Bonny Wells

A cloudy afternoon a few months back in late July was a beautiful time to walk the 15km Eagle View Trail in John Forrest National Park, one of the best bush walks in the Perth Hills. Click here for the PDF to print or save on your phone. or pick up a copy from the Ranger at John Forrest National Park Registration: Register at the DPAW Ranger’s office at the John Forrest main picnic area at the start and finish of your walk on the Eagle View Trail. The walk around the Eagle View Trail when I took the photos for this article was my first ever bush walk with a hiking club. Fortunately the group was quite spread out while walking along and it happened quite naturally that I could walk with a few people and have a chat when I felt like it, or hang back a little bit from the main group for a while and walk alone taking photos.

Walk upstream from Pechey Road and where there’s a fork in the trail follow the lower path down to the water’s edge to a small beach (could be submerged when water levels are high) shaded by tall rocks and paperbarks. The path that goes uphill from the fork in the trail leads up onto the granite rocks above Rocky Pool, and you can also get onto the rocks on the other side of the brook by walking the trail on the south side of Jane Brook from the carpark, or by crossing Jane Brook just upstream from Rocky Pool. The walk trails around the Jane Brook on the west side of John Forrest National Park to Rocky Pool and beyond are very overgrown and not signposted at all, and maps of the national park are vague about where these tracks go, so you might have to just go exploring and see where you end up! This is the second carpark along the edge of the national park on Pechey Road, the first one being the one on the corner where you park to get to the Swan View Rail Tunnel along the John Forrest Heritage Trail.

One morning Mum and I went for a walk from Hamelin Bay, down onto the beach at Foul Bay and around the rocky shoreline of White Cliff Point, where we took the following photos that show the shapes, patterns, hollows and overhangs weathered into the glary white limestone. Most people who visit Hamelin Bay do the walk up onto the top of White Cliff Point for the views, but not many realise that the fragile cliffs below hide a small secret beach that’s a secluded paradise in calm sunny weather. Explore White Cliff Point on a short walk from Hamelin Bay boat ramp up onto the cliffs, from which you get beautiful views of Hamelin Bay, Foul Bay and the rocks and island offshore. Turn right and walk around corner beneath the white cliffs On the other side of some eroded limestone rocks, you’ll find the rocks of White Cliff Point enclose a tiny secluded beach with views of Hamelin Island.