On Sunday, our road trip took us to the town of Manjimup in Western Australia’s area of forests and tall trees. These are dominated by Karri and Jarrah species.
We weren’t in a great hurry as we had less than 200 kilometres to drive so we made a short return trip to Surfers Point near Margaret River. We wanted to see if the waves were larger than yesterday’s and to retake some of the photos from yesterday that I took looking into the bright afternnon sun.
Thre was a very nice young lady selling coffee from her van at the lookout and I was impressed with her entrepreunerialsm and business skills. She also made good coffee,
Our drive took us through the town of Nannup (an old timber town) which, on the surface didn’t seem to offer much but we were surprised at how much time we spent there.
First up, we found a stutuie commemorating the first Western Australian National Serviceman to die in Vietnam – Lance Corporal Marinko “Tich” Tomas. He was a local boy and accidentally killed on 8 July 1966 by shrapnel from an Australian artillery shell when aged 20 years old. The statue was made by a Vietnamese sculptor who has made it the form of a Soiuth Vietnamese Soldier rather than an Australian. While the design is not really authentic, this act of rememberance is sincere.
We enjoyed our picnic lunch at a quiet place in the town’s Rotary Park with its historic timber relics and a bright red Bottlebrush tree.
Near Nannup there is a wildflower reserve with a 2.5 kilometre long nature drive. We explored this route but didn’t find any new wlldflowers that we hadn’t seen before.
Another place, just up the road were two naturally occuring pools. Barrabup Pool and Workers Pool in the local Conservation Park . They are popular camping and swimming spots
.
In the 19th Century there was a timber mill there, The mill manger’s house was located on a hill above Barrabup Pool with the lake being reserved for his, and his families use. The mill workers were allowed to use the appropriately named workers pool a liitle further downstream.
We noticed a lot of colour in the paddocks along the road nin some places. At one, the fields were covered with a golden carpet of Cape Weed.
Capeweed originated in southern Africa, specifically regions including the Cape Province and Natal in South Africa, as well as Lesotho. It was introduced during the 19th century, either intentionally as a garden ornamental or accidentally as a seed contaminant in livestock fodder and shipping ballast. It was first recorded in Western Australia in 1834. It is now naturalised in temperate regions worldwide, including parts of Australia, New Zealand, and southwestern Europe.
We saw kangaroos and emus in these paddocks. I don’t know whether they were grazing on Cape Weed, but it didn’t look like there was much else to eat.
Capeweed has no culinary use and is considered a poor food choice. While sheep, cattle, and horses sometimes graze on it, young or rapidly growing plants can accumulate toxic levels of nitrates and cause poisoning. High intake by dairy cattle can also taint the flavor of their milk.
Just before reaching Manjimup, we found ‘One Tree Bridge’, the locaton of an early timber bridge across the Donnelly River near Glenoran. It was built around 1904 to serve a nearby graphite mine. Local settlers felled a giant karri log and used hand-hewn jarrah timbers for the structure, Sections of the original bridge are still preserved on site.
The shady recreation area has picnic tables and toilets, short walking tracks, and it is only a short walk to Glenoran Pool just downstream. The reflections in this sheltered pool were quite stunning.
Throughout the day we saw a few examples of different birdlife than we see in the eastern states. One was the Australian Ringnecked Parrot. It also called the 28 Parrot because it call sounds aike the number 28.
Another bird was the Western Rosella – quite diffeerent from the Eastern Rosella that we see as a logo on tomatoe sauce bottles
The time during the day seemed to go by quickly. We spent lots of time finding things that we hadn’t expected and ended up arriving at our hotel just 20 minutes before reception closed at 5.30 pm. The Gallery Hotel is a modern facility with rooms spread across four different accommodation blocks. It is nicely finished but the rooms are not quite large enough in which to swing a cat. We feel as though we have returned to some of the small hotel rooms iin which we have stayed n Paris. WE have stufff packed on top of the only cupboard, little room between beds and even some things stored in the large sized bathroom.
Today, we will explore more of the tall timber area around nearby Pemberton.
