Workbench I - The Beginning

This all began with my wanting to get ducks.  I already have 5 chickens, but I thought, hey, why not 2 ducks as well?

But then of course, that means I’m going to need a new coop, that can house both chickens and ducks.  My poor chickens have needed an upgrade for a while, so this is a good reason to do it.

And that means, of course, I’m going to need a lot of pallets.  And to get all those pallets ready for building, well, that means I’m going to need a proper work area.  And a proper area needs a workbench.  And thus, I’ve arrived.

I already have a base made of really heavy metal, so really all I need is the top.  The base was my Dad’s and had some old mdf top on it which was all swollen and crumbling, and I figured that if I’m going to get a new one, I might as well do it right.

So I started investigating and eventually came across roubo bench designs, like a proper carpenter’s bench with built-in vices and whatnot, and that got me properly excited.  It’s not going to be a proper roubo, but inspired by one.

This was the impetus I needed to get sorting out my back patio.  Most of it was piled high with boxes and baskets that Mum left behind and it took me about 2 days to get through half of it.  But that was enough to make room for the bench base.

After much sketching and changing and thinking, I finally trotted off to Bunnings and bought 6 lengths of structural pine - 90 x 45mm x 2.4m.  For some reason, Bunnings keep this particular size on a mezzanine floor down the back of the trade section, which means each piece has to be carried down stairs to load on your trolley.  Luckily, when I went, 2 nice blokes were there buying timber too, so they helped me pass it all down, over the edge of the balcony, and down onto my trolley.

I managed to fold down the back seat of my Outback as well as put the passenger seat right back, and that way, I fit it all in.  Woot!  I picked up some pva glue, clamps and a very cool long sash clamp thing.  I really wanted a 90mm t-bar slash clamp, which was on the Bunnings website, but after visiting 3 different stores and nobody having them, I gave up and bought this one instead.  I actually really like it.

So here it all is:

The wood is all in really poor shape.  I know it’s only structural grade pine, but I had the feeling that lots of people had already been through and picked out all the best bits.  So even though I went through every piece, what I ended up with is still pretty twisted, bowed and knotty.  Oh well.  I keep telling myself, it’s only a workbench and not fine furniture.

1975 - 2015

We’ve just had a Long Weekend and this time, J and I went down to Nyamup Village, an old mill town about 20km east of Manjimup.

It was a bit of a last minute decision and I really only started looking for accommodation on Monday, which is usually a bit late for a long weekend, esp at the start of the school holidays.  But I went onto Stayz and found this place called Gum Nut Cottage and it was listed as available. 

I made the booking enquiry through the website and got the confirmation email.  Because there wasn’t much time to play with, I rang the mobile number listed in the email, but it was disconnected.  I couldn’t find the place listed on any other website, so I was very worried that it was no longer available to rent, but they had just forgotten to take it off Stayz.

Feeling a bit desperate, I started widening the search online and found a picture of what looked like the same place listed on LJ Hooker’s website in Pemberton, not called “Gum Nut Cottage,” but “4 Nyamup Rd, Nyamup.”  And not for sale, just for holiday hire.  So I rang LJ Hooker and asked if they knew about this place on Stayz called “Gum Nut Cottage” in Nyamup and sure enough, they did and they handle the leasing of it!  It was definitely still available (not surprising, seeing as it was so hard to find).

J was keen to add Friday night as well, but I had to wait until Tuesday to see if I could get away from work early.  By about 11am, I still didn’t know for sure, but I didn’t want to wait any longer, so went ahead and booked it anyway, hoping it would be ok.  Then about an hour later I got confirmation at work that I could leave at 3pm on Friday – woot!

So after a mad frenzy of finishing candle orders and organising the house and food, at 3pm on Friday afternoon I left work and went straight on to J’s to get going.

It was pretty heavy traffic for the first few hours and we didn’t get to Bunbury until about 6.30pm.  And my oh my, was it cold!  There was a really strong wind blowing and it was freezing – made a bit of a shock getting out of the car.

We ended up at a Thai restaurant called The White Elephant which was fab.  Really, really, nice food and decadant ambiance. 

We missed the turnoff from Bunbury and had to do a little backtracking, but we made it to Nyamup by about 9.30pm.

The place is an old mill town that ran from 1939 to 1989.  I think all the little cottages are now privately owned and some are available for hire, a bit like Donnelly River without the general store.  Lots of kangaroos and emus hanging around too, although not quite as tame as the DR ones, probably because they’re not getting a steady supply of pellets.

