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 starting point is the carpark at the end of Bayeux Ave.

Getting there using public transport

The best way to get using public transport is to take bus 560 from Warnbro train station, getting off at the bus stop on Grand Ocean Boulevard, just south of Durance Drive. It’s a walk of around 500m down Bayeux Ave (head north from the bus stop) to the carpark.

Turn around point

The turn around point is Becher Point.

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

Public transport is only available at the start of the route. You can get a taxi/Uber from Port Kennedy resort, which makes this a minimum walk of 5.4km (to Becher Point and 1.5km back to the resort).

Summary of the walk

Figure 1 below shows the route. The one-way distance is 3.9km, making it a 7.8km out and back walk. Because public transport is only available at the start of the route, you will have to at leasdt wlajk back to the Port Kennedy resort, where you can get a taxi/Uber – this would make it a minimum walk of 5.4km (to Becher Point and 1.5km back to the resort).

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 walk is in two parts:

·       The bitumen path through the dunes to the Port Kennedy Resort; and

·       Beach walk to Becher Point.

The walk starts from the carpark at the end of Bayeux Ave (Plate 1) and head south along the bitumen path. There is a shower at this location.

The foreshore for the first part is very wide and well vegetated and the path runs between the foreshore reserve and the Port Kennedy reserve system. It is generally much less undulating than the previous walk, the path is set well back from the coast, and the foreshore vegetation quite high in many places blocking the view to the ocean – Plate 2.

The land to the east of the path is reserved for a golf course (Plate 3), which has been the subject of some controversy.

The owners of the golf course want to double its size, but there isn’t enough ground water available, and the (then) Department of Water didn’t issue a license, thus preventing its expansion. Development in the whole of the Becher Plain/Port Kennedy area has been the subject of much controversy, because of the ecological significance of the area.

The Becher Plain is a series of Quindalup dunes, aged between 0-10,000 years old (Holocene Era), extending west from the salt lakes near Old Mandurah Road. In fact, the Old Mandurah Road runs almost exactly along where the coastline was 10,000 years ago before the end of the last ice age when the sea levels began to rise. Figure 2 shows the approximate location of the coastline at that time.

The yellow sands of the older Spearwood dunal system are also visible to the east of the old coastline. It’s worth noting that all of our sandy beaches are also part of the Quindalup dunal system, and that the limestone coastal areas, and the islands off the Perth coast, are also part of the Spearwood dunal system – i.e. the Quindalup dunes, including the Becher Plain, overlay part of the Spearwood dunal system.

Figure 2 also shows that there is almost continuous vegetated link between Becher Point and the old coastline. This provides both a geological and ecological continuous timeline from 10,000 ago to present day. Between ½ and 2/3 of this is within the Port Kennedy Scientific Park, which is the area south and west of the golf course, but not the large regional sports facility called Lark Hill, although the City of Rockingham (manager of the Lark Hill sports facility) is required to keep some of the area uncleared to retain that link. The Port Kennedy Scientific Park is also part of the Rockingham Lakes Regional Park (see walk - Cape Peron the Shoalwater- for details).

In Figure 2, it is also possible to make out a series of parallel sand dunes running parallel to the coast south of Becher Point. Between the dunal ridges are swales, in the lowest part of the landscape, which are a series of dampland wetlands – i.e. the groundwater is very near the surface but usually not actually at the surface. These wetlands contain a vegetation type which is only found in the Becher Plain, and are considered threatened – so-called threatened ecological communities (TECs) - listed as Endangered under the Australian Government Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (1999). This TEC is known as ‘Sedgelands in Holocene dune swales of the southern Swan Coastal Plain’. In 2001 these wetlands were designated as a Ramsar site under the Ramsar Treaty. A full description of this listing can be found at these two links - http://www.environment.gov.au/water/topics/wetlands/database/pubs/54-ris.pdf  http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/wetlands/ramsardetails.pl?refcode=54#

Also visible in Figure 2 is the Port Kennedy resort – more on this below.

Back to the walk.

After about 1.5km the path bends right and heads to the coast, and from here it runs close and parallel to the beach, offering views of the ocean - Plate 4.

After about 2km, you will arrive at the Port Kennedy resort (Plate 5). At the end of the path is a carpark and a short road to a boat launching ramp.

There is a toilet block here.

The Port Kennedy resort was built as Stage 1, and the first stage of a proposed much larger tourist resort. As well, this stage was meant to be only short term accommodation. In reality, most houses are permanently occupied.

The full development was to include an offshore marina, but the expansion of the resort, and especially the marina, have been strongly opposed by conservation groups, mainly because of the ecological significance of the marine environment adjacent to the resort. The beach is north facing and protected from the sea breeze. The shallow waters here are a significant habitat for whitebait, one of the key food sources for the fairy penguins that reside on Penguin Island. There is a boat launching ramp here, which itself was strongly opposed by conservation groups (Plate 6). The marine area is part of the Shoalwater Islands Marine Park - see  Shoalwater to Tern Island walk for more details.

Boating here is controlled, both by reducing speeds in the near shore area and also excluding boats from the more sensitive areas to the west of the boat ramp.

The beach here is quite popular with families (Plate 7).

As noted above, the land to the west and south of here is part of the Port Kennedy Scientific Park. There are some tracks that through the area but they have very soft sand and hard work to walk on. Head directly to the beach from the carpark and boat launching ramp to the beach and walk along the beach for the rest of the way to Becher Point.

As can be seen from the path plotted on Figure 1, which is based on cadastre data from several years ago, the beach within the Park is very active, eroding on the northern side (Plate 8) and the point itself, and accreting on the south side.

The beach towards Becher point is not well used by humans and you may be lucky to see a seal sleeping on the beach – Plate 9.

Just inland from the Point is the probably youngest freshwater wetland in WA – it is no more than 100 years old and it part of the Ramsar wetlands mentioned earlier (Plate 10). Given the erosion occurring here, it may also be the shortest lived wetland too!

Becher Point is the turn around point (Plate 11), and depending on the time of year and the firmness of the sand, the beach all the way back to the start could be a more pleasant walk than the path in the first 1.5km of the walk.

 January 2018