Saturday 29th September, 2018

It was grey this morning and we did not feel like going for a walk after breakfast. I had quite a bad headache in the night, but some Panadol and massage from Stephen of the affected area worked a miracle and I woke up without a headache and feeling quite well.

We drove to Mandurah where Stephen spent time in the Visitor Centre trying to get information about wildflowers. I asked about a café and we found a lovely place, the Deja Vue Café, with nice drinks and food, plus a wood fire and comfortable lounge style seating. We spent some time there before moving on. I took a photo of the blossom outside on my phone.

We fuelled up, then headed down to Pemberton.

Coming through Bridgetown I was a bit disappointed at how shabby the town appears. Lots of buildings need paint, and there doesn’t appear to be much interest in preserving old buildings or making the town attractive. It is set amongst steep hills. As we continued down towards Pemberton the bush was looking rather dry and dull.

Pemberton, in contrast, is very pretty as you drive along the road and into town. Today was the AFL final with West Coast Eagles playing Collingwood. We parked in town close to the public toilets and set up the TV. There were 26 channels available, and we were able to watch the match, whilst having our lunch. It was very exciting, Collingwood was winning by the time we started watching, but the teams were very evenly matched. Despite a series of points rather than goals, the Eagles pulled off a winning goal at the end. It was great to see the teams so well matched.

After that Stephen went off to the Pemberton Visitor Centre whilst I had a nap. We have to commend the public toilets in both Manjimup and Pemberton, they are clean and modern and quite luxurious. They obviously had them built by the same contractor to the same high standard, and have kept them well maintained.

We have driven to our campsite in the forest. There are quite a few other campers in various types of rigs including one other large motorhome. The rain, which was threatened all day, has finally arrived, but it is still probably quite light, just sounds heavy filtered through the leaves of the trees around us before landing loudly on our roof. We are surrounded by tall trees and it is wonderful. We feel safe with so many people around, yet it is very quiet. There are a few children, but there is so much space that the sound of kids playing wasn’t disturbing.

There is a long drop toilet here and I went to check it out. Lots of insects and a bit smelly, which is disappointing after last night in Greenbushes. Also, we have used other long drop toilets which have been excellent. As tomorrow is Sunday it seems unlikely that the toilet will be cleaned.

We are conserving our battery power a bit as we are not sure how well it will be replenished in the morning with all of the trees around. We will make a decision on what to do tomorrow based on the weather. If it is too wet for walking we may just visit Big Brook Dam, then make our way towards Mt Barker, which is about 180kms from here.

We are paying $6 each per night here as we are in a National Park.