Weekend Activities in Perth - Darling Range National Parks

The Darling Range (or the Perth Hills) is great for bushwalks and picnics. There are also excellent lookouts to see Perth and further down the coast.

The Range is also famous for its geological diversity - in the range you can explore evidence of the break up of Gondwanaland which one of only two ancient supercontinents.

There are three separate National Parks in the Darling Range that are worth seeing;

Kalamunda National Park

The township of Kalamunda is about a 30 minute drive east from Perth and was originally a timber settlement in the 1860's. Now it is an outer suberb of Perth and full of British migrants.

Nearby is the Kalamunda National Park. It is a small national park, only 375 hectares but is full of native plants; jarrah, marri, wandoo and butter gum which is an uncommon species.

There are several walktrails through the park including the first stage of the Bibbulmun Track (click here to see "The Bibbulmun Track"

Gooseberry Hill National Park

This is a tiny 33 hectare park which is set on the edge of the Darling Scarp and is very hilly but as a result offers great views of the Swan Coastal Plain and the city.

It is well known for a one-way scenic drive known as the "zig zag". This leads downhill through the park and can be reached from the town of Kalamunda. It is a narrow road and decends 100 metres and was once a railway line with each hairpin bend being a set of points and a siding to shunt trains and trucks in a zig zag manner. 

Walyunga National Park

Walyunga National Park covers both sides of a steep valley. The Avon River runs through the valley and the centre of the park and forms a string of pools along the valley floor in Summer and a raging torrent with a long series of rapids in Winter. This provides one of Australia's best white water coeing courses and is part of the annual Avon Decent each August (Click here to see "Weekend Activites in Perth - Northam & the Avon Descent").

The park is known for it's sensational wildflowers in Spring and abundant native animals. It also contains one of the largest known Aboriginal campsites around Perth and was still in use by the Nyoongar people in the late 1800's. Evidence suggests that the area has been used by regional tribes for more than 6000 years.

The birds that visit and nest in Walyunga are typical of many bushland areas of the Darling Scarp and were once widespread on the coastal plain before urbanisation reduced their habitat. As a result it now has more bush birds than the better known parks around Perth including Kings Park and Yanchep.

It is 40km north east of Perth and takes about an hour from the city.