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After our late checkout from the winery cottage, we motored out to have morning tea at Champagne and Gumboots gluten free cafe. What a gem it was, shame it is closing soon. We then went to a local shopping centre for provisions before heading out bush.
We drove out to John Forrest Park with the aim to do Glen Brook Walk. The signposts for the bushwalks here were being reworked so we got a little lost, but did find other wildflowers we have not yet seen and the walk was pleasant.
After the walk we stopped to have lunch, and had to contend with a cheeky uninvited guest.
On the way to the airport we refuelled Beige Fury for the last time and then returned her to the hire car place, then Uber’d to our apartment in Hay Street, East Perth.
After settling in, we did a provisions run to IGA and BWS, before making dinner and a welcome rest after a long day.
Arty Farty
Next morning we were up and ready to explore. We took a Red Cat (one of the many free inner city bus services) to Hay St Mall, dropped quickly into Kmart to buy kitchen implements (as oddly we found none in the apartment, bar a potato masher), then on to the iCity visitor kiosk for walking tour registration. Jenny, our guide, took us to the major landmarks around the inner city, was very informative and good humoured- volunteers are amazing. We wanted to feel more comfortable in this strange city, the tour really helped us get our bearings.
The tour ended down near the docks, so we stopped for a cup of tea at a cafe we would be coming back to for breakfast, before wending our way back up to Yagan Square and The Shoe Bar, next to the new Edith Cowan University’s inner city campus for lunch.
After a good sleep we packed, checked out and headed back on the road. The destination was our new digs in Swan Valley, but Jo had stuff planned before then.
Low on fuel, we stopped at Cataby to fill up. Our hire car seems really economical, I am surprised how little we have spent on fuel so far given the distances we are covering.
The open road offered a couple of challenges – it seems Saturdays are the day extra wide loads travel the highway and we passed a huge bit of mining equipment on the trailer of another truck. It took up 3/4 of the width of the highway, passing it was very hairy, thankfully the trailing vehicle got signal of a long bit of empty road and gave us the sign it was safe. Not 10 minutes further on did we meet another humongous wide load mining machine coming the opposite direction, again taking most of the highway. We squeezed past but have no idea how the two huge vehicles coped when they met.
Just outside of Swan Valley we headed for Bells Rapids, a lovely park area, camping spot and general recreational facility tucked away in the gentle hills of Brigadoon.
Our plan was to do a river walk, but it was overcast so we kitted up with wet weather gear and our walking sticks, as there was some upper-downey clambering to be done, and we set off along the bank of the river (an early section of the Swan River as it turns out). There had been a bit of rain in the catchment, the water was flowing rapidly but we made it to the pedestrian bridge, crossed and were part way into the circuit when it started to rain. Seeing the weather close in we turned back and returned to the car for a “Scottish Picnic”. To explain it was coined that because, when we were in Scotland, each time our picnics were rained out we re-picnicked in the car.
After lunch we headed back out onto the highway on route to Swan Valley. Some provisions were needed so we went to Garbin Estate winery to do some tasting with the view of buying a bottle each for the next few days. Jo found a lovely Moscato, I really liked the Shiraz, Grenache and Tempranillo. We assembled a box of 6 to be mailed home and left with some wine for more immediate use also. We then headed to the shopping centre to top up our pantry bag and buy fresh fruit, veggies and other things for the self-catering planned.
Loaded up we headed to our new digs, a lovely little cottage among the vines and mulberry trees at the entry to Upper Reach winery. We settled in and had some time in the sun on the veranda relaxing. The cottage had many charming features, they reminded me of the houses I lived in as a kid in Maleny, particularly the warm creaky wooden floors.
After a good night sleep, we were ready to spend Sunday exploring the area further. We headed out for a breakfast at Padbury’s Cafe in Guildford. Padbury is one of the many legendary pioneers of this area, his name everywhere. After breakfast we headed out on foot to explore the historic area, choosing a combination of their “town walk” and “River Ramble”. There are so many heritage listed buildings in this area, making getting a sense of how things were back in the day easier. The visitor centre had a small but fascinating museum explaining many of the important families, buildings and timelines for development. During the walk we saw beautifully restored cottages, public facilities like courthouses, theatres, stores, gaols and pubs. It was a very pleasant ramble.
Leaving Denham, we had nearly 500km to travel to our new digs just outside of Dongarra. We did this in stages, ensuring rest breaks. Most of it was highway driving, mostly big empty roads but I did have to overtake a 4 trailer Road Train at one stage which was mighty hairy.
Once past the national park areas, the scenery opened up into rural scenes, flat undulating fields filled with of canola (bright bright yellow), oats (green and white) and wheat and barley as far as the eye could see. It was variously overcast/showery but during the drive we saw all sorts of weather. The roads were in good condition and overtaking lanes reasonably placed, we made good time.
We stopped for lunch and a bit of a stretch at Northampton in cutie little garden park that was clearly a Mecca for caravan pullers. It is interesting how often we have seen public waste traps for vans to empty into, clearly they have geared up to support touring visitors.
Arriving in Dongarra, before going to our accommodation, we visited the visitor centre and went on a walk down by the Irwin Estuary. The Irwin is another of the major rivers here that seems to meander all over the place. The walk took us down beside some soft low sandstone cliffs, to our surprise we encountered 3 honey bee hives, 2 of them with visible honeycomb tucked away in recesses in the cliff. So interesting. The beach was pretty windswept and covered in chopped up seagrass, am sure it is nicer in summer months.
Our digs for the next couple of days is a self-contained apartment that is part of a large shed – spacious, well appointed and very comfortable.
We checked in late, quickly settled in and did some food prep for the next couple of days, melted into a pair of dangerously comfortable recliner rockers and rested after a long day on the road.
Next morning, refreshed, we drove to Mingenew, spoke to a helpful staff member in the visitor centre, they suggested a number of locations within range for us to explore wildflowers. She suggested the scrub behind the hockey fields, on and around Mingenew Hill, and a journey further afield to Coalseam Conservation Park.
Parking behind the local hockey field, we set off into a wedge of bushland adjacent and before too long we were finding abundant examples of many wildflowers we had not seen. I was particularly driven to look for native orchids, especially spider orchids, and it was not long before we started finding little clumps of them. Finding them is tricksey – I am used to large blooms on orchids, some of the natives are teeny tiny, spotting them involves a technique of standing still and systematically scanning for changes in texture and colour. The spider and cowslip orchids we found were beautifully delicate, had lovely fine markings and seemed to proliferate in the shadows of more established plants. So chuffed to see them in the wild.
