Park Passes are now required to enter most national parks and camping fees are also applicable in this region. A Day Pass costs $12.00 per vehicle ($6.00 if you’re a senior) so, if ever there was a case for having an Annual All Parks Pass, or being an old codger, Pemberton is the place. Passes can be purchased at the Visitor Centre, DPaW Headquarters, the Gloucester Tree and a few of the wineries. For a bit of luxury camping in the middle of the National Park and in complete privacy, with shower, toilets, big raised under-cover area and paved fire surround, contact Toni or Graham at Pemberton Discovery Tours on 0427 133 335 or go to wawilderness.com.au. If you intend marroning, make sure you have a current licence and that your gear is legal. Also, please note that the Warren River within Warren National Park has been set aside for snare fishing only during the marron season. To help conserve stocks, other methods of marron fishing are not permitted in these waters.

The tracks followed by the trip notes are fairly straight-forward and the only places where you may have difficulty are the steep slopes of Callcup Hill when the sand is dry and loose. Callcup is not known as ‘The Widowmaker’ for nothing.

When 4Wdriving in these national parks the following tips are worth observing:

*      Ask for advice before you go.     call into or

ring the local DPaW office.

*      Remember all vehicles      entering parks must be fully      licenced for the road. The        parks are not off-road vehicle        areas.

*      Deflate your tyres

when driving on soft

sand. Tyre pressures

required depend upon

the sand conditions,

your tyres and the

weight of your vehicle.

If you do not deflate

your tyres you will

get bogged,

chop up the track and raise the ire of other users including the local ranger.

*      Select the correct gear. High     second        or low third will keep     most 4WD vehicles moving at       a comfortable pace and      generally provide enough   power not to stall when the       going gets heavier, but don’t     be afraid to experiment.

*      Keep to the track. Drive on       existing tracks only, don’t       create new ones or drive in

the scrub.

*      For more information about        4w-driving, pick up a ‘Going to the Coast’ brochure from

the local DPaW office or call     DPaW Pemberton

on (08) 9776 1207.

To finish the trip we’ve varied the return from Yeagarup Dunes by backtracking over the Barker Road crossing of Warren River, then re-crossing that stream on Heartbreak Crossing to take in the excellent river campsites that are now such a feature of the Heartbreak Trail through the Warren River National Park. The new route still swings within a kilometre of the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree, a Karri named after a local politician, the author of a book on the history of karri country treetop fire lookouts. It isn’t one of the original network of treetop lookouts, being specifically constructed in 1988 as part of the celebrations to commemorate 200 years of European settlement in Australia. Visitors can mount the 130 climbing pegs to the 75 metre lookout giving spectacular views over 40 kilometre vistas of karri forest, farmlands, vineyards and orchards.

Total Distance: approx 830km, 162km trip noted.

Terrain: This route has just about everything: bitumen highways, formed dirt roads, forestry tracks, sand tracks, river crossings, bare dunes and beach drives. The tracks range from stony and rutted to slippery clay surfaces, the dunes are long and steep and the beaches are sublime.  You will need to reduce tyre pressures in the dunes and on the beaches, so don’t go without your air compressor.