We found our cottage, number 4, and unpacked.  I think “delightful” or “romantic” are the best words to describe it.  It looked like it has had a fairly recent reno and was gorgeous.  It had a very modern Ikea kitchen and bathroom, 2 big bedrooms with queen size beds in each, as well as a sleepout with 2 bunks.  The 2^nd bedroom was all florally and feminine while the master bedroom had a slightly more masculine feel, so we settled in accordingly.  The loungeroom was really cozy with a big, built-in, slow combustion fireplace and huge tv.  Everything was perfect.

So with my electric blanket on and 2 quilts on top of me, I had a wonderful night’s sleep. 

The next morning we cooked up a big brekkie and then went walking to explore our surrounds.  Straight across from our cottage was a path that said “river,” so off we went.  It took us past some old ruins of mill buildings as well as over an old railway/tram track.  Then on down to a tiny, rickety footbridge across a river.  It really was rickety and about halfway across a tree was growing over it which involved some interesting limbo action.

From there it was a network of what felt like rivers and dams – I got a bit disoriented, but J seemed to be mapping it in his head.  Lots of frogs and ducks and just a lovely secluded place.

We eventually came back up to the house and then went out to have a look at a property that J had seen online.  []  There was no phone signal in our cottage, but back at the highway J called the Real Estate agent and she sent us a little mudmap of how to find it. 

There was a bit of light offroading involved, but we found it eventually and I really loved it.  We managed to drive around 2 sides of it and then had a bit of an explore through it, by car and foot.   It was sort of on 2 levels and looked like it had a temporary creek running through it, although that was dry.

[]

Anyway, we had a good time tromping all over it, saw a big pod of kangaroos and a goanna, and then went off to Manjimup to find some firewood.

The lady I spoke to at LJ Hooker had told me that the Caltex in Manjimup sold bags of firewood, but when we went, the man said no.  He suggested Mitre 10, so off we went there.  They only sold these “ecolog” things and when we asked the guys what they were like, they basically warned us off them, saying they were pretty rubbish.  They suggested we try the petrol station at the “end of the main street” or the BP.  So we went to BP first (only ecologs) then the other petrol station and yay! … the guy had 6 bags of jarrah left!

So we got 2 bags and then went back home to have a late lunch of chicken waldorf sandwiches in front of the fire.

I had grabbed some dvds just before I left the house on Friday and J had brought a usb with some tv shows on it.  But we couldn’t find a usb connection port on anything, so it came down to the dvds, which I was a bit embarrassed about because I hadn’t put a lot of thought into them.  I had brought P&P, David Copperfield, My Fair Lady, A Mighty Wind, and The Good Life.

So J chose Pride and Prejudice to watch first.  He’d never seen it, but after having read the book while we were up north, I think he was a bit curious.  Top marks to him that he got right through it and I think actually enjoyed it, even though the endless feminine analysing between Lizzy & Jane must have been driving him batty at times.

We had a pause to make dinner (sadly the oven wasn’t working so I had to improvise a tray bake in the electric frypan) and then finally made it to the end very late, must have been around 11pm.

[]

We both crashed pretty much straight away and got up around 7.30 the next morning. 

J had commented the day before that we had already done everything we had planned to do in the first day, but I was still curious about going over to Moon’s Crossing.  So we took Wheatley Coast Rd, heading south, but we couldn’t see the MC turnoff.  We ended up on Orchard Rd and did a bit of traipsying around the tracks until we came across Moon’s Crossing Rd. 

The crossing itself was really full, tons of water flowing really fast.  We climbed over a few rocks to get a closer look, but the current looked way too strong so we decided not to try it.

We drove around a few of the tracks for a while longer, found an interesting wooden bridge along the Bibulmun Track at Wright’s campsite, and then found a concrete river crossing which wasn’t too deep that we could cross. 

That led us past the Gloucester Tree and into Pemberton, where we had a quick lunch at the bakery.  I had a sausage roll and a meringue thing that tasted awful.  It wasn’t sweet and was covered in hazelnuts … yuck.

[]

We decided from there to take the Rainbow Trail past Big Brook Dam and then head up to Bridgetown to visit the Cidery.  I’d forgotten how lovely that dam is.  And somewhere along the way, I think on Channybearup Rd, we saw a sign to Tangletoe Cidery, so we went off to find it.

