Nannup.

Over the last month I have been down to the Nannup area.  My first exploration of the town was a Thursday way back in May.    It was raining so not a good day to go off exploring and really I should have picked a different day.  Did go into the library at the Shire offices though.  It's open during office hours and though small has a good selection of books and DVD's.  And very friendly and helpful staff.

There is a Community Resource Centre and that is where a community bus runs from.  That is every fortnight and it goes to a different town.  During June it will go to Bussleton and Manjimup.   I was hoping to be in the area on the right day and so be able to go on it but that didn't happen.

There's a small but cheap opshop.   I bought a real uncool rain jacket.  I ummed and ahhed about getting this as it was *pink*  Turns out that no-one else thinks it's pink and it came in real handy when I went to Yallingup so the $2. wasn't wasted.  Yep!  I'm so tight that I hesitate on spending $2 for a rainjacket.  In Nannup!!

There seem to be heaps of places to eat, like that must be something that people in that area do a lot...coffee shops everywhere.  And there is a lolly shop!  That sells Humbugs.  And Aniseed Balls.  And ChooChoo Bars but these are nowhere near as nice or long lasting and stretchy like they were when I was a kid.  Still, ChooChoo Bars.  Worth buying just for the name.

I will be passing through there again soon.  It's raining here so probably will be there too so no exploring.   I have taken a few photos though and will tell you all a bit about this lovely town when my housesitting duties are over and I am home to stay.   

A Short Stay In Denmark, WA. Day 3.

Wednesday.
I slept in and didn't get up until 5.30 but as the husband had voiced his displeasure the day before about all the noisy birds and had slept with earplugs I climbed out quietly and walked down to the river to see what I could see.  Only one boat going out but a few walkers with their dogs were up and about.   It was a bit cooler this morning, quite windy but I figured a ride would warm me up so I hurried back to camp and grabbed the bike and went exploring by myself.   The sign says the trail goes to a beach, 7.5km away.   We will find out next time we are there, this time I just rode a bit more than 3 km along the track then figured it must be time for a coffee.so turned around to come back.










On the way back I stopped and checked out a few of the shelters that are along the way.  The first one I looked at was number 3, called Bandicoot I think.  The track was a bit overgrown but easy enough to follow and the shelter was close to the water.  It was rundown but had seats and could be used if needed.

The thing I thought was real sad was that there was a plaque on the wooden seat in front of this shelter, a tribute to some old pioneer of the area.  But it didn't look looked after and I wondered how many people knew it was there or ever gave thanks to these guys.
The track to the next shelter I stopped to look at was more overgrown and I couldn't get to the shelter at all.  The last one I checked out was the first from the start of the track and this one was close to the track and looked new.  Same setup with table and bench seats inside.

  This is the view from the walk bridge looking out toward Wilson Inlet.

After getting back to the start of the ride I took the photos.  It was still early but time to go back to camp for coffee.

Me ol' deadly treadly was picked up from roadside rubbish a few years ago and does me well on all sorts of tracks. A couple of people have said that I should buy a new decent one but until this ones breaks down completely I will keep it.  I should give it a bit of a clean and a spray with something maybe...and one day I might...until then...It works a treat.

 Husband was still asleep but a bit of coffee making noise roused him and soon he too was up. Coffee together, a short walk, back for breakfast then packup and leave time.  We pulled out of Denmark at 9.30AM and headed for home with no unnessaseary stops planned.

We came home along the Albany Highway and of course there were a few stops.  He needs a smoke and a stretch of legs for safe driving, I need to unkink...but even without the sightseeing stops it was a long way home.   

Not too far from home we call into a stop along the Murray River, we have been here before in the van but I was too SookyLaLa to drive too close and look for the spot he wanted.  This time, in his car, he had no qualms about what sort of condition the tracks were in.  He needed to finf a crossover.  He hasn't been over it for quite a few years but had some idea where it was and it wasn't too long before he found the fjord that we needed to cross this river. The water looked so inviting and we were so hot and tired that we took time out for a splash and a bit of a soak.  

