[More holiday journal. See note at start of previous post.]
Sunday 1st April 2018
:
Another day based at Quaalup Retreat. Today we explore Fitzgerald River National Park.
And I'm struggling. That was two busy days ago. Deb is out for a few hours so I have no help -- and Deb did the navigating, so she knows where we went. I'll start typing... and hope that I remember what we did... Highlights, anyway.
I do have a map of our GPS trace from the Easter break. It will help me. And here it is, for you:
Sunday is the yellow line, bottom right. The bit above the almost-as-small pink, which is our day round Bremer Bay. Tiny, isn't it! That's what happens when you spend half the time walking, you don't go as far as on the driving days. Just as tiring, though :-)
I start the day by letting air out of the tyres; the NP roads will be rough. Once we get into the park -- and sample the roads -- I let out even more air. It's not that the roads are "bad", just corrugated.
As we enter the park, we follow four other cars. A variety of cars but -- I guess -- driven by tourists from overseas. Tourists who are not used to corrugated roads. Who have not let air out of their tyres. We follow them... very, very slowly.
Our plan was to head for a walk up West Mount Barren. (There are three "mountains": East, Middle and West Mount Barren. Gives you an idea of the explorers' opinions of the area.)
The slow tourists turn right for W Mt Barren... so we drive straight on.
To Point Ann. This is a prime spot for whale-watching... but not at this time of year, of course :-) The views of the bay and the cliffs and the ocean are well worth the visit, whales or not.
We follow a walk around the point. The bush is green and growing and barely a metre high. Conditions can be harsh! Interesting: Trees... shrubs... only as high as my knees... include banksias and others with large seed "cones". And all of the cones are *inside* the bush itself. When the wind blows -- or the sun shines -- that must be the only way the seeds can survive, by sheltering inside the parent shrub.
btw: The weather is perfect! We're walking amongst bushes that need to be tough to survive the wind, heat, lack of soil -- and we feel warm not hot. With barely a breeze to disturb us.
Our walk features sweeping ocean views, rugged cliff-top track, amazing vegetation -- and the southern end of the Rabbit Proof Fence.
For those who came in late, the Rabbit Proof Fence stretched more than 1,000 km across the state and completely failed to keep rabbits out. It was all built by hand, by men on horses and camels. I look at the rock underfoot and wonder how anyone could dig a single post-hole, let alone enough for 1,000km of fence. We are amazed!
We walk 1.6km in 40 minutes. Can you see the single green dot on the map? That's our Point Ann walk. Luckily enough, the walks are shorter than the distances in between :-)
The walk is a loop, which ends back at the carpark... Which has become packed out with visitors. Half the visitors are a tagalong tour group, twenty or so cars, 4WDs. Parking, shelters, barbeques and so on are ample for large numbers but we don't like crowds. We drive on.
There's an interesting road... that is, a road that we have not yet followed. So, we follow it.
It's signposted as "4WD" but it's not too bad. Until we are in sight of the ocean and 50m above it. With a 45 degree track down towards the beach.
We stop at the top of that track. Sit, admire the beach, bay and ocean views. Eat lunch. Absolute peace and quiet! The only other person in sight is a man sitting in his car, perhaps 300m behind us.
The man behind us moves, another car joins him. They both drive down to the beach... Okay, it's steep, their cars tilt now and then but they have no great trouble. Deb decides to walk, I drive down.
Rubber strips have been laid down, so soft sand is no worry. It's just steep. And -- in the truck -- a piece of cake. We stop half way to the beach. The second half is either narrow, firm but sandy. Or a ridiculously steep track, straight down, with "waves" all the way. It would be fun going down but a real challenge to get up that wavy track. It looks like it's set up for drivers who like a 4WD challenge. It looks as though the park managers have tried to stop people using it. We are amazed but not ready to try it.
Up again. Deb has her eyes closed... The truck has no trouble at all :-)
We drive on to W Mt Barren, where there are just five cars and the carpark is full.
Now that's interesting...
West Mount Barren is not particularly high but the track is steep and rocky. I'm looking at my GPS trace to see just how not-very-high it is. The trace shows a total distance of 2km, walked in one hour 20 minutes. That seems about right. The climb is 46m up and 189m down! Nooo... The difference between minimum & maximum elevation is 189m. Some funny GPS logic messed up the climb calculation.
Still interesting: the GPS says that "moving time" is just four minutes... Okay, I can see that. "Moving" means "faster than a pre-set speed". And yes, we probably spend one hour 16 going so slowly that the gps registers it as, "not moving". On the bright side, for the four "moving" minutes we appear to be travelling at 30kph... Now that's a very fast walk :-)
Okay, anyway, West Mt Barren is not very tall, not very steep, very rough. We get to the top, admire the view, find the geocache... The geocache is hard to find. The "hint" is "rocks, rocks, rocks". I have some choice words for the idiot who wrote that as a "hint".