They specialise in organic wines and ciders and, after a taste test, J bought a few bottles, including a cherry port and a cider liquer.

I have to say I felt a little bit tipsy after that and had a lovely experience in the car of wonderful contentment and happiness while driving through the green fields and listening to folk music.  J

We continued on to the Cidery and made it there by about 2pm.  J bought a few more bottles and we sat for a while, J with a glass of scrumpy and I had a sweet soft cider.  Yum.  We had parked next to someone who had a “Foxwing” attached to their 4wd, so we were investigating those and other awnings on J’s phone.

After that we went back to the house to light the fire and watch some more telly.  This time it was Mighty Wind and then, after dinner, My Fair Lady.  I hadn’t watched it in years and I don’t think J had seen it since childhood.  What an interesting and brilliant film it is.

[]

The next morning was pack up day and my 40^th birthday! 

[]

It was porridge for breakfast this morning.  J challenged me to a little cook-off where he wanted to make his in the microwave and I did mine on the stove and we would compare the results.  And I guess the less said about that the better.  (I won.)

After breakfast we packed everything up and gave the house a quick clean.  Then I said that I wouldn’t mind having a look at Chindalup Pool and Lake Muir, which I had seen on the map, before heading home. 

We found Chindalup Pool after a bit which turned out to be a lovely picnic spot on the Tone River.  Fairly hidden away, it would make a nice campsite, but there were a heck of a lot of marchflies and bees hanging around.  That might just be because it’s Spring and everything is blooming everywhere.

From there we continued along to Lake Muir.  There is quite a posh visitor shelter and bird hide there and it’s really quite lovely.  The water is a fair way off from the hide, but it was peaceful and beautiful.  While we were there, a man and his teenage son arrived.  The dad wanted to take a photo of his son with the lake in the background and told him to “not give me that emo expression.” 

They seemed to be travelling alone together with a caravan.  Despite all thoughts to the contrary, I saw the son give his dad the most adoring look back at the car – it was really heartwarming.

From Lake Muir we cut north on a gravel road and came out onto Wingebealup Rd or something (I can’t remember the actual name because J kept referring to it as “Whinge-belly.”)  That took us up past Tonebridge picnic/campsite and Heartlea, which was an old settlement or something.  All we could find was a big old wooden shed and some dirt mounds.

Continuing on, we landed in Boyup Brook around early afternoon, so we stopped to have lunch.  It’s really quite a cute town, I hadn’t really paid much attention before.

Then on past Glen Mervyn dam to Collie, then back to the sw highway for the last stretch to Perth.

All in all, it was a great trip.  Spring was definitely in the air and everything was green and blooming. I had an absolute ball and I’m so glad I spent my 40^th in that way.  []

Drawers primed

And here are the bedside drawers primed and ready for greening….



And after the first coat…



And finished!

2 coats of enamel later…

So here’s the wardrobe after 2 coats of white gloss enamel paint.  And I’m definitely getting that feeling of too much white.


I thought I might start by adding green just to those 2 little runners in the centre and see how that looks.

In the mean time I’ve brought these little old Ikea drawers in as bedside tables.  Here’s how they look before they get any attention…
























And here’s how Molly looks in the middle of proceedings….

Wardrobe ... Second Coat

I decided to go with 2 coats of primer.  I'm using the BIN Zinsser water based primer, which is supposedly a pretty good stain blocker, but it's a big ask of any primer to cover that very dark stained wood with one coat.  Especially when I'm using foam rollers which only apply the paint very thinly.

So here it is after the second coat of primer.  Getting better, I think.  White gloss next, but I still haven't decided how to incorporate the green.  Hmm....

Labour Day Long Weekend

This long weekend we headed south.  It’s been so hot and humid in Perth for ages now and the forecast for the south coast was cold and drizzly – no brainer!  We were headed for colder climes.

Saturday morning I had a mad dash to finish my candles (I personalise candles for special occasions) and do my final delivery for the week.  Then I went straight on to J’s and together we packed Gertie ready to go.

It took us about 4.5 hours to reach Mt Barker, making a couple of stops along the way for fuel and snacks, and we had lunch there before heading on to Albany.  We headed straight for the main road, had a quick look at the new entertainment centre thingy then started looking for a place to camp for the night.