We swam this side of the rocks and log, Lovely,

.  Then back in the car and across the river and up the otherside to find the track that would bring us home.   Horrible, horrible track!  Lovely drive through the bush though and it did save us a bit of time.

Home and inside for coffee.  But no!  Husband says seeing as it's Wednesday he might go fishing.  OK, But first I had to feed the animals.  Daughter was here so she helped then we got the fishing gear ready, something packed for tea and within half an hour we had left again.  It was 8.30PM and dark by the time we got home.  Had a dozen or so fish for the freezer but I was more than ready for bed.  Hubby too as he had to work the next morning.  It was a full on three days but well worth it.  Husband says next time he wants longer if we are going so far and that's OK.

Next time though might just be an overnighter to check out that river we crossed.  We'll see.

A Short Stay In Denmark, Day 2.

Tuesday.  14 February.
Happy Anniversary To Us...25 years married today.   The reason we came down.


I was laying in bed wondering when the sun would be up when all the birds started their early morning song so I too got up to welcome the new day.  It was 4.57AM.    Put the water on for coffee when I heard the husband making noises so I added enough water for him, told him it was time to get up...and we were drinking our coffee before the sun could be seen.   A walk down to the river to watch  a couple of boats go out then back for breakfast and a planning of our day.
There was so much to see and couple of things that I wanted to do so it was important to get an early start.


Firstly we drove out along Inlet Drive and looked at a few beaches along there, all the beaches that we saw had clean white sand, lovely clean beautifully coloured water...

Our plan was to call in and have a look at a few beaches but my main want was to get to Elephant Rocks. 

Lights beach was one of the first, we didn't go down just looked out and watched a couple of fishermen not catch anything.  Went to Madfish Bay, Waterfall Beach.  That was pretty cool with a small waterfall  coming out of rocks and flowing across the sand into the sea.   On to Elephant Rocks, a short walk to Greens Pool where I was going to swim but decided I liked Elephant Cove better so we trekked back to that.  There was a lot more people there this time as it was getting later and starting to warm up.  We went in though and had a quick swim, lovely.

We swam here, the water was so cold.

Greens Pool.

Waterfall Beach.

 There are so many beautiful beaches and magnificent rock formations in this area.  Too many to see in the one day but the few we did call into has whetted our appetite for more.  
Eventually though we had to leave to go onto other places.

 Bartholomews Meadery

We called into here mainly because I had been told that they have yummy icecream and I wanted to see if that was true.  Well, that's my excuse anyway.   It was also good seeing all the stuff relating to bees and honey Because Hubby works with bees I thought it all very interesting.  A lady there asked us if we wanted to try a few tastes of Mead, Hubby wasn't interested but I was.  I tried 4 different types, a couple were quite nice but I am not a wine drinker and wont be a mead drinker so we didn't buy any.  We were interested in the honey icecream but there were so many flavours it was hard to decide.  Husband had a double and chose a coffee and a hazelnut flavour.  I had a single but the lady was kind enough to let me choose 2 flavours as well.  I chose cinnamon and something and rose.  Different flavours that I wouldn't otherwise try.   Of course I tried his and he tried mine.  The coffee was really strong but nice, the hazelnut was yummo.  Of my 2 flavours the rose was the nicer one.  The icecream wasn't really creamy though, more a grainy texture but at $3.95 for a big single serve I thought they were good value.


Toffee Factory, and a bit on the side.

 Another place where we wanted to try their icecream.  It was boasted as having the biggest cones so we came to see if that was true.


When we walked into the shop there was so much to look at and straight away the woman there came over and suggested that we try some of the samples they had set out.  I think there was a sample of everything they made and we probably had a taste of it all.  I resisted buying anything but husband bought a jar of some yummy chilli tomato passionfruit jam.
I think I would have bought a few different things if I wasn't so tight. I did think that things were a bit overpriced but maybe $9.90 for 300gm is fair?  Dunno.

