Western Australia Part 5: Yanchep National Park

The lake at the Yanchep National Park

A Drive to Yanchep National Park

My youngest sister-in-law nicknamed Acha wished to have a close encounter with a kangaroo. So I attempted to sell an expensive idea of Caversham Wildlife Park which almost cost about AUD 24 per person. It was unsuccessful. My father-in-law was thinking of somewhere off the popular path, and most importantly, more economic. And he stumbled upon an advertisement in the tourism brochure, promoting Yanchep National Park. AUD 11, per car, not per person. So I rest my case. Yanchep better be good, I hoped. 

What is with Yanchep National Park? 

Yanchep National Park is roughly located about 40 km from the City of Perth, about half an hour or 45 minutes drive. As one of the oldest national park in Western Australia, Yanchep National Park offers close encounter with the unique bushes landscape, colonies of koalas and kangaroos as well as aboriginal experiences through arts scribbled on the wall of the caves. We left home about 10:00 am in the morning and the journey took about half an hour to 45 minutes, just nice to put everyone in the passengers' seats fast asleep. 

Journey to Yanchep

The view while heading to the north is completely different from the view of heading to the south. Well, to be fair, I haven't really went down further to the south, the farthest would be Mandurah. We went through the highway, located in between a desert-like landscape, where bushy trees were lined up along the way. A railway line was located in between the two highway roads, and the system resembles KTM Komuter in Malaysia so much. My mind drifted away that I lost track where or when the railway stopped. 

Welcome to Yanchep National Park

We were greeted by a friendly female park ranger at the entrance of the park, informing us that they might be busy for the entire day, as it was Western Australia's public holiday. But I believe that Yanchep would mostly be filled with the locals. Turned out it was true. 


Few metres from the car park, there was an administrative building, housing souvenir shops and tourist centre. We dropped by at the centre to have a look and to find out on any available tour. We discovered that there were plenty of things to do in Yanchep National Park - walking/jogging at at 55 km trail, cave tour (another AUD 10), picnic by the lake or even playing around with the kangaroos and koalas. As the receptionist explained: You can book any tour at any time, or book none, but you could still enjoy this beautiful park. 

Yanchep National Park is more like a laid back locals hang out centre where the locals headed to for pure weekend relaxation. Depending on individuals, some might be able to appreciate its uniqueness and serenity of the surrounding, but some might also regards the long journey to Yanchep National Park may not be worth it. 

Well at least I set my foot on one of those off-beaten tracks.

With love, 

Hairi Tahir

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