Almost everyone who has visited Perth would have landed in Kings Park, being just a hop a skip and a jump from the Central Business Distrinct, impressed to find 400 hectares of botanical wonderland right in the middle of Any City! And September is the best time to soak in it, with the Annual Spring Festival.
But wait! There’s more. Even bolder than Kings Park is Bold Park, 437 hectares of it! Just a short 10 minutes drive southwest of the CBD, into the Floreat and City Beach suburbs, Bold Park bushland provides a rare opportunity to experience relative ‘wildnerness’ in Perth’s urban area. The network of walking trails provide excellent opportunities for bushwalks, nature study and exercise. ‘To maintain a small patch of wild countryside with wild animals and plants where city people can see them is an enormously valuable thing to do, a great refreshment of the spirit for people who live in towns …’ So said Sir David Attenborough, referring to Bold Park in 1989.
The tuart-banksia woodlands and limestone heaths support a number of habitats for wildlife, including hundreds of species of insects. Bold Park has an impressive biodiversity, with over 1000 native and non-native species of flora, fauna and fungi identified. Bird watchers will be particularly pleased with 91 bird species recorded, including vagrants, migrants and nomadic species that are likely to occur sporadically.
Bold Park provides important linkages to other bushland areas such as Perry Lakes, Wembley Golf Course and Herdsman Lake to the north; Shenton Park Bushland and Kings Park to the east; and Cottesloe Golf Course and Lake Claremont to the south, and the coast and remnant vegetation within Campbell Barracks to the southwest.
At Bold Park’s Reabold Hill, the raised boardwalk offers a unique bushland experience en route to the highest natural point on the Swan Coastal Plain in the metropolitan area. At 85 metres above sea level, you can see the Indian Ocean, Perth city, Rottnest Island, Kings Park and Botanic Garden, and even glimpses of the Swan River. (Source of information, texts, photosandcaptions:www.bgpa.com.au)
Kings Park and Botanic Garden. Fraser Avenue, Kings Park WA 6005. Phone: (+61 8) 9480 3600. Email: enquiries@bgpa.wa.gov.au. Entry is free, Open daily
Bold Park. Perry Lakes Drive, City Beach WA 6015.
Phone: (+61 8) 9480 3990.
Email: bold.park@bgpa.wa.gov.au. Open Daily. Entry is Free.