Our plan was to head east, looking at the campsites that we had listed on a map.  First was Mutton Bird Island, but there was no camping allowed – I think the campsite might be further away along the Bibbulmun Track.  
 

Shelter Island (at Muttonbird Beach)

Next was Cosy Corner which was so crowded I don’t think we could have physically fit our tent in anywhere, and I can’t say we felt the inclination to try.

So it was on to Shelley Beach.  What a beautiful place that is!  And a lovely little pocket of karris on the way.  But sadly, very crowded and exposed to the wind, so on we went.

Shelley Beach

Next stop, Lowlands Beach.  I’m not sure what we expected here, but it was a lookout with a long climb down to the beach .. no camping there. 

By this time it was about 4.30pm and we knew we had to find somewhere soon and set up camp.  The choice was to either head east again and try to find Perkins Beach or keep heading west to Denmark and stay in a caravan park. 

The latter choice won and we rang ahead as soon as we had a signal to make sure they had a spot at Ocean Beach Holiday Park.  They did and we made it there just as they were closing the office.  My goodness, that place is not what I remembered – it’s now reminiscent of some kind of American lakeside tourist town and as we drove through to the back where the unpowered sites were, it was like passing through a shanty town – J said it reminded him of a kibbutz where he once stayed in Israel.   

But the unpowered site area was huge and treed and lovely and we found a nice secluded spot to set up camp.  We’re getting faster at that now and I think it took us about 40 minutes to complete – we’re going to whittle that down even further, I’m sure.

So once we were set up and had a little breather, we headed back into Denmark for dinner.

The only places we could find open were an Indian Restaurant, a fish and chip shop and the pub.  J said that he didn’t think curry and camping really went together and we weren’t too keen on fish and chips.  So by default, we ended up at the pub.

As we were getting out of the car a German lady came over to us and asked us if we knew the place and if it was nice?  We told her that we were visiting too so we went off together to check it out.  There were three of them and they made it through the door just ahead of us, but we heard the waitress telling them that there were no tables left, only one that seated 6 people and seeing as they were only three, they would have to take a table out the back in the function room.

I’m not sure what the perils of the function room were, but it seemed like a pretty dire suggestion, so the German lady asked us if we would like to share a table with them so we could take the table for six, which we were happy to agree to.

As it turned out, they were a lady called Annetta, with her parents, Gutrune and Hannel, who were visiting from Germany.  Annetta had been living in Australia for about 18 months after having come here on holiday and meeting her partner.  Her parents had come over for a visit and she was showing them around the southwest.

They came from East Germany and it blew my mind to think that they had lived for 40 years under Russian socialism.  They were very sweet and it was so much fun talking to them – they struggled with English a little, but we got by just fine, sharing lots of laughs. 

I especially loved their approach to food, it was all so well appreciated and relished; they were very excited about the marron that J and I had ordered, offering to take photos of me and J with our dinner plates and very happy to try some.  It was wonderful to watch Hannel savouring it, picking through the shell and the claws with happy gusto.

<< pic of Denmark pub dinner >>

We finally left them and went back to our camp and pretty much went straight to bed.  (When we camp we tend to rise and sleep with the sun.  It makes for some long sleep times, but it’s wonderful.) 

It was a pretty crappy night though for both of us.  I was really uncomfortable on my mattress and pillows and my neck and shoulders were throbbing.  And J got a puncture in his air bed and slept on his bones for most of the night.

So next morning I loaded up on painkillers and after breakfast we packed up and headed back into Albany to visit a BCF and get a new mattress for J.  We found one for $25, which we figured was ok for probably only one use, but decided that we’re going to invest in a big thick chunk of foam to cover the whole tent floor that we can both use as a mattress.  I can’t wait!  It will take up a fair bit of room in the car, but we reckon it’s worth it for a good night’s sleep. 

After that, we went down to Frenchman’s Bay and visited the Blowholes (they were actually blowing..yay!), Jimmy Newells, Stony Hill and a random beach.  But the road to the Gap and Natural Bridge was closed!  Bummer.

J on Stony Hill

View from Stony Hill

Howe Point

Blowholes

Blowholes boulders

Path to Blowholes

Queen Me

 

Jimmy Newells

I had brought with us a lot of my Mum’s shells that she had collected over the years and J and I spent some time at the random beach standing on a rock and pitching them all back into the sea.  It made my heart hurt a lot, but I really wanted to do it and it was so much easier to face having J there with me.

We decided after that to make our way up to the Stirling Ranges.  The weather was really cloudy and cold and it rained a little on the way up.  But we got in to the Stirling Range Retreat and found a sheltered spot to pitch the tent.

That's Bluff Knoll under there somewhere

J had a quick nap and I had a read and then we headed over to the Bluff Knoll Cafe for dinner.  The only other people there were a group of four teenage girls sitting at one of the tables who the owner said would be “entertaining us“ for the evening.  Really they were just mucking about with guitars...it was pretty sweet.

At some point when we were ordering the owner asked me if I played and I answered that I played a little guitar.  He got very excited and said that if I liked I could come out and see his banjo out the back later on.  I said I’d like to, but while we were waiting for our meals he brought it over to our table.  I admired it greatly, but he hadn’t yet learned how to play.

So he got another guitar out, played a song with the girls then handed it to me, asking me to play something.  Bloody hell, I hadn’t held a guitar for years!  But the girls all gathered round and one who was holding a ukulele asked if I knew “Let it Be”?  (what else?)  So I resigned myself to the fact that I wasn’t getting out of there without playing something and asked her for the chords, got ready.. and then..right on cue, our dinners came out!  Oh dear, what a shame!  Dinnertime put a stop to all of our happy plans.  Thank the Lord.

The girls left while we were eating, so I was spared any reprise of musical humiliation.

Bluff Knoll Cafe

It was a much better night for both of us too.  J had his new airbed and I set my pillows up a little better.  We had been warned that it was going to be a very cold night, but we were both pretty toasty – I have to say the RV4 tent is pretty good in cold weather, even without the fly.

The next morning we took advantage of the luxurious shower block and had a leisurely and enormous breakfast using the camp bbq.  Then it was time to pack up and head into the Stirlings. 

We did the scenic drive right through the guts of the range and stopped to take heaps of pics.  It was colder than even we had bargained for, but it was delicious – an icy wind and chilling light rainfall was a wonderful change to the seemingly endless hot Perth summer.  And who can resist the sensual delight of standing and looking out over the beautiful Stirlings, having your hair blown into curly oblivion and all your senses tingling and awake with the freshness and chill?  It has to be one of the greatest delights of life.

(I’m not a Sylvia Plath fan, but I remembered that quote from The Bell Jar .. “I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people. I thought, "This is what it is to be happy.””)

"the onrush of scenery"

J & Gertie, equally excited to be here

Somewhere in the Stirlings

 

Gertie & Me

Once we were through the Stirlings, we meandered down back roads to the Porongorups because J wanted to visit a vineyard called Jingalla that he remembered there and pick up some wine.  We found it and he bought a case of their lovely Rosé.  (I assume it’s lovely – I haven’t actually tried it, but their Muscat was heavenly.)

After Jingalla, we had a quick look at the Tree-in-the-Rock and then drove the short scenic drive through the range, afterwards stopping for lunch at the nearby tearooms. 

And then sadly it was time to hit the road and start out on the 4 hour trip home, happily listening to BBC radio plays of Dr Who on the way. 

It’s always bittersweet to be home, but never mind – only 5 weeks until Easter!

Wardrobe

I've been working through the main bedroom, clearing it out, redesigning as I go.  It was my Mum's old bedroom, but she passed away a few years ago and bit by bit I'm slowly reclaiming it to be part of my house now.

There is an old wardrobe in there, which I thought was pretty awful.  It's so dark and dominated the whole room.

I was fully prepared to get rid of it and replace it with the clothes rack from my current bedroom, but then thought ... why not paint it?  I don't mind the shape, it's only that it looks shabby and dark and perhaps that can be fixed with a bit of work?

These are the old handles - plastic I'm afraid.  I'll hang onto them for now, but I suspect they're going to have to go.  I can only handle so much vintage!

So here it is again, primed and ready to paint.

It's true that I'm painting it in situ - the main reason being that it weighs a tonne and would take some serious effort to move.  And I can't really think of a good reason to do that seeing as it's going to come right back to the same place.

The question is now ... what colour?  I was going to go with white to keep the room nice and light.  But perhaps an accent colour down the center?  I saw this pic on the Ikea website and I've surprised myself by really liking that green.

Hmm.  I definitely need to think about it some more before committing.  :)

Australia Day in Jurien

So we have just had the Aust Day long weekend. J and I went up to Jurien on Sun morning and came home this evening – just an overnighter this time.