The Toffee Factory also makes and sells cider.
There were samples of this available too but neither of us tried any.






After sampling everything we chose our icecream flavour.   We had seen the cups that the icecream would be served in and thought yeah, bigger than a normal cone but nothing special.  Looked at some more stuff while the lady made them and were kinda shocked when they came out twice as big as we expected.  These icecreams were smooth, soft, creamy.  We did discover though that they are not made on site but bought in as Bulla Icecream and put through a machine with the added stuff and mixed so that it comes out as a soft serve.  Husband had Blackberry and I had a peanut brittle crunch.  It was yummy icecream though and if we were to choose between this and the one from the Meadery this would probably be the one we would choose.  Maybe.  I was undecided but Husband preferred his from here.  Under $5 for a massive serve, too big seeing as we had not long had the other one!


The Maze.

It was getting on in the day and we still had stuff to do so we headed back into Denmark.   Had to call into the Maze as it was on our way.  I remember coming here many years back, must have been on our way to somewhere else but I still would have gotten stuck if the husband wasn't with me.  I think it was worth the couple of dollars donation that was being asked.




Back into town and back to camp.  Time to see if any more fish could be caught in the river.  No, not by us anyway so we drive out to Lights Beach.  Hubby sets up and starts catching fish, I sit on the sand and write a couple of letters then go off for a wander.  No swimming here as it was windy and too cool for me but a few others were in the water.    He catches a couple of feeds then calls it a day and we head back to the river mouth where there is a fish cleaning area.  As soon as we move to the cleaning area Pelicans and seagulls come from all over and stand in front of the shelter.  They all know that this is where they could get a free feed.

We ended up with a couple of feeds of fish bagged up ready to take home and after cleaning up the area it was time to go back to camp and clean ourselves up ready for our special meal.


Our plan for an anniversary dinner was to ride in and have hot chips on the river but as it was later and getting dark by the time we had a shower we drove in and parked near the playground near the river and went looking for a fish and chip shop.  No such luck, if there is one there we didn't find it.  Next choice pizza.  Nope couldn't find a pizza shop either.  Chicken Treat?  Not that keen so lets walk and look again, surely there is a F & C shop in town.  Walking past the pub we see a sign, Takeaway, fish and chips $9.95.  Husband says pub meals are usually pretty good so he goes in and buys one and meets me under the trees on the riverbank.  We open the packet and I am pleasantly surprised.  Two nice size bits of fish, chips and salad, more than enough for both of us.  No fork though but we aren't fussy and salad can be eaten with your fingers.  It's messy...but can be done.   This was one of the nicest takeaways meals I have had in a long time so if you are down that way don't be afraid of trying the pub meals.  So much better than Chicken Treat would have been.  By the time we were finished it was nearly 8.30 and we were both ready for bed so back to camp and an end to a lovely Anniversary day.   Thanks Babe.

A Few Days In Denmark, Day 1.

We have been down to Denmark.  It is as lovely as I was told it would be.

I had been reading some blogs, that's where I learn about all the nice places in WA, from reading about where the people from *over East*  go when they travel over here.  On a couple of blogs I had seen the name Elephant Rocks and it sounded different so I looked it up and it looked nice.  Something that I'd like to see in person and I didn't think Denmark was that far away.   So we went.

Unfortunately we only had a few days and it is a good 4 hour drive to get there and I need regular stops to undo all the kinks I get plus I like to stop off and see places on the way...So our 4 hour drive took a tad longer!

Monday.
We left home later than we wanted to at 8.30am, headed South on the Southwest Highway, down through Donnybrook, Bridgetown, Manjimup eventually coming to our first proper spot to check out.  This was Fernhook Falls.     I had been told that it was a nice spot to camp but I wanted to check it out for myself. 

