Perth to Jarrahdale

October 16 to October 23

  

Wildflowers at our free camp, Jarrahdale

Sunday night was spent in Beverley in the Avon Valley, another small, RV Friendly town about 80km east of Perth. We had a lot of paperwork/admin (tax, etc.) to do, so Monday we headed to York for the day to catch up so we could visit some offices in Perth on Tuesday.  

We found the Midlands City centre (an outer suburb about 20km from Perth) a better option for access and parking than Perth, and had all the services we needed. After that we checked in to the Perth caravan park in time to get some washing done (it can’t be all holidaying when you live on the road).

Single Men's Quarters, Old Jarrahdale Timber Mill

Leah had a Wednesday morning appointment with the Orthopaedic specialist to assess the progress on the wrist break. The bone alignment wasn’t maintained over the week. They still think operating and plating the break is an option but not preferred yet, so they reset and re-cast the wrist and want us to return next Wednesday to see if the alignment is holding.

View south into Shoalwater Bay
from Cape Peron, Rockingham

This means another week to do some “not too distant” touring before returning to Perth City. Thursday we decided to travel south east and our first stop was Fremantle. We had a walk around the town centre and waterfront before driving to Jarrahdale, about 60km from Perth City. It is another RV Friendly Town in the southern foothills (a bit like Montville on the Sunny Coast but smaller), offering a great open area to free camp around 1km from the town centre (well, the pub). Jarrahdale has a long history as a timber town, commencing in 1870 and only ceasing in 1997. The free camp is next to the old saw mill and the single men’s quarters. A lot of time, money and effort has been channelled into opening up the heritage areas for tourists, and restoring building where they can.

Sculptures on Rockingham Beach

It is also where Alcoa opened their first West Australian bauxite mine in 1970 (no longer operating, that site is now a fantastic mountain bike park, Langford Park).

Jarrahdale abuts the Serpentine National Park, with some great bushwalks accessed from our camp area.

Thursday, Friday and Sunday were spent locally in Jarrahdale exploring the above areas and attractions. Friday night was wood fired pizza night at the pub, bonus!

Rock formation off Cape Peron, Rockingham

Saturday we drove over to the coast, to Rockingham. What a great place! A really pretty coastline of protected bays and the fantastic Cape Peron with its walking tracks and rocky coastline. Rockingham also had a sculpture competition and entries were on display on the foreshore and beach for a fortnight. We hiked all over Cape Peron and enjoyed the warmest day for ages, around 25⁰C.