Collie and Potters Gorge

Note: The walk to Wellington Dam from Potters Gorge takes about 25 minutes.

The temperature dropped overnight. We had everything open (windows and hatches) and it got quite cold in the van, very good for sleeping. We made a slow start in the morning and I actually used the heater for warming up the bathroom before having a shower. We asked for an extension of time until 11.00 a.m. We spent time with Marie and Geoff working out what to do for the day, and checking out their caravan in more detail.

I won’t attempt to upload more photos as the internet is so slow.

We drove down the Visitor Information Centre, having noted that there was parking for longer vehicles available. We spent time in the VIC where there were gifts and some posters with information about the history of Collie. Outside there are some steam locomotive engines. There were some interesting stories from those times. The others then went to the museum whilst I enjoyed the fresh air outside.

From there Stephen and I drove to Potters Gorge. A ranger and a man from the kiosk came by, but no one asked us to prove we had a booking. They must have access to the vehicle registration details from the online booking to confirm that we are legitimately camped.

Marie and Geoff came by later for afternoon tea. I made coffee and they brought Anzac biscuits. We sat outside at the picnic table which comes with our site.

Later Stephen and I walked through to Wellington Dam. I’m not sure of the distance, probably about 5 or 6 kms return. It is a fairly easy walk, uphill at first, which meant downhill coming home. We watched our feet very carefully on the gravel, especially coming downhill. The day has been fine and sunny after a cloudy start to the morning. The temperature is ideal, probably about 25.

We had a better phone signal at the dam than here, where we only have one bar of 4g. It was useful as we could see quite a lot of smoke from a fire on the other side of the dam. I was able to check and find that it was a prescribed burn. Seems odd to do it when we are having strong winds here near Collie.

This evening we were going to have another meal of leftovers, but as I took it out of the fridge (it had been in the freezer and I changed it to the fridge this morning) the bowl split. It is Pyrex and we have been using these bowls for freezing food for years. We didn’t like to eat the food with the risk of glass slivers. Instead we cooked up some frozen vegetables with bacon and eggs, with bread lightly toasted under the griller. Plus a little icecream and the last of our rhubarb.

We listened to a Desert Island Disk about an American lawyer working in Afghanistan. Very interesting though we didn’t care for her choice of music.

In an update I can post some photos from yesterday on our home internet.

Some photos from Collie Visitor Centre.