4WDing down south

Nothing beats loading the 4WD up with gear, and heading off for 3 days of camping, fishing and 4WDing. We stayed on a private property in Milyeannup, and explored the D’Entrecasteaux National Park, Scott National Park, Nannup and Balingup. We’ve been talking about heading to this area for some time, and it didn’t disappoint. Despite the weather, we had a fantastic time, as you will see through the photos below.

We managed to leave Perth by about 4PM, and arrived on the private property just after 7:30PM on Friday night. The farmer was kind enough to drive us to the campsite, where we set up, and hit the sack pretty early. A few other vehicles arrived early the next morning, and we wasted no time in setting them up, then deflating the tyres.

I thought 20PSI would be fine, given the rainfall we had, but soon knew I was far from the mark after virtually sinking in the 80 the second I hit the beach! We dropped the tyres down to 12 – 15 PSI, and drove up and down the beach, checking the area out. The wind was howling beyond anything I’d seen before, you could barely stand up, so we decided to head back inland.

Before we could though, the D40 sunk down near the waters edge, and required a gently tow back up to firmer ground!

Navara bogged
The beach was seriously soft
Soft beach in the 80
The moment you stopped driving, it would slide towards the drink!
On the beach at Milyeannup
Very rough weather
 
 We retreated further inland, and decided to head to Lake Jasper. What was incredible was the wind was virtually non existent only 500 – 1000m inland!
 
D'Entrecastaux National park
Exploring the national park
Lake Jasper 4WD tracks
On the way to Lake Jasper
Driving around Lake Jasper
Don’t expect straight and flat tracks!
 
The track that follows the coast goes up and down and side to side more times than I cared to count. To top it off, it was pretty rough and meant we had to drive very slowly, or the ride was just unbearable. We stopped at a few of the lookouts to see what the coast was like, but moved on pretty quickly!
 
The coastline for surfing
Surfing coastline; if you look closely, you will see 2 surfers!

Stepping Stones

White sand, at last
Driving onto Jasper Beach
Jasper Beach WA
An amazing beach
 
Jasper Beach is truly awesome. After driving for quite some time on bumpy tracks full of brown and black sand, we were more than happy to pull onto the pristine white sand and relax on a smooth surface!
 

The 3 vehicles

Lake Jasper in the south west
Lake Jasper
Plenty of flowers
Lots of wild flowers

WA wild flowersA friendly butterfly

 
The flora and fauna in the area are truly amazing, and we spent quite a lot of time enjoying it.

My Mistake

It was here though, that I tried to find a shorter way back home, and ended up in a world of pain. We followed the tracks around the back of Lake Jasper, and had gone through 3 crossings that were not too deep. With the twin lockers on and plenty of power, the 80 was eating the crossings up with no worries at all. We came to this particular puddle, and I stopped and considered, but not for long enough! I flicked the lockers on and idled onwards in 2nd low.

Things were going well. All of a sudden, the bonnet dropped right underwater, and I knew we could be in trouble! I put my foot down a bit, and the vehicle came to a stop a few seconds later. I radio’d over to get the recovery under way urgently; we had water well over sill height, and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it started coming in!

I climbed out the window, and stood on the roof racks, where I spoke to a few mates as they hooked the straps up. Upon climbing back into the vehicle I was shocked at how much water had come in; the passenger sides of the car had at least 100 mm of water over the carpets, and it was coming in quickly, somewhere from the rear. A few more minutes later and I was yanked out backwaters, much to the relief of myself and Sarah! Thankfully only the carpet got wet, and we managed to drive back with only my pride damaged!

At the end of the day, I’ve only got myself to blame. I should have walked the crossing first, but the thought of driving 2 and a half hours back to camp on a terrible track had me rather motivated to find a different way home!

Badly bogged 80
We sat here for about 10 minutes!
Moving out of a big puddle
We were glad to be moving backwards!
After the long drive back, we set the rods up, and headed down to the beach to do a bit of fishing
 
Enjoying the weather
Once the weather had fined up!
Rainbow on the beach
A rainbow even came out!
Fishing at Milyeannup
Setting up to go fishing in the lagoon
Massive swell at Milyeannup
Huge swell
We only managed to get a few small bream and herring, but had a lot of fun trying. We were all glad to head back to camp and sit next to the roaring fire!
 
Relaxing by the fire
We were all very happy to have a nice warm fire!
Warm campfire
Nice and warm!

Camped at MilyeannupCamping with a fire

The next morning, we decided to head into Scott National Park, and check it out. You can drive to East Augusta, which is a tiny little ‘town’ on the banks of the inlet.
 
Enjoying camping
Camp the next morning

Camping at Milyeannup

Local cows
One of the locals
East Augusta
East Augusta
Navara water crossing
Exploring around the Blackwood River

Crossing water in a 4WDGU Patrol water crossing

Stopped for lunch on the Blackwood
Pulled up for lunch on the Blackwood River
The ellusive blue wren
I’ve been trying to get a photo of a blue wren for years now!
We spent the day driving along the Blackwood River, and enjoying the scenery. It’s truly a magical place down here! Monday arrived, and we packed up, and headed towards home. We had planned to do some 4WD tracks on the way home, and after a quick lunch on the Blackwood River, we let the tyres down and got into it!
 

Nannup Blackwood River

Patrol down the hill

Nannup 4WD Tracks

Mud 4WDing near Nannup

Lots of rocks to navigate

Logging tracks near Nannup

Incredible views in Nannup

Guiding the Navara down

Enjoying the 80 on a hill

Easy does it

Big rocks on the 4WD track4WD track in the south west

Balingup 4WD tracks

Next time you want to head away for a long weekend, I’d highly recommend the D’Entrecasteaux National Park, Scott National Park and Nannup for some fun; it is truly an amazing area and you will love it!

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2 Comments

  1. Hey mate. Sorry about the late reply. My dad had a bit to do with him several years ago. Those tracks around Lake Jasper are nasty!

  2. Intents Offroad says:

    That looks like an excellent weekend! I know the tracks you speak of around the back of Lake Jasper, I came to grief there myself a few years ago. Was the owner of the property a friend of yours?