Pinjarra to Wellington National Park – Thursday 11th December 2014

Cool, sunny, fine & then warm.

It was sad to leave Pinjarra, but our timing was good.  The park was booked with a group of 30 vans to arrive on Friday.  We had a nice quiet time there, so it was very enjoyable.

We beat a path down the highway back to Harvey before we started on new road again.

Could not drive past the Harvey Information centre without stopping to have a cup of tea in the lovely garden setting.


Collie is elevated above the coastal fringe.  We climbed the “scarp”.  On the way up there were several signs showing photo opportunities.  We stopped at two and both had no views, totally blocked by trees.  I managed to take this one zoomed in between trees.
The turn off to Wellington National Park is 18 kms west of Collie.  They are doing a lot of road upgrades taking out the bends.



Wellington Dam Wall was built around 1932 and holds back the water from the Collie River.

Currently the dam is full and they are releasing water.

We decided to have a look at Honeymoon Pool camp area first, hoping that we could fit the trailer in – this also involved a longer drive around to Potter’s Gorge as the some of the park roads are one way. 
We didn’t fit into Honeymoon Pool and it was a good drive to Potter’s Gorge.





There are some good walks that we can do and they aren’t very long.
There is a 12 km return along the Collie River from the kiosk which is not listed on the sign.  We are going to do that one first.

What a surprise, we came down the hill and all of a sudden we were at the bottom of the dam wall.  The other view is the Collie River downstream to Honeymoon Pool.  This is the track we are going to walk.

The quarry where they obtained rock has been made into a abseiling area with a lovely picnic area below.











We went to the kiosk for lunch and everything is made on site.  I had the best hamburger ever.  It was pumpkin and lentil burger with lettuce tomato, sour cream and beetroot relish.  I am definitely going to try to get that recipe. 

While we were there several splendid fairy wrens came in – they are the brightest blue all over.  The girl at the kiosk told us that they are much brighter (if that was possible) at breeding time. 



This is not my photo, but I wanted to show you.  I intend to spend some time and capture a good photo of one.  They even come inside the kiosk, so they are not as timid as the truly wild ones.






Here we are camped up snug and cosy and right next to the entrance.  We are on the flat which was the most important.  There are a few camper trailers and vans in.  A very friendly lot and heaps of Queenslanders – about 4 lots which is amazing as we haven’t seen many others.  Happy Hour every night at 5pm for a good old talk.  The couple next to us are from Mandurah and are here for Christmas. 

During the school holidays you are limited to 2 weeks in a national park. 

We have a fire heading our way, but it seems under control and won’t be a problem for us. (Late this evening (Friday) it is almost to the water’s edge.  Surprising even with the wind, the fire has not spread but headed straight for the lake edge.

 

The water is crystal clear and you can see down for quite a few metres.

 

The dam wall and kiosk is a couple of kms down the road, a easy walk.  All in all this is a great location.  We went for a kayak today (Friday) from the camp around to the dam wall.  It was unbelievable how clean and clear the water is.  It will be very popular at Christmas, but it is first in best dressed. 

We are going to make sure that we have the booking confirmed at Augusta tomorrow, otherwise we will stay here.  We are planning on staying here until next Friday and then make the move on Saturday to Augusta. 

We drove into Collie this afternoon to shop – this is 30 kms.  We will go back in next week to see the town.  There are a lot of things to see as it is a “Super Town”, we are not sure what that means but it was on a sign. We have internet at the site, but our phone coverage is weak – our phone patch lead is broken - the small wire snapped, but we have full phone coverage as well at the kiosk.