Overview

This page has a full description of this section of the trail, including supporting photographs. You can read this page and/or

• Download a PDF summary of this (click on this link); and

• A JPEG version of the map only (the figure below - click on this link).

Starting point

The ‘notional’ starting place is the carpark at Kwinana Beach, but this is only easily accessible by car. If you are coming by public transport you won’t be able to start from here. Instead, it’s best to start from Rockingham Beach.

Getting there using public transport

The best way to get using public transport – if you start from Rockingham Beach - is to catch the 555 bus, which starts at the Rockingham Train Station – this is a high frequency bus. It travels along the beach front - Rockingham Beach Road – and terminates 50m up Railway Terrace in the centre of the beach front area.

If you are doing the walk on a week day, you can catch the 550 bus which also starts at the Rockingham Train Station. The nearest bus stop to Kwinana Beach is just south of the round-about at the corner of Rockingham Beach Road and Governor Road – it’s still about 2km south of Kwinana Beach. This bus does not run on Saturday’s Sundays or public holidays. If you choose this option it is recommended that you first head north to Kwinana Beach and then head south from there.

Turn around point

The turn around point is either Kwinana Beach of Rockingham Beach depending where you start from. This guide will start from the ‘end’ – Rockingham Beach – rather than the notional start at Kwinana Beach.

Getting back to the start from the turn around point – if you don’t want to do an out-and-back walk

The best way to get back to the start using public transport from Kwinana Beach is to bus stop just south of the round-about at the corner of Rockingham Beach Road and Governor Road and catch the 550 bus – BUT only on weekdays.

Summary of the walk

Figure 1 below shows the route. The total distance one-way distance is 4.4 km, making it an 8.8 km out and back walk, or 6.4 km if you select bus 550 return option above.

Water and toilets

Any toilet blocks are noted below in the text in italics. These are also sources of potable water. Any additional drinking water taps and showers are also noted in italics.

Walking guide

This guide will start from the ‘end’ – Rockingham Beach – rather than the notional start at Kwinana Beach, for two reasons. First, this is the best place to start using public transport, and, second, there are some nice cafes here for coffee, lunch etc., before and after the walk.
From the gazebo on Rockingham Beach beach front at the end of carpark at the end of Railway Terrace, (Plate 1) head north.
There is a toilet block and drinking fountain just after you start the walk.

The first section of the walk is along the popular path that is adjacent to the beach and runs passed grassed areas that are well treed and has many faculties (Plate 2) – playgrounds, gazebos, bar-b-ques, toilet blocks etc. (Plate 3). 

The commercial area adjacent to the foreshore is going through rapid re-development with multi-story apartments dominating the landscape (Plate 4).

The path contains numerous plaques that trace the history of the region, including important people and institutions (Plates 5 & 6).

The beach near the end of this section is the start of the popular Churchill Park Dive trail (Plates 7 & 8).

This section of the walk ends at the Wanliss Street carpark and the path continues on through a less used and developed foreshore (Plate 9). Just near here is another toilet block.

This section of the path is not as well used as the previous section, is set further back from the beach and effectively forms a boundary between grassed recreation areas and a well vegetated foreshore (Plate 10).

The native vegetation varies in height along this section, and there are sweeping ocean views where the vegetation is low enough (Plate 11).

The first part of this section is primarily straight and flat (see Plate above), but after about a kilometer, from Victoria Street, the paths becomes more windy and undulating (Plate 12).

The concrete path end at the Weld Street carpark and the Governor Road grassed reserve (Plate 13). You can either walk along the beach from here, or walk through the grassed area – the latter is the more interesting option.

The Governor Road grassed reserve contains a number of memorials to the Australian Navy, including a gun turret, a submarine tower (see above) and the Naval Memorial Park (Plate 14), which also has the HMAS Perth memorial.

At the end of the grassed area, is a toilet block. From here take the track to the beach (Plate 15) and proceeded north along the beach (Plate 16). The CBH grain loading jetty and facilities are obvious as you walk to the beach (See Plate 15).

Ahead is the jetty, road and conveyor belt that links the CBH grain storage facility to the jetty where grain ships are loaded (See above). The jetty and the pipe that goes under the jetty are quite low, and at low tide it is possible to walk under these easily, or to climb over the pipe further up the beach (Plate 17).

The walk continues along the beach, which, closer to Kwinana Beach, shows signs of sever erosion. Two offshore tombolas have been constructed to manage this erosion and stabilize the beach (Plate 18).

The erosion becomes very obvious closer to Kwinana beach where a sea wall has been constructed to stop further erosion, but has resulted in the beach disappearing completely (Plate 19). Take the track up passed the seawall to the small carpark (also Plate 19). 

At the northern end of the carpark is the start of a foreshore area fenced off and being rehabilitated. It’s possible to walk through this area by climbing through a special pedestrian gate behind a small tree to the right of the main locked gate (Plates 20 & 21).

It’s fine to walk through this area – it’s a short walk of about 200 metres. Unfortunately, there is no easy exit at the northern end of the reserve, but someone has placed a rock at the foot of the fence just to the left of the locked gate which makes it easy to climb the fence (Plate 22).

Just after you exit this reserve you will notice another fenced off small reserve, which has the Ngobaat Biddi Coastal Bush Tucker Trail. Access is easy (Plate 23) and is well worth walking through and following the interpretive trail. There are also elevated views over the ocean (Plate 24).

Exiting the Ngobaat Biddi Coastal Bush Tucker Trail will take you to the Kwinana Beach carpark, where you can walk down to the beach where the old Kwinana ship wreck is, which has now been turned into a concrete filled tombola (Plates  25-28). We had morning tea here before turning back.

This is the turnaround point, although you can walk up the beach (700m), but there is an impassable jetty at the end (Plate 28). A property fence prevents anyone walking around the jetty (Plate 28). For more information see the Naval Base Shacks to Kwinana Beach ‘non-walk’ document or section of the website.

Garry Middle, September 2017