Yaberoo Budjara Heritage Trail (Neerabup & Yanchep NPs)

A dual use trail, the Yaberoo Budjara Heritage Trail explores a narrow corridor of remnant bushland in Perth's north. Starting at Lake Joondalup, the trail initially follows paved paths before entering wilder trails through heathlands and bush. Continuing northwards, the trail reaches its destination on the shores of Loch McNess in Yanchep National Park. A mixed trail with some excellent sections let down by some uninspired riding in its third quarter

Distance: 28 km (one way)

Gradient: Mostly gentle with some moderate climbs and descents

Quality of Path: Mostly limestone/gravel rail trail and vehicle tracks with some pavement riding and sandy sections

Quality of Signage: Good signage trailheads and signs at junctions. Minimal signage otherwise.

Experience Required: Mountain Biking or Bushwalking experience recommended

Time: 2 Hours on a bike. 8 hours on foot

Steps: None; this is a dual use trail
Best Time to Visit: Mid Autumn - Late Spring
Date(s) Completed: 31st October, 2021

Entry Fee: No
Getting There: The Trail starts at Neil Hawkins Park on the shores of Lake Joondalup. From Joondalup Train Station, follow Collier Pass east. If on a bike or on foot, you can cut Central and Lakeside Parks, following the footpath to Neil Hawkins. By car, take Collier Path east to turn onto Grand Boulevard. Heading north, turn right onto Boas Avenue. The Neil Hawkins Park carpark is located at the end of the road. The southern trailhead is located north of the jetty

Something I've been thinking about a lot recently is the great irony of car dependency when it comes to outdoor adventures. I think most outdoorsy people are environmentally conscious types, so it is a bit ironic that most of the best and most interesting trails in Perth are not easily reached by public transport. As regular hikers and bikers, Alissa and I probably drive more than the average person. When you consider we did most of the Bibbulmun Track with a car shuffle, the amount of kilometres and associated carbon emissions really adds up. 

With my adoption of the electric bike also serving as a car replacement, I became intrigued by the idea of doing a day of riding using only the bike and/or public transport to get to the trail. Metrotrekker is a blogger who has this very specific focus, but other than local rides around the river this would be an entirely new thing for me. 

The Yaberoo Budjara Heritage Trail has been on my to-do list since the first years of the Long Way's Better, but its length for walking, proximity to suburbia and several sectional closures over the years meant it always found a way to be a lower priority compared to other walks. However with the trail starting a short cycle from Joondalup Train Station and a good riding distance of 56 kilometres return, this was the perfect trail for a 100% car-free adventure. 

Living as I do on the Mandurah Line which runs through to the Joondalup line, the train journey was logistically easy given I did not need to make any transfers, and I arrived in Joondalup in about the same time it would have taken me to drive. After taking a moment to enjoy some Coronavirus-looking orange public art at Lakeside Joondalup, I let Google Maps guide me to Neil Hawkins Park on the shores of Lake Joondalup. 

Although I've lived in Perth for almost my entire life, being a southerner who grew up in the Fremantle/Cockburn/Melville area means I'd never actually been to Lake Joondalup before and I was quite impressed by the sheer size of this freshwater lake. I was also impressed by Neil Hawkins Park, which looks like a lovely spot for a picnic.

Following the dual use walking/cycle path north, I finally arrived at the southern trailhead for the Yaberoo Budjara Heritage Trail. The trail is broken down into smaller stages, with this trailhead providing the most comprehensive detail for the trail's first stage to Burns Beach Rd.

Being shared with a circuit walk around Lake Joondalup and popular with locals, the trail is completely sealed along this stretch of the trail as it passes through low Eucalypt woodlands that are typical of the freshwater lakes of the Swan Coastal Plain. While not the shadiest of landscapes, it was nevertheless impressive to see such well preserved native bushland so close to Joondalup's CBD.

Riding in late October after one of the wettest winters and springs in Perth's recent history, part of the trail was partly flooded at the time of my ride. Being on a bike, I quite enjoyed cruising through the flooded section, but I noticed quite a few walkers gingerly skirting around it who were clearly surprised to find their local walk in this state. 

While initially running close to the lake shore, the trail veers off slightly as it enters a more open section. One of the highlights through here are the massive Zamias, which were larger and more impressive than the ones Alissa and I have encountered in Leseuer National Park!

With signage having been quite limited to begin with, I was glad to see the Yaberoo Budjara trail markers make an appearance as the trail left the Lake Joondalup loop and crosses Joondalup Dr towards Burns Beach Rd.

