Jarrahdale to Bunbury

October 30 to November 6

We had stopped in Jarrahdale a couple of weeks ago as it is convenient to Perth and is a pretty, RV Friendly country town. We decided to stay Sunday and Monday night before heading back to Perth on Tuesday.

Emu herd at Jarrahdale Forest

There are plenty of bushwalks in and around Jarrahdale so Monday morning was spent exploring the old forestry area. I did some mountain biking in the afternoon to go further into the forest tracks, coming across some emu chillin’ in a field (see pic).

Tuesday it was back to the Perth Central Caravan Park, a couple of loads of washing and a quick look at the Melbourne Cup. I went for a bike ride in the afternoon along the Swan River, but my route passed the Ascot Racecourse, and the whole area was cordoned off for their Cup festivities. There was plenty of inebriated revelers to dodge as well, as the Cup is run at midday local time, so plenty of people had started pretty early.

Frisbee Golf, Mandurah - Teeing Off

Wednesday was Hospital day for the Orthopaedic assessment of Leah’s broken wrist. The bone alignment had finally stabilised over the week, so it was agreed to leave it as is and not operate, and allow the bones to heal naturally. So they did a final (pink) fibreglass cast and sent us on our way. Leah will have to get the wrist x-rayed in 4-5 weeks to see if it has knitted correctly before the cast can come off.

I organised to get two more tyres fitted on Thursday to finish the “upgrade” started in Port Headland. Given my experience with tyre valve stems I was hesitant to make any changes, but it had to be done. We headed to Pinjarra for Thursday night, another town we visited a couple of weeks ago, an hour south of Perth.

"Putting Out" for par

True to form, Friday morning we arrive in Mandurah, and I notice a tyre is low, I kid you not. Long story short, a few of the original brass valve stems hadn’t been replaced in the past when new tyres were put on, and the rubber seals have been perishing and failing (I think I’m up to four?). We’re getting to the end of them (I hope!), so it’s all up from here.

We still managed to enjoy a day in Mandurah, I got my Frisbee golf game in, before driving south on the old coast road past the Peel Inlet and visiting Lake Clifton. Lake Clifton is (another) high salinity lake with ancient Thombolite formations, similar to the Stromatolites we saw near Monkey Mia. We overnighted at a rest stop about 25km north of Bunbury.

Saturday we drove along the Leschenault Estuary, a shallow, wide body of water protected from the ocean by a long sand dune strip (a bit like the Pumistone Passage near Caloundra). We walked the long boardwalk out into the Estuary at Australind, just north of Bunbury.

Long Estuary walk, Australind, Bunbury

We spent the rest of the day walking and exploring Bunbury town centre, a compact area where you can walk from the town centre to the surf beaches, the lighthouse and Marlston Hill Lookout, and the Marlston Waterfront precinct (on the protected port side). Of interest was the Morris Lane Taffy shop, where salt water taffy, made from a century old American recipe, is produced in an open viewing area with running commentary from the entertaining owner.

Thompson Brook Winery, Sunday accomodation

We returned to the overnight spot from the previous night, and Sunday drove east to the Collie River valley. We spent the morning walking Collie, a town which was the centre of coal mining for a century up until 1994. From there we drove to the very fertile Preston River valley where fruit, olives and wine grapes are grown. We visited Thompson Brook Winery, an RV Friendly Destination which encourages self-contained motorhomes to stay overnight. The vineyard is beautiful and quiet, with a large grassy parking area where we will stay. As you can see from the photo their aging border collie has already claimed us. We are about to head over to the cellar door (20 metres away) for a tasting. I’ll let you know the quality next week.