs. But Thursday, the day before we were to leave, it rained. Harder, perhaps, than I have ever seen it rain. Certainly near the top of the list. The city was dark at lunchtime, as I looked out at it from my window, hard at work. To make matters worse, Michael was feeling about as perky as the weather. It seemed the hike was not to be.

Friday we spent doing little of anything, until the afternoon when we did some shopping for a short overnighter. In our modified plan, we would hike a mere 5-6km out to the first hut on the track, spend the night, then come back. So we checked the bus schedules (finally got around to that step). Hmm. Only one bus back to town on Sunday, and it left early in the morning.

New change in plans - we could do a small loop and pass the first two huts on the track - coming back on Monday would leave plenty of transportation options. And so it was that our plan was hatched. Nothing too crazy but still an adventure. I started to get excited.

Saturday morning, we caught the train out of the city and to the end of the line in the brand-spanking-new suburb of Clarkson. Our bus took wound us through a sea of medium-large houses, bulging out towards their fencelines and staring out through blank windows at the street. Occasionally, there were patches of 'greenspace' - each carfeully-planned blade of grass in its place, trying to look welcoming though impersonal so as to create an illusion of providing a bit of outdoor space for your 2.5 children to play in. After the houses came the 'neighbourhood shops' - a 'Crazy Clark's' and a 'Kmart' were the first, of course. I suppose that in a way it is fitting that this glimpse of suburbia in all its ugliness was the launching point for our trip. It is just about the polar opposite to wilderness.

When we alighted from the bus about 20 minutes later, suburbia had been left behind, and next to the bus stop was a trail marker. Perfect. The first sight that greeted us as we stepped away from the road was a large tree in full blossom, highlighted by the sun and snowing blossoms in the breeze. From here it was a kilometre or two to the centre of the park. Where by centre I mean the place with the parking lots, the boardwalks, toilet blocks every 200m, and the ice cream kiosk. So, we grabbed an ice cream and went to see the koalas.

Koalas don't normally live in Western Australia - I'm not sure why, but the lack of the right kinds of eucalyptus trees to nibble on might contribute. The park had its own plantation of koala-friendly trees just for its little enclosed population of them.

Finally it was time to actually start hiking, so we set off after a Carnaby's black cockatoo on the cockatoo walk. The hike out was nice, but mostly uneventful. The main feature of note were the areas in which the track was surrounded by bushes whose flowers smelt very strongly of cat pee. And I know what cat pee smells like. It brought back memories of trying to clean an old tent in Nanaimo. I don't know what kind of creature the bushes were trying to attract - perhaps they were trying to ward off felines instead. We braved them, anyhow.

Ridges campsite was a beautiful spot overlooking a vast valley. Like many of Western Australia's longer walking tracks, it was equipped with a hut, but the hut lacked one rather essential feature - apparently someone had stolen its water tank! Luckily we had had a short day and therefore had some good supplies, and we were able to top these off in the couple of brief showers that passed by overnight. Michael displayed his firelighting skills and we had a delicious dinner cooked over the campfire. Competing for the best moment of the trip was the misty sunrise over the valley the next morning.

Sunday, we walked through some more the the tomcat-gone-wild territory, then emerged on the one rocky outcropping within the whole park for a 360 degree view after a very minimal climb. It was a nice place for part one of lunch. The trail then led us past an ancient abandoned vehicle, past some interesting plants, over hill and over dale, and finally into a real forest in which one actually felt dwarfed by the trees. It has been some time since I have been in such a forest. Shapcott's hut was placed in this valley in the trees, and it was here we spent the night. Sunday evening we spent around the campfire with a couple from perth/pennsylvania talking about possums, garlic bread, and of course George Dubya.

This (Monday) morning, we left camp early - just after daybreak, in fact. Our walk back took us past a number of marshy wetlands, softly lit by the morning sun. I think this was my favourite part of the whole trip. As we approached the water, I heard what at first sounded like voices - other early risers like us? Doubtful. We stopped to listen. And it quickly became apparent that we were audience to a host of banjo frogs; each one strumming its note again and again: 'twang.. twang'. It was as if we had walked in upon the warmup of a thousand amateur musicians each about to burst forth into his own rendition of 'Oh Susanna'.

Back at the lake, we paid another visit to the koalas, all happily perched and paying little notice to the apparent precariousness of their situation.

All in all, I had a great time, and I would definitely recommend Yanchep as a good place for a hike and easy to get to from Perth. Just beware that you can't get an ice cream or a milkshake before 10:30am. Photos are in my gallery here.

kat