The falls didn't have any water but Rowels Pool was full and inviting so I went swimming even though the water was cold.  I mean, that's what you do on adventures isn't it.  Hubby says no, you don't swim in dark cold water.  We agree to disagree, I swam he didn't.  The water is clean but because it is surrounded by trees it has tannin in it so is dark and it looked like I was swimming in a lake of cold tea.  Pretty cool.

After my swim we walked back to the car then drove down to the campsite, checked out a cabin, read some of the walls...   This cabin has bunks for 2 people and benches along the walls with a little potbelly stove for warmth when you need it.   There is a fireplace outside to be used during the cooler months, table and bench seats.  Toilets out behind.   Back into the car and on our way again.

It was a shame that we didn't have more time as it would have been nice to stop and have a look around Walpole but we had a destination and no more time for looking elsewhere.


Once we were in Denmark we pulled over so the husband could have a look at the map then went and checked out the couple of caravan parks that we had on our list to use as our basecamp.  The first park was second on my list, it looked clean but busy but was real close to the river and estuary.  But big and busy. 
The second park was my original preferred choice but after driving around it and checking out the river and the paths into town we went back to the other one. 


So we booked into the Rivermouth Caravan Park,

 found a site, unloaded the Cruiser

 

then rode the bikes on the track along the river the short distance into town.   

Had a too quick look there, bought some food from a small IGA then back to camp for a coffee before Husband tried his luck fishing in the river.  We picked a spot a short distance from the bridge near the caravan park.   There were people swimming just up from us but it wasn't hot enough for me.  The water here is like the water at Rowels Pool at FernHook Falls.  Dark due to all the tannins from the trees.  It is a murky dark colour but still clean.  We caught nothing here so rode up closer to the mouth.  He had a few bites here and finally caught something for tea   Once it was dark and the mozzies were out we rode back to camp, showered, cooked up the one fish, some bacon, some eggs, ate tea, quick cleanup then into the back of the cruiser to sleep 'til morning.

Well I took the risk with the chooks and stayed overnight.  We were going up to Macalinden to visit husbands family.

We left here Boxing Day morning but Hubby had been into town to fill up his car so I *knew* petrol stations were opened on this public holiday.  I thought I had plenty so didn't bother.  And I knew if I did need some then I could call into Wokolup for it.  Which is what I did after seeing that I had less than half a tank as the way was mostly uphill.  I pull up at the bowser and put the hose in the tank...wait for it to come on...wait some more...look around and notice the closed sign on the door of the shop.  Oops!  Hubby had called into the pub across the road for some drinks to take up with him...but Oops! that too was closed.  Anyway he was there and said we could milk his car when we got up there. 

We get there, park near the house...didn't set up a camp as such though.  We ended up sleeping on the back of the cruiser but I used the van to make coffee at 5am the next day.  I leave there around 10am and come home.

It wasn't an exiting trip, we went to visit his family, I stayed 1 night, I drove home. 
I can do better.  I will do better!

It was good for me though as I had to come home alone and though we'd driven up the same way and have quite often before, there were a few corners that I wasn't sure off and a windy road to come home on.  It's all about confidence building.

And when I do get home the chooks are OK but their gate had come open so I am minus quite a few seedlings that I had put in the week before.  That was better than the fox attack that I was worried about though..  Will find some wire to keep them in.

Stockton Lake, Collie.

Stockton Lake used to be an open cut coalmine but is now a man made lake that people use for swimming and water skiing.    The water was very *refreshing*  Clean, clear, beautiful...  We came in on the west side entrance, the road to the campground was a bit rough but nothing to worry too much about.  It was just a bit potholey. It was mid-afternoon on a Sunday and there were more than a dozen rigs setup around the area on the west-side. The photos below were taken from the waters edge looking back towards some of the camping area. There is a longdrop toilet in this area but a lot of the vehicles there seemed to have their own. Around the other side of the lake there are cliffs but there are also flat areas for camping.   There are seperate male and female toilets on this side of the lake.                    Below is looking West from the cliffs, over the water to the camping area on the other side.

