Hiking around Perth
During COVID-lockdown, Australia overall and Western Australia (WA) in particular was quick to put strict regulations in place to stop the spread of the virus. Thankfully, with WA being so wide, there are many places to get away from people just outside of Perth. So we spent quite a bit of time exploring the area and hiking. I’ll share my favourite hikes over the next few, mini blog posts on here.
Our first longer hike in WA, the Echidna Trail, is a 11 km loop through woodland and along the Avon River. This is a very versatile hike and because of the cloudy weather, the photos don’t really do it justice. As per the descriptions that are available online, the loop should be started along the Avon River before ascending into the woodland. We did it the other way around, meaning that we did a steep ascent to begin with. On top of the hill, views were stretching for miles across the Avon Valley.
After a little meander through the woods, the path steeply descends into the valley again. This is probably why online guides recommend doing the hike the other way around. The path is very gravelly and it’s easy to slip on the little round stones that cover the dry ground.
The last section of the hike was my favourite. Since we embarked on the hike in the afternoon, we actually passed the river by dusk, which means we saw an abundance of wildlife. Countless kangaroos were hoping along, and we also spotted many goats. I wouldn’t recommend leaving it quite as late as we did because it was pitch black when we got back to the car, but we were happy all the same that we got to see so many animals along the way.
Hiking descriptions:
