Trip Report
Blackwood High Country
September 2002
We all met up at the Real Estate Agents in Armadale around 7.45am on the Saturday morning. The weekend weather was forecast to be fantastic and a few of us came prepared for the warm day ahead only to find a strong chilly wind still blowing at that time of the morning. After the obligatory few words from the trip leader and the election of reports we were on our way just after 8pm.
We traveled down the south west highway and through Dardanup to our morning tea stop in Donnybrook. By this stage the weather had warmed up substantially and everyone was starting to strip off various layers of clothes. This is where the tail end charlie rotated for the first time and a rolling TEC was implemented at every major stop throughout the weekend.
From Donnybrook we left the tarmac and headed through the Forrest tracks in the general direction of Nannup. Various turns were made throughout including a few U-turns to keep us all on our toes until the correct track was found.
Lunch was on the side of the road on top of a hill, which provided a magnificent backdrop scenery of the south west. Shortly after, the trip leader led us to our first challenge of the weekend. It was a steep descent down a slightly slippery track. The trip leader showed us all an alternative route that was less slippery and less incline in case anyone felt uneasy about the steep one, however everyone proceeded to tackle the steep slope. Everyone made it down safely although some of us with a bit more speed due to a lack of engine braking. Western Tower who had brought their camping trailer along opted for the safer track, which as it later turned out, was a good call.
From here on, it was through some more scenic tracks and back onto the blacktop. We stopped for afternoon tea at the Tathra museum and wine cellar. A few more kilometers down the road we made a left turn into the hills. The tracks were getting steeper and more obstacles presented themselves. A fallen tree had to be cleared first. Shortly after, the road had been washed away by recent rains and a large mud-hole was left for us to get over or through. With all hands on deck, we proceeded to fill in this large hole as best we could, after which we all attempted to traverse it one by one. Everyone made it through successfully on their first run with the exception of Western Tower. The trailer sucked itself down in the mud and refused to come out. After a few tries at getting out, we discovered that the 80 series towing the trailer did not operate on all 4 wheels. As it turned out, the vehicle had been in 2wd up to that point on the day as the free-wheeling hubs seemed a bit temperamental and refused to engage (that was fixed over a couple of beers later that evening). A quick snatch and the trailer and vehicle were out of the mud-hole. The hole was repaired and we were on our way onto our campsite for the weekend.
The campsite for the weekend was on a private property, which the trip-leader had managed to secure for us through some very generous property owners. We had a beautiful piece of open country overlooking the valley and backing onto the Forrest. The entire area was covered by weeds that stood about 1-2 foot high. Next time we will need to bring along a ride-on lawnmower. The first objective of everyone was to trample this area down a bit so we could all move around more freely. A fire was started, wood was collected and campsites were erected. This followed by the obligatory nibblies followed by dinner. A few rounds of drinks and a yarn around the campfire were had by all. It was a very pleasant night and not overly cold. Most people stayed up till around 11pm with a few of us heading off to the fairies after midnight.
Sunday was a late morning start. We had a 9am departure and spent most of the day exploring all the hills in the area. We visited many sites including some very large trees, an old sawmill, picturesque hills and a search for a fire lookout tower that we never found. Around lunchtime, the convoy met up with Grumpy who had only come down on the Sunday due to other commitments on the Saturday. Lunch was had by all back at the campsite and the afternoon was spent with more cruising through the hills. On this day, the temperatures really soared for this part of the country and time of the year and we had somewhere in the region of 25 degrees with no clouds in the sky and not a breath of wind.
After an enjoyable afternoon, we finally made our way back to campsite after looking for shortcut tracks to get back in order to avoid a long round-trip through Nannup. This, we finally achieved and were back at camp around 5pm. The evening was again spent with everyone enjoying time around the campfire. Some played Botchy and some Marshmallows came out also. This night was slightly colder and windier than the previous but did not deter anyone from enjoying the tranquility of their surroundings.
Monday morning was an earlier start with everyone cleared from the campsite by 8am. A quick stop on the track out of the property to repair a boggy section and we were on our way. The morning was spent traversing more tracks through the region with some quite overgrown and leaving plenty of scratches behind. Again, more fallen trees had to be cleared. Late morning we arrived in Nannup. Everyone joined for a wander up and down the main street here and had a good look around. At noon we all headed to the local picnic area for lunch. The day was again quite warm and everyone stayed in the shade. The quiz sheets came out (which Floretta had given everyone at the start of the weekend) and the answers were checked. If I remember correctly Western Tower and Tallshouse ended up getting everything correct and won a Milky Way.
The convoy was back on the road after 1pm. We again went off the main road and headed through the Forrest towards Donnybrook. Some more backtracks past Dardanup and we came out onto the highway just south of Harvey. In Harvey we went and had a look at the new Harvey Dam, which will hopefully start helping with some of our water shortages. It is not very full just yet but hopefully next year will see it in the full swing of thingst. From here we had a quick 10/100 in Pinjarra and then onto Byford where we said our good-bye's.
I would like to thank the trip leaders and the tail end charlies that joined the trip for the weekend for their wonderful company. A great weekend was had by all and we couldn't have asked for better weather or surroundings. For anyone that has never been in this part of our state it is a definate must for very picturesque country.
Report by Tomahawk
Last updated 14Nov04
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