Serpentine Falls

 Today The wife and I had the day off together, so we decided to go out for lunch and go for a drive to Serpentine Falls, we actually haven't been there for quite some time, we have been to the dam on several occasions, but not the actual falls. We stoppped at Jarrahdale for Lunch at the Jarrahdale PO kitchen great service and good food I ordered the Bahn-mi and the wife a cheeseburger meal, we both enjoyed it.

My lunch 

The Wifes Lunch

After finishing our meals we took the long scenic drive to the Falls, there is a pay station at the falls now, there used to be a ranger or someone manning the little office at the entrance to the falls there is a $17 dollar entrance fee at the time I made this post. We went for a walk to the falls and back and hung around for a little while then headed off home through Serpentine and the back roads.

Here is a few snaps from The Falls and Picnic Area 

All Images are Copyright Mark A. Gray - All rights reserved
 

Blog update - getting out and about again

 Hi all I have neglected this blog for some time now and have decided to try get it updated and running again I have done quite a few Trips and been on few adventures with the family or myself  lately and have quite a few planned for the future, I have been spending a bit of time on Google Maps planing places to go and see and to photograph,  some of my recent trips I have will be added in the future with the publish date close to the date of trip itself, so it may get a bit confusing but hopefully they will be eventually be published in order of the dates the trips were completed automatically I will slowly go back through my photos and add the trips as I find them. 

Please Note some of the trails and places mentioned in this blog are currently closed or no longer exist so please take care when visiting places that still exist, to ensure that generations to come can enjoy them as well

Roley pool. Mt Dale lookout and Forrestdale lake Nature reserve

 Earlier on during the week I had planned a drive visiting Roley Pool,  Mt Dale Lookout and a few other stops for my day off unfortunately the weather was not great and it rain most of the trip my First stop was at Roley Pool the walk trail was an easy one around 2.5kms a real nice walk lots of Granite Boulders , picnic area Boardwalks  and plenty of water flowing 

Was supposed to go to Thompsons Roley pool, Boulder rock and Christmas tree Well but it rained most of the trip and I probably spent a little too much time at Roley Pool. The next stop was at the Mt Dale lookout the road ther was wet, muddy and plenty of pot holes on the way so it was a slow drive after arriving I took some Photos from the lookout and went for a short walk around the trail. There is an animal hide that I wanted to check out, but it started to rain again so I headed back to the car for the trip home. 

  

On the way home I made a quick detour to have a look at Forrestdale Lake Nature Reserve wher I had grown up want to plan a future trip there when weather gets better, as the lake drys up for the year the waders and other birds and wildlife are usually around.

All Images are Copyright Mark. A. Gray

John Forrest National Park

John Forrest National Park is one of Perth's Oldest Conservation Sites, first listed in 1898 it was named as John Forrest National Park in 1947, (Sir John Forrest was an Explorer, Statesmen and was Premier of Western Australia between 1890 and 1901). It is a good starting point for many walk trails as well as mountain bike trails (approved trails only), there is 2 waterfalls and and old tunnel plus a variety of flora and fauna. The picnic area has barbecues, picnic tables and toilets with plenty of shade, there is a nice little walk around the banks of Jane Brook,

More information about John Forrest National Park can be found in the link below.
John Forrest National Park

 It is only a half hour drive from Perth and a great destination for a day trip, John Forrest Is also a part of the Family history on my wife's side not a direct line but more like a 2nd or 3rd Cousin a few generations ago.

We used to do a lot of day trips a few years ago, now we only go if time permits, the kids are a lot older now and some have sports and another work , I also are back on day shift instead of nights now, we had a lot more time back then.

   We spent a few hours the park had some thing to eat, and then went on one of the easy 2 km walk trail to the falls, other trails are the  Railway Trail which I think is 5 km return trip that takes you to an old tunnel, there is also the 15 km trail which takes you along some parts of the Darling Scarp with fantastic views, more information on the trail in the link above plus some Pamphlets to download or view.

Here is a few images from the our trip there

All images are copyright © 2011  Mark A. Gray all rights reserved