Wildflowers, tall trees and waterfalls

By 8 am we had all eaten breakfast and were attending to last minute tidying. At 8:15 am we had packed the car and John was driving us toward our first destination for today, Nannup.

My plan had been for coffee in Nannup at about 10 am followed by a visit to the Kondil Wildflower Park. Because we were almost an hour ahead of schedule it made more sense to visit the park first rather than have to backtrack a couple of kilometres after early coffee.

Kondil park was not marked in the iOS Maps app so I used the position shown in Google Maps to set navigation. The turn-off was not signed on the road we were traveling, Mowen Road, but we turned onto Barrabup Road where my information said it should be. A little way down we saw the sign in the car park as we passed it. John turned the car at the first opportunity and we parked.

There was a sign about 20 metres into the park showing a choice of walking tracks. We chose the Wildflower Wander which was shown as 3.3 km with an estimated time of an hour. I expected we might take less than that but we actually took almost 2 hours to walk the circuit.

The track was lined on both sides with many different wildflowers. Some we had seen previously but many were new to us so we were stopping often for photos or simply to admire the blooms. Majella was in her awe zone. We heard birds along the way and saw a few but most kept out of sight.

After our walk we needed coffee and found it at a cafe in Nannup. Refreshed we checked out the gift store next door and the art gallery across the street before driving on.

Our next stop was the Four Aces, four large karri trees standing in a straight line. The likely explanation is that the seedlings grew in the ash from a tree that had fallen and burned. However the trees grew, they were an impressive sight.

We spent some time reading the signage in the shelter and the John said he would like to do the 2 km return walk to One Tree Bridge.

All four of us set off along the track that wound over a small hill through the karri forest. At the end we found a preserved remnant of what had been a bridge built using a single tree trunk as the load bearing element. Majella and Lynne waited by the road across the river while John and I walked back quickly to bring the car.

We drove on toward King Jarrah which is by the side of a road about 2 km east of Manjimup. In addition to stretches of Kari forest the countryside as we approached Manjimup included orchards with a variety of fruit trees. At King Jarrah we walked the short distance to see the 500 year old tree that had been saved from logging when someone recognised its value. Its story and some local history, including of the Noongar people, were presented on signs in the nearby shelter.

Lunch was at Tall Timbers brewery in Manjimup. John, Lynne, and I had Caesar salads. Majella had red lentil and tomato soup with Turkish bread.

On the way out of Manjimup we filled up with the cheapest fuel I could find in the Simples app. Then we drove on to Beedleup Falls through forest and past green rolling hills with a mix of cattle and vineyards. Farm dams that we passed were filled and overflowing from the rain over recent days.

At Beedleup Falls we took the walking track over the suspension bridge which gave a clear view from below the falls and then climbed back up on the stairs to the top bridge which adjoined the lookout platform. The falls were roaring with water from the recent rain. We walked back to the car on the graded accessible path. Back at the car park we saw some wrens and a ring neck that was clearly not concerned by human visitors and walked out onto the path beside us.

I had planned to visit Snottygobble because the name intrigued me but by then we were running later than planned. We knew there was nothing in particular to see at Snottygobble so we set that aside and pressed on to the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree. It is a tall karri tree that had been used as a lookout for fires and is equipped with steel pegs that enable intrepid visitors to climb 65 metres to the platform at the top. Majella and John were planning to climb it but it was closed for maintenance in preparation for the coming school holidays. We spoke for a while with the maintenance crew and found from the information in the shelter that up to 35000 people have climbed it in a single year. Majella is planning to return on another trip to make the climb.

John drove on toward the Cascades. Unfortunately the location shown in Apple Maps was incorrect and the sign we saw was not as clear as it might have been. we left a sealed road and made a 2+ km diversion before turning back and finding our destination down the sealed road. We walked the short distance to see the cascades which were running very strongly after the recent rain. On the bend from which we viewed the cascade, the water was circling under a small bridge before finding its way downstream.

From there John drove into Pemberton where we found the Gloucester Motel and checked in. We are still carrying the remnants of our wine, cheese, and crackers night in Margaret River and, having had lunch, are not feeling in need of a large meal. We plan to enjoy the snacks and drinks and relax for the evening.