Yesterday, J picked me up and we drove from Perth straight up to Sandy Cape hoping to find a campsite. We stopped in Jurien on the way and had lunch at the pub – delicious Red Emperor for me and J had a t-bone steak.

We decided over lunch that if Sandy Cape was full we would try Lake Indoon further north and inland – I think we both assumed that it would have water in it.

So at the Sandy Cape turnoff there was a sign saying that the camping grounds were full, but we decided to go down there anyway and have a look. Beautiful place, but it was like a mini metropolis with heaps of people all camping on top of each other. I noted the track leading from the information bay towards North Head, but we didn’t follow it because we wanted to make sure we had somewhere to camp for the night first.

We went straight on to Lake Indoon and discovered that it was totally dry – like a big salt lake really. There was a couple sitting at one of the picnic tables, but we couldn’t see any vehicle or camp site that they might belong to. We speculated that they might be the ghosts of a couple who died there one Australia Day a long time ago.

Other than our ghost friends, though, the place was empty so we decided to pitch camp, even though it was much hotter than it had been on the coast. Once we were set up (we’re getting faster at doing that now) we left our camp and went off to look for the Stockyard Gully cave.

Interesting point is that I noticed on the way that Drover’s Cave and Stockyard Gully cave are at two totally separate locations – I think we had both thought it was all the same place. Stockyard Gully was a fair way north, not far from Lake Indoon, while Drover’s (and a string of others) were further south, much closer to Jurien.

Anyway, so we backtracked down the main road then turned south on a signed track (Pearson track). The map said 4wd only and they weren’t kidding. It was a mixture of soft sand and a heavy scattering of very sharp limestone rocks, like little landmines all over the track. We let the tyres down to 18psi and Gertie got us through without any punctures or bogging.

The site was much more developed than we thought. There was a turnoff with a proper carpark and information bay at the end. We followed the signposts which took us on a circuit trail, part of which takes you through this enormous 300m tunnel – a subterranean river. The riverbed was dry sand, but I can imagine it would see some flooding in the right season.

We loved this place and stayed for ages. Following the track to the entrance is a wonderful walk along the riverbed amongst all the gum trees and it was lovely to feel the temperature gradually dropping as we got closer to the tunnel.



Path to the tunnel



Beehives at the entrance

Inside it was pitch dark, but we had torches and J took heaps of photos of the entry and exit points. Absolutely beautiful.



Looking back at Entry



First light



Getting closer ...


End of the tunnel

After we climbed back out to the car, we continued along the track and eventually circuited back to the Eneabba tavern where we planned to have dinner (they had put a menu on the wall of the ladies toilet at Lake Indoon – pretty cool). Eneabba was like a ghost town, but we found the tavern and ordered some food. We were the only ones there, but the couple who run the place were really friendly so we sat at the bar and chatted to them while we ate. The lady breeds long haired dachshunds so it was interesting to hear all about that ($2,000 for a puppy, in case you were wondering).

Once we came back to camp, we didn’t sit up for long. We were both pretty tired, so went to bed at around 8 o’clock, I think. The stars had just started to come out.

It was a terrible night. The wind really picked up, but it was hot in the tent. I think I spent nearly the whole night listening to what sounded like multiple tsunamis rushing across the dry lake bed and waiting for them to hit the tent, I was so hot I felt like I was suffocating and I had the worst headache ever – I got up at 1.30am, left the tent as quietly as possible and took some pills. (The stars are wonderful at 1.30am, by the way.)

I’m pretty sure J wasn’t sleeping well either, he seemed to be tossing and turning a lot.

In the morning we compared notes and yep, neither of us had slept well, in fact, we were both rather pleased that we hadn’t been blown away or crushed by branches. The front awning of the tent had partially blown down, but other than that, everything was still in place. We had parked Gertie upwind of the tent and I think she protected us from the worst of it ... good ol’ Gertie!

Interestingly a ranger came to clean the toilets and I had a quick chat with him. He commented that “we had the place all to ourselves.” I concurred and he said that there was “only one lot down the other end too.” From this I gathered that there was another campsite further around the lake and that must be where our ghost couple must be staying. Mystery solved. Oh well. The forecast was for 41 deg so we were up and packing by about 6.00 and had left the campsite by around 7am.

