The great southern 8th Dec to 21st Dec.
We left Mandurah and headed south east . We ended up in Windy Harbour which was set in a sheltered cove and was well sort of windy !
We had 6 days here in the end , it was very quiet , Kate got back into her walking after our excesses of Perth and I found myself each evening at Salmon beach watching the sun set over the surf whilst searching for piscatorial delights.
There were some great walks to be had from the campsite and despite me struggling a bit with falling off toenails and blister hangover we nudged a few kilometres out.
We visited Walpole, Pemberton and Manjimup during our stay all worthy of a day out .
I loved this environmentally responsible pun from Manjimup
The forests around this area is amazing with huge stands of Marri and Karri hardwood. The area was pretty much ravaged for 150 years as the logging industry cleared huge tracts of land for this precious source of hardwood. It is a very dense hardwood currently prized for furniture and top end construction historically it was used for shipbuilding and it was so dense that blocks of it were used as far afield as London as street pavers. These trees normally top out around 50 metres with some extreme examples up to 90 metres making them some of the highest trees in the world .
I climbed up the Diamond Tree which stands 53metres and is still used as a fire watch station. Its amazing how the steps are just reinforcement bar hammered into the trunk -even more amazing in these days of litigation and OH&S that the public is allowed to climb up !
The aptly named Salmon Beach was fantastic combined with the rising tides that arrived just as the sun was setting . My tally included 2 salmon , 2 tailor , lots of herring , lots of skippy and a banjo shark . All released bar the salmon and tailor which cooked up a treat .
From Windy Harbour we made it to Shannon Forest national park where we stayed two nights and between us we created the next food van craze that will sweep the nation- baked bean kebabs – you saw it here first
. There was a controlled burn by the emergency services that gave us a scare when we looked up and saw this !
The weather forecast convinced us to head further inland as storms and high winds were predicted near to the coast. So we struck North and found ourselves in Kojonup for a free camp near the main street and then onto Dumbleyung.
Dumbleyung is famous for its lake on which Bluebird skippered by Donald Campbell set the water speed record in 1964 to go with the land speed record he set that year. The original plan was to have attempted this on Lake Eyre but weather meant it was cancelled then some entrepreneurial thinker in the village suggested they made a play for it as the lake which is often dry for many years was full and at 13km long was big enough.Long story short the pathway was cleared of tree trunks, the ducks removed (I’m sure in the sixties this was done sympathetically ) and the record then set.
It also has the best advertised loo so far on the trip
I really liked Dumbleyung . It is tidy welcoming and proud town that is clearly intent of thriving building on its history and natural attractions.
It provides a great free campsite for travellers that backs onto the GODI Grand Old Dumbleyung Inn which is a huge 12 bedroom hotel built in the early 1900s that hasn’t changed much since the first sod was turned.
We had a few beers in there and the new owner Nev is really trying to make a go of it and slowly working his way through a renovation programme. The Inn is the clubhouse for the local fishing club – no fishable water for a hundred kilometres or so ( the lake is brackish or empty ) ! If ever there was an excuse for beery meetings and road trips this is it .
We also visited Wagin which is the hub of this area. As you can see from the town mascot and the name of the annual event “Woolorama” the sheep industry is very important here and has shaped its history.
Some great old pubs and deep history. Saw a property bargain – building off the main street boasting 5 shops and 4 apartments above , made from 1900 stone all recently renovated for the princely sum of 365k ! In Melbourne that wouldnt cover the deposit .
The ram maybe giant but i had his complete attention for a short while
We moved onto Borden which had a lovely free camp area but a shop that didnt sell anything new and a pub that didnt seem to open – we moved on sharpish. Nice to see the local team mascots putting in a few extra hours
The Stirling Range thrusts itself up from the wheatbelt and dominates the area not only visually but apparently affects its own weather systems.
The most notable summits are Bluff Knoll and Toolbrunup. Bluff Knoll is the best known and the most frequented summit by toursist. Toolbrunup is a longer and higher rated climb. One minute I was sat with my feet up reading the paper in the sun at the Moingup campsite ,next minute I was preparing my ascent after a suggestion from Kate which I think was based more around her personal space and sanity that to support mans conquests over nature.
Mount Toolbrunup is 1052metres and as any hillwalker will know its not the height of the mountain thats important but the metres you have to ascend. In this case the car park was at 400 metres so a healthy 650 metres which turned out to be straight up . Really steep slog over scree fields and bit of vertical scrambling at the summit .
I caught up with two french ladies just as they reached the summit and we endured plague levels of all sorts of flies , butterflies , moths and bugs . Never experienced anything like it . With me sweating like more than the extra in star trek wearing the red outfit ( means he will be eaten or killed) they all stuck to my skin so i quickly stopped being red and wet and became black and mushy .
This is what i must have looked like !
Managed to find a rocky outcrop with a bit of breeze to scrape off the bodies eat my lunch in relative peace . The views were stunning.
On the way down I met a man and his son on their ascent . I told them about the flies and he told me he was an entomologist and that this was known as “hill topping “. All the males would find a safe high spot and congregate there to attract females . So now I know and so do you !
According to the Urban Dictionary it also means drinking in inappropriate places and times. Thinking about setting up my own club.