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Published: August 23rd 2013
When I checked the final publishing of the blog I discovered some of the text had been deleted. Here is the updated version.
I forgot to note that the first photo in the last blog was a photo of myself and my big sister Judy. Sally wondered if we were twins when I said we looked alike.
I must report that the rain we experienced whilst in Walpole flooded Gnomesville and did considerable damage. There is a great group of volunteers who take care of it and I am sure they are already at work restoring it to it's former glory. If you go to WA I would recommend this as a great sight to experience.
The second report is about the giant turnip. We have been eating it! We expected it to be bitter or woody, but it is sweet and very tender. So far we have had it steamed, in a stew and also in a mash with potato and pumpkin. Very nice indeed. We still have half of it left!
Isn’t the birdie in the first photograph lovely? He was cheeky too, coming up to the step of the caravan and begging for bread.
Despite lots of flicking though my books I have not yet managed to identify him. I chased all through the bush following a lovely bird call the same day and still did not manage to identify the bird involved. When I approached it would fly to another tree. There were also 28’s flying about.
We left Perth and headed slightly south to avoid Greenmount hill and both Lesmurdie and Kalamunda areas, so ended up on the Brookton Highway. We also noticed that as we were leaving Perth the weather bureau was predicting a week of beautiful weather. We only travelled a couple of hours and set up a free camp about 30kms outside of Brookton. This is where I photographed the little chap above and ran through the trees seeking the triller in the third photo.
BOM got it right, it was a wonderful day.
Wandering about the camp and surrounding bush I managed to find the first of the wildflowers had begun to bloom. Most of them I have not managed to identify so far and will have to invest in a very good Australian wildflower book. Alan, next time you are in the Oxfam shop
can you take a look for me please..... I have put the photos of the flowers in and named where I have some idea.
We travelled through Brookton and headed for Corrigin. The canola was in bloom. As we approached Corrigin we came across the Corrigin Dog Cemetery. Apparently this was started in 1974 by a fellow who was looking for a special place to bury his dog, but the earliest date we found was 1981. What a wonderful concept. There are now many graves here and people bring their dogs here to ensure they are remembered. One which touched my heart was for a dog called Bob. When his owner died his family bought the owners ashes and interred them with Bob so they could be together forever. Dog personalities were also well presented. I really liked the place.
As we left the cemetery we came across extensive road works which had effectively blocked the Wildflower Drive we wanted to take. Next time.
We overnighted in the Corrigin Caravan Park and the next day travelled a vast 20 kms to Gorge Rock. Apparently there used to be a school, hall, tennis courts and a GRAVEL footy
oval here and it was the centre of social life for the district. All that remains is a memorial, an abandoned dunny and a dam where they used to swim. The tennis courts have been covered and the area made into an overnight camping facility. We were amazed that there were no wildflowers around this area. The triller however had arranged for a cousin to be around and have me running into the trees camera poised to no avail. We settled down in another day of beautiful sunshine and just read.
Moved on again the next day and stopped for a look in Kondinin. For those with an eye for past petrol company memorabilia how about photo number 21!
I found a community shop and invested in an eight piece Sosume tea set for $30. Just loved the look and pattern of it. All these little towns are very nice small rural communities with a very obvious pride and working towards preserving their history and attracting the tourism visitor and enticing them to spend their $$’s. I also invested in Lotto which was not a winner – again.
We proceeded to Hyden and through to Wave Rock
where we spent several hours wandering about whilst I photographed orchids and we visited the Hippos Yawn and the Wave Rock. They had complimentary Wifi there, but you had to go to the covered wind tunnel between the communal facilities to be able to connect. Even then it was very unreliable and kept throwing us off. We also discovered that our dongle just wouldn’t work well either.
Next morning we returned to Hyden and did some sightseeing there. There is a marvellous display in the centre of town which displays their history via junk sculpture. They have a taxi, bus, power station – all sorts of things which reflect their history and current day community. It was marvellous.
We decided to rejoin the Great Eastern Highway by travelling via the “Emu Fence Road”. Before actually reaching the road we detoured in Mulka’s cave which was described as one of the most significant indigenous art sites in WA. We were truly disappointed, I guess once you have seen the galleries in Kakadu you are spoiled for life.
I did not know there was an emu fence but once on the road we were surprised to discover it was
a very well maintained gravel road and a dream to drive on. Very confidence building after our recent experiences. All along the way I kept making Graham stop so I could photograph wildflowers. Even though not many species are out yet I ended up with 180 photos. A very pleasurable 2 hours.
Back on the Great Eastern Highway we wanted to retreat to the gravel road. The GE Highway is in deplorable condition, very bumpy indeed. We overnighted at what used to be called the Borabbin Rest Stop now renamed Koorarawalyee. It has been regravelled, had toilets and a dump point added and is a pleasant place to free camp. The added benefit is it has mobile phone and internet coverage because of the nearby indigenous community.
Once more I wandered about in the bush and found more wildflowers to photograph. Eremophlias especially.
We have really enjoyed this last 5 days of gentle travelling in beautiful weather through the smaller towns with less traffic and managing to find quiet, clean and attractive free camps. We were surprised that there were not more people out there doing this, but they will still be returning from the tropics.
Tomorrow we will head to Kalgoorlie/Boulder and spend one last night meeting with Mieke and Mary before heading off across the Nullarbor on Sunday morning.
Expect to be home sometime on Friday Sally and Chris.
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sue yates
non-member comment
Hi Chris & Graham I have thoroughly enjoyed your blog over this holiday, great photos and great text, drive safely home. Kind Regards Sue