All posts by Rob Maguire

Denmark

Ocean Beach

So… after enjoying everything that Albany has to offer we pointed the cruiser back west and drove the 230km to Denmark on the Wilson Inlet. We didn’t stay in Denmark itself but headed on a little further to the Big4 Denmark Ocean Beach Holiday Park, which is situated close to the opening of the Wilson Inlet. The park was quite big but the sites were roomy enough and well spread. The location felt a bit isolated but that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

Boston Brewery tasting paddle and peach lemonade

The Boston Brewery ran a courtesy bus to the van park and so we took advantage of it one afternoon. It proved not to be one of the stays highlights. The setting of the brewery was quite lovely but the food was only average and, unfortunately for Rob, it’s another brewery that has a manic passion for ‘pale ale’ (yuck, yuck and yuck again). They did do a reasonable ‘Nut Brown Ale’ and a ‘Stout’ that partially saved their reputation for Rob. Jo enjoyed an alcoholic ‘Peach Lemonade’ or two…

The Dam

On our way to and from Greens Pool we noticed a a place called ‘The Dam‘. The thing that primarily attracted us was the opportunity to taste marron for the first time.

The Dam
The Dam entry
The Dam rockery
The Dam outlook
The Dam inside dining
Marron, Octopus and Dukkah
The Dam entry

A little bit off the South Coast Highway, you drive down a short dirt road to discover a number of large dams, which are the marron ponds. As you approach the main building you pass a small plot of plants that turned out to be a commercial hemp crop. The Dam also operates a distillery and uses the hemp to produce their spirits. They also brew beer and make a range of wines.

The Dam outlook
Marron, Octopus and Dukkah

We settled in for a late lunch there and enjoyed some share plates of marron, pickled octopus and bread with oil and dukkah. The marron was very nice but in terms of value for money we both felt that we were paying for the venue more so than the food. In that respect, despite being a beautiful place and a magnificent setting, we were left feeling a little disappointed. It would probably have been better with a larger group. As it was it was a little quiet and subdued…

The Denmark coastal area is has numerous natural attractions including Greens Pool, Elephant Rocks, Sinker Bay and Waterfall Beach, all of which are quite stunning in their own particular way.

Greens Pool
Greens Pool
Greens Pool
Greens Pool
Greens Pool

Greens Pool is a stunning natural sea pool set on a white sandy beach nestled amongst granite outcrops and boulders. It is very popular with tourists and this was the case when we were there but not so crowded that you couldn’t find a spot to yourself if you wanted it.

Greens Pool

We weren’t up for swim that day so we elected to walk up and over the granite outcrop on the left side to view the area from a bit of height. The beaches on the southern coast of Western Australia are much more like the east coast rather than the red dirt of the western coast but the water still seems to have that glassy green’ish colour that is quite mesmerising and calming.

Elephant Rocks
Elephant Rocks
Elephant Rocks
Elephant Rocks
Elephant Rocks
Elephant Rocks

Walking up over the granite outcrops for a few hundred metres brings you around to Elephant Rocks. This is another sheltered beach that is dotted with large exposed granite boulders some of which stand around 9m out of the water.

One rock in particular seems to be a favourite jumping rock with young folks scrambling up the rock spine to leap down into the crystal clear water below. We watched a number of people do it and it seems to us that the 9m leap is actually the easy part. The scramble up the sharply sloping spine of the rock looks like a great way to enjoy a broken bone or two if you lose your grip and/or balance. Two young girls in particular looked extremely precarious at one point but did manage to get to the top and hurl themselves back off. Kudos to them.

Sinker Bay
Sinker Bay
Black Hole Rock
Sea salt pool
Black Hole Rock
Sinker Bay
Sinker Bay
Sea salt pool

Sinker Bay is a rocky inlet area on the Denmark coast that sits in contrast to the calm green waters of Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks. The ocean breaks straight onto Black Hole Rock in a ceaseless effort to wear it down into the ocean. Once again we came across a fair size gouge in the rock that contained a sizable amount of salt that had crystallized from sea water that had washed in and evaporated.

A testament to the power of the sea was a large rock pool about 2 metres above the water line that had a plate-sized Wrasse swimmming around in it. It had either been put there by a fisherman or washed in by a tidal surge. It didn’t seem to perturbed about its predicament swimming in and out from under a rock ledge (see video).

Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach
Beach cave
Waterfall Beach
Picking a meal – Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach
Waterfall Beach washout
Waterfall Beach washout
Waterfall Beach washout
Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach

Waterfall Beach is exactly what is named. A beach with a waterfall! Having said that… it took a bit of searching to actually find the waterfall. We turned the wrong way once we got onto the beach and found a small trickle of water coming down the bank and thought that was it but it didn’t quite match the pictures we had seen before getting there.

Waterfall Beach

So we set off in the other direction and noticed a washout cutting through the sand down into the surf. tracking that back to the low cliff we we found the actual waterfall as it tumbled out of a cleft in the rock, spilling into a small rock pool before cutting a washout through the sand into the ocean.

On our way back we passed another couple who remarked about how ‘unremarkable’ the eaterfall was… We quietly pointed them in the direction of the actual waterfall, for which they were most grateful…

The star attraction of the Denmark region is without a doubt the Valley Of The Giants and the magnificent Tingle Trees, Karri, Marri and Jarrah trees. And the best way to see them is via the Tree Top Walk.

Tree Top Walk
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
Tingle Tree
Skywalk panorama
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
Nest in a Tingle
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
In the canopy
Giant Tingle from Skywalk
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
Valley of the Giants Skywalk
Valley of the Giants from above
Valley of the Giants Skywalk

The Tree Top Walk is a 600m suspended walkway that winds through the canopy of the Tingle and Karri trees at a height of 40m. So once again we found ourselves testing our fear of heights as we made our way up along the ramp and onto the suspended path.

Valley of the Giants Skywalk

Each length of the walkway is suspended between bettween steel poles with a circular platform atop each where you can stop and look into the tops of the trees and all the way down to the bases. The walkway is similar to the Tahune Air Walk in Tasmania but probably a little less challenging without the overhang points that have you standing out with no support below the platform. It’s still a long way up though and has a reasonable amount of bounce and sway as you make your way around it.

Valley of the Giants from above

An interesting thing about the walk is that it was built with minimal disturbance to the ground and the trees around it. Surprisingly, despite their enormous size, the Tingle Trees are quite shallow rooted and they can be very easily damaged just by having too many people walking on them, which is one of the reasons the Tree Top Walk was built… The whole thing is free-standing with only the 40m poles for support. Everything else is held up under tension from the poles.

Tingle Tree

Walking through the canopy give a whole new perspective on these magnificent trees, which still have a fragility despite their enormous size. You get to look down on nests and burls that you wouldn’t otherwise see from below. You also gain a perspective on the normal sized trees and plants that live in the shade of the giants.

The Giants
Valley of the Giants Sculpture
Giant Tingle
Giant Split Tingle
Tingle from inside
Tingle stump
Gnarled Tingle
Giant Karri
Twisted trunk
Mossy karri trunk
Giant karri
Tingle Burl
Giant Tingle Burl
Giant Tingle Burl
Giant Tingle Burl
Inside Tingle stump
Inside a Tingle stump
Giant split Tingle
Fallen Tingle roots
Giant Tingle base
Inside a Tingle stump
Giant Tingle
Giant Tingle base
Giant Tingle
Giant Tingle base
Giant Tingle
Giant Tingle and Karri Trees
At the base of a Tingle
Valley of the Giants undergrowth
Radial leaf plant
Giant Karri trees
Giant Tingle
Giant Tingle trees
Tingle base
Giant Tingle base

Aside from the Tree Top Walk you can wander through parts of the forest although we were unable to do the Ancient Forest Walk due to construction work being done to extend the low-impact walkways. We did do a guided walk down a forest trail with a volunteer guide who showed us the difference between Tingles, Karri and Marri trees.

Tingle from inside
Giant Tingle Burl

One of the amazing things about the Tingles, apart from their size, is that it is really only a thin part of the outside of the tree that is living. Some of the Tingles are virtually hollow with huge splits in the trunks that you can walk through, yet they’re still living. Some of the trees had enormous burls that in a fairytale setting could be turned into a giant’s coffee table.

Twisted trunk
Magnificent Fungus

The giant trees weren’t the only attraction of the region. There was a great diversity of trees, grasses, shrubs and fungi. One standout was a slim tree with a series of spiral twists in the trunk. At first look it might have been some sort of strangler vine but close up it appeared to be the actual tree trunk. Another was a beautiful bright orange fungus growing on a fallen tree trunk. It was the size of a dinner plate and would no doubt kill you of you ate it.

Giant Tingle and Karri Trees

The giant trees of Western Australia aren’t quite as big as the sequoias in the U.S., which we walked amongst back in 2016, but they are just as magnificent in their own right. They only inhabit a small pocket in the south of W.A. Hopefully they will continue to flourish there for millennia to come.

Albany

Queen’s Park Viewing Platform
Old Albany Roundabout
Stirling Terrace
Albany Entertainment Centre
Coffee on Stirling Terrace
Ironwood Estate Winery
Ironwood Estate Winery
Ironwood Estate Winery
Bee working Ironwood Estate
Bee working Ironwood Estate
Porongurup Inn, Shop & Tearooms
Rotary Lookout
Rotary Lookout
Rotary Lookout
Rotary Lookout
Rotary Lookout
Sam the seal monument
Emu Point Sculpture
Emu Point
Emu Point
Emu Point

So… after all of the wonderful little regional towns of the Western Australia Wheat Belt we dropped into Albany at the very bottom of the state. Albany is a historic town and was once the whaling capital of the Southern hemisphere.

