Sunday 7th to Tuesday 9th April, 2024

Sunday was hot and we didn’t do very much. We walked along the estury in the evening, but gave up when it became rather difficult to get through. We ran into a couple of boys (grey haired, balding) who were playing with a frisbee and they pointed out an eagle’s nest and said they had watched a mating pair bring up a fledgling and send it on it’s way. We saw one eagle (a sea eagle) but it flew away before I could get a photo.

In the evening after tea I set up the projector and we watched a bit of Youtube. I find I’m getting very tired and need to get to bed early, but the tiredness has the bonus that I sleep extremely well and wake up refreshed and with some energy.

We also had a Facetime session with Matt. He seems quite happy and said that Marianne, another resident’s mother, had been to visit and bought cake. He also said that he and Eli had been shopping for toilettries and some long pants (trousers) on Friday.

The wind had picked up during the day and by evening was quite strong. I decided to bring in our Starlink as I was worried that it might get hit by flying debris. It was lying on an outdoor rug, and the rug had blown up and wrapped itself around the Starlink. Obviously, we hadn’t been getting a signal for a while, but our neighbour’s Starlink had been giving us the internet and we hadn’t noticed.

Yesterday was a moving day. We had settled ourselves in and it took quite a while to pack up. It was still quite windy in the morning and a bit cold when we went down to the water’s edge to watch the sunrise. I set the alarm for 6.00 a.m. to make sure we woke up in time. Unfortunately it wasn’t as lovely as the first morning as the sky was completely cloudless.

Once we were on our way we took a slight detour to visit Lake Clifton to view the thrombolites. The nearest giant (Giants of Mandurah) was just 1.4kms along a path, but I was worried about getting to our next destination in time, so we didn’t go to see it. We could go to Mandurah another time to see Robyne and take in some Giants as well.

We realised as we drove down to Balingup that we have not been to this area for many years. It is good to come in autumn as there are many deciduous trees which make the area especially lovely. On the way we stopped once to get fuel, then a second time in Donnybrook for shopping.

The Donnybrook IGA was on the edge of town and there was a cafe in next door. We thought about driving further to find a cafe, but decided that it looked quite nice and it would save looking for parking if we had lunch there. The food was good and the staff were friendly and professional, a good choice in the end.

Why Balingup? Stephen had been reading about the Golden Valley Tree Park, an aboreatum. We will visit it today and I’m hoping for more autumn colours as the park has a huge variety of trees.

We arrived in good time to pick up our key (for electricity linkup) