A quick trip to Bunbury

 

A few weekends ago we decided to go for a drive down Bunbury for the day stopping at a few places on the way.  A random trip that we decided to do at the last minute, that happens every now and then we just decide we are going somewhere, it was a relatively quick trip we left late in the morning so we only had probably 6 or 7 hours to play with before it started to get dark.

     Our Trip first started by heading down Southwest Highway stopping at a few places on the way

 

Pinjarra Courthouse

Suspension Bridge Pinjarra

Another View of the Courthouse

 We also went for a drive through Yarloop and Brunswick Junction , after arriving in Bunbury, we went for a drive through the town centre and stopping have having a look at some of the local beaches including Back Beach and a couple of others, today it was a little rough at the beach which made for some nice photo opportunity’s

 

Series of snaps from Back Beach

 

We Stayed at back beach for a while and then went for a drive through Australind having a look around stopping at the shops and Bunbury Growers market by that time it was getting late, so we headed for home.

Jarrahdale POW Camp, Nth Dandalup Dam, Marrinnup POW Daytrip

 Today The wife and I and a couple of the girls went on a drive through Jarrahdale, Nth Dandalup, and Marrinup POW Camp, first time visiting Marrinup POW Camp, It was a funny day today weatherwise it was Sunny, then Raining and Sunny again on and off for most of the day, anyway our first stop was at the Jarrahdale POW Camp I regularly go for a drive here to have a look around its dissappointing to see how much the place has deteriorated since my first visit here in the Early 2000's I think it was around 2004 when I found it online while researching for some places to take photos and go for a hike, there will be updates of this area in future posts, I spend a bit of time exploring the Jarrahdale Bush on my days off.

Here is a few snaps from todays trip at Jarrahdale POW Camp

After a short walk around the camp we headed towards Nth dandalup Dam picking up Lunch on the way to eat at the dam. I enjoy being at Nth Dandalup Dam its a nice place and always well maintained with Toilets and a Picnic Area

Here is a couple from Todays Trip 

After staying here for a while we went towards Marrinup, after folowing maps and a scenic drive down Scarp rd we come across the road to the Marrinup Campsite and arriving at the POW Camp Shortly after, its seems a bit bigger than the Jarradale one and some of the roads were a little rough getting there but we are the end of winter so the tracks are a little worse for wear, I must look up the history of this at some point.

Here is a few From The Marrinup POW Camp

As we were leaving the POW camp there was a car that flew past up nearly went off the road trying to dodge it so there is not a very wide track out, few seconds after there was a dog chasing after the car my first thought was thats a wierd way to walk a dog but as I was leaving the dog had stopped and was just wandering around, the horrible though that came across my mind is that that poor dog has just been dumped by the owner as they drove off really quick not considering other users of the road. I am just hoping that this happens regularly and it is just a way of Exercising/Training there dog and not the latter.

All Images are Copyright Mark A. Gray all rights reserved 

Nth Dandalup Dam to Jarrahdale

HI all,

     I had and early finish at work one day last week, I knew the day before that is was going to be an early one so the night before I studied the maps and looked for an alternate route home, and decided to take a detour to Nth Dandalup Dam and follow Scarp rd. exploring a few tracks on the way, Scarp road is mainly a good gravel road (although some parts of it are a sealed) through some of the darling scarp ending in Jarrahdale. As far as I know it goes as far south as Sth Dandalup maybe even further.

   I had finished work by 9am so it gave me most of the day to explore, I had charged the cameras up, fuelled up the car, packed extra food and drink, I don’t have any recovery gear yet and fairly new to Four Wheel Driving, so I am still on a massive learning curve,  just sticking to the easy tracks for a while

   I left work and headed towards Nth Dandalup Dam, the first track I took was slightly uphill and was quite rough, a gravel Road/Track it was rocky and there was some skinny parts and sections where the road has eroded away from water running down the hill, I followed the road until to Scarp rd.  After travelling on Scarp Rd for about 5 mins my first stop was at Nth Dandalup Dam, a nice picnic setting with Toilets, Tables and BBQ’s there is a small stream that runs along the side of the picnic area where I believe people swim in the warmer months.