It was good to see the ocean once again after our time in the Western Australian Wheat Belt. But the cost of seeing the ocean was a return to cooler temperatures, which to be honest were not all that cold.

Emu Point Sculpture

Albany itself is quite a sprawling town and we camped at Rose Gardens Beachside Holiday Park in a location called Emu Point. It was quite a bit away from the centre of town but nice and quiet. It was only a short walk to the marina, which was adjacent to a large park area and a fairly good cafe for coffee.

Sam the seal monument

Near the marina there is a monument to Sammy The Seal. Sammy was a well loved character in Albany and quite friendly as far as seals go. Apparently he was tragically killed from a knife wound, which is why a monument has been erected for him in the place that he died. A sad ending but fondly remembered.

Dog Rock

Another natural curio in Albany is Dog Rock. It is a very large granite outcrop with the main road on one side and a small shopping centre on the other. It looks for all the world like the head of a Basset Hound sticking up out of the ground with that distinctive ‘hang-dog’ expression that hounds have.

The Albany town centre consists of three main areas:

  • the newer part of the town with supermarkets, shopping centres, etc.
  • the museum district; and
  • the older historic part.
Queen’s Park Viewing Platform

The historic part of the town is centred around York Street and Stirling Terrace. Stirling Terrace sits on a high rock terrace area and has a long row of heritage style shops and an ornate half rotunda viewing platform that provides views over Queens Park, the port and the museum district. We spent a morning wandering around it and enjoying a coffee at one of the quaint cafes near the rotunda.

Coffee on Stirling Terrace

Although it is a sizable town Albany still retains the feeling of remoteness that must have been much stronger back in the height of the whaling industry. This is accentuated by being at the southern extremity of the state and gives it a personality that is different to the other Western Australian towns and cities that we have visited. In some respescts it feels more like Victoria and South Australia than Western Australia. It has a vibe all of its own and we enjoyed our time there immensely…

Cheynes IV Whaling Ship
Blue Whale Skeleton
Humpback Whale Skeleton
Sperm Whale Skeleton
Sail and Oar Wooden Whale Boat
Sail and Oar Wooden Whale Boat
Pilot Boat
Steam Engine
Oil Extraction Ovens
Whale Oil Storage Tanks
Whaling Station
Whale Oil Storage Tanks
Whaling Boat Engine Room
Whaling Boat
View from Whaling Ship
Whaling Ship Deck
Whaling Ship Rudder Shaft
Whaling Ship Panorama
Whaling Ship View
Steering Deck
Gangway View
Cheynes IV bow
Cheynes IV bow
Cheynes IV bow
Sail and Oar Wooden Whale Boat

Without a doubt, the historic Discovery Bay Whaling Station is the star attraction of the Albany region. This carefully preserved whale processing factory precinct is a proud part of Albany‘s history and the primary reason that the town was established.

And, whilst whaling is now a defunct and regrettable industry, the Discovery Bay Whaling Station manages to walk the line between being proud of its past whilst acknowledging the sadness and brutality that was modern whaling.

Cheynes IV Whaling Ship

The centrepiece of the factory precinct is the Cheynes IV, a ship of the whaling fleet in permanent dry-dock and kept in pristine condition. We walked through every part of the vessel and saw first hand how harsh, difficult and trying conditions must have been when out at sea chasing down whales.

Gangway View

When the whaling industry was ceased, the workers at Discovery Bay essentially downed their tools on the last day and walked away from the site to seek new jobs. The factory precinct itself was therefore left in exactly the state it was on that day. It has been preserved beautifully and in superb detail. It commemorates the whalers and factory workers, and their harsh working conditions but also acknowledges the ugliness of the industry and its necessity in those times.

Steam Engine

There were some moving video interviews of former whalers who describe their pride in the work they performed but also expressing regret and remorse for they way in which the killing of whales took place. It was what they did to feed their families and keep a roof over their heads. And if not them then it would have been someone else.

Whale Oil Storage Tanks

Discovery Bay Whaling Station preserves the history of whaling but and also uses the entire facility in a revamped way to educate about whales and marin mammals. The whale oil storage tanks have been converted into small theatres featuring short documentaries and if you concentrate you can still get a slight whiff of the whale oil that completely permeated the tank walls.

One of the truly impressive displays is the complete skeletons of a Blue Whale and Humpback Whale side-by-side and a Sperm Whale. The Blue Whale absolutely dwarfs the Humpback, which is immense in its own right. The Sperm Whale skeleton contrasts the difference between toothed whales and baleen whales (filter feeders).

Blue Whale Skeleton
Humpback Whale Skeleton
Sperm Whale Skeleton

Everything about Discovery Bay Whaling Station is done well and combines to tell a proud story of a now defunct industry that Albany was built on. And whilst the whalers have moved on to other professions and industries, the Discovery Bay Whaling Station stands as a superb reminder of the past.

Whaling Station

One of the funny stories that sticks with us is of a flenser, a worker who cuts up the whale for processing. When whales were brought into the station for processing they were stored offshore until they could be brought up onto the flensing deck. Because of this the carcasses attracted shark and in particular White Pointers. Shark fishing was a favourite weekend activity for a lot of the workers and some huge Great Whites were caught in Discovery Bay. Anyway… This particular flenser would have a swim, with his dog, every single day after work of the dock near the flensing deck and never once had an encounter with a shark. That’s brave with a capital ‘B’.

Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Trail
Balancing rock at Castle Rock
Balancing rock at Castle Rock
Castle Rock
Castle Rock Boulders
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Vista
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock View
Castle Rock boulder
Castle Rock Skywalk
Castle Rock Trail
Castle Rock balancing rock
Castle Rock balancing rock
Castle Rock balancing rock
Castle Rock trail
Castle Rock trail
Castle Rock trail
Castle Rock Skywalk

One of the best natural features in the Great Southern Region is Castle Rock. This is a massive granite outcrop with magnificent panoramic views south to Albany.

Castle Rock was something of a surprise to us. We were looking for something to do that involved a bit of driving, a bit of walking and something look at it and Castle Rock delivered that in spades…

Castle Rock trail

The drive there was quite picturesque taking us up through Porongorup and some beautiful big tree country. To get to Castle Rock you need to undertake fairly decent 2.5km bushwalk that rises continually amongst the Blue Gums.

At the end of the walk you come to a massive granite outcrop with a huge egg shaped balancing rock that really does seem to defy gravity. The rock itself is quite stunning due to its sheer immensity and contrasting tiny footprint on the base rock and it’s quite daunting to stand beneath even for a few brief moments to get a photo…

Castle Rock balancing rock
Balancing rock at Castle Rock
Castle Rock Skywalk

It’s at the balancing rock that you get your first good look at Castle Rock itself. The massive round-top boulder rises above you towards the sky and wear a halo, which is the Granite Skywalk. But before you get to the skywalk you need to walk around the base of Castle Rock and up a steep, tricky rock scramble and then climb some strategically placed climbing rungs to get to the base of the skywalk.

Castle Rock Skywalk

After all that you arrive at a caged ladder that you can climb up to the skywalk itself. Jo gave it a brave try but only managed to get five rungs up before acrophobia got the better of her and she had to climb back down. Rob managed to beat his own acrophobia and make it to the top, which proved to be absolutely exhilarating.

Castle Rock Skywalk

The skywalk is a narrow metal mesh walkway that is drilled and glued into the side of rock face. You can see, through the mesh below your feet, the stunning and dizzying drop immediately below you. For an acrophobic it is in equal parts daunting and breath-taking… but absolutely worth the fear and anxiety. You quickly become accustomed to sensations and gradually relax so that you can appreciate the grand vista that appears before you.

It was a brave effort by Jo despite not making it to the top of the skywalk. There were plenty of people left behind who didn’t make it past the rock scramble and the climbing rungs.

Castle Rock Skywalk

From the skywalk you can see all the way back to Albany and the ocean, a 45 minute drive away. Spectacular doesn’t properly describe the vista before you and it is a very fitting reward for the effort expended to get there.

After a few more photos and a last look at the view from the lower viewing area we trudged back along the 2.5km trail to the carpark, a little exhausted but all the more richer for having visited this wonderful natural formation.

Porongurup Inn, Shop & Tearooms

The drive home took us back through Porongorup and stopped in at the Porongorupup Inn, Shop and Tearooms for a late lunch. This was a wonderfully eccentric place that was a little run down and sold all the usual touristy knick knacks. We sat down and ordered a hot chicken roll not expecting too much but were pleasantly surprised when we received two very fresh and succulent chicken rolls filled with warm, sticky meat. Just perfect after our mornings exertions.

This was a terrific and very satisfying day trip for both of us. One of the great things about travelling is finding places like this that aren’t all that well known but exceed all your expectations when you make the effort to visit them. Castle Rock will be a favourites list memory…

The Brig Amity
Albany Museum District
Old Albany Post Office
The Brig Amity
Albany Convict Gaol
Convict Brick Wall
Indigenous Convict Wall Markings
Figurehead from the the Agnes wreck
Albany Convict Gaol
The Brig Amity
The Brig Amity
Replica Indigenous Shelter
Lighthouse Fresnel Lens
Ship transfer basket
Meteorite
The Brig Amity

The museum district sits down below the terrace area of the old town on the ocean side . There a high walkway that takes you from the terrace over the main highway to the Albany Entertainment Centre. From there you can head down to the museum district, which is dominated by the Brig Amity, a beautiful full-sized replica of the original brig kept in dry-dock beside a large lake area. The original was wrecked north of Tasmania in 1845.

The Brig Amity

You can wander around the top deck of the Amity at your leisure and imagine undertaking an ocean voyage in the mid1800’s. You can also pay for a below decks tour but we opted not to do this one on this occasion. It was enough to marvel at the complexity of the rigging and workmanship of the planking, decking. Although the brig was a sound ship back in the day and would have been relatively comfortable for the Scottish emigrants that bought her to emigrate to Australia, those people were made of sterner stuff than we are today…

1800’s Kitchen

The Brig Amity is maintained by the Museum of the Great Southern, which has a series of buildings nearby encompassing a broad range of all things Albany. The Residency Building was originally a store and office for the nearby convict-hiring depot. It houses a collection of historical artefacts from the 1800’s and was originally and gives you a feel for early Albany prior to whaling. Albany, originally, was a military outpost for New South Wales and would have become the state capital until Perth got the nod.

Albany Convict Gaol
Indigenous Convict Wall Markings

The convict gaol nearby is maintained in historical accuracy with some of the original walls, made of convict bricks, still fully intact. There is even a gallows there that serves as a reminder of the severity of convict life back in the day. The gaol was also used to hold indigenous ‘prisoners’ who were segregated into a different cell lined with wooden boards. This would have been mild torture for those people and sadly you can see carved markings scratched into the boards depicting aboriginal stories and motifs.

Lighthouse Fresnel Lens

The Eclipse Building houses more contemporary displays including a lighthouse display, fishing display and an fish wall that identifies all of the fish of the region. The centre-piece is a Fresnel Lens from a lighthouse. Similar to the one we saw back in Carnarvon, these lens are a jewel-like thing of beauty when viewed up close.

Figurehead from the the Agnes wreck
Ship transfer basket
Meteorite

Other interesting exhibits include the aft figurehead from the wreck of The Agnes, a ship transfer basket and a very large meteorite. The Agnes figurehead had apparently been ‘lying in state’ for many years under a landowners bed after his wife made him put it away… The ship transfer basket was a bit like a wicker-work baloon basket used to transfer people and cargo on and off ships. Apparently it was an extremely dangerous device to be carried in. The meteorite is a rather large black chunk of pock-marked ironstone known as the Mundrabilla Meteorite. It fell to Earth in 1911 on the Nullarbor Plain and weighs over12 tonnes.

There is a little bit of something for everyone at the Museum of the Great Southern.

Natural Bridge
Natural Bridge
Cave Point Lighthouse
Viewing Platform
Rock Formation
Sea Cliff Gap
Sea Cliff
Black Cockatoo
Black Cockatoo
Cave Point Lighthouse
Cave Point Lighthouse
Tondirrup Flora
Tondirrup Coastline
Tondirrup Coastline

Torndirrup National Park is another of Albany‘s natural wonders. Like Castle Rock, it contains a number of magnificent granite rock formations including the Natural Bridge and The Gap.

Natural Bridge
The Gap

The Gap is a huge cleft in the granite sea cliff where the ocean waves rush in and out causing a spectacular swirling surge of white water. The Natural Bridge is, of course, a massive slab of granite between granite side walls undercut over millennia by the ocean waves. It is very spectacular as the white water rushes over and recedes from base rock below. Viewing platforms allow you to get very close to both formations and once again be awe-inspired by the timeless power and beauty of nature…

Cave Point Lighthouse

And, of course. it wouldn’t be rocky coastline without visiting a lighthouse… The Cave Point Lighthouse is situated in the National Park and is now fitted with radome (radar housing) instead of a light.

Cave Point Lighthouse

It is a relatively modern lighthouse built as a round concrete tower in 1976. The light was removed in 1994 and converted to radar. It’s not especially tall but does stand proud over the rocky cliffs by the sea, which gives it a very Western Australian feel…

Black Cockatoo

We also got up close with some Black Cockatoos along the path, which we believe were Baudin’s Black Cockatoos. They sat in happily in the scrubby trees beside the path and were happy to pose for a photo or two (as most cockatoos seem to like to do). They were quite sizable and probably slightly larger than the average white cockatoo that we see back home. They also have the same bright inquisitive nature that cocky’s seem to possess.

Torndirrup National Park, although very different to the red rocky coastline of the western side of the state was still a very wild and natural place. Being on the southerly edge it was more like the South Australian coastline but none-the-less beautiful…

Dumbleyung

Grande Olde Dumbleyung Inn
Grande Olde Dumbleyung Inn
Dumbleyung Freecamp
Dumbleyung Freecamp
Dumbleyung Freecamp
Sir Donald Campbell Sculpture
Bluebird Memorial
Historic Farm Equipment
Historic Farm Equipment
Historic Farm Equipment
Drinks at the Inn
Beef Schnitty
Purple Night Sky
Purple Night Sky
Grande Olde Dumbleyung Inn

After a busy three days in Kondinin we once again farewelled the Seagulls until we would catch up again in Busselton. They headed back west and we pointed the cruiser south to Dumbleyung.

Dumbleyung Freecamp

We opted for an overnight freecamp behind the ‘Grand Olde Dumbleyung Inn‘. Grand is indeed the word fort his old beauty. Like many country pubs they have an area out the back where caravans can stay overnight for free (sans power and water). Many of them permit the use of their outside toilets and showers, which this one did. You are expected to drop in for a drink and a meal in exchange for the free camp site, which is a good deal especially if you don’t want to unpack gear for an overnighter.

Drinks at the Inn

The Grand Olde Dumbleyung Inn oozes character and we enjoyed a good pub meal in a rustic bar that also featured some barrels as tables and a corrugated iron sheet bar. You help but enjoy these types of places. There’s a sense of history and times past that doesn’t exist in modern pubs and clubs. We hope these places are never lost.

Sir Donald Campbell Sculpture

In terms of history, Dumbleyung is probably best known as the location of Lake Dumbleyung, the place where, in 1964, Donald Campbell broke the world water speed in the magnificent Bluebird K7. Not only was this a major achievement but a lesser known fact is that in breaking the water speed record he also became the only person to break both the land and water speed records in the same year. Even more amazing is that he only managed to break the water speed record on 31st December, the last day of the year… There is a magnificent bust of Donald Campbell made entirely from wire mesh in the main street of Dumbleyung.

Bluebird Memorial

There is also a pavillion that houses a replica of the Bluebird K7. Alas to our great disappointment it was not on show when we were there. The Bluebird K7 was a most beautiful boat that had all the classic curves and edges of the vehicles designed in the 50’s and 60′. It would not be unfair to compare the Bluebird K7 with the Supermarine Spitfire, one of the most beautiful and elegant airplanes ever designed

Historic Farm Equipment

As with most Wheat Belt towns, Dumbleyung also has a range of historic agricultural machines on display. These are very well kept under a large metal roof structure in stark contrast to some places where they are just left to rust and rot under the sun.

Dumbleyung was another surprise package in the Western Australia Wheat Belt, which was fast becoming a favourite and memorable part of our trip.

Kondinin

Corrigin Town Hall
Van site
Kondinin Caravan Park
Kondinin Caravan Park
Corrigan Town Hall

So we pushed on from Brookton through the Wheat Belt to Kondinin via Corrigin. The Seagulls had returned from their East Coast sojourn and were back in Albany after finishing a short trip with other friends who were in W.A. Seeing that we were Kondinin they made a beeline north to meet us there to see Wave Rock and the other attractions of the area.

Kondinin Caravan Park

We met them at the Kondinin Caravan Park, a fabulous little council run caravan and cabin park, with about a dozen van sites and three cabins. Everything about this park was immaculate and well kept. And the amazing thing was that it was relatively cheap as well with power and water at $25 per night. Kondinin should be congratulated and rightly proud for offering such a brilliant facility for travellers in the heart of their small town. The weather was warm, the skies were clear and it really was nice to just sit out under the awning on the grassy area behind the vans and enjoy a sundowner or two and swap stories since the last time we saw each other.

Kondinin Caravan Park

Kondinin itself is another charming regional Wheat Belt town. These little towns are quiet but full of character. They still survive from agriculture but also reap the tourist dollars without ripping off tourists and travellers.

We chose Kondinin for our three nights due to it being central to Hyden and the magnificent Wave Rock as well as Kulin and the Tin Horse Highway. It proved to be a full on two and a half days. Catching up with the Seagulls and seeing the these places with them was an unexpected surprise before they headed back west. We would continue around the Wheat Belt before meeting them again back in Busselton after some vists from our east coast friends in Margaret River.

All in all it was a great three days…

Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Surfing Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock
Wave Rock

Most people have heard of Wave Rock yet it does not have the same level of reverence or mystique as Uluru, Kata-Tjuta, the Horizontal Falls or the Great Barrier Reef. Like ningaloo (the reef) it sits in a second tier of Australian iconic places and yet fully deserves to be in the first tier. Wave Rock is AWESOME…

No picture does it justice and nothing prepares you for your first glimpse as it appears in front of you and rears up, for all the world like a breaking wave turned to stone at the crucial moment. Indeed, from a certain vantage point it even looks like the waves you see in a surfing competition from a camera on a jet ski as the wave rolls past. It is absolutely stunning.

Rolling
on
past

The natural staining on the face of the wall accentuates the imagery and heightens the scale of its grandeur. It is nature imitating nature and it is, in our opinion, a bonafide wonder of the world.

And again… we were privileged, with the Seagulls, to have it all to ourselves with only a handful of others there to enjoy its spledour.

Lighthorse Memorial
Lighthorse Memorial on Wave Rock
Lighthorse Memorial on Wave Rock
Panorama
View from Wave Rock
Back side of Wave Rock
Boulder on top of Wave Rock
Lighthorse Memorial – Wave Rock

Sitting on top of Wave Rock, unknown to us beforehand, is a Light Horse Memorial. There is a metal sculpture of a Light Horseman, flagpoles and a concrete water storage tank with a painted mural dedicated to the Light Horsemen. Part of the mural contains a poem that is as salient and sobering today as it was then. It is an all to present reminder of the stupidity, futility and sadness that is human warfare…

Now Willie McBride I can't help wonder why
Do those who lie here, do they know why they died
Did they really believe when they answered the call
Did they really believe that this war would end wars
Forever this song of suffering and shame
The killing, the dying was all done in vain
For young Willie McBride it's all happened again
And again and again and again and again.

Lest we forget…

Hippo’s Yawn
Hippo’s Yawn
Hippo’s Yawn
In the maw of Hippo’s Yawn
Hippo’s Yawn
Hippo’s Yawn

A short walk from Wave Rock is an even lesser known formation called Hippo’s Yawn. It’s not hard to see where the name comes from looking for all the world like the top of a hippopotamus’s jaws breaking through the surface of the water to crunch down on some unsuspecting hiker walking past.

In the maw of Hippo’s Yawn

It is nearly 13m high and also needs to be viewed with something to provide scale against. In our case we took a a photo with Jo and Sandy Seagull to provide the scale by standing squarely in the hippo’s mouth. At least if it fell over you probably wouldn’t be crushed to death but it would be a pretty hard and difficult dig out…

Mulka’s Cave
Mulka’s Cave
Mulka’s Cave
Rock Painting – Mulka’s Cave
Rock Painting – Mulka’s Cave
Rock Painting – Mulka’s Cave
Rock Painting – Mulka’s Cave
Rock Painting – Mulka’s Cave

Also at the Wave Rock site is Mulka’s Cave. This is particularly noteworthy for the numerous rock paintings contained within it. Some of them are quite faint and we mostly only saw hand print outlines of the type produced by placing a hand against the rock and spitting ochre paint at it.

Mulka was an outcast aboringinal man and there are two versions of his story. One was that he was outcast because he had crossed-eyes and it was feared that he would bring a curse on those who looked at him.

Jo and Sandy in Mulka’s Cave

The other was that he was the son of a man and woman who fell in love but were forbidden to marry, which resulted in him having crossed eyes. Despite growing tall and strong he was a poor hunter because of his eyes so he reorted to catching and eating children. After being scolded by his mother for this he killed her as well. He fled to Mulka’s Cave but was hunted down and speared near Dumbleyung (our next camping spot) and his body left to rot and be eaten by the ants.

Mulka’s Cave

In any event, the cave is quite impressive and you can imagine that it would have been quite a comfortable place for an indigenous person to live in this area.

As a side note, in deference to Mulka’s cross-eyed affliction, it was at the cave that Rob unknowingly, until later, dropped his sunglasses never to be seen again. Although they were a pair of cheap roadhouse sunnies, they were polarised and very comfortable to wear. They were sadly missed…

Around Wave Rock
Darth Vader visited Wave Rock
Callistemon – Wave Rock
Magnificent Red Gum
Wave Rock Erosion
Wave Rock weathering
Hyden Water Storage on top of Wave Rock
Water Channel at Wave Rock
Hollow rock top of Wave Rock

In addition to the wave, Hippo’s Yawn and Mulka’s Cave the scenery around Wave Rock is also quite striking. We came across a small weathered boulder on the edge of the path that from behind looked exactly like Darth Vader’s helmet.

Hyden Water Storage on top of Wave Rock

Also unbeknown to us was that there is quite a large water storage dame at the top of Wave Rock. This is the water storage reservoir for Hyden, the small town closest to Wave Rock. It’s fenced off as you would expect but does come as a surprise after walking up the steep slope at one end of Wave Rock. There are man-made water channels down below as well that must have served as water diversions back in the day.

Hollow rock top of Wave Rock

On top of Wave Rock there is a curious hollow boulder that has been gouged out by weathering and erosion on one side. Somewhat like a mini or baby hippo yawn. Very useful if a downpour occurs…

Wave Rock weathering

The lower flatter sides of Wave Rock also exhibit signs of ancient weathering and erosion with huge slabs of granite peeling off like giant pieces of orange skin. These slabs emphasise the age of the underlying rock and the staggering amount of time it has been sitting under the baking sun and soaking rains of the Western Australian outback.

The other notable aspects of the area are the striking salmon gums and red bottle brushes (callistemons) that grow in the area. Up close, the salmon gums shine as if they have been polished and they glow in the afternoon sun. The callistemons bring sharp splashes of colour to the otherwise drab scrub and there always seem to be wild bees harvesting the nectar from them.

Magnificent Salmon Gum
Callistemon – Wave Rock
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway

One of the quirkier aspects of the region is the Tin Horse Highway at Kulin. It is about 15km of highway from between Lake Grace and Kulin. Each side of the road is lined every few hundred metres with a bush sculpture featuring a horse theme usually made from old oil drums and any other scrap materials.

Tin Horse Highway

It originally started as a promotional effort for the annual Kulin Bush Races. The community has really gotten behind the idea and it has become a tourist attraction in its own right. There has been some serious thought and construction gone into some of the sculptures and they all exhibit that wry and laconic brand of bush humour that is all too rare in modern Australia.

Tin Horse Highway
Tin Horse Highway

Even the 24 hour fuel station in Kulin has gotten into the act by turning an LPG gas storage tank into a tin horse sculpture. In town and along the highway there are well over a hundred tin horses, each with it’s own humourous taken of the idea and even some more serious ones such as a seahorse sculpture, which is a pretty decent work of art in its own right.

Tin Horse Highway

Even the police and the Defence Force have tin horses with their theme attached to them. Not sure if they’re officially sanctioned or not but wouldn’t be surprised if they were…

Our drive along the Tin Horse Highway with the Seagulls was a very enjoyable trip and probably the slowest 15km we have ever done stopping to take photos every few hundred metres.

Dog Fence
Dog Fence Road
Dog Fence Road
The Dog Fence
The Dog Fence
Rabbit Proof Fence

After our visit to Wave Rock we continued on to have a look at a stretch of the Rabbit Proof Fence. Made famous by the film ‘Rabbit Proof Fence‘ there are actually three vermin fences but the one we visited was the original Number 1 Fence running north-south from west of Eighty Mile Beach to west of Esperance.

Rabbit Proof Fence Road

It is a strange sort fence, not only for its length, but also for its simplicity. Indeed, the size of the gaps in the wire look as they anything up to a cocker spaniel could easily get through it. At the point where we viewed it there was a deliberate gap in the fence with nothing more than a cattle grid separating either side.

Rabbit Proof Fence

Apparently the fence is, or was, the longest unbroken fence in the world (cattle grids notwithstanding). But despite being a fairly simple straight-forward post and wire fence it is an extremely impressive structure that can’t really be appreciated until you see a map showing it’s route from the bottom of the country to the top.

It’s the things like the Rabbit Proof Fence that make Australia such a unique place. It is not a monument, a tourist attraction or an ‘experience’. It is a piece of living, functional history that sits under the sun and does it’s job day after day after day…

Statues Lake Swimmer Sculpture
Statues Lake Figures
Statues Lake Salt
Statues Lake Salt
Statues Lake Salt
Statues Lake Salt
Statues Lake Salt Pan
Statues Lake Salt

Statues Lake is sizable salt pan lake 10km from Kondinin. At the time of our visit the lake was completely dry and mostly pure white with some bands of yellow’ish salt crust. Apparently at various times of the year it can become a fluorescent yellow colour.

Statues Lake Swimmer Sculpture

Whilst there are quite a lot of salt pan lakes in W.A. this one is notable for the sculptures set into it. The most striking sculpture is of a swimmer with his head and arm breaking the surface of the lake in a freestyle swimming motion.

Statues Lake Figures

The other scultpture is of a group of figures in various poses. Surrounding the figures was a thick crust of yellow salt that crunched heavily underfoot as shown in the short video below. It must have been devastating back in the day when these filled up with water but were unusable because of the salinity.

Once again, at Lake Kondinin (Statues Lake) the quirkiness of the whole region is on display giving the whole region around Kondinin a character of it’s own.

Brookton

Beverly Town Hall
Chicken Burger – Beverly
Wall Art Mural – Beverly
Freemasons Tavern Beverly
Beverley Main Street
Beverley War memorial
Beverley Railway Station
Free camp area
Van Site
Avon River
Avon River
Free camp view
Free Camp Area
Tire Shop Displays
Town Park
Big Ag Machines

Following the Avon River and continuing on from York we made our way east to Brookton for another overnight free camp. Like York, Brookton has a freecamp area beside the Avon River.

Free camp area

Brookton is a small town with a population just short of 1,000 and like York is an agricultural hub that also relies on tourism as well. The free camp was near the bridge by the river and only a short walk into town. It was quite similar to the York free camp except that the Avon River was dry at this point.

Beverly Town Hall

Before Brookton we passed through Beverley, another small town of around 1,000 people. It was notable for its stark white Town Hall and other buildings such as the Freemanson’s Tavern all of which were very clean, well preserved and architecturally attractive.

Chicken Burger – Beverly

We stopped in Beverley for lunch. Jo ordered some Bruschetta, which was quite good and Rob went for a Chicken Burger… The chicken burger itself was quite good but it was served with a great deal of flair wrapped entirely in aluminium foil sculpted into a chicken… Who does that? Apparently The Red Vault cafe in Beverley does! How can you not love a cafe that goes to that length to make you smile about your meal?

But back to Brookton. It was a good distance from York and a nice quiet overnight stay. We had a bit of a walk through the town and although it was quite nice it was not as picturesque as York or Beverley. Two things that did stand out were the local tire shop and the agricultural equipment yard.

Tire Shop Displays

The Brookton Tire Service had set up an area near the entrance with wishing well and an old dray complete with horse statue under a shelter.

Again… it is little touches like these that you find in small regiona towns that make them just t hat little more interesting.

Big Ag Machines

Not far from there was another shelter that covered three very tall farm machines and a trailer unit. We weren’t sure what that actual purpose was but no doubt have something to do with wheat prodution. They all looked brand new and ready to go never the less. It’s a different world to the suburbia that most of us spend all of our time in.

Brookton proved to be a good overnighter and we were starting to think that we had made a good choice to head out through the Wheat Belt. A number of people we came across before heading out this way would say things like, “The Wheat Belt? What do you want to go out there for?” It just goes to show that you shouldn’t always rely on other peoples opinions because you just might miss out on something good.

York

York Van Site
Van Site from above
Van Site from above
Suspension Bridge Park
Suspension Bridge
Suspension Bridge
Avon River
Avon River
Avon River Side
Van site from across river
Stone Building in York
York Town Hall
York Town Hall
York Town Hall
Stone building from Town Hall
Steak Sanga – Settlers House
Wheat Stalk Sculpture
Wheat Stalk Sculpture
Avon River
Avon River
Avon River
Avon River
Avon River

Our time in Perth was good and it was nice to have the full range of goods and services at our fingertips again but as nice as that was it reaffirmed our preference to avoid big cities. So with the van freshly serviced and our Swift cooker approved for full operation we decided to do some freecamping and take off for the Western Australian Wheat Belt. First stop… York.

After so much time travelling down the W.A. coast it was time to do some inland exploring and the Wheat Belt looked like the perfect way to fill in the time until our friends arrived in Margaret River for a visit with us.

Van Site from above

York was an excellent place to have an overnight freecamp having a freecamp rest area on the bank of the Avon River at the edge of town. The freecamp was quite roomy and we were able to park under a bit of shade and stay hitched. The location was excellent with an easy walk into town via a suspension bridge across the river.

Suspension Bridge

After a bouncy but picturesque walk across the bridge it is a short walk past a park area and onto the main street of the town. York itself is quite a pretty little town with a very striking Town Hall and colonial style stone buildings.

Wheat Stalk Sculpture

There is a vacant lot that has a number of sculptures made from wheat straw in the style of Japanese Wara Art that uses rice stalks. There was a number of sculptures around 4m high including a bilby and a tortoise to name a couple.

Steak Sanga – Settlers House

Despite our Swift cooker being cleared for use we opted to have dinner at the Settlers House York. The Steak Sanga and Calamari were great examples of ‘pub grub’ and good reminder of how good country pubs are when they’re done right.

Tiny Doors
Tiny Door – York
Tiny Door – York
Tiny Door – York
Tiny Door – York
Tiny Door – York
Tiny Door – York
Tiny Door – York

Lots of small regional towns do do community initiatives to create interest and attract tourism dollars. York‘s point of interest is a number of ‘Tiny Doors‘ scattered around various businesses and public locations.

Jo made it her mission to find all the tiny doors on her morning walk, which she managed to do except for one that we think was on the way out of town. It’s little things like this that make small towns interesting, quirky and all the more enjoyable. We were totally surprised by York and thoroughly enjoyed our overnighter there.

Sarich Orbital Engine
York Motor Museum
Rare ‘Australian Six’
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
Rosco McGlashan’s 407kph Rocket Powered Go-kart
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
York Motor Museum
‘Crocofile Dundee’ car
York Motor Museum

The jewel in York‘s crown is the York Motor Museum. Located on the main street the museum looks like a shopfront but once inside it reveals itself as a massive, multi-roomed floor space of immaculate automobiles, motor cycles and motoring memorabilia. The displays range from the earliest days of motoring in Australia through to more contemporary models.

York Motor Museum

There truly is something for everyone amongst the exhibits, most of which are in immaculate condition and/or fully restored to showroom condition. Originally a private collection, it was acquired by a community not-for-profit group and was the catalyst for the revival of York.

York Motor Museum

Once again we were lucky enough to have the whole place to ourselves and wandered through the amazing array of vehicles and displays at our leisure. All for the princely sum of $12 for Rob and $10 for Jo (using her Senior’s card). It was unbeliebavble value for money especially compared to a number of other museums and collections that we had viewed in our travels.

Rare ‘Australian Six’

The prized exhibit was one of the first six Australian Six‘s built (without a chassis number). It is one of only four Australian Six‘s known to exist from a production run of around 500. It was beautiful automobile that was an early 1900’s attempt by Australia to compete against foreign cars that was ultimately doomed due to high production costs.

Sarich Orbital Engine

One of Rob’s favourite exhibits was one of Ralph Sarich‘s Orbital Engines. The Orbital Engine burst into the automotive scene back in the 70’s and was hailed as a revolutionary new design, similar in concept but different to the rotary engine of RX7 fame. Despite immense global interest the Orbital Engine was plagued by a couple of issues and never garnered the financial support required to fully develop it and disappeared from view in the 80’s.

Rosco McGlashan’s 407kph Rocket Powered Go-kart

Another unique exhibit that peaked our interest was due to the Seagulls telling us of their former heavy involvement in go-kart racing. Gary Seagull was actually a National Champion in his younger years and Sandy raced as well. The museum had on exhibit Rosco McGlashan’s rocket powered go-kart capable of 407kph, a truly amazing piece of ‘terror’…

‘Crocofile Dundee’ car

One of the quirkier exhibits was ‘Never Never Tours’ Valiant Ute from the movie ‘ Crocodile Dundee‘ with the dashboard signed by Paul Hogan. The ute is displayed complete with a stuffed crocodile sitting in front of it for a bit of character and whimsy.

Not being huge car enthusiasts we were completely blown away by the York Motor Museum. We didn’t know it existed until we arrived in York and are so glad we stumbled upon it. It was unforgettable and totally absorbing.

Perth

Perth Cityscape
Gumnut Sculpture – Forrestfield
Perth Cityscape from Lesmurdie Falls
Perth van site
Oven cavity with accumulated red dust
City Sculpture
Elizabeth Quay
London Court
London Court
Hartfield Park
Perth van site

And finally, after nine months on the road, 11,230 kilometres and 3,444 litres of disel we arrived in Perth on the opposite side of the country. We pulled into the Perth Airport Holiday & Caravan Park and were given a nice big site at the back of the park. This was perfect because over the course of our stay we were getting the caravan serviced and our Swift gas oven checked out under the recall notice issued way back when we were in Victoria eight months ago.

Gumnut Sculpture – Forrestfield

The van service was done onsite by Rob from Caravans & Boats WA. He was a top bloke and more than happy to educate me in every thing he did from re-greasing the wheel bearings to realigning our awning, which was starting to become a pain in the arse to roll up. He also explained to us that we didn’t need to cross our chains when towing despite the common convention of doing so. This alone has made turning and reversing sharply so much easier and less stressful on the chains.

Oven cavity with accumulated red dust

We were also finally in the time and place to have our Swift gas cooker checked out by a qualified gas plumber. The cooker had been under a recall notice that was advised not long after we left home. We hadbeen limited to using the electric hotplate only for months. Steve from Nexus 1 Caravan Plumbing & Gas came out to us to do an initial inspection. He noted that he had examined over 40 Swift ovens and none of them had had the issue that caused the recall. As we expected, he checked ours and declared it to be faulty and arranged a subsequent visit to pull the oven out and repair it. When the oven came out we discovered that we had been carting half of the Northern Territory and W.A. around with us in the form of red dirt. Steve explained every aspect of the oven and the fault. Unfortunately, for him, when he removed the oven and looked closer he found that it wasn’t faulty and that something else had made it seem that way. It actually worked in our favour because he re-installed the oven and added extra securing screws and also re-located the temperature sensor so the the oven gets hotter and works better. A win for us…

We didn’t actually spend too much time in the city preferring the hills and the outskirts as is normal for us. We did however do a segway tour of Kings Park, which gave us a chance to wander around Elizabeth Quay and the inner city streets. We had a coffee by water and after the segway tour we spent a little time walking the streets followed by an afternoon at the movies wathcing ‘Knock At The Cabin‘, an M. Night-Shyamalan movie. Not his best work by a long shot… but a pleasant change to sit in a theatre and watch a movie.

We also found our way to London Court, a faux old-English arcade/mall. You enter through an arch into a Harry-Potter’esque street mall full of tourist shops. It is very quaint and full of character. It is completely out of place and time in a modern city like Perth but that only adds to the charm of it.

Eight days in Perth and surrounds proved to be very refreshing after so much travelling to get there. It was a relief to get the van serviced and an all-clear to use our cooker to it’s full potential again. Although we missed the Seagulls it was time to start thinking about our impending catchups with other friends soon to happen in Margaret River in the not too distant future.

Kookaburra – Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Perth from Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls
Rockpool – Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls Skink
Lesmurdie Falls Skink
Lesmurdie Falls Skink
Lesmurdie Falls Rockpool
View from Lesmurdie Falls
Lesmurdie Falls

Staying near the Perth airport gave us the opportunity to visit Lesmurdie Falls in Mundy National Park. The park came as a great surprise as it’s right on the edge of Perth and surrounded by suburban housing, It’s only 56ha in area and contains Lesmurdie Falls, which are 50m high.

View from Lesmurdie Falls

You can view the falls from the top and then choose from a number of trails through various parts of the park. Naturally we chose the trail down to the falls. ‘Down’ is a bit of a misnomer as the first part of the trail takes you along the edge of the gorge before starting the descent down to the falls themselves.

Lesmurdie Falls Skink

The first thing you notice is the prevalence of eucalypt trees covered in gumnuts, some of which are the size of golfballs. The bush itself was very scrubby but the trail was well marked and not too difficult although a little strenuous in places. We came across a number of shingleback lizards sunning themselves on the edge of the track.

Lesmurdie Falls Skink

We eventually made it down to the bottom of the falls and came across what we believe to be a King’s Skink. At first glance it looks like a fat black snake but you quickly notice the legs and realise that it’s a lizard. It too was sinning itself on the rocks near the falls.

Kookaburra – Lesmurdie Falls

Wildlife abounded down near the foot of the falls. We had the chance to get reasonably close to kookaburra… yes, sitting in an old gum tree. It was quite content to sit and pose for us as we edged up closer to the falls. There’s something about kookaburras. They’re so quintessentially Australian and iconic.

Lesmurdie Falls

The falls themselves were a little disappointing. Primarily due to it being the dry part of the year. They were running but only a fraction of what they would be like after a good rain.

Perth Cityscape from Lesmurdie Falls

The walk back up actually seemed easier than the walk down but it was well worth it for the exercise, the wildlife and also the panoramic views of Perth city in the distance.

Not far from Mundy National Park is the Kalamunda Zig Zag Road. This was originally a switchback style railroad that became a narrow road. It was closed for a period of time due to dangerous driving and hooning but was re-opened in 2020 as a one-way tourist drive. Driving down it provided some more scenic views of the Perth region and was a nice way to head back towards our van park.

Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park Swimming Pool
Araluen Botanic Park – Dunnies
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park
Araluen Botanic Park

We noticed, whilst perusing Google Maps, a place called Araluen Botanic Park not too far away from the van park. It was up in the hills area of Perth so we decided to take a drive up there and have a look.

Araluen Botanic Park

We were suprised to find 14ha of gardens, paths, streams, cottages and a semi-natural swimming hole/pool. Starting at the top of the park in the Rose Garden area we again noted that we had the whole place to ourselves. It wasn’t really the right time of year for roses but still nice to wander around them.

The park was created by the founder of the Youth Australia League as a retreat for young Australians to experience outdoor life. It consists of different areas devoted to different themes and structures.

Araluen Botanic Park

The most impressive structure is the Margaret Simons Pergola. This is not your typical backyard wooden frame. It is a massive walkway framed by stone pillars supporting jarrah logs that casts criss-crossed shadows creating a surreal visual effect as you enter it.

The park has various trails that wind up and down between the various gardens. On one such trail there were a couple of dead tree trunks that had been cut in situ into throne like chairs. We took the chance to do a coupe of before and after photos (below) that turned out pretty well.

Araluen Botanic Park

There was a long narrow series of cascades from the top of one area into a large lily pond at the bottom. The views from the top and bottom providing alternate and differing perspectives of the same stream. The lily pond at the bottom is quite large and fed by the cascade through a small outlet under a set of stone steps, which also follow the path of the stream down the hill.

Araluen Botanic Park

Unfortunately the cafe wasn’t open on the day of our visit. That aside all of the various cabins around the park led a rustic atmosphere from times past to it. Most of the cottages a log style cottages reminiscent of Canadian log cabins. Timber and stone are used heavily in the construction, which gives a sense of grandeur and timelessness to the park.

Araluen Botanic Park Swimming Pool

The most curious thing in the park was the ‘old swimming pool’. Fed by a natural stream it had that deep green colour that is normal for still freshwater. The incongruous thing about it was that it was closed to swimming for health reasons. On a hot Perth day it would have been a fabulous place to cool off and then sit in the shade of the log shelter.

Araluen Botanic Park was as impressive as it was unexpected. It is one of those little gems that you never hear about unless you live near it. And if you live near it you probably don’t bother to visit it. It was a privilege to have it mostly to ourselves and just a nice way to spend a day wandering around it.

Jadran Wines
Jadran Wines
Jadran Wines
The Packing Shed
The Packing Shed Terrace
The Packing Shed – Pork Belly
The Packing Shed
Jadran Wines
Jadran Wines

When we had our van serviced Rob, the service guy, told us that we had to go to Jadran Wines, which were quite close to us at the foot of the Perth Hills. Who were we to question the recommendation of a caravan service technician?

We pulled into a fairly rustic little family run boutique winery. Our tasting hostess was a family member and she gave us a terrific rundown of the winery’s history in the area and her families ownership.

We were intrigued and a little gob-smacked to find that aside from your more standard varietals such as Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc they also made a large range of fortified wines including Blackberry Nip, Cherry Cocktail and, believe it or not, Green Ginger Wine. They even used to make Marsala but had to discontinue it due to being unable to source the ingredients.

Jadran Wines

We came away with a Shiraz, Merlot, Sparkling Shiraz, Chenin Blanc, West Coast Classic and even a Green Ginger Wine. All of their wines are under $15 a bottle, which was absolutely amazing given the quality of their product.

The star of the show though was their Scarlet Red Wine Liqueur. This is THE MOST AMAZING liqueuer we have ever tasted. On your first taste you think, “What the hell is this? Do I like this?” After your second taste you are hooked for life… This liqueur is amazing. If the colour ‘scarlet’ has a flavour then this is is. It is dry, not sweet, It tastes of musk stick, strawberry, raspberry, pomegranate and every other luscious red thing that you can eat. It is unique, sumptuous and as amazing as it looks. We will absolutely be ordering some when we are back in a stable location…

The Packing Shed
The Packing Shed

The other winery we visited was The Packing Shed. Centered on Lawnbook Estate it is a combined winery and cafe, which is set in an old… you guessed it… packing shed. It is very rustic and the back deck area was a perfect location for a lazy lunch after a wine tasting.

The Packing Shed

Located a little further into the Perth Hills in the Bickley Valley, The Packing Shed oozes country charm and the wine tasting was all the more enjoyable due to the hostess and her husband who took over half way through as she started setting up for lunch. Their wines are small batch and generally only available from the cellar door. We also came away with a number of bottles of their wine as well.

The Packing Shed – Pork Belly

Lunch here however was the star… We shared some Arancini Balls to start and Jo had a Warm Chicken Salad with Kale, Pistachio and Pear. Rob had Pork Belly with Citrus Jeu.

The Arancini was very good, the Chicken Salad was excellent but the Pork Belly was sublime. This was possibly the best cooked piece of pork belly we had ever tasted. Perfectly rendered pork with super crisp, dry crackling was pleasure enough in itself but combined, surprisingly, with the citrus jeu was absolute perfection on a plate.

We only did the two wineries in Perth but I think we can agree that we picked to two best and most unique. If we didn’t then those that are must be spectacular…

Segways in Kings Park
Kings Park City View
Kings Park
Elizabeth Quay

So… we didn’t spend all that much time in Perth city itself, preferring to go into the Perth Hills and surrounds. We did however take the opportunity to do a Segway Tour of Elizabeth Quay and Kings Park.

Segways in Kings Park

Segways are a perfect way to see large in a short time using footpaths and tracks. We tool the 90 minute Kings Park Tour and took us past Elizabeth Quay and up the hill into the magnificent Kings Park, which is one of the largest city parks in the world.

It was a lot of fun to be riding segways again and our guide was quite interesting and knowledgable as we went along. He was a little over-protective at times even though he knew we had ridden before and shown as much before the tour.

Kings Park City View

The tour half-way point culminated at the one of the park’s Boab trees, which was still in the juvenile phase compared to the giants we had seen up around Kununurra. This was also not far from the war memorial and a lookout area that provided a sweeping view of the city and the Swan River.

The tour gave us a quick taste of Perth, which stood us in good stead for when we would be returning later in the trip during our stay in Fremantle with friends coming to visit us.

Ledge Point

Van Site… before the hordes
Before the hordes
Van Site
Pasty – Ledge Point
Ledge Point
Ledge Point

So we farewelled the Seagulls as they headed back to the East Coast for a month and set course for Ledge Point, 90km km south and 100km from Perth…

Van Site… before the hordes

We had booked Big4 Ledge Point Holiday Park some months in advance as a stopover before Perth and to ensure that we had somewhere to stay over the Australia Day Long Weekend and school holidays. We pulled into the cosy little caravan park that was all but desserted and set up on our site with no other vans or campers around us. And it stayed that way for a day-and-a-half. Then the holiday hordes arrived and it turned into sardine city.

Before the hordes

The wind also blew up so we had to pull the annex in. No sooner had we done that than the neighbouring campers decided that it was OK to cut through our site between our van and the cruiser. This is extremely bad caravan park ettiquette and just not the done thing. Even after angling the cruiser to make it obvious people were still cutting through our site. It got to the point where Jo asked one bloke if he wouldn’t mind going around. He was quite polite about it and happy to do so but we then had to put up with his dickhead mate walking along the edge of the site pretending as though he was balancing on a tight-rope. No matter where you go there’s always a dickhead…

Ledge Point

So dickheads and squealing hordes of kids aside… Ledge Point is yet another sleepy little coastal village. Not big enough to have a superarket or a pub but close enough to Lancelin, which does and Seabird, which has a tavern. Consequently we spent as much time away from the caravan park as possible.

The ray of sunshine in Ledge Point was the General Store. It was run by nice friendly folks and also acted as the petrol station, post office, mini-supermarket, tackle shop and take-away… They are rightfully proud of their home-made sausage rolls and pasties.

Pasty – Ledge Point

Now… we were still on the hunt for a genuine Cornish Pasty (ever since South Australia) and thought that this might be the one. It was close but the filling, although generous, sumptious and quite delicious was still not the traditional filling of fimely chopped meet, finely diced potato, onion and swede (carrot optional but frowned upon) with lots of pepper and salt… Jo had one of their sausage rolls that she greatly enjoyed.

Ledge Point Skiy

Thankfully the Australia Day hordes disappeared as quickly as they arrived so we did a day of relaxation and quiet before we left. The hordes packed and left so quickly that Jo remarked to one of the permanent site dwellers there, “I wonder what I said to make them go?” To which the permanent resident said, “I don’t know but I wish you;d have said it earlier!”