We finally find and log the cache and head down. It's just as steep, just as rocky, just a bit harder going down... But we make it, no worries.
We drive further into the park, looking for either of two mapped 4wd tracks. (That's the yellow line where it goes to the NW.) We never see the first track. We find the second -- and it is closed. Oh well, we drive back again. And home again, to Quaalup.
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Monday 2nd April 2018: Quaalup to Kulin
We check out of Quaalup. Pump the tyres up again as we leave. Then it's on to Jerramungup, Ongerup, Pingrup, Lake Grace...
Note for those who are not West Australians: Yes, those are real names. The "up" at the end is an Aboriginal word for "place of water". Don't laugh, or I'll laugh at *your* place names :-)
It's amazing country! Bare paddocks, slight rolling country or dead flat. And salt lakes!
I don't think that I have ever been right amongst the salt lakes. Some are untidy, some are beautiful. Blue water with a wide rim of white salt, glittering in the sun. Some with white "salt-bergs" scattered across the water, as salt crystallises out. Fascinating and beautiful.
We eat lunch at Lake Grace, the town. Arjos, I think the cafe is called. Good food and coffee. It closes at 2pm so we take our coffees as take-away. Then walk up and down the main street.
There is a "driver reviver" caravan, offering free coffee for drivers. Perhaps also offering tourist information. We say hello but walk on. We read plaques about the history of the town. Then drive on.
We stop for a cache at Jilakin Rock. From the top we watch thunder and lightning getting closer and closer. We can also look down at Blazing Swan... I read about it last year, it sounds like fun. Perhaps next year we should go, if I'm still around :-)
Coming down from the rock, the rain reaches us. Just a few drops... so far. Unfortunately... I miss the track. We eventually find the truck by following round the base of the rock. Deb says, We should have dropped a trail of breadcrumbs. It's only much later -- when we are safely back at the truck -- that I realise, the GPS displays a map... with a breadcrumb trail! I could have looked at the GPS to see where to walk... Oh well, silly me.
We reach the truck and the rain falls a bit harder. We drive to Kulin.
We drive along the Kulin Tin Horse Highway. I've seen the name, thought no more about it. It is brilliant!
There are horses -- sculptures -- made of 44 gallon (200 litre) drums and such. Metal, welding, paint and humour: most horses have a name. One, for example, is "Dead Cert" -- a skeleton. There are pilots, police, footballers, plumbers, you name it. The names -- or captions -- add to the fun. I'm just annoyed that it's raining, not the weather to take the time to really enjoy it.
Kulin. Where we find our accommodation, Wisteria Cottage. It's an old boarding house, now a B&B. It has been beautifully restored, so fresh and clean that I'm embarrassed to bring my grubby self into our room... which is very comfortable.
Our hostess was a farmer's wife. She's spent 25 years restoring -- and rebuilding and extending -- the house. Lived in the area even longer. She tells us about the house, her family, Kulin and the Tin Horse Highway.
We go out to get dinner in the pub. Get in the truck, start driving, realise that the pub is just 100m away... Back to the B&B, park the truck, walk to the pub.
Blazing Swan has brought crowds to town. Some menu choices are gone, the pub manager is worn out. The pub and manager are pleasant and quiet. The food is good. We go back to the B&B for coffee.
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Tuesday 3rd April: Kulin to home
We check out (look at) the Kulin water slide -- five levels! Then head towards Corrigin. Past a scale model of the slide, another "Tin Horse" sculpture.
We walk round Gorge Rock, read the history. The weather is, again, fine and warm. At a max of 33 degrees, a bit warmer than past days.
Corrigin for morning tea: a slice of cherry ripe cake, very solid, very rich, very nice. Then towards Quairading...
A lot of driving today. We're interested in getting home :-) But still enjoying the journey.
Before we reach Quairading we see a sign pointing to Beverley. Unsealed, slightly shorter than the sealed route. Of course we follow the gravel :-) More wheat and sheep farms. No traffic. An easy drive to Beverley, where we stop for lunch.
The cafe manager can only be described as "a character". Cheerful, joking, knows everyone. Takes ages to bring lunch, luckily we're in no hurry. Anyway, we enjoy the show. My pie -- when it arrives -- is made by the manager and almost as tasty as he claims. Deb's beef roll is enormous.
Home via West Dale Road and Brookton Highway. Back to masses of traffic. Ah well. No problems, just busy. And home by mid afternoon.
All is well at home.
And that's it. End of an enjoyable holiday :-)
==== Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
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"The Nobel Peace Prize? I'd kill for one of those!" … per Ginger Meggs
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notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.
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An excellent trip .
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