Pemberton-Day in the Dunes

Yeagarup Dunes are a series of mobile dunes which are steadily moving inwards swallowing up forest, lakes and woodlands as they go. With CB radios switched on we make a quick visit to the bakery for a pie and a chat with a local to ensure we were fully prepared for this adventure. His tips- make sure you drop your tyre pressures, stay between the poles and do not under any circumstance cross the river. With this in mind and a few general directions we depart for D'Entrecasteaux National Park.

A beautiful meander through Pemberton making our way amongst some beautiful trees.

OMG, how soft is the sand??? This is the lowest pressure we have taken our tyres down to on this trip .

Men at work, children at play. From here we follow the trail towards the Yeagarup Beach. Winding slowly through the bumpy forest track with much anticipation, we realise we are getting closer when we see the lake between us and the trees, and then we see something behind the lake.

Photographs do not always do these things justice, but please trust us, that white mound behind the trees is not a low lying cloud, but the dunes we are heading for. This getting even more exciting! 

Here we go. But where exactly are we going????

The best way to describe this, imaging you are slalom skiing......now we understand what the local meant when he said stay between the poles!!!! This is even better than we imagined. Going down is going to be so much fun......but we still have to be able to get back up!!!!!

View from the top of the dune before we descend. Doesn't look as steep in the picture as it was in reality. The run from top of the dune down to the bottom was approx 5-600 metres.

Whilst sitting here taking this photo we were able to watch some cars with trailers attached attempt to climb the dune. First one was unsuccessful and we felt a little guilty as we had stopped on the dune just as they commenced their approach. We were able to move a little to the right just in time for the next fellow who was also unsuccessful. They stopped their attempts so we could continue safely down. We later found out that they eventually made it up the dune about 90 minutes later!!!

Andy on his way down.

Down on theYeagarup Beach. It is a pretty wild but magnificent coastline. While driving we noticed a strange brown colour intermittantly appearing in the water. We discovered that is caused from tannins leaching from ground water coming under the sand. We also remember to mark on the GPS where we entered the beach to ensure we know where to exit as these sand dunes all look the same.

The GPS once again proving it has absolutely no idea where we are......as far as it is concerned it has us driving through the water! We promise we were on the sand the whole time!

Where to now?

Oh right, there really isn't much of a choice. Yashar yashar yashar ( straight,straight, straight). It is here the kids think all their dreams have come at once. Robbie and Andy let them all take it in turns behind the wheel. OMG!!!

The GPS was right for once, back on the track we go. Deep breath everyone, aircon off for extra power and pedal to the metal!! We have no still photos off our success, as it was all taken on video, but we will have to admit that our first attempt would have been successful had we veered left instead of right at the top of the dune. Oops!!! No worries, after reversing back down the dune, we decide to pull to the side for lunch and to watch everyone else attempt the climb. We watched one Nissan Patrol make a least 6 failed attempts. Back in the carpark we met up with him and he admitted to Robbie that he eventually got up once he lowered his tyre pressure from 16 to11. Shmuck!!  

It really was the most beautiful morning.

Passing Lake Yeagarup on our way back to the carpark to pump up our tyres.

    


Hard to imagine topping a morning like that. It gave us all such an adrenaline rush. As we exit the National Park a voice comes over the CB radio, "anyone want to do that again!!!!!"