From the lookout, you can see the clean white sand of Shelley Beach curving beneath steep limestone hills, which drop sharply into the sea.

West Cape Howe is regarded as Western Australia's premier hang gliding site and, on long weekends and holidays, it attracts large numbers of enthusiasts from as far away as Perth. They launch from... More the Shelley Beach Lookout and, if the wind is right, they are able to glide for as long as they please along the park's coastline (the record is more than eight hours). The steep cliffs create ideal updrafts for hang gliding, giving gliders the unusual ability to take off and, after soaring to gain height, land at the same place. If the wind doesn’t allow this, they can land at Shelley Beach. Hang glider pilots must be registered with the Hang Gliding Association of Western Australia.Less

The Shelley Beach Lookout car park is the start point of the 30 minute, 600 metre return Tarbotton Track. It follows a boardwalk and, when the boardwalk ends, you can continue along a limestone ridge to reach the Bibbulmun Track, with views down a rocky valley to Shelley Beach and the ocean.

In spring, the park is a canvas of blazing c... Moreolour. The striking reds of templetonias, vivid blues of thick-leaved fanflower (Scaevola crassifolia) and pinks of coastal banjine (Pimelia ferruginea) combine with the yellows of showy dryandra (Dryandra formosa) and candle banksia (Banksia attenuata). Dense clumps of peppermint grow as tall as the winds allow and are home to ringtail possums. These shy animals are only ever seen on a night walk through the park. The soft-leaved woollybush also stands in defiance of the wind. Beneath it, jacksonias, melaleucas and wattles form a dense shrub layer typical of the wind-pruned heathlands of the South Coast.Less

Shelley Beach is the most visited area in West Cape Howe National Park, as it is the only area in the park that is accessible to two-wheel drive vehicle. The wide sweep of beach is bounded at both ends by huge granite boulders, formed at the same time as the granites of the Porongurup Range, 79 kilometres to the north.

Campers can pit... Morech a tent at Shelley Beach campsite, which has a barbecue and long drop toilet. Campfires and cooking fires are not allowed here. Shelley Beach is not suitable for caravans.Less

This short, sandy beach at the bottom of a steep hill is protected from the prevailing south-westerly winds.

Offshore, sponge reefs provide the opportunity for divers to explore the rich marine life of the South Coast but be aware that strong rip tides sometimes occur in this area.

New Zealand fur seals and Australian se... Morea lions cruise along the shore in search of fish. Further out to sea, southern right whales, sometimes accompanied by their young, can be seen. These animals were hunted almost to extinction by whalers, but are now gradually increasing in number. They can sometimes be seen from the park's cliffs and lookouts, particularly in winter.

Access to Dunsky Beach is via a sandy four-wheel drive track and requires a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle, reduced tyre pressure, and an experienced driver. The track is very sandy, rough and narrow with encroaching vegetation, and you will need to be alert for oncoming vehicles.Less

Torbay Head is the southernmost point in Western Australia. This point was named by English navigator George Vancouver in 1792. To the east, the peninsula of Torndirrup National Park is abruptly terminated by Peak Head. Over the Southern Ocean lies Eclipse Island.

The cliffs of West Cape Howe plummet 75 metres into the sea, which pounds relentlessly at their base. The black igneous dolerite rock, which forms the Cape itself, was squeezed up as molten rock from deep below the Earth's crust, and cooled below the surface, allowing the formation of relatively large crystals.

English navigator George... More Vancouver bestowed the name Cape Howe on the western headland in 1792. It was not until 1801, when Matthew Flinders sailed along this stretch of the coast, that the prefix West was added to distinguish the Cape from another of the same name on the border between New South Wales and Victoria.

The constant salt spray and the heavy soils of the cape create a perched saline wetland on top of the cliffs. This supports the dome-like shrub Andersonia sprengelioides, other species of andersonia and samphires. This unusual vegetation formation is more extensively represented at West Cape Howe than at other South Coast locations. As well as hosting unusual plants, the clayey soils of the cliff tops are also home to a terrestrial crab. This strange creature prefers not to mix with its counterparts on the rocks below the cliffs.

Access is via Dunsky Track and requires a high clearance four-wheel drive vehicle.Less

Golden Gates Beach is renowned as one of the area's best surfing spots. This remote spot is accessible only by four-wheel drive.

The cleared rural landscape and ringbarked trees of Torbay, near the park’s entrance, are a vivid contrast to the shady karri (Eucalyptus diversicolor) forest just within the park boundary. The tall karri forest supports a dense understorey of tall shrubs - karri oak, karri hazel, karri wattle and the waterbushes. Where there is light and space, th... Moreere are low shrubs of many blue-flowered species such as tree hovea, dampiera and veronica. Sedges and tufted plants, such as twig rush and many-flowered iris (Orthrosanthus multiflorus), are common on the wet, shady forest floor.

This is a regrowth forest. Logging began here last century. In 1884, Millars Timber Company built two of the first large mills in WA at Torbay, just to the north, after securing a lease over 50,000 acres of forest. Karri was cut from the area to provide sleepers and other timber for the Great Southern Railway, which ran from Albany to Beverley and was built by the WA Land and Development Company, a large London concern. Timber cutting continued in the area until early this century.Less