Spooky Forest in the Southwest of Western Australia
Now you might be like a lot of people and believe that goblins simply exist in a world of fantasy and imagination. Perhaps your beliefs might even place them in the same mysterious world as aliens, fairies, witches, dragons or weird creatures from another world…
Well, I’ve got news for you after a recent visit to a little place near Pemberton in the southwest of Western Australia. Along the road to Donnelly River where we were going to check out a popular river boat cruise, we came across a walking trail through the bush to ‘Goblins’, or better known to the locals as Goblin Swamp.
Now it seems that for many years these same locals have kept this spooky place a real secret and the best you could get out of them may have been a rough mud-map which, because of the vagueness, was like being led ‘up the garden path’ and most folk eventually gave up looking for the place.
In recent times however, the helpful National Park folk have erected a sign (leading off the quite well used Donnelly Boat Landing Road) and carved out a small car park to make finding this mysterious place now very easy indeed.
After parking our vehicle and following the signs along a not very well worn path (as yet) some 500 metres through the bush, we arrived at Goblin Swamp – a low lying area full of old tangled, tortured looking melaleuca trees, better known as paperbarks. In this strange, eerie setting spread over several hundred square metres, the sight of these poor, gnarly, twisted trees really takes your breath away. What curious forces of nature must have been at work here to create a virtual forest of weird, mysterious shapes so much out of character with the delightful, easy walking bush trail that leads here.
With little imagination, the whole place in fact, seems to be an ideal home for a family of goblins or other ‘out of this world’ creatures – indeed it looks like the area has been specially made for them. A friend travelling with us claimed that the scene here would in fact, be an ideal set for a horror movie!
On the day of our visit we were indeed quite thankful that the eerie creatures that actually live here were obviously out for the day. There was clearly quite a prehistoric sense of timelessness about the whole place and as we came away we were somewhat thankful that our visit was around the middle of the day, for indeed we knew in our hearts that as the light faded and the place became even eerier in the dark of night, the goblin family would soon be returning to their contorted forest home … at which time we didn’t want to be anywhere near the place!
For those with more curiosity and a good deal more courage than us, perhaps you could time your visit very late in the day, or perhaps in the early morning dawn light. It would even be good on a dull, overcast day when the more even light would provide an enhanced surreal, mystical atmosphere to the place. For those with real courage, you could perhaps check this place out under a full moon.
Our advice in such conditions would be to approach Goblin Swamp extremely quietly and it is most likely you will hear and see for yourself the real live world of goblins (doing whatever goblins do) that has made this place quite famous and now quite easy to find.
Assuming you survive the experience, it is most likely that you will now be looking for somewhere to make camp and sit down with a nice stiff drink! Those thoughtful park rangers have once again come to the rescue with two nice karri forest bush campsites just a kilometre or so up the road. Creatively these campgrounds go by the names of Grasstree Hollow and Snottygobble Loop – all part of the goblin atmosphere in this great little corner of the WA southwest.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- Goblin Swamp and the two nearby bush campsites are located in D’Entrecasteaux National Park approximately 25 km west of Pemberton and approximately 3.5 km off the Vasse Highway along Donnelly Boat Landing Road – signposted to Carey Brook Campgrounds.
- The Carey Brook campground facilities include individual campsites, toilets, picnic tables, a camp kitchen and fire places with wood provided (we are told) by the local goblins!! Camping fees apply.
For more information:
Phone (08) 9776 1207
Email: Donnelly.district@dec.wa.gov.au
- Nearby Karri Valley Resort offers excellent chalet style accommodation.
For more information:
Phone (08) 9776 2020 or freecall 1800 245 757
Email: info@karrivalleyresort.com.au
W: www.karrivalleyresort.com.au
- At nearby Donnelly River Boat Landing a regular tour boat river cruise operates (approximately 3km further on from Goblins Swamp along Donnelly Boat Landing Road).
For more information:
Phone (08) 9777 1018 or 0427 771 018