Yeagarup and D’Entrecasteaux National Park

Ken and I agreed we could find time for a couple of days fishing on Yeagarup Beach in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park on the south coast of West Australia.  Ken had been reading social media reports the fish in the Southern Ocean were biting.

The plan was for me to drive south to Ken’s and we would then take his Isuzu to the beach.  That didn’t quite work out as we had too much gear.  The decision was made to take both Isuzu’s.  I was slightly concerned as mine still had the road tyres rather than my off-road set.

The trip was 370km and took four hours.  Once you get south of Bunbury the area is mostly mixed farming and orchards.  Then you reach the southern forests and start meeting heavily laden logging truck.  Actually it would usually be a large truck towing an equivalent sized trailer.  The road has been built for this type of traffic with sweeping bends and frequent overtaking lanes.

We stopped for a rest at Pemberton which is in the heart of logging country.  Pemberton would be the last town before the beach.

Pemberton

A 9km drive on bitumen resulted us reaching Ritter Road and the last of the tarseal.  Although it’s unsealed, Ritter Road is navigable by 2WD for the first 11km.  At this point it’s the Leaning Marri Campsite where there are picnic tables, long drop bush toilets and a pay station for the National Park entry fee.

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From this point onwards it would be 4WD and we spent several minutes lowing our tyre air pressure from 35 to 20psi.  The first 5km were relatively easy until we reached the northern edge of the Yeagarup Sand Dunes.

Yeagarup Beach

Sand dunes in white

The dunes are approximately 20 metres high and tower over the adjacent Karri forest.  Moreover the dunes are slowly moving north consuming the forest at an annual rate of four metres. 

After driving up onto the dunes we continued south on the sand following the track marked by poles.

 

A further 8km on we came upon our first long steep descent

I started thinking “How will I get back up this slope with road tyres?”.  A further 2km onwards Ken (in the lead) gave a “WOO!” over the radio as his vehicle disappeared over the crest of  a very steep dune and down onto the beach.  I followed thinking “How will I get back up this slope with road tyres?”

After driving 500 metres on the beach we found a likely looking fishing spot and set up the campsite.

Initially we thought we had the beach to ourselves and then a couple in a Toyota Landcruiser appeared and started to fish.

I suspect they were more experienced than us as they didn’t stay more than 30 minutes before moving off.

I had packed light and was starting to feel quite cold.  Ken had packed ‘heavy’ and had two of everything. 

Ken cooked dinner.  A sausage, egg and cheese toasted sandwich.  I was snuggled into my sleeping bag by 6pm hoping for the next day to be warmer. 

Next morning the breakfast was a ham, cheese and egg toasted sandwich.

We started fishing.  The bait wasn’t being taken which appear ominous.  Ken though there might be someone fishing further down the beach and got out his binos.  I used my camera.

Can’t see the vehicle with the optical zoom.  However the digital zoom did confirm we had company

Mid afternoon one lost fish decided to suicide on my hook.

I’d become rather concerned about my ability to get back over the sand dunes and walked back to the beach entrance to have a look.  A steep exit and what looked like soft sand.  I decided to sleep on the problem.

Dinner was a sausage, egg and cheese toasted sandwich.  Nothing like a varied diet!

We packed up the campsite the following morning and dropped the tyre pressure further;.  This time down to 12psi.  I told Ken I would go out first.  My strategy would be to use 4WD low range second gear.  This would mean the vehicle would be crawling and I would also have plenty of torque in reserve.

The Isuzu slowly and steadily crawled it’s way back up the slope.  Success…..This technique was used for the rest of the sand dunes. 

On reaching Leaning Marri Campsite we stopped and pumped the tyres back up before heading home.

An expensive fish but I learned more about the capabilities of the Isuzu.  Next time I will ensure I have the off road tyres fitted.