BRIDGETOWN & PEMBERTON

Giant Reflections

Gloucester Tree

Into the Heart of theKarri

Beautiful Bridgetown



While at Maranup Ford we drove into Bridgetown to visit our friends and old ‘neighbours’ Rod and Rita and their beautiful old dog Rebel. R&R have recently built a lovely new home in one of the little developments that have sprung up around this picturesque township. Their home was predictably lovely and the outlook from their back veranda quite delightful, overlooking a large spring-fed dam and plentiful jarrah forests. They have accomplished a great deal in the short time they have been there and have already made considerable inroads to establishing a garden. We were made very welcome by our hosts and they spoilt us terribly with a delicious meal eaten with a nice drop overlooking their new kingdom. Just beautiful!


The township of Bridgetown is in my opinion one of the prettiest spots in WA. It is only 3 hours drive from Perth and is set pretty much in the middle of the Blackwood River Valley. The country there is steep and green, and is one of the very few places in WA where you can actually enjoy beautiful autumnal colours at the change of the season. The town has a distinct ‘village’ feel to it and most of the buildings there have been either built or decorated to fit that particular vibe. It does have the dubious reputation of being the coldest spot in WA and we were amazed to see, only a couple of days after we left there, they enjoyed a minimum of 4 degrees while the rest of the state pretty much sweltered.


Priceless Pemberton


From Bridgetown we delved yet deeper into the South West and wandered down to the beautiful little town of Pemberton nestled deep within the Karri forest. For those of you who haven’t experienced our Karri forests, it is worth knowing just a little bit about this wonderful and stunningly beautiful part of the world.


The Karri trees of the SW forests are incredibly beautiful and amazingly tall trees, soaring high above the Jarrah and Marri which also grow in abundance. Karri timber is super strong and sadly that made it a wonderful subject for railway sleepers and the area was heavily logged in the ‘early days’ and in fact right up until not so long ago. I believe the timber is still logged today but a little more assiduously (I Hope). There has been much action to protect the ‘Old Growth Forests’ and many of the old timber towns have now been re-directed towards tourism as a means to survival. Of course the South West is also now a Mecca for gourmet foods and wines and even truffles are now grown in this region. The area is also dotted with a plethora of little studios displaying and selling a wide range of arty/crafty stuff from paintings, to pottery and glassware and so much more. I must confess, we have never really done the ‘tourist thing’ here as DD is (like most men) pretty adverse to wandering around these little boutique style venues. I think truth be told he is even more adverse to having his pockets ‘picked’ by the outrageously priced stuff that is sold by some of these establishments. The sad thing is that a great deal of the products really are very good, but they will overprice to capture that tourist dollar, leaving the rest of us in the cold. Can’t say that I disagree with Doug on this one!


There are many really good tourist drives through the Karri forests and many of these feature particularly large and impressive individual trees. One of the most famous of these is the ‘Gloucester Tree’. This was one of the original fire spotting trees where they built a platform at the pinnacle of the tree where resolute and brave individuals would sit and watch for the first ominous signs of forest fires. The Gloucester Tree sports 153 rungs which spiral up the tree to a platform 60 meters above. The rungs are really just steel pins protruding from the tree. There is some rather flimsy looking wire protection wound around some of the tree to protect climbers from falling from their precarious steps. The Gloucester Tree is a favourite climb for tourists and there are surprisingly (in this day of litigation mania) very few rules pertaining to the climb. The reason I am telling you all this is that around 5 years ago when DD was just a lad?!! We took we took some friends of ours on a brief tour of the SW and of course stopped to see the Gloucester Tree on our way through. Now our mate, Peter, is one of those folk who can never pass by a challenge and he was bound and determined to climb the tree. Not so, my sensible and staid man, who being of saner mien, maintained that nothing would induce him to do anything so radical. Well, girls, this is to prove that men will be boys and peer pressure is alive and well at all ages and intelligence levels. When we arrived at the place of the tree, DD parked the car and he and Peter went over to survey the monster tree, whilst Jenny and I followed at more sedate pace, well..........by the time we arrived at the base of the giant, what do I see but Peter well and truly on his way to the top, and hot on his heels who, but my sensible sane Douglas!! They both climbed to the top where a surreal moment in time occurred when Peter’s mobile rang and being the business man that he is, he paused to conduct a business transaction whilst 60 meters above the forest floor! Needless to say, this time around nothing could have induced DD to do anything so foolish and considering his (and my) state of unfitness it is a very good thing too.


The Pemberton Caravan Park is very good but sadly not dog friendly. It is set right amongst the Karri and is rather euphemistically described as the prettiest park in WA.

MARVELLOUS MARANUP



Rod & Rita's Lovely New Home




Maranup Crossin




Reflections



Shades of the Past




A Litte Friend Who Came to Visit

  From Donnybrook we meandered southwards and ever so slightly east to the beautiful township of Bridgetown. To our dismay, Bridgetown Caravan Park was full due to a couple of festivals and a large bike-riding event so we were compelled to find an alternative spot. This proved to be fortunate indeed as we ‘discovered’ a beautiful little spot called Maranup Ford. This is a ‘farm stay’ where the very intelligent owners have decided to make caravanners welcome. They have around 8 serviced sites in the some of the prettiest country you can imagine. They raise cattle there, although I suspect the farmer (Hugh) is probably in what you might call semi-retirement and currently only runs around 100 head. The property sits on the banks of the Blackwood River, Hugh’s ancestors having settled there many moons ago. When we first arrived we were privileged to be the only guests and were warmly greeted by one of their 3 dogs who immediately made us at home in her owners absence. The nearby bush was almost awash in bird life, particularly the beautiful little fairy wrens which were quite tame. A large and somewhat noisy family of geese wandered around happily fertilising the grass, and in the background a vigorous rooster competed for sound rights with a bevy of Pea-fowl. When Hugh and his wife Melva arrived home they greeted us warmly and we met the other 2 dogs and the 2 cats which all follow Melva everywhere she goes. We arrived there on a Thursday and by Friday evening pretty much every bay was occupied. There was no phone coverage there although DD did find that by taking his lap-top up to the top of the hill in an adjoining paddock he could just pick up sufficient signal to check the stock-market. He was an incongruous sight, I can tell you, sitting on his little stool, at a tiny table, in the middle of a huge paddock. We took some interesting and delightful strolls along the road checking out the river banks and some of the placid looking cattle grazing there.

Maranup Ford is some 18ks out of Bridgetown on the Greenbushes/Bridgetown Rd and we strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to take a bush holiday away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It was truly lovely and the amenities whilst not very pretty were more than adequate and DD tells me that the showers there were excellent. (No, it’s not that I don’t shower, it’s just that I prefer to use the shower in the van!) For all the dog-lovers out there, it is also ‘dog-friendly’.