SUMMARY
Had a great time at the girls farm in Rosa Brook (near Margaret River) and stayed a bit longer than we planned, we left there on the 23rd Feb.
Stop over in Perth for John to see a Gastroenterologist.
Spent time in Pinjarra (near Mandurah) and bought a house in
North Yunderup.
Then Bridgetown for a week via Stockton Lake camp spot.
Back to Pinjarra via Greenbushes camp spot for John's final
check up.
Off to Manjimup via Greenbushes again (Top Spot).
Then down to Quinninup and visited Northcliffe and Pemberton
tourist attractions while here.
Back to Greenbushes for a couple of days then across to Boyup Brook for Easter.
After Easter a few days at Pinjarra then a month at our house getting it ready to rent.
Back to the girls farm to leave the car and van and off to Europe and the UK for 10 weeks.
Back to Greenbushes for a couple of days then across to Boyup Brook for Easter.
After Easter a few days at Pinjarra then a month at our house getting it ready to rent.
Back to the girls farm to leave the car and van and off to Europe and the UK for 10 weeks.
THE DETAIL
While staying at the girls farm, we put a roof over our 40ft
sea container and touched up some rust spots, repacked all the wheel bearings
on the van, replaced the bathroom sink, (it got holed when a heavy bottle of
perfume fell out of the cupboard above it), took a lot of stuff out of the van
into storage to lighten the load. Had heaps of scrumptious meals, and some very
nice wines.
We stayed longer than planned as John was having problems
with his gall bladder and getting in to see the specialist in Perth was time
consuming.
On the 23rd we reluctantly left the farm for
Perth and the next day John went in for a minor procedure to hopefully fix his
problem. It was a scope passed down the throat and through his stomach. The specialist
put a stent in the bile duct (Gall bladder drain) and that seems to have fixed
the problem!
The good part was that we managed to catch up with Daryl, Arruem, Miki and Mathew for dinner one night and also Greg and our granddaughter Emily (below), while in Perth.
We left Perth for Pinjarra Park Country camping van park.
This is a nice, friendly park a few k’s out of Pinjarra on the Pinjarra
Williams road.
While here we checked out the real estate at North Yunderup,
a small settlement just out of Mandurah on the Murray River. We wanted to buy a rentable shack on the Murray
river but quickly discovered that was well out of our reach.
We did find a nice house a couple of blocks back from the river on a nice size block with side entry for the van or boat at the right price, so put in an offer and got it.
We did find a nice house a couple of blocks back from the river on a nice size block with side entry for the van or boat at the right price, so put in an offer and got it.
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| The House |
The plan is to rent it out while we keep travelling but we
may eventually move into it or sell when we stop travelling. Why North Yunderup
you ask!
It is quiet and small, only one general store, but only 10 minutes from Mandurah which has all of the facilities needed. It is close to the river so we could have a small boat and do some fishing and crabbing, and as it is 4 bedrooms, room for family and friends to stay if they visit.
We felt the market may recover in the next couple of years and when prices bounce back North Yunderup would be out of our reach.
It is quiet and small, only one general store, but only 10 minutes from Mandurah which has all of the facilities needed. It is close to the river so we could have a small boat and do some fishing and crabbing, and as it is 4 bedrooms, room for family and friends to stay if they visit.
We felt the market may recover in the next couple of years and when prices bounce back North Yunderup would be out of our reach.
After we got the paper work all signed we headed south and camped at
Stockton Lake which is just out of Collie. It is really an old coal mine that
is filled with water and apparently very deep.
Very popular with dive schools as they can dive deep enough in places to be in very dark water and also there is old machinery and tunnels to explore. It is also popular for Skiing and jet skis etc.
For us we just parked on
the edge and enjoyed the view with a glass of wine! It’s not free and only has
one long drop toilet but at $11.00 a night (for Seniors, normally $15) it is good value.
Very popular with dive schools as they can dive deep enough in places to be in very dark water and also there is old machinery and tunnels to explore. It is also popular for Skiing and jet skis etc.
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| View of the lake from under our awning |
We only stayed the one night as we wanted to spend some time
in Bridgetown so booked into the van park there for a week. Nice town, very picturesque and hilly. The van park backed onto the Blackwood river
with some nice walks along it and canoes for hire if you want.
The visitor centre has a jigsaw gallery which is quite amazing and worth a look, we were surprised with the amount of variations of jigsaws.
We also visited jarrah park and did a nice walk here through the forest.
The visitor centre has a jigsaw gallery which is quite amazing and worth a look, we were surprised with the amount of variations of jigsaws.
We also visited jarrah park and did a nice walk here through the forest.
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| Bridgetown caravan park |
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| The river from the bridge looking towards the park |
Left here and checked out the free camp at Greenbushes,
behind their oval – nice spot with flushing toilets! Oh the small joys in
life! There is room here for about 4
large vans and one or two small ones, but more room up by the top oval and even
more at the designated area alongside the road.
There is also water available here and the rangers visit most days to make sure all is OK.
There is also water available here and the rangers visit most days to make sure all is OK.
Greenbushes town has an amazing visitors centre with a mock up mine and
heaps of local history to look at. The mine was originally a tin mine but is
now mining Tantalum and Lithium that are used in electronics etc.
We had lunch at the local cafe and that was surprisingly good.
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| Female scarlet Robin at Greenbushes |
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| Male Scarlet Robin at Greenbushes |
We had lunch at the local cafe and that was surprisingly good.
Back to Pinjarra Park so we could catch the train up to Perth for John's final visit with
the specialist.
