Yallingup Maze + Family Lunch Loop

The Yallingup Maze is one of those places that looks small from the carpark and then absorbs an hour and a half without you noticing.

I've been there with friends' grandkids more times than I can count. The whole loop I'm about to describe (maze, cave, lunch, beach) is something Pamela and I have sent visiting families on for years. It's a Yallingup afternoon that works whether the kids are 5 or 15, and it doesn't cost much, and it sends everyone home tired in the right way.

Photo: Lasthib, CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The order matters a bit. Maze first while the kids have energy, cave or gallery in the middle while they're winding down, lunch when they're getting cranky, beach to send them home tired. Do it backwards and you'll have the wrong child at the wrong place at every stop.

You can find current opening hours and prices on the Yallingup Maze site directly. They update them seasonally so I won't quote numbers here that might be wrong by next year.

The maze itself is timber-walled, well-shaded in summer, and large enough that the kids can lose themselves but small enough that nobody actually gets lost. There are puzzles to find inside, a few games out the front, and picnic tables for when people start dropping out one by one. Allow an hour. Allow ninety minutes with under-tens. They'll do it twice.

What surprised me the first time I went was how much the adults enjoy it. There's something about a maze that turns sensible people back into something like 8-year-olds for half an hour. It's good for the visiting parents. They come out laughing.

1. 10:00am

   Yallingup Maze

   Allow 60-90 min. Picnic tables out the front for snacks. Kids will want to do it twice. Check the Yallingup Maze site for current hours and tickets.
2. 11:30am

   Ngilgi Cave

   15 minutes drive. Booked tours are best for school-age kids. Cool inside on a hot day, warm on a cold one. Tunnel walks burn off the last of the morning energy.
3. 12:30pm

   Lunch at Lamonts or the Yallingup Bakery

   Lamonts with a booking. Yallingup Bakery without one — pies, pastries, picnic table out the back, no fuss.
4. 2:00pm

   Yallingup Beach

   Calm-water side near the lagoon for under-eights, the main beach for swimmers. Sandcastles, a swim, an hour in the sand. Done by 4.

Drive five minutes north to Ngilgi Cave. It's the closest cave to Yallingup and the one I'd take a family to when only doing one.

Photo: SeanMack, CC BY 3.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

The semi-guided tour suits primary-school kids best. They get to wander the chambers at their own pace with a guide stationed at the key spots. Under-fives might find the steep steps and the tighter passages tricky. Call ahead and ask when unsure.

The cave is a constant 19 degrees year-round, which is the unsung selling point in February when it's 35 outside.

the kids and caves take

You've got two sensible options here, depending on what kind of family lunch you're up for.

Lamonts is the proper sit-down option. It's a few minutes from the maze, the food is good, the garden is shaded, and they'll handle kids well with a booking. This is the choice when you want lunch to be part of the day rather than something you cram in between activities. Book ahead in summer holidays.

Yallingup Bakery is the no-fuss option. Pies, pastries, sandwiches, picnic tables out the back. The kids can run around while the adults eat. A grumpy party by 12:30 means the bakery saves the day. I do this one more often than I'll admit.

There's also the Caves House garden for a sandwich-and-shade option with packed food.

the family take on Yallingup

The lagoon at the north end of Yallingup beach is one of the best calm-water swimming spots in the South West for under-eights. The reef out front breaks the swell and leaves a shallow, mostly-still pool where kids can paddle without you having a heart attack about it. There's a grassed area for towels, and the surf shop is right there for whatever you've forgotten.

Photo: David Stanley, CC BY 2.0 · via Wikimedia Commons

When Yallingup is busy, and it can be in school holidays, drive five minutes south to Smiths. Bigger beach, more space, slightly bigger waves. Eight-year-olds and up will be fine. Under-fives need someone with them in the water.

Smiths Beach, properly

With the kids still going at 4 and the adults needing a sit-down, the gallery is on Blythe Rd, eight minutes from the maze.

Gallery as natural family stop nearby. Blythe Rd, Yallingup. Workshop window when the kids want to see the saws and chisels — that's usually the bit that holds them for ten minutes. Pamela's good with kids. Google Maps sometimes misdirects via Wildwood Rd — stay on Bussell Hwy, turn at the Carbunup store, then Blythe Rd.

It's not a kid attraction and I won't pretend it is. But for a family with a couple of grown-ups who'd appreciate ten minutes of looking at timber while the kids draw at the table, we can make it work.

Margaret River with kids

Yallingup is set up for this kind of afternoon better than people realise. Everything is within ten minutes of everything else, the country in between is worth the drive, and the kids will sleep on the way home. That's the test.