3rd - 6th March
 
Cape Arid NP is 120klm east of Esperence along an almost straight road, bitumen except for the last 12klm when you turnoff the main road that leads to.....nowhere really, this is a deadend, we need return to Esperance to continue our journey eastward! The gravel road into the NP is pretty good except for about a kilometre that is pretty potholed and corrugated. There are 2 campgrounds here, a NP site called Thomas Fishery on a hillside overlooking Yokinup Bay, and below on the Thomas River is a council site set up mainly for tents and camper trailers. On the way in we passed Richard and Liz on a day trip from here and they gave us a tip for a protected site in the NP campground.
 
Situated on the hillside but with restricted views due to the foliage, the cap consists of 16 campsite around a loop of gravel road. The sites are generous and very private as you cannot see the site next door without walking past on the roadway. The foliage is dense and up to 3 metres tall offering really good wind protection as well as the privacy. Site 13 for us, we're not superstitious, really.
 
The main beach of Yokinup Bay sweeps away eastwards in a wide arch to Cape Arid itself, a drive along the beach of about 18klm. Cape Arid and Mt Arid today sit in a ocean mist, seemingly otherworldly and inaccessible, which they are as the NP people have closed all roads there due to the recent catastrophic bush fires which have devastated so much of this region. The beach is easily drivable but is reached by a saltwater crossing over the Thomas River, not too deep but being saltwater very few vehicles tackle the crossing as you cannot wash down on return.
 
As usual the water is crystal clear, cold and a tapestry of colours broken only by a few smooth rounded rock outcrops in the bay's expanse. The first day we walk the beach track from camp, about 300 metres, to the main beach and take the plunge into the western protected corner of Yokinup, cold but refreshing in a waist deep pool formed by some underwater rocks. Like much of this coast where there is not sand, the shore is a solid slope of rock on a 30° slope to the water. Normally a low scrub grows about 30 metres up the slope from the ocean action. This rock perch is a great place to dry off and sit for a while watching the water, beach and sky. 


Over the next days we go exploring to the west along a marked coastal walk that, if you include beach walks, stretches about 7.5klm in and around bays, beaches and headlands.