The Kingdom of Py

While I've done every Bibbulmun Track day on the website from a north to south perspective, the Kingdom I've always approached in a south to north way, thanks to parking at the southern end and doing an out and back trek for maintenance. The southern border on Trees Road runs parallel to the Harris River, and is a spectacular area for spotting the native flora that the river and swampy landscape supports. I'm always amazed stepping out of my car during winter and spring, seeing the variety of different species from just the first few steps. Leaving Trees Road, you join Seventy Seven Road for the briefest moment, where the area either side of the road gets inundated in late winter, providing a home for a great variety of wildflowers. Turning left, the track follows Wilshusen Road for the next six kilometres.

When I first walked this stretch, I kept expecting to see a waugyl pointing me off into the forest for some single track walking. That never happened and the whole stretch is along this one vehicle track, that given the amount of rubbish I have to pick up each time, is frequented regularly, despite being located within a Disease Risk Area off limits to vehicles. The scenery in places is actually quite nice, as you climb up a couple of hills to a high point of 354m ASL, the biggest elevation mark since leaving Mount Wells. Unfortunately the area was hit quite hard by the 2015 Waroona fires, and a couple of escaped prescribed burns since then have also wreaked havoc. As a result, there is a lot of epicormic regrowth (green jumpers on the larger trees) along Wilshusen Road, as the forest tried to recover. There are subtle changes throughout the course of this road walking, with thick sections of Prickly Moses that flower en masse with bright yellow carpets, dense patches of Zamias, and a great number of wildflowers lining the edge of the track in winter and spring.

Descending down the largest hill, you pass through a She-Oak grove before reaching another swampy section that is similar to the Harris River Flats. Using the vehicle track is necessary through here as it floods in winter, and here is where you'll find the greatest concentration of fungi, along with different kinds of wildflowers and some impressive bird life (if you stand still long enough). Rising up another hill, you return to the familiar Jarrah Forest for another couple of kilometres, before the real fun begins. Finally turning off Wilshusen Road, you turn right and onto a lovely section of single track that lasts for a further two kilometres, through some varied and diverse country. Warming up with a She-Oak grove, you head down towards a sandy section of trail on the border of the Jarrah Forest and the Swamp Paperbarks, where you meander through the landscape, spotting Swamp Banksia, Grass Trees and a lot of different wildflowers. Crossing a vehicle track, the laterite path continues through more Grass Trees, and towards one of my favourite areas, especially during wildflower season when a heavily vegetated patch turns into what I call the "Avenue of Pink", a field of flowering Melaleuca.

Just past this is an area full of Paperbarks, some close and some off in the distance, and in late spring, awash with Purple Enamel Orchids. Meandering between sand and laterite, a thickly vegetated area of Soapbush and Bracken Fern leads you to what is known as the "Plonkhole", a series of old timber posts in a rarely damp creek that are slowly crumbling away. On the other side, you pass through a thicket of Wattles, before entering an area with some ancient Grass Trees, upward of 300-500 years old by my estimates. Entering a patch of taller Jarrah Forest, this marks the end of the single track walking, as you join Seventy Seven Road again. Up and over a hill, with decent Jarrah Forest either side, and you've arrived at the northern border of the Kingdom where it crosses Dee Vee Road.

While unspectacular to some as they walk through, especially during autumn or the dead of winter, I've grown to really love what is out here over the year, and look forward to every visit. Change is coming though, and my aim of getting the track off Wilshusen Road might finally be coming true. Scroll down to the bottom to hear all about future developments, which will be updated in real time.