Paruna Wildlife Sanctuary
Easy hike on the Numbat Walking Track in Avon Valley Western Australia
Today’s post is from Janice at The Travelling Lens Insider. Janice writes about travel and uses her photography skills to bring you along with her to some amazing destinations. Her home is in a completely different part of the world than mine. I find articles like this very interesting, for the different scenery, and also for the love of hiking and photographing outdoors, which seems universal. I invite you to check out her Substack, see some of the destinations she’s visiting, and get some great travel tips. Here is a little more about Janice:
Janice is a pharmacist, passionate traveler, and photographer from Australia.
Right now, she’s currently on sabbatical, living in the US as an expat while exploring the world. She writes about travel, photography and optimise points & miles to travel more without breaking the bank at Travelling Lens Insider here on substack.
She believes creating memorable travel experiences is a smart use of time and money.
So far she’s travelled to and photographed in 28 countries, but believes travel isn’t a checklist exercise and photography isn’t just about taking that postcard shot.
It’s a journey of personal growth, sharing experiences with loved ones and taking home photos that will bring back great memories for the rest of your life.
Paruna Wildlife Sanctuary: Easy hike on the Numbat Walking Track in Avon Valley Western Australia
Perth, Australia is one of the most isolated capital cities in the world–and it’s also my home town. It’s not known to be a bustling metropolis filled with night light and iconic attractions.
Instead, it’s a relaxed Australian coasting city with stunning beaches and scenic nature walks.
One of my favourite places to get my dose of nature is in Avon Valley, specifically Paruna Wildlife Sanctuary. There are various walks you can do in this sanctuary, but my favourite that is easy yet gives me a great workout is the Numbat Walking Track.
A while back a few friends and I headed out on a public holiday long weekend to do this walk and spend some time in nature.
If you pay Perth, Australia a visit, this is a must do. It’s a one hour drive north-east of Perth.
It’s only open during the cooler months, autumn through to spring. It’s a privately owned and managed parkland that is well maintained and the walking trails are easy to follow. So there is a $10 entry fee per person and you do have to book in advance to snag a spot as they only allow a limited number of hikers into the sanctuary each day.
Hiking Trails
There are 3 hiking trail loops you can walk on depending on how far you want to hike.
The Possum Loop Walking Trail is the shortest at only 2.3km and is easy and suitable for almost everyone.
The Quenda Circuit Walking Trail is 6.5km in length. I previously walked on this trail with a different group of friends many years ago. It’s not too difficult at all and quite a nice walk without being too vigorous.
The Numbat Walking Track is the longest of them all at 12km. As we had a fair bit of time and were up for a bit more of a challenge, we decided on this track for this particular visit. The hike is rated as a medium to hard hike depending on your fitness level. It also includes parts of the Quenda and Possum trails. So you get the best of all worlds!
Camera Setup for the day
I was undecided about what camera to bring along.
But I knew I wanted something small and light weight since it would be a long walk.
I was very conscious of the weight of my backpack so I opted for my small Fujifilm X-T10 camera with the small all-rounded prime lens, the Fujifilm 23mm f2 lens for this hike.
Hiking Numbat Walking Track
To avoid hiking during the hottest part of the day, we headed out of Perth around 7am and began our hike around 8.30am.
Thankfully it was an unusually cold autumn morning in Perth so the 5 hour hike (with plenty of stops) was really pleasant. But as the day ticked closer towards midday, it did get fairly warm.
It was an absolutely beautiful day from a weather perspective to do the hike.
No rain, blue skies with wispy clouds. It was so calming and peaceful to be hiking in nature and in the quiet of the morning. Hearing the sounds of nature as we walked and chatted quietly along the way.
The challenge with the hike (other than the length) was the fact that it was hilly! But we were rewarded with some beautiful scenery–rolling hills, hilly landscapes, creeks, granite outcrops, wildflowers, some wildlife, open powderbark forests–to name a few things we saw along the way,it was totally worth the effort.
We were surprised by how many cars were parked in the parking lot when we arrived at 7am, but we didn’t feel the trails were particularly busy. We bumped into a few hikers along the way, but the sanctuary was large and long enough that you still felt like you had it all to yourself.
The downside of hiking in autumn is not being able to see the colourful wildflowers that bloom during spring.
Just after midday, we stopped around the 8 to 9 km mark for a short lunch break.
One of the best parts of the hike was definitely the boardwalk close to the end of the loop. The boardwalk takes you to a viewing platform with 3 benches. We sat there for a short period of time.
Resting and taking in the beautiful views and patted ourselves on our backs for completing a 12 km hike!
After the boardwalk, it’s just a short way along the fence, back to the carpark.
By the end of the hike, we were tired but satisfied that we completed the loop in 5 hours with a few rest breaks and photo stops along the way.
Photographing on the hike & photo processing
Other than spending some quality quiet time with friends, I love combining two of my favourite past times together–hiking and photography.
Even though the focus of the hike wasn’t to take photos. But I did spend some time capturing photos of our experience and friends having a good time together.
One of the best things about the Fujifilm X series camera system is the stunning film simulation presets.
Honestly, you could easily just photograph in JPEG and share those photos as is. I shot the images in this post in RAW, and then edited them in Adobe Lightroom using the Classic Chrome or Astia film simulations as the base for my photo editing.
Wrap Up
If you live in Perth or are visiting in the future, the Paruna Wildlife Sanctuary hikes are easy to do and very accessible from Perth city. There is a walk for every fitness level, not to mention the benefits of just getting outdoors into nature!
If you’re interested in creating memorable travel experiences, capture better travel photos and using award points to save money and experience more travel, follow me on substack at @janicekho and subscribe to my newsletter, Travelling Lens Insider.
✅ Where to Find Me
You can find more of my work on the web at: Simmons Photography
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