Cruising over the Yeagarup dunes

Northcliffe, Yeagarup Dunes and Shannon National Park

Monday 9^th – Thursday 12^th December

We arrived at the quirky Northcliffe Bush Camp in the late afternoon. The camp is set on a lovely bush block and the owner has done lots of interesting and unique things around the camp, such as the toilets and showers which were quite a novelty. The next day the weather was beautiful, a perfect day to explore the Yeagarup Dunes and beach. The dunes were fun to drive over but then we were stuck on a rough beach track for another half and hour before we got down to Yeagarup Beach and the end of the Warren River. It was so nice once we got there though. The ocean looked too treacherous to swim in (I tried but the undertow was extreme and nearly pulled me off my feet even when I was only knee deep), so we swam in the Warren River. Jackson practiced on his skim board and was able to skim for ages. We spent a lovely few hours relaxing on the beach and enjoying the river before driving east along the beach to another track that took you out over different dunes. The first part of the track, over the dunes, was so steep that we ended up sinking both times we tried. Luckily there was an alternate track even further east, so we cruised along the beach before taking the very picturesque and far less bumpy track back to Northcliffe. That evening we did one of the walking tracks around the camp and discovered one of the biggest yakkas we’d ever seen. There was also lots of quirky ‘art’ along the walk to keep us entertained.

The next morning we went into Northcliffe so Emilia, Jackson and I could do the Understory Art Trail. It was great with so many interesting and unique art pieces that we had to find as we meandered along the track. We all really liked the Risen from the Ashes series that featured over 40 faces moulded from charcoal within burnt out trees. It was done to commemorate the 2015 bushfires and the faces are of those impacted by the fires. That night we stayed at Shannon National Park. The camp area is on the old Shannon Mill site, amongst towering trees. It was a beautiful location for the evening.

Some photos and a video of us driving over the Yeagarup Dunes.

When we drove along the beach these birds flew right next to us, it was like they were racing us!

Emilia found some great shells and got busy making a keyring with it (in between reading a few books).

We didn't expect to see a monitor walking along the beach! 

The beach went for miles and it was such a perfect day.

The kids, Jackson especially, had so much fun with the skim board. The shallow water at the edge of the Warren River was perfect for practising.

As we were leaving the clouds starting rolling in. On the drive home there were even a few drops of rain.

Home time - we'd had a great day.

Doing the first part of a track over the dunes on the way home- we made it over this one, but the dune after this was so steep we only made it halfway up!

Jackson found this cute frog near the toilets at the camp in Northcliffe.

The camp was situated on a big bush block, with several walks that meandered through. We spotted this unique tree on our evening walk and went back to photograph it the next morning.

The big yakka, affectionately named 'Old Black Man'. After admiring it we looked to the other side of the track where we spotted this.....

....watching us! The owner definitely has a sense of humour!

One of the toilet blocks made with old Land Rover parts......

where you could do your business....

...while looking at nature!

My two favourites from the 'Risen from the Ashes' art pieces on the Understory Art Trail in Northcliffe.

There were 13 of these little people hidden in the bush along the art trail.

I loved the concept of this art piece. The artist used old government reports (some never read) to create 'fingers' which he impregnated with mould spores. The fingers will eventually be eaten away by the mould and the paper will return to the earth. Many of the pieces on the art trail where ephemeral (new word I learnt which means only lasting for a short time) as they designed to deteriorate and change over time.

This piece was a halo mounted high up in a tree, we were unsure how they got it up there as it was in dense bush. It looked impressive though.

The kids liked these bird and bee homes, made and decorated by local school children using wood offcuts.

At the Shannon Mill campground Jackson discovered this pile of sand and spent a few hours making different runs and jumps for a golf ball he'd found.