J suggested we go to Leeman to find some brekky. As it turns out, Leeman has the cheapest diesel we have yet seen anywhere, so we topped up the tank and then looked for some place to eat. Note: there is nowhere that sells breakfast in Leeman. However there is a beautiful bay and jetty with a lovely lawn area on the shore. I had no idea.

Next we tried Green Head – still no food, so we carried on to Jurien. The only thing we found open that early was the bakery so we grabbed some basic food there then continued on to try and find Drover’s Cave. But at the last minute, I suggested that we go back to Sandy Cape first to see if we could drive that track to North Head I had noticed the day before. J was cool with that, so off we went.

I’m so glad we did that trip. It was definitely 4wd only – mostly soft sand again – but it was absolutely stunning. The coast line there is really something, a mixture of beautiful cliffs and lovely little hidden beaches and bays. The weather was the calmest I have ever seen it along that coast and the water was like a millpond. Calm water, warm and sunny – I’d say we were seeing it at its absolute best.

All along the track we kept coming across people camping, seemingly at random places. I think that if we had gone down there the day before we probably would have found somewhere to pitch the tent, but who knew? The tracks are a bit of a rabbit warren so we kept choosing the tracks heading south and eventually reached North Head.

What a spectacular place! At least two little sheltered bays with what looked like a very promising reef for diving out from the head. We’ve made a mental note to go back there when we can and do some underwater exploring. Definitely worth camping here for a few nights, but there were a TONNE of bees. J’s allergic and was a bit worried, especially as they seemed to keep hanging around him like he was the sweetest nectar they had ever encountered! (Which he is, of course.)

There was a man there who was camping with his partner. He seemed eager for us to stay and showed us where the best camping site was, told us how to deal with the bees (put a bowl of water out and they all go to it). He kept saying that for the next few days it was going to be beautiful weather, and what a shame that we had to leave. He seemed excessively keen for us to stay - bit weird actually.

So we left there and accidentally stumbled across a shortcut back to the Sandy Cape road. Nice. Then we continued on to our mission to find Drover’s.

We found the track (quite tricky – no signposts and very narrow) and started along. The tyres had to go down again and we noticed that there was a 4wd parked at the start of the track with nobody in sight. We travelled along for a bit and then came across a man walking towards us along the track.

It was really heating up by this stage, at least in the high 30s. This guy was walking in full sun on soft sand with a small bottle of water and a torch. We stopped and spoke to him, he said that was his car at the start, but the 4wd wasn’t working. So he had walked the track to find the caves, saying he’d found three along the way. I’m amazed he hadn’t collapsed from the heat!

J filled up his water bottle and offered to give him a lift, but he was determined to walk. He didn’t have a phone on him, but J offered him his number and asked if the guy could call us in a few hours, just to let us know he was alright, but again, he insisted he’d be fine, said he’d walked much further with his livestock.

So we left him. I hope he made it ok, he still had a long way to go.

Apparently we had already passed Drover’s without noticing, but the guy had said it was all blocked off with no entry allowed so we carried on and found another one. It looked pretty cool, but the amount of bees at the entrance was hardcore. J stayed back, but I gingerly walked to the entrance to see how big it was. Turned out there wasn’t much to see and it was a bit freaky being amongst a huge swarm of bees, so I very slowly came back. Luckily, no stings.



Bee cave (don't know the actual name)



Inside the bee cave

When we got back to Gertie and started her up, there was a horrible squealing sound and the air con stopped working. Bugger! I think the air con belt is either slipping or has seized. It was a pretty crappy time to have no air con!

We didn’t find any more caves and we ended up back on the highway, so we turned south again back to Jurien to have a swim. We decided to just snorkel, rather than dive, and checked out the snorkel trail. Total fizzer! We spotted some of the concrete balls with some crays, but other than that, there wasn’t much to see. It was also getting pretty choppy by then.

But it was so nice to be in the cool sea after being out on that hot dusty trail! So we took our time and swam over to the jetty and back.

We then went and grabbed some lunch at a little place on the main road then started back home again. I can only say that it was a bloody hot drive! Plus there was a huge fire to the east of Wanneroo Rd near Yanchep, so we kept checking the dfes website to make sure it wasn’t going to cut us off. Needless to say, it didn’t.

All in all, a really nice overnighter. We would definitely like to go back to North Head and stay a few days, perhaps further along the point, away from the bees. :)