Given the 'heritage trail' designation, my guess is that the Yaberoo Budjara was born out of the 1988 Bicentennial celebrations and thus probably predates the massive suburban growth of Perth's northern suburbs. With Joondalup having transformed from a quiet backwater to the hub for the northern suburbs, the trail now has no choice but to traverse a 750 metre stretch of suburbia along Burns Beach Rd. 

Heading along the footpath, there is a lack of signage to indicate where to cross Burns Beach Rd as the trailhead is hidden behind a bush if you're heading northbound. Located on the opposite side of the road to Blue Mountain Dr, the trail picks up again as it enters Neerabup National Park. 

Here's where the Yaberoo Budjara really comes into its own. While a narrow and seemingly unremarkable national park when looking at it on a map, Neerabup preserves some of the original Kwongan heathlands that used to fill the Swan Coastal Plain, and the unsealed paths finally make it feel like you're on a real trail instead of on a suburban footpath. 

Given the generally flat landscape of the Swan Coastal Plain, I was somewhat surprised by how up and down the trail was in some sections, with the higher stretches featuring views of suburbia that broke the illusion of being in the wild somewhat. Being used to the pea gravel surfaces of riding in the Darling Scarp, I was also unprepared for the bumpy hardness of the limestone that the trail is built on. As a result my spare battery was constantly rattling behind me, eventually cutting a hole through the stuff sack I had been carrying it in.

Rattling and suburban views aside, most of the trail exceeded my expectations. Something I really like is when forests, woodlands or heathlands have a certain tidiness to them, and I found that the heathlands almost looked like they were manicured gardens at times. I could see why this was a popular stretch of the trail, and I passed quite a number of hiking and biking groups enjoying this part of the track.

With the northern suburbs inexorably extending Perth's northern frontier, the trail features two under road tunnels, with the first passing under Neerabup Rd. While no road through the track would be better, this was a nice consideration as it provides both an underpass for riders and native animals alike. 

Being a bland concrete structure, the tunnel has become a blank canvas for the local graffiti artists, and while not exactly the most artistically interesting it does at last brighten up what would have otherwise been boring and utilitarian. 

From the tunnel, the trail rises up through more Kwongan heath to a trail junction. The trail continues northwards to the left of the junction, with the trail to the right providing an exit to Wanneroo Rd. 

From the trail junction, the bumpy hardness subsided, however it was replaced by a far worse surface of semi-soft sand! The sand was thankfully rideable, however it did lead to some slips are corners. I was very relieved when these sandy sections were over.

Once the sandy riding was over, I was able to cruise along and enjoy the trail's scenery a lot more. While not as impressive as Lesueur National Park's Yonga Trail had been a month and a half earlier, there were still quite a lot of wildflowers on display through Neerabup National Park, with One-Sided Bottlebrush being particularly profuse. 

After another trail junction and exit, the Yaberoo Budjara reaches a second under road tunnel at Hester Ave that was a bit less colourful from a graffiti perspective at the time of my ride.

What it lacked in unsolicited public art was made up for in wildflowers, with some impressive blooms just north of the tunnel.

While the scenery was much the same as it had been earlier, there was something really lovely about the trail north of Hester Ave up until Romeo Rd. Perhaps because it was further away from suburbia, the area seemed a bit more pristine, with some massive Grass Trees indicating the age the surrounding heathlands. 

As with earlier, the less elevated sections served to block out views of suburbia and gave the impression that I was deep in the middle of no where. Given the lack of this type of Swan Coastal Plain scenery on the Munda Biddi, this felt like a nice change of pace and a different experience when compared to the plethora of trails that pass through the Jarrah forests of the Darling Scarp. 

The blissful sense of isolation came to an end as I reached a section of trail that is in the path of the Mitchell Freeway extension. It is fairly obvious that the Yaberoo Budjara used to meander closer to the suburban edge, but has now been slightly truncated to run along the fence line of the freeway construction site. This fenceline ride is fairly short however, and swiftly returns back to pleasant heathland riding.

More significant construction work is encountered where the track used to cross Romeo Rd. While the work seems to be fairly minor at the time of my visit, the trail is diverted around to the right to cross closer to Wanneroo Rd. The diversion adds about 500 metres to the overall journey before rejoining  the trail on the other side of Romeo Rd. 

This section of the the trail is a nice shady change of pace as it enters a stand of Jarrah forest. Given the day was heating up, not being in open full Sun was a welcome relief. 

Unfortunately further suburban development mars the riding experience again from Reinhold Pl onwards, with the trail following some sandy tracks that run along Wanneroo Rd. Not exactly the serenity I had been enjoying since entering Neerabup National Park. 

More crappy scenery ensues as the Yaberoo Budjara chooses expedience over excellence as it follows a powerline road instead of weaving along single track through the forest to the west of the trail. At least a slim screen of trees block out the site of Wanneroo Rd, however the car sounds are very much audible all along this section. Trails WA were not underselling it when they say this area 'has been severely degraded by fire and weed invasion'.