Nth Dandalup Dam Built in 1994

I stopped for something to eat and had a bit of a walk around with the camera, then headed back up to Scarp rd. and continued driving towards Jarrahdale, there wasn’t a great deal of things to see along this stretch I detoured on a few tracks for a bit of exploring in the bush as I approached Serpentine River there was a steepish hill going down towards the Serpentine River the bridge crossing is  close to the Pipehead Dam and then another climb uphill, the road was in good condition passing a flock of Carnaby Cockatoos on the way through.

Small stream I came across while exploring

My next stop was the Jarrahdale POW camp that I often visit when exploring the tracks its right in the middle of the areas I go so a great place to stop for a few minutes there is a pit toilet there and it is also an access point for The Munda Biddi Trail, I often see cars parked there but no-one around most of the time they are riding on the trail , I stopped for about 5 mins or so to have a drink and something to eat, my next stop was going to be Sullivan Rock, on Albany highway the road travelling to Sullivan Rock from the camp is a gravel road and at the time me driving through was badly corrugated bouncing the car all over the road,  I had a drive to look at the picnic area and kept going, the picnic area is a basic area with tables and Chairs and old wood BBQ’s which look like they haven’t been used for a while.

 

   My next stop had planned to be Wungong Dam I haven’t been down that way for years ever since my high school days when I used to stay at a mates house some weekends, I ended up detouring to Canning dam on the way where I went to check out the lower Picnic area, It has Tables, BBQ’s, Toilets and a few walk trails for a quiet stroll, it is a smallish area but very quiet and nice, I never went to the dam this time and headed back towards Albany hwy. Arriving at Wungong Dam I was unaware that the road no longer goes through and is closed, so I took a few snaps and headed off again, there was also Toilets, BBQ’s, and tables in the picnic area,  I started to make my way home after that but took a drive to the other side of the dam to have a quick look, there was a group of people riding motorbikes there so I never bothered stopping for photos and then headed for home.

Wungong Dam

That night the family and I decided to go for a drive to Kings park picking up Pizzas on the way through, we sat and had something to eat and I took a few snaps and we went for a drive to the Optus Stadium for a look then headed home

 

View of Perth from Kings Park

The Optus Stadium at Night

Back in Jarrahdale

Hi all,
          Well it has been a while since I posted here been slacking off again. todays trip was more of a test drive through the tracks of Jarrahdale. I just recently purchased my first true 4WD and just had to take it for spin off road, only light stuff to start with although we did go on a few rough tracks as we were exploring around, it was basically the same trip as the last one we did to Jarrahdale in my previous post, this time we didn't have to walk much of it, Our first stop was the Jarrahdale POW camp where we stopped for lunch and had a quick walk around.

Someone's make shift Camp site, there is suppose to be no camping here

The POW information centre

what is left of the Main quarter

The powerhouse I think it was

The Wash House

After leaving the POW camp and exploring a few of the tracks not really finding much else, we headed towards Blue Rock and the Wetlands Trail, we only went for a quick drive through the track at the wetlands trail as there was quite a few Motorbikes racing around the tracks, so didn't really want to have a collision with one of them, I just stopped for a quick snap by the old oak tree, I am sure there used to be a table here as well but I am guessing it has either been stolen or just destroyed.

One of the Pine forest on the way

By the old Oak tree the autumn colours are starting to show

        After leaving the wetlands trail we headed towards Blue Rock but decided to keep going as we still had the Serpentine Pipehead Dam and Serpentine Dam to go, unfortunately the Pipehead dam was closed whether it still hasn't been open after lockdown or there is another reason I'm not sure and I was slightly disappointed as it is quite nice there and I haven't been there in years. 

    Anyway we went for a drive to Serpentine dam and the lower car park hoping to see a few kangaroos to take some snaps unfortunately there was none around today but there was a few people around after lockdown enjoying a day out, and the autumn colours were showing

    After leaving Serpentine dam we headed for home exploring a few tracks on the way we found one that was bit rough and a small climb and the car seemed to handle it all well.