Next stop was Manjimup which is a nice town but a lot larger
than we expected. They have a nice local park with old
buildings and some machinery in it that we walked through, also got a large box
of new season apples for $10.00 (about $1.00/kilo) so now have heaps of stewed
apple for dessert and because we got a large pumpkin we have heaps of pumpkin soup too!
We visited the Diamond tree from here, it is still used as a
fire lookout tree but you can climb it to the bottom platform, about 45 metres,
so of course John had to, then he spent the next two days with sore legs.
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| The start of the climb |
While here we visited the Wine and Truffle farm for lunch as
neither of us had tried Truffles before. It seems that they are the major
growers of truffles in the world and at $1.70 a gram I think they must be doing
OK. We really enjoyed the lunch but think that at that price truffles won’t be
on the menu at home much.
We also visited Fonty's pool which is a pretty spot and must be popular with the locals.
From here we headed further south, bypassing Pemberton to
stop at Quinninup caravan park.
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| Waiting on lunch |
We also visited Fonty's pool which is a pretty spot and must be popular with the locals.
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| Fonty's pool |
What a magic spot, Kangaroos grazing just outside our door, Emus wandering through, Kookaburras in the morning and evening, Magpies, 28’s (parrots); it is just magic. We booked in for 4 days but decided to stay another 4 days.
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| Having a roll |
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| Dad with some chicks |
Then we went into Pemberton for the tram ride through the Karri
Forrest stopping at the cascades on the way as far as the Warren river bridge,
crossing six trestle bridges on the way. It is only $24.00/person and well
worth it at that price.
The cascades were pretty but being the end of summer there was not
much water, we hope we can re-visit in spring when the wildflowers will also be
out.
On another day we did the Karri Forrest explorer drive which winds through some of the southwest’s most magnificent Karri forrest.
The drive includes Big Brook dam, Beedelup falls, which has a suspension bridge that I managed to get Barbara to cross, slowly. Had lunch at a picnic area called Giblett, but it was cut short when a dugite (snake) decided to visit. Those that know Barbara know that she was NOT impressed!
On the same day we did the Heartbreak trail drive which descends into the Warren River valley. It is quite steep and was built by hand, hence it’s name, to clear a path to the river for fire fighters. It is suitable for two wheel drive and a pretty drive.
We stopped and had a look at the bi-centenial tree but did not climb this one and then the Marianne North tree, named after a British artist who painted it in 1880 and that painting is now hanging in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens in England.
After Pemberton we spent a couple of nights at Greenbushes camp again and then headed to Boyup Brook for Easter.
Boyup Brook is a nice small town with some great hologram sculptures one being a naked lady, and her eyes and face appear to follow you as you walk around as do all the other sculptures.
I also took a walk to the “skeleton bridge” which is the remains of the old railway bridge into town.
After Easter we packed up and headed back to Pinjarra country van park for three nights and once settlement was finalised we moved onto the front lawn of our house.
Have been here ever since, although the house was well looked after and looked clean, once it was empty it was obvious that it needed repainting, mainly because we had no way of matching the colours for the numerous touch ups required.
So while the painters got to work we started cleaning and gardening to get it ready to rent. Well that took three long weeks of hard slog, we didn’t realise how dirty it was, the window tracks looked like they had never been cleaned and because we elected not to get the doors and door frames painted they all had to be cleaned as well!
Anyway we have a lease signed and leave here on the 2nd June, we will spend a few days in Harvey then visit Balingup and Nannup then back to Tracy and Kim’s farm to leave the car and van while we go to Europe and the UK for 10 weeks. Will try and get a blog done on that trip as well.
Cheers, keep smiling
John and Barbara
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| View out the front window |
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| Stopped at the cascades |
On another day we did the Karri Forrest explorer drive which winds through some of the southwest’s most magnificent Karri forrest.
The drive includes Big Brook dam, Beedelup falls, which has a suspension bridge that I managed to get Barbara to cross, slowly. Had lunch at a picnic area called Giblett, but it was cut short when a dugite (snake) decided to visit. Those that know Barbara know that she was NOT impressed!
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| Big Brook Dam |
On the same day we did the Heartbreak trail drive which descends into the Warren River valley. It is quite steep and was built by hand, hence it’s name, to clear a path to the river for fire fighters. It is suitable for two wheel drive and a pretty drive.
We stopped and had a look at the bi-centenial tree but did not climb this one and then the Marianne North tree, named after a British artist who painted it in 1880 and that painting is now hanging in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens in England.
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| Marianne North tree with unusual Burr |
After Pemberton we spent a couple of nights at Greenbushes camp again and then headed to Boyup Brook for Easter.
Boyup Brook is a nice small town with some great hologram sculptures one being a naked lady, and her eyes and face appear to follow you as you walk around as do all the other sculptures.
I also took a walk to the “skeleton bridge” which is the remains of the old railway bridge into town.
After Easter we packed up and headed back to Pinjarra country van park for three nights and once settlement was finalised we moved onto the front lawn of our house.
Have been here ever since, although the house was well looked after and looked clean, once it was empty it was obvious that it needed repainting, mainly because we had no way of matching the colours for the numerous touch ups required.
So while the painters got to work we started cleaning and gardening to get it ready to rent. Well that took three long weeks of hard slog, we didn’t realise how dirty it was, the window tracks looked like they had never been cleaned and because we elected not to get the doors and door frames painted they all had to be cleaned as well!
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| Just about ready to move on |
Anyway we have a lease signed and leave here on the 2nd June, we will spend a few days in Harvey then visit Balingup and Nannup then back to Tracy and Kim’s farm to leave the car and van while we go to Europe and the UK for 10 weeks. Will try and get a blog done on that trip as well.
Cheers, keep smiling
John and Barbara
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