So… all in all, we didn’t have the best time possible in Ledge Point, which is unfortunate because it could have been quite nice under other circumstances. Our disappoinment was rounded out by missing out on Pub night. We were going to duck down to Seabird to the tavern but after having driven down and seen it, coupled with a lot of bad reviews, we decided to head back to Ledge Point Store and get hamburgers instead. It proved to be a good choice…

Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Kite Surfing
Lancellin Beachfront
Lancellin Sand Dunes
Lancellin Sand Dunes
Lancellin Sand Dunes

We had originally planned to stay at Lancelin but decided against it in favour of Ledge Point. Despite this we always planned to at least visit Lancelin. This was mainly due to us listening to an audiobook ( when we were driving north towards Darwin ) which was partly set in Lancelin and the vast sand dunes on the edge of the town. The audiobook was called ‘Honeybee‘ about a young transgender lad coming to terms with who he is growing up with his single mum in a life of poverty and hardship. It was a very good listen and gave us a preview of the Lancelin sand dunes some months before we got to visit them in person.

Lancellin Sand Dunes

Lancelin is bigger than Ledge Point and has a slightly more vibrant feel to it. This is fuelled by the massive sand dunes outside, which are a mecca for trail bikes and dune buggies, and the broad windy beach that is perfect for kite surfers

Lancellin Sand Dunes

We drove out to the sand dunes first and found a large flat sandy area with a number of trucks and trailers offering trail bikes and buggies for hire. There riders and drivers zipping over the dunes in the distance and the whole place looked like a hive of activity. We weren’t tempted to do any dune riding ourselves but it was worth it to see firsthand the setting for part of the audiobook we had listed to.

Lancellin Beachfront

Following the dunes we headed back into the township and down to the beach. The beach was probably the first pure white sand beach we had seen on the West Australian coast. The beach was backed by a long green grassy park area so we wandered down with a coffee from the coffee van at the Lancelin caravan park.

Lancellin Kite Surfing

The beach at one end turns into a spit that juts out towards Edwards Island before turning a corner and joining with another beach beyond. This is the area where the kite surfers congregate and use the shallow transverse waves that come around the island to perform their aerial leaps and stunts. It was really quite mesmerising watching them duck and weave amongst each other and recover from a dunking after a bad landing.

The day out at Lancelin provided us with a much welcome respite from the holiday hordes waiting for us back at Ledge Point. It also served to fill out our imagined version of Lancelin based on the audiobook we had listened to. It iturned out to be not too different from what we expected and in hindsight might have been a better pick than Ledge Point… but then again school holidays and school holidays everywhere!

Gravity Discovery Centre
Gravity Discovery Centre
Gravity Discovery Centre
Niobe – Gravity Wave Detector
Niobe – Gravity Wave Detector
Gravity Discovery Centre
Meteorite – Gravity Discovery Centre
Meteorite – Gravity Discovery Centre

After enjoying a day at Lancelin, avoiding the holiday hordes back in Ledge Point, we turned our attention to how we could avoid them even more. To that end we turned our attention inland, away from the coast, and made a day trip out to Gingin, 70km to the south-east.

Gravity Discovery Centre

We noticed that a little south-west of Gingin there was a placed called the Gravity Discovery Centre so we headed there first. Now the strange thing about this attraction is that it is basically in the middle of nowhere and with not much signage. Driving there you turn in on a dirt track and drive through a bith of scrub until, quite suddenly, a 45m high tower leaning at 15° appears quickly followed by the main building and an observatory. By contrast, the Leaning Tower of Pisa leans at only 5.5°.

The Gravity Discovery Centre is very much along the lines of Questacon back in Canberra. It is a hands-on science discovery centre focussed on ‘gravity’ with loads of interesting and entertaining exhibits and working experiments.

Despite being school holidays there were very few visitors when we were there, which was good for us because we had the exhibits to ourselves and no waiting. The exhibits and displays are quite enthralling and well designed to teach and inform in a fun and interactive way.

Upon entry you are provided with two ballons that you can fill with water and drop from the leaning tower from as far up as you dare. With both of us having a dread fear of heights it was a daunting task to climb the 10 stories of stairs to the top in the open air structure. Jo made it to level 3 before releasing her balloons and Rob made it to level 8 before succumbing to the height and dropping his water bombs, It was very satisfying to watch them fall burst on the ground. Of course, the idea is to have a small one and a large one and drop them together to repeat Gallileo’s famous Leaning Tower of Pisa experiment to prove that all objects fall at the same rate.

Niobe – Gravity Wave Detector

Aside from the fun aspect of the Gravity Discovery Centre, the statis displays also included a large meteorite, which was very cool and even cooler was the decommissioned ‘NIOBE’ gravitational wave detector that helped detect and prove Einstein’s theory regarding gravity waves. Very, very cool!

The Gravity Discovery Centre was a very unexpected and enjoyable way to spend the morning and exercise the brain a little.

Gingin
Water Wheel – Gingin
Granville Park – Gingin
Historic Arch – Gingin
Coffe and a Muffin – Gingin
Granville Park

After switching our brains back on at the Gravity Discovery Centre we headed in to Gingin, which is a small agricultural town and. surprisingly, only 65km north of Perth.

Water Wheel – Gingin

The township is centred around the very well kept Granville Park that features a replica water wheel near a shallow stream that would not look out of place in Oxford or Cambridge in England. The axle of the water wheel is the original axle and would have driven a flour mill back in the day. It sits beside the stream, which flows beneath a small footbridge and is home to a flotilla of ducks and numerous other native birds that congregate downstream from the weir at the bridge.

Coffe and a Muffin – Gingin

At the edge of the park is the CU@Park Cafe, which is a quirky little cafe and shop full of curios and bits & pieces. We enjoyed a coffee and muffin there whilst overlooking the park and enjoying the serenity before heading back to the holiday hordes at the van park.

Historic Arch – Gingin

Beside the cafe is a replica stone arch built from limestone blocks saved from an original arch from Cheriton House back in the 1880’s. The waterwheel, stream and arch are reminders of Gingin’s agricultural history and fit well into a small town that retains an historic appearance in a contemporary setting.

Cervantes

Cervantes Sculpture
Cervantes Beachscape
Thirty Point Lookout
Thirsty Point Lookout
Thirsty Point Lookout
Thirsty Point
Thirsty Point Lookout
Thirsty Point Lookout
Thirsty Point Lookout
Jurien Bay
Jurien Bay
Jurien Bay
Jurien Bay
Jurien Bay
Jurien Bay
Cervantes Sculpture

So,,, after the relative quiet and restful five days in Port Denison / Dongara we hitched up and headed south again with the Seagulls to Cervantes and the start of the school holidays… We pulled into the RAC Cervantes Holiday Park, got ourselves set up, hooked into the ritual setup beer and took stock of all the families camped around us. It was a big holiday park chock full of kids screaming, crying and and yahooing all over the place. Aside from that it was a good park with good facilities… just infested with kids.

The Pinnacles

Cervantes itself is one of a number sub-1000 people holiday towns along the southern edge of the West Australian coast. It has a semi-remote feel to it despite only being 200km north of Perth. It is basically a fishing village and stepping stone to the fabulous Pinnacles in Nambung National Park.

Although we were camping with the Seagulls, they had been to Cervantes before so we mostly did separately at this location but coming together at the end of the day over a bottle or six of red. Cervantes would be our last camp with the Seagulls before they headed down to Perth to fly back east for a month. But after enjoying spending so much time together travelling down the west coast from Point Samson we were already planning the reunion after their return and travelling across the Nullabor together. But that’s for the future…

Jurien Bay
Jurien Bay Jetty

So it was that we took a day trip up to the larger Jurien Bay, 20km north by ourselves. Jurien Bay, in contrast to Cervantes has a more energetic feel to it and seems to be going through a bit of a renaissance, with a shiny new looking jetty pushing out from the pristine white sand beach.

Jurien Bay

We also had our first really good coffee at the Jurien Bay Beach Cafe after many ‘adequate’ cups of coffee in towns and villages on the way down from Broome. It was nice to just sit on the edge of the beach overlooking the water , tuck into a muffin and enjoy a velvety smooth long black without having to add sugar or milk to kill the bitterness.

In hindsight, the Jurien Bay caravan park looked a little calmer and quieter than Cervantes but that might have been an illusion because of the time of day. In any case, it was a nice coastal town and probably worth a stay if we ever come back this way.

Back to Cervantes
Thirsty Point Lookout

We drove up to Thirsty Point Lookout for an elevated view of the area that, once again, reinforced the beautiful aqua coloured waters of the West Australian coast. You can never tire of looking at natures water colours over here. It was also one of the first places we found with fine white sand in abundance as opposed to the rocky ledges, cliffs and bluffs further north.

The Lobster Shack
The Lobster Shack

One thing we made sure we did with the Seagulls before we left Cervantes was to have lunch at The Lobster Shack. From the front it looks like the entrance to a small… well… shack. But once inside it expands like a Tardis into a massive and very slick water front restaurant with a massive deck area overlooking an open water marina and the fleet of lobster boats.

The Lobster Shack

It was a beautiful sunny day and despite the huge number of people dining there the food came out fast and fresh as did the drinks. Although we were spoilt by our DIY lobsters back in Kalbarri, the food at The Lobster Shack was excellent and quite reasonably priced. We spent a very enjoyable couple of hours with the Seagulls eating lobster rolls, grilled lobster, chowder washed down with some nice wines and cocktails.

The Remains of a Lobster Roll

Entertainment was provided by the ever-present (real) seagulls who dived in to clean up any leftovers as soon as the customers vacated a table and before the wait-staff could get in and clear it off.

