Approaching the outskirts of Perth we arrived at Yanchep National Park where we had decided to spend the day exploring the park and the night at the campsite within it. Something that has struck us throughout our journey is the standard of facilities provided within the national parks for visitors whether it be the provision of ample toilets to lookout points and numerous trails and pathways some of which wheelchair accessible. Yanchep continues in this vein providing a great resource on the doorstep of Perth for recreation and education.
Probably the most significant difference from our last visit to Australia is the growth of the internet and the ability to access travel related resources from anywhere you have a mobile phone signal. When realising we would be reaching Perth 3-days before we were due to check-in to our hotel we began looking for things to do and explore around Perth prior to our arrival. After a little bit of Googling we found that hot air balloon rides were a popular excursion in the Avon Valley and the head of the Swan River to the East of Perth and a couple of taps on my phone later I had booked us onto a trip. The day before our flight we received confirmation that the weather forecast was good and that our flight would be going ahead the next day, the instructions were to meet at the Dome Cafe (a WA institution!) in Northam at 03:30 the next morning. After the initial shock we set about finding somewhere to stay ideally within 15-minutes of the meeting point and found a comfortable campground on the outskirts of Northam. This was my first hot air balloon ride and the best way to describe it was as being magical; in the early light of pre-dawn we were transported out to the launch site and helped with the inflation of the balloon rising into the sky shortly before the sun made an appearance.
It was the perfect way to bring our road trip to an end, with one further night ahead of us to be spent in Fremantle, the place where we first arrived when we visited Australia 27-years ago we will carry our memories of Western Australia for the rest of our lives.
One response to “Yanchep National Park & Northam”
Brillant, safe trip back to reality. 😂😂