Passing by a market garden provides a bit of interest later on through this section and points to a problem the trail managers have - even if they could improve the riding through the forested areas, competing land uses mean there will likely always been sections of this trail that will have to be a compromise. 

Immediately following the market garden, the trail transitions to a narrow sealed road. This was actually a nice change of pace - after the mix of bumpy limestone riding and sandy slogs, some fast road riding in a bush corridor was enjoyable enough if not for the car noise and continued weed invasion. 

After transitioning back to the hardened limestone surface, the trail spits cyclists out onto Lacey Rd. The trail apparently passes an old homestead, however with people living at the house and out the front I decided to respect their privacy and skip taking a photo. At the end of Lacey Rd, the Yaberoo Budjara passes through a shady grove of tuarts before heading through the coastal heathlands again. 

Although still quite a fair bit inland, the trail heads towards vegetated coastal dunes that give the impression of being much closer to the coast. Around this point the Yaberoo Budjara enters the southern reaches of Yanchep National Park.

Riding along the trail, an alarmingly steep and sandy trail appears to be where the Yaberoo Budjara is supposed to be headed, however the signage mercifully points to the right as it follows lower tracks through the heathlands. 

The area is pocketed with swampland and smaller lakes, and as a result there are some nice forested sections. Given the open heathlands of most of the trail, I had been able to avoid the regular Munda Biddi occurrence of having to deal with fallen trees up until this point, though the tree was thankfully an easy one to duck under. 

Beyond the forested section, the open heath returns. This area looked to have been severely burnt in recent bushfires, however it was nice to see the landscape returning to a kind of post-fire equilibrium.

Having entered Yanchep National Park felt like I was on the home stretch, and the feeling became all the more palpable as I crossed Yanchep Beach Rd to enter the main part of the park. With the section also recovering from bushfire damage, the trail was quite overgrown in places and was in need of a bit of maintenance. 

After pushing through some scratchy overgrown trail, it was a real delight to emerge out of the forest and into the picnic friendly parklands of Yanchep National Park. Being one of Western Australia's early national parks, Yanchep is a bit of a weird one as the landscape has not been maintained in a largely natural state, and instead is more akin to public parklands.

In spite of this, Yanchep National Park is still an important sanctuary for native animals in the northern Swan Coastal Plain, and is famous for being home to a massive mob of Western Grey Kangaroos. At the time of my visit in late October, the were a lot of duck families enjoying life in Yanchep National Park, though the males were pretty snarly while I was riding past. 

Loch McNess serves as a spectacular finale to the Yaberoo Budjara. The main natural feature of Yanchep National Park, the lake is an important wetland for bird life in the area, and is also home to the Ghost House Walk Trail. This is arguably the most popular walk trail in Yanchep National Park, however it is a trail I haven't felt the need to revisit since last doing it in 2016. 

After a quick and simple lunch at the cafe, I popped in to see the koala colony that lives in Yanchep National Park. Koalas are not native to Western Australia, and the colony is another of those odd but strangely endearing aspects of a visit to this national park. 

Anyone walking the trail would likely have to either stay the night or get picked up given the 28 kilometre Yaberoo Budjara's length one way, however for a bike this is a perfectly good distance to ride back to Joondalup. I had however planned to go ride the Armadale Line PSP to do a write up for Rail Trails Australia, so was a bit pressed for time and didn't much like the idea of rattling along the Yaberoo Budjara in the heat of the day. As a result, I made an alternate plan - I rode down Yanchep Beach Rd to Yanchep's town centre and then took the excellent PSP cycle trail to Butler to catch the train back to Perth. While intensely windy, this was a nice change of pace from the there and back, and meant I could maintain my 100% car free day of travel. With the Joondalup Line soon to be extended to Yanchep, this will make the Yaberoo Budjara even more accessible from a public transport perspective. 

I wasn't sure what to expect out of the Yaberoo Budjara Heritage Trail, and I have to say that for the most part the trail exceeded my expectations. There are some problems with it and the section from Romeo Rd to Lacey Rd is particularly unremarkable, however I really enjoyed the way the trail really showed off the Kwongan Heathlands of the Swan Coastal Plains through Neerabup National Park, and I would thoroughly recommend almost all of the trail from Burns Beach Rd through to Romeo Rd as it provides a lovely and quite different riding experience to the Perth Hills area. While I suspect the crappier parts of the trail are unlikely to be improved due to continued conflicts with other land uses, the fact this trail is easily reached by public transport and that the PSP network offers an alternative return journey means I'm likely to do this trail again, perhaps cutting it short at Romeo Rd once the Freeway works are completed.