To get to Stockton Lake you drive through Collie, heading East.  Less than 10km from Collie and Hubby turned  right onto Piavanini Road.  I didn't see any signs saying Stockton Lake and did mention that but I should have known better.  Of course he knew the way  to go.  He had probably taken a microsecond to glance at the map while I was trying to work out what it meant.   It always surprises me how he knows where we are, where we need to go and how to get there, even when, like yesterday, the  roads on the maps don't have the same names as the road signs. I like Stockton Lake and I think I would feel quite comfortable camping here.  I will post about that when it happens.

Grimwade.

Many moons ago I had planned on camping in the van out at Grimwade Dam but that didn't happen so I had talked Hubby into looking at the place on our way home from Nannup.  

 Grimwade is the site of an old timbermill, no town there now but there is evidence that people once lived there.  I was also told that there was a dam and a pool or pond.

 It was kinda on the way home from Nannup, only had to turn a few corners to get there.  As we were coming from Kirup it was not *my way* but there was a sign pointing the way from Kirup so I didn't think we could get lost.  Hubby looked at the map, had another quick glance as we were driving along, looked at the speedo, slowed down and turned off the road onto some hard to see track.

What the, where are you going? asks I.  We're here, says he.  Oh. OK.

And we were.  I think.

This is where we were anyway.

Grimwade Dam?  Grimwade Pool/pond?

 Are they the same place? No signs on the road before the hard to see track.  No signs on any other tracks leading off the main road.  But this was a lovely spot so we decided to park up and have coffee and lunch.

Very easy with the way the Cruiser is setup to just pull out the tuckerbox and the stove and a chair for me.

It was so peaceful looking out over the water and we could see small marron moving around in the shadows. 

There is a lot of room here, plenty of spaces for car or tents to pull up aroud the water and a great big clear area a short distance away from the water for caravans or bigger groups.

Of course no facilities, it is bush camping at it's best.

 We did drive up a few tracks and had a quick look at where we think the old town used to be.  We have decided to come back and spend some time here exploring. 
I have decided that I am going nowhere by myself.  Hubby drove back onto the main road and I was sure we were lost.  The bituman had changed into gravel and because we came out at a different track I had no idea where we were.  He shows me where we are on the map and I was still scared.  I've decided one of my fears about going anywhere by myself is that I need to know where I am.  Tracks and roads with no signs and maps that are printed upside down without all the new trucking tracks...that scares me.

I wiped away the tears and we stuck to our plan. 
So that I would know how to get there next time, in the van, on my own we came home *my way*  Yeah right.  NO way will I be going that way in the van, on my own.  There are tracks everywhere, hardly any signs, it's gravel, there are big trees all around...sorry, not my thing.  When I go that way again it will be in his car with him or I will go the long way for me via Kirup.

 Eventually we hit real road again and came out at Lowden.  My way we would turn left here and go towards Donnybrook but Hubby went staight ahead towards Wellingtom Mills and Dardanup. 

 And after travelling along some quiet country roads seeing lots of nice country guess where we ended up.  "I KNOW WHERE WE ARE"  Yep, I think I did nearly shout it, it doesn't take much to get me excited.
Yes! We were at Gnomnesville. 

And I didn't have my gnome to leave.  Now I have to go back again...

Called into look at some big trees and come home the *short way*....Miles later we were back on the road to Dardanup and then we turned...We had just done a big loop that added quite a bit to the trip but it was a nice drive so I'm not mentioniing it.

Home and time to start thinking of the next adventure.

A Night Down South.

