D'Entrecasteaux National Park is a national park in Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

 (Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

), 315 kilometres (195.7 mi) south of Perth

Perth, Western Australia

Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia and the fourth most populous city in Australia. The Perth metropolitan area has an estimated population of almost 1,700,000....

. The park is named after the French Admiral Bruni D'Entrecasteaux

Bruni d'Entrecasteaux

Antoine Raymond Joseph de Bruni d'Entrecasteaux was a French navigator who explored the Australian coast in 1792 while seeking traces of the lost expedition of La Pérouse....

 who was the first European to sight the area and name Point D'Entrecasteaux in 1792.

Description

The park stretches 130 km (80.8 mi) from Black Point in the west to Long Point in the east and extends inland as far as 20 km (12.4 mi). Black Point is made of basalt

Basalt

Basalt is a common extrusive volcanic rock. It is usually grey to black and fine-grained due to rapid cooling of lava at the surface of a planet. It may be porphyritic containing larger crystals in a fine matrix, or vesicular, or frothy scoria. Unweathered basalt is black or grey...

 columns from a lava flow that occurred 135 million years ago. An interesting feature in the park is Yeagarup dune, a mobile 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) long sand dune found to the west of Lake Jasper

Lake Jasper

Lake Jasper is a permanent freshwater lake in the South West area of Western Australia. The lake is the largest freshwater lake in Western Australia....

.

The park contains a great variety of scenery including beaches, sand-dunes, coastal cliffs, coastal heath

Heath (habitat)

A heath or heathland is a dwarf-shrub habitat found on mainly low quality acidic soils, characterised by open, low growing woody vegetation, often dominated by plants of the Ericaceae. There are some clear differences between heath and moorland...

 and pockets of Karri

Karri

Eucalyptus diversicolor, commonly known as the Karri, is a eucalypt which is native to the wetter regions of south west of Western Australia.-Description:...

 forest. Rivers such as the Warren

Warren River (Western Australia)

The Warren River is a river in the South West of Western Australia.The headwaters of the river rise in the Tone State Forest just West of Strachan then flow in a south westerly direction crossing the South Western Highway and then flowing through the Warren State Forest, finally discharging into...

, the Donnelly

Donnelly River (Western Australia)

The Donnelly River is a river in the South West of Western Australia.The main tributaries of the Donnelly River are Barlee Brook and Carey Brook.The first European to sight the river was Lieutenant William Preston in 1831....

 and the Shannon

Shannon River (Western Australia)

Shannon River is a river located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia.The river rises in the forests to the West of Lake Muir and flows in a southerly direction , crossing the South Western Highway just East of Shannon then continuing South through the Shannon National Park before...

 flow through the park and discharge into the waters off-shore.

Important large scale wetland

Wetland

A wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with water either permanently or seasonally. Wetlands are categorised by their characteristic vegetation, which is adapted to these unique soil conditions....

s, known as the Blackwater, and lakes such as Lake Jasper

Lake Jasper

Lake Jasper is a permanent freshwater lake in the South West area of Western Australia. The lake is the largest freshwater lake in Western Australia....

 and Lake Yeagarup are found within the park boundaries.

Broke Inlet

Broke Inlet

Broke Inlet is an inlet in the South West region of Western Australia located West of Walpole.The inlet is a large a shallow estuary found at the eastern end of the d'Entrecasteaux National Park, it is linked to the Southern Ocean by a narrow seasonally open channel situated between two high sand...

 is contained within the park boundaries at iys eastern end; it is the only inlet in the South West that has not been significantly altered within the catchment area. The gneiss

Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...

 basement rocks project through the shallow waters to form small islands in the Inlet.

Sandy Island

Sandy Island (Windy Harbour)

Sandy Island is a 20 ha island lying about 5 km off the coast of Windy Harbour in south-west Western Australia. It is part of D'Entrecasteaux National Park and is an important breeding site for seabirds.-Description:...

 in Windy Harbour is part of the park; it is an important nesting site for seabird

Seabird

Seabirds are birds that have adapted to life within the marine environment. While seabirds vary greatly in lifestyle, behaviour and physiology, they often exhibit striking convergent evolution, as the same environmental problems and feeding niches have resulted in similar adaptations...

s, with up to 300,000 breeding pairs of Flesh-footed Shearwater

Flesh-footed Shearwater

The Flesh-footed Shearwater, Puffinus carneipes, is a small shearwater. Its plumage is black. It has pale pinkish feet, and a pale bill with a black tip. Together with the equally light-billed Pink-footed Shearwater, it forms the Hemipuffinus group, a superspecies which may or may not have an...

s, a high proportion of the global population.

Facilities

The park has an entry fee that applies to all visitors.
Facilities available to visitors include barbecues, toilets, 4WD tracks, camp sites, disabled access and picnic areas. Canoeing facilities also exist within the park on the Deep River

Deep River

-Rivers:* The Deep River , a minor tributary of the English River in the United States* The Deep River , in the United States* The Deep River , a minor tributary of the Columbia River in the U.S...

. Rangers regularly patrol the area.

The Bibbulmun Track

Bibbulmun Track

The Bibbulmun Track is a long distance walk trail in Western Australia. It runs from Kalamunda, east of Perth to Albany and is almost 1000 km long...

 passes through the park area.

The outdoor education organisation, Outward Bound

Outward Bound

Outward Bound is an international, non-profit, independent, outdoor educationorganization with approximately 40 schools around the world and 200,000 participants per year...

, operate within the park taking school groups on hiking expeditions.