Issue 4 April 2018
Brodie’s next 15,000 klm
On th e road again
Hippos Yawn Wave Rock
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Arriving in Perth, well Quinns Rocks about 30klm north, late afternoon we parked the motorhome in our Perth friends, Ron and Mary, backyard. The position was perfect, a beach for Jan to metal detect (she found 10 cents and two sinkers) a bike track that ran for miles along the seaside and wonderful views and sunsets,
Quinns Rocks
Looking south to Midar
North from bike track
rie Marina from bike track
Mary and Jan looking for a fortune
Sunset on last d
We had a day out on public transport, taking trains and buses. It gave us the opportunity to wander the new Elizabeth Quay on the Swan River and then down to the resort town of Mandurah, it is amazing the development that has taken place since our last visit a few years ago. The next day we drove along Perth’s iconic beaches before lunching in Fremantle. We have noticed the eating out in WA is considerably dearer than at home.
day at Quinns Rocks
Sand blow ne
View from road of sand blow
ear Jurien Bay
A sand blow is a travelling sand dune driven by the prevailing south westerly winds, it needs a constant wind of at least 28klph for the sand to be come airborne and move to the front of the dune causing the apparent movement of the dune. They rarely travel more than a couple of metres a year depending on the vegetation they are moving over although they have been known to swallow buildings. The most practical way of stopping them is stabilising the sand by growing vegetation on them.
Jurien Ron and Mary’s holiday house at Jurien Bay, we by bike, car and foot.
n Bay spent a couple of nights here exploring the area
Jurien B
Bay Bike track The bike track runs for 15klm alone the shoreline and through the sand hills. It must have cost a small fortune it was good quality asphalt the whole length and we were the only ones using it ... well except for a couple of kangaroos.
Sandy
This is the beach area of the low cost camp at Sandy Cape, using sand boards or boogie boards you can ski or surf the dunes to your hearts content or as long as your heart can stand the climb back up the hill. There were even emus on the dune to the right of the photo. An amazing place for $21 a night (if the weather is good)
Cape
Our last night on the Indian Ocean and Jurien Bay turned on this sunset
The Monastic To
own of New Norcia
The old flour New Norcia is a monastic town that was established by the Benedictine Monks in 1847. It had to be self sufficient and self supporting and now consists of 20,000 acres of primary producing land made up of broad acre cropping and orchards. Over the years, the monks, relying on there own skills, managed to build some very impressive buildings including boarding schools, mission schools, various processing buildings and of course the monastery itself.
The flo
building was bak
This bu been in due to s see flas end of th
When w building she had joined u sounde about 1 While w no expla
r mill New Norcia
our mill, with the one of the boarding schools in the background, was one of these gs, used to convert the wheat they farm into flour then turned into bread which of course ked in the monk’s bakery.
uilding hasn’t been used for over 50 years but still contains some of the machinery that had use. We were allowed to explore most of the building, the back section had been roped off safety hazards. I was alone on the second floor when I heard machinery start up and could shing lights at the end of the roped off corridor, I assumed the monks were still using that he building.
we were all outside the building I asked the guide what the monks were making in the g, she said “Nothing the building is deserted!” Jan thought I was hearing things because d heard nothing at all. Just as the conversation finished one of the other tour participants us and mentioned some noises she had heard, when asked to describe it she said it ed like machinery starting up!. She heard this when in the same room that I heard it but 10 minutes later, like me she was alone.! we were exploring another building one of the guides checked the flour mill and could find anation for the noise ... the place was deserted.
Yo This is a free camp provided by the town of York, there is even free power for the ďŹ rst 4 campers (we were number nine!) it is only metres from the main street. Some were arriving at 10 in the morning in the hope of grabbing a free powered site. That’s grey nomads for you!! The main street is full of beautiful historic buildings and a very interesting motor museum (I forgot my camera)
ork
Wave Ro
Wave Rock is about 3 hours east of Perth, just outside the village of Hyden. Up until 1964 the rock was just a water catchment area for almost a ghost town, 1964 saw a prize winning landscape photo launch “Wave Rock” right onto the world stage with over 180,000 people visiting annually. The community had got behind the tourism bonanza by providing accommodation and infrastructure to suit campers all the way to five star all centred around a segment of rock weathered and eroded over millions of years into the shape of a giant wave. They also installed walking tracks around the rock and through the salt lakes, giving visitors an insight into the variety of landscapes created by nature.
ock at Sunset
The dam has been Hyden water supply since 1926.
The concrete wall was installed in 1928 to feed the runo into the dam, there is probably over a kilometre of the wall and as you can see in some of the photos can be seen for a considerable distance.
This is a view of the rock from Lake Magic, the white line across the photo is the water collecting wall
Some of the changing v
vistas around Wave Rock
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