A walk in Yalgorup - Western Australia

After the last few weeks, it was wonderful to get out and go for a walk in the bush on Sunday with our grandsons. We walked along the Lake Pollard walk trail to the bird-hide at Lake Pollard in the Yalgorup National Park, only 45 minutes north of our home in Bunbury.

Laying on the western edge of the Swan Coastal Plain, the 12,888 hectare Yalgorup National Park protects a chain of ten lakes - Swan Pond, Duck Pond, Boundary Lake, Lake Pollard, Martins Tank, Yalgroup, Hayward and Newnham Lakes  The name Yalgorup is derived from two Nyoongar Aboriginal words – Yalgorup meaning swamp or lake, and up meaning a place of.

We are in late winter here, and the spring wildflowers are just starting to blossom   In the collage below are wildflowers I photographed along the trail. I haven't been able to successfully name all of these - but I can tell you some of them....

Left to right starting top left - 

1st row - Native Wisteria, Hibbertia. Dryandra, Dryandra with bee, perhaps one of the Grevillias.

2nd row - Native Wisteria,  Weeping Pittosporum, Cocky's Tongues-Templetonia retusa, Native Rose, Hibbertia

3rd row - unknown, I think the Helmet orchid before flowering on a bed of moss, Hibbertia, unknown, leaf of the Bull Banksia. 

Flowers like the "Hibbertia" and the "Grevillia" have many different species, so very difficult for an amateur like me to name them accurately.

 Along the trail also look out for other interesting things..... an ants nest, fungi, the red insides of a collapsed grass tree, a bird feather, sea shells on the lake shore, fungi climbing a tree, and a broken egg shell my grandson found beneath a tree. Looking for things like this along a walk trail is a good way to keep children interested and not thinking about how tired they are.....

The Yalgorup wetland system is international recognised on the Ramsar List as an important habitat for migratory waterbirds and so is a haven for birdwatchers. As well as native waterbirds, birds migrate to Yalgorup from the Northern Hemisphere, including the Red Knot which breeds around the Arctic Circle.

A good place to view the birdlife is from the bird hide constructed on the edges of Lake Pollard. Black swans arrive here in large numbers from October to March to graze on the musk grasses.

The six kilometre (approximately 2 hour) Lake Pollard trail conveniently begins at the entrance to the Martins Tank campground. The trail winds through parrot-bush thickets, and woodlands of jarrah, tuart, peppermint, bull banksia and Christmas Tree. You know when you are getting close to the lake when the tuarts are replaced by saltwater paperbark trees. 

We didn't walk the whole 6 kilometres - it is a long way for 2 little boys aged 3 and 5. We took the shorter flatter return option - about 1 & half to 2kms there, and then back - still a long way for little legs! We took food with us and ate it in the bird hide - you can see the bird hide in the collage below. Unfortunately we didn't see any birds!  But the bird hide gave us shelter when a shower of rain passed over. 

Can you see the kangaroo laying by the log in the third picture? We saw him and his two mates at the camp ground.

The trail starts near Martins Tank campground on the edge of Martin Tank Lake. It is a beautiful shady campground managed by the WA Department of Environment and Conservation. In the collage above you can see us having our picnic lunch after our big walk. The boys decided to go log climbing after that and had a kick around with the soccer ball - I think they got their second wind!

In the bottom left picture you can see the avenue of paperbark trees going down to the edge of Martin Tank Lake. 

Our grandsons are used to being out in the bush, but when you have little legs that are tired of walking, there is always Pop's arms......... whilst the 5 year old sang me songs he had learnt at school and this helped the walk back.

So much pleasure from the simple things....

 

Of the ten lakes at Yalgroup, Lake Clifton is the most unique, as it is the home to 2000 year old Thromobolites. These are the largest known example of living non-marine microbialites in the Southern Hemisphere, and only one of two known places where microbialites occur in water less salty than sea water. The Thrombolites are extremely fragile and an observation walkway has been erected so you can have a close view. 

To read my article about The Ten Lakes of Yalgorup - please see Go Camping Australia magazine - October-November 2012

You can read more about Yalgorup by clicking here - WA Department of Environment and Conservation

Thank you for stopping by. I hope you enjoyed our walk in Yalgorup National Park. I look forward to hearing from you. Have a wonderful week.

I am linking up to Mary and the other wonderful contributors at Mosaic Monday at Little Red House. Click here to see their posts - Mosaic Monday