There are growing fears that a West Australian national park that has long been a grey nomad favourite is being ‘loved to death’.
The Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park, about 300 kilometres south of Perth, is one of the state’s busiest national park for tourists.
As well as offering superb camping at Contos, Point Road and Boranup, the park and surrounding area is hugely popular with surfers, anglers, hikers and rock climbers.
The park, which is a globally recognised biodiversity hotspot, had an estimated 2.8 million visits in 2013-14.
In reaction to the overwhelming popularity of the park, West Australian Environment Minister Albert Jacob has just launched a 10-year plan for its management, and he hopes this will minimise the negative impact of the tourist influx.
The plan identifies a number of roads that need improvement to accommodate grey nomads and other visitors, but it does not include costings or timelines for fixing them.
It also recommends public vehicle access be restricted along the coast in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park.
Mr Jacob told the ABC that feral pigs were also an issue due to hunters releasing pigs in the hope they would breed, to be hunted at a later date.
He said that despite not having a management plan in place for more than 15 years, there has still been a lot of investment in the region and preservation of its environment.
Try getting into Cape Range National Park between May & September.
There are not enough camping spots and there needs to be some shade introduced into many of the camping spots that are available.