Day 100 Torndirrup National Park

Today we drove along the Frenchman Bay Tourist Drive, through the Torndirrup National Park. The 7-kilometre-long route travels along Frenchman Bay Road, from the edge of the national park to Frenchman Bay. Many roads turn off the tourist drive, to scenic spots along the coast, including The Gap (a narrow, steep sided ravine), The Natural Bridge (a large granite formation "shaped like a bridge of giants"), The Blowholes (the pressure of water coming into caves during a heavy ocean swell blasts air through cracks in rocks above the caves), Jimmy Newhill's Harbour (a natural harbour in the otherwise rugged coast), and Salmon Holes (a popular fishing spot for the native salmon).

Our first stop was Sharp Point we walked the loop trail for 15 min to the lookouts . From here you have 270°views and you can see the Green Islands, Eclipse Island, and the coast towards The Natural Bridge and as far up as the Albany wind farm.










Quaranup-Point Possession Trail - Flinders Peninsula is particulary amazing as it overlooks both the King George Sound and barrier islands as well as the Princess Royal Harbour and Attaturk Channel. The views north to Manypeaks and Two Peoples Bay are incredible.

King George Sound, the first Europeans to discover the sound was an exploration led by Captain George Vancouver in 1791. He named it King George the Third Sound which was later shortened to just King George Sound. The sound covers an area of approximately 110 square kilometres and has a depth that varies between 10 to 35 metres. The Sound is home to both the Princess Royal Harbour and the Oyster Harbour as well as numerous white sandy beaches. It was from King George Sound that 36 ships transporting troops and horses left for Egypt in the First Convoy and 17 in the second convoy in November 1914 and December 1914 respectively.




Whaling Cove consists of a larger beach and a much smaller one. The larger beach is made up of about 300m of white sand squeezed between the incredibly transparent blue sea of Frenchman Bay and the thick bush of the Vancouver Peninsula. In the southern part of the beach a large flat granite rock interrupts the sand of the beach which resumes from the other side of the rock with a very small and enchanting beach about 40m long.











Cable Beach & Cave Point Lighthouse, unfortunately the access to the beach was closed however we got glimpses from the road above looking down.





The Gap and Natural Bridge the surging power of the Southern Ocean is evident at The Gap, a spectacular channel in the 40 metre high coastal granites of Torndirrup National Park. Lookouts at both the Gap and natural Bridge provide outstanding views of the Southern Ocean and the coast from Bald Head to West Cape Howe. A new viewing platform 40 metres directly above the surging seas provides wonderful views.











The Blow Holes are a natural phenomenum, created by the action of the Southern Ocean on fissures in the rock. When the sea is running the right way, water from the Blow Holes shoots up spectacularly. Unfortunately today was a northerly and the blowholes were not working, however the sound was still quite amazing. The great compensation was that the whales were playing in the waters below.








Our next stop was Stony Hill & Peak Head is the highest point in Torndirrup National Park with 360 degree views of Torndirrup National Park. We had lunch seating overlooking the ocean across to Albany.








We called into Goodie Beach with its soft white sand and calm, clear turquoise waters sheltered within Frenchman Bay. With views looking out toward Bald Head, King George Sound, Mistaken Island, and Mount Manypeaks.






Frenchman Bay a beautiful long beach with white sand and very clear, aquamarine water, and wonderful views across the bay to King George Sound, being exposed to the north, is also quite protected. This beach is 400 meters long and the western part is referred to as Whaler's Beach.





Misery Beach despite its name, Misery Beach is anything but miserable. It's a secluded little beach in a cove protected by large granite outcrops. It's a gorgeous spot, in 2022, it was crowned by Tourism Australia as Australia's Best Beach.





Salmon Holes Beach a beautiful bay with a beach enclosed by a tall, steep slope of granite and heath-covered dunes, located at the western end of Isthmus Bay, ending at Bald Head.





Jimmy Newells Harbour approximately 95 metres below is the beautiful small inlet, named after Jimmy Newell, an ex-convict and local fisherman, who got caught in a storm and luckily found a safe haven in this harbour.





On the way home we went to the Ellen Cove Boardwalk where there is a life sized bronze statue of a standing Mustafa Kemal Ataturk "Father of the Turks." (1881-1938) shows him with his right arm outstretched holding a document and looking out over a body of water in King George Sound that has been named the Ataturk Channel. It appears that in a reciprocal agreement signed in 1985, the channel leading into Princess Harbour was officially named by the Australian Government, Ataturk Channel, while the Turkish Government officially named the beach in Gallipoli where the Australian and New Zealand troops landed in WWI, Anzac Cove.