We did enjoy our stay in Cervantes but after three nights of school holiday kids roaming the caravan park we were ready to move on to Ledge Point despite this being a temporary parting of the ways with the Seagulls…

The Pinnacles
Let call this the ‘Asparagus’ Pinnacle?!?!
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles Flora
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles Flora
The Pinnacles Panorama
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles
The Pinnacles

It must be said that The Pinnacles are just simply a stunning natural formation that can only be fully appreciated by being there in person. Only 20km from Cervantes, they are easily accesible from the Discovery Centre, which is extremely well presented with an excellent range of exhibits about the formations and local wildlife.

Let call this the ‘Asparagus’ Pinnacle?!?!

From the Discovery Centre you self-drive the one-way track around and through the pinnacle formations that come in all shapes and sizes. There a large groups of formations as well as solitary pillars. Some are distinctly phallic in their proportion whereas as others look like gothic thrones or small fortresses. In any case, they are all stunning in their own right.

The Pinnacles

We opted to go early in the day, which proved to be a winning strategy. We had the track through The Pinnacles all to ourselves save one car a long way in front and one a long way behind. Every corner and every hill crossed produced set after set of amazing formations and vistas. The track had plenty of stopping bays so that you could get out and walk amongst them with the feeling that you’re on a different planet.

The Pinnacles

There’s something almost supernatural about The Pinnacles and this is reinforced by the fact that there areat leastthree different theories about how they were formed. There is still not a definitive explanation and it is quite amazing to find out that they only became widely known about in 1967.

The Pinnacles left us with a lasting impression, similar to Kata-Tjuta, Uluru and Kings Canyon. Although not as individually grand, they cover a large area and there are hundreds of them. Our only regret was that we didn’t go back to see them at sunset, which apparently adds yet another dimension to them. Perhaps next time…

Lake Thetis Stromatalites
Lake Thetis Stromatalites
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis Flora
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis Stromatalites
Lake Thetis Stromatalites
Lake Thetis Stromatalites
Lake Thetis Stromatalites
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis
Lake Thetis
Samphire

Unbeknownst to us there was another natural feature at Cervantes called Lake Thetis, which is also home to a number of living stromatalites. We had previously seen the stromatalites at Denham, which were a bit harder to see because of the cyclone damage to the boardwalk. In Contrast, the Lake Thetis stromatalites exist on the edges of a circular lake sourrounded by a path with a boardwalk that takes you right amongst them.

Lake Thetis

We walked the circumference of the lake stopping along the way at a lovely little spot between the trees with a shady seat. You could look across the lake and also watch the birds that frequented the area.

The walk took us back to the viewing boardwalk where you can get right up close to the stromatalites without disturbing them, fragile as they are. The boardwalk was a perfect spot to send the drone up and get a birds-eye view of these rare formations.

Lake Thetis Stromatalites

When viewed from above the Lake Thetis stromatalites fascinating, almost geometric, appearance looking a little like crop circles in the brown band of water at the edge of the lake. Living stromatalites are quite rare and only found in a handful of places around the world. We were privileged to see them in two different places and also to be able to get close to them.

Port Denison / Dongara

Van Site Sunset
Van Site
Van Site
Dongara Rock Lobster
Wetland Sunset
Wetland Panorama
Coastal Wetland
Salmon Skies
Service Memorial
Port Denison Sunset
Port Denison Beach
Marina
Marina
Marina Opposite Breakwall
Marina Breakwall
Marina Breakwall
Obelisk
Beach Bay
Sunset
Bay Sunset
Illegal Tender Distillery
Illegal Tender Rum
Southerly’s Hotel
Port Denison Beach
Port Denison Beach
Marina

Having reacquainted ourselves with urban life in Geralton we moved on to the lovely twin villages of Port Denison / Dongara about 80kms south. The Seagulls stayed on in Geraldton to finalise some plans for their upcoming trip back to the east coast for a wedding, a grandchild and a sneaky campervan tour of the Great Ocean Road with friends of theirs. And also to get their Pajero thoroughly cleaned and detailed. We would catch up with them on a day-trip to Greenough before meeting up for a few days in Cervantes before their departure.

Van Site Sunset

We stayed at the Big4 Dongara Denison Beach Holiday Park. It was a pleasant caravan park and we had a large but tricky site at the back that looked directly onto the beach below a rock wall behind us. The only downside was a basket ball court nearby that was a constant source of thump-thump-thump from morning to dusk. Still… better than a jumping pillow and squealing kids.

Dongara Rock Lobster

Port Denison and Dongara are pretty postcard towns centred on crayfishing and tourism. The entry to Dongara features a big ‘rock lobster’ and you can walk from one end of each town to the other along a beautiful coastal walk with the towns seprated by the Irwin River and a wetland area.

Salmon Skies

The wetland backs onto a hill with a lookout at the top that provides a panoramic view of both towns and the ocean. We were treated to some beautiful W.A. sunsets while we were there and some stunning salmon coloured clouds while we were at the lookout.

Marina

The van park was located a short walk from the marina, which also had a seafood processing facility and shop. We wandered down to get some fresh fish one afternoon only to discover that they only had frozen fish due to the weather preventing them from going out. In any case we bought some frozen fillets that were superb done on the Weber.

Illegal Tender Distillery

Port Denison / Dongara also boasts a boutique distillery… Illegal Tender. They focus on rum and gin and have won world class awards. Rob, being a rum fan, did a tasting and could see why they are award winners. Their “Distiller’s Cut” was a very polished and clean rum spirit that leaves your standard Bundaberg Rum for dead. Unfortunately Rob couldn’t buy a bottle because they had run out at the cellar door… not surprising!

Although we didn’t expect to see the Seagulls until Cervantes they surprised us by cutting their Geraldton stay short and lobbing into Port Denison / Dongara unannounced for two nights. It was a welcome surprise given that Cervantes marked the point where they would be temporarily heading back east.

So… When we drove from Geraldton to Port Denison / Dongara… we passed the town of Greenough. At some point between Greenough and Port Denison / Dongara our pool noodles, which were riding in the tray at the front of our van, blew out onto the side of the road because they weren’t there when we arrived. Very sad… we had history with those pool noodles…

The Seagulls, who were still in Geraldton, agreed to meet us in Greenough for a day trip with us coming back from Port Denison / Dongara. As it transpired on our drive to Greenough Rob noticed a flash of blue in some long grass under a wire farm fence and then a flash of pink in more long grass about 1 km later. Unable to stop because of traffic behind us we continued on to Greenough

Greenough Historic Town Site
Leaning Tree – Greenough
Washing Mangle
Gnarly Leaning Tree
Stone Buildings
School Bell
Court House
Judge Seagull
Court House Yard
Stone Barn
General Store
Community Hall
Road Board Office
Old Mill
Stables
Police Cell
Exercise Yard
Stone Building and Leaning Trees
Main Street
Leaning Tree – Greenough

On the outskirts of Greenough is the famous leaning tree of Greenough, one of many, many leaning trees growing throughout the region and that we first came across at Linga Longa. These trees are perfectly healthy but grow sideways because the persistent winds and salt spray burn the leaves one side causing them to die off and the opposite side to become heavier causing the trunk to bend and ultimately grow horizontally.

Gnarly Leaning Tree

These trees are a striking feature of the Greenough region and we can vouch for the fact the winds are strong, persistent and salty…

Road Board Office

The Greenough Historic Site, Hamlet, is a preserved town consisting mainly of stone buildings from the early 1800’s. It is mostly managed by the National Trust and is kept in a very well preserved state.

School Bell

The buildings of the hamlet hinted at a spartan and remote life with few comforts but most of the necessities such as the Community Hall, School, Store, Courthouse, Hospital, Police Complex and Cells. The School Bell still stands and at first glance looks a bit more like a gallows than innocent school bell…

Cell Door

The police complex, court and cells are very well preserved and do exude a very heavy atmosphere as you walk through and around them, as does the hospital, which is very basic and really just a few beds with curtain walls.

Western Australia is chock full of these convict era ruins and Greenough Hamlet is a particularly notable example. It was similar in many respects to Cossack, which we visited near Point Samson, except that Greenough Hamlet is a closed museum site whereas Cossack still has a small number of residents and economic activity.

Greenough Museum
Greenough Museum Garden
Farm Machinery
Farm Machinery
Milling Machine
Double Thunderbox
Restored Dray
Rabbit Bait Spreader
Wool Press
Kitchen
Underground Cellar Steps
Hospital Beds
Kitchen Gadgets
Holding Cell
Workroom
Bedroom
Sitting Room
Farm Machinery

Not far from Greenough Hamlet is the Greenough Museum and Gardens. This is a historic homestead surrounded by gardens and yards full of historic farming equipment, much of which is restored to new or working condition.

Kitchen

For a fee you can wander through the homestead at your leisure, viewing the various artefacts and curios, and getting a glimpse of what would have been a particularly comfortable but otherwise austere lifestyle in that period.

Rabbit Bait Spreader

One of the more unique exhibits was a fully restored, horse-drawn, automatic rabbit bait spreader/dispenser used to keep the vermin population under control. Yet another innovative but cumbersome colonial technology that seems to be completely over-engineered when compared with today’s lightweight power machinery.

Double Thunderbox

Perhaps the most intriguing exhibit was the double thunderbox… a two person ‘brick shithouse’. A classic white-washed stone dunny with two long drops for sharing the joy… Can’t see a revival of this architectural gem coming back in the future…

The Greenough Museum and Gardens was a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a couple of hours and imagine life back in that period. Back when things were both simpler and more complex at the same time…

The Drive Back To Port Denison / Dongara

After seeing the Seagulls off back to Geralston, we headed back to Port Denison / Dongara and as you may have guessed we stopped twice on the way and reclaimed our long lost pool noodles, which had suffered no damage in the three days they lay in grass beside the road, It was a happy reunion and they now travel in the back of the car behind the seats…