A few weeks ago now we had to take some things down to the daughters place, not far from Nannup in Western Australia's Southwest so of course it was a great opportunity to camp somewhere for the night and give the new setup in the Cruiser another tryout.
Our plan was to drop the stuff off at daughters house, spend a couple of hours there then drive back through Nannup and camp at Barrabup Pool.  Not the pool itself as that's not allowed but there is a camping area very close by.   Hubby has been to the area before and had said how nice it was and as we drove past the turnoff on the way into Nannup and it was getting close to lunchtime we decided to call in for a look and something to eat before checking the camping area out.

The carpark at Barrabup Pool  was full of motor bikes...a trail riding group were there for lunch.  I was so envious, I would love a motorbike again but I know that is not going to happen now and I am happy with my second choice of the van.  The bike riders left soon after we arrived, roaring off down the road and into the bush...
There were a few people at Barrabup Pool swimming but it was a bit too cold for us.  I think I will come here again though as the water looked very inviting.
There is no camping at the pool itself which is a shame as it's a lovely spot.  The camping area is not far from the pool but it didn't really appeal to us.  You can't see the water from any camping spots and most were just small dirt camp sites.  There were toilets there but not much else.  There was a fee of $7 pp pn.  I didn't think it was worth $14 and we were pretty sure we'd be able to find a nicer spot so we left and drove on to the daughters place. 

Driving South on the Vasse Highway we came into a great ball of smoke, CALM had been doing their prescribed burns.  Hubby mentioned that it was a bit close to the daughters and that as a lot of these fires seem to get out of control he was a bit worried.  It was OK though, lots of smoke but the burning in this area was over, black burnt trees everywhere.  So sad to see the bush burnt like that but they say it needs to be done.

A few days later a prescribed burn did get out of control in the Margeret River area and many homes and hundreds of hectares of bush were lost.

Once at the daughters we went for a walk to see if there were any nice spots along the river to park and camp.  We sent the dog on ahead of us to ensure that there were no Boogeymens.

No Boogeymens, just a dreadlocked hippy. 

The river down here is the Blackwood River and if it wasn't  running quite so fast and if it wasn't quite so cold it would have been tempting to have a quick dip.  Maybe another time...

                         

In the end we decided to camp in the paddock near daughters place so it was back up the hill, over fallen logs and through flood debris until we found a clear path out.

Once back to the daughters we spent a few hours helping her in the gardens then off to set up camp as the sun was going down.  We picked a spot on top of the hill, overlooking the paddock where kangaroos and sometimes emus congregate but it was getting dark and we didn't see any.

Setup was just a matter of pulling out the table and a couple of chairs, the stove and esky.  Tea was bacon and eggs and leftover vegies brought from home.

 

Below is the two burner gas stove we got from one of the Really Really Free Markets.  We had the gas bottle and this works a treat.  Much more sustainable than the little camping stoves that use the disposable cylinders though we still have one of those.

While eating our meal we were hearing these loud crashing noises.  Hubby said that it was trees falling down from the fire and the sounds continued throughout the night.

I'm an early riser so the next day when I woke I automatically got up and starting getting the water hot for coffee.  Hubby was kinda awake so I made him one too.  It wasn't until I looked at the time and mentioned it to him that he was kinda disturbed.  I thought that it was funny that the bloke that is usually still in bed at 8 was having coffee at a time that started with a 4.

It was hot and sunny when we left home the day before and I didn't think to grab a jacket but at 4.45am it was cold.  Hubby was a bit smarter than me and he let me wear his jacket and he also had a spare beanie in the car so I was set to sit and drink hot coffee while looking at the view.  However the view at that time was hidden by thick mist and I saw nothing.  As it warmed up it cleared a bit but the paddock that is usually full of kangaroos was empty.  Maybe the fires from the day before had made them stay away.

Sun rising through the fog and smoke.  Mainly fog, it is hard to see anything there most mornings and this cleared up within a couple of hours.




 A leisurely breakfast, another coffee, a visit from the dog and daughter, into her house to say hello to the cats and get some seeds then it was time to leave.  By 9am we were on our way with a plan to stop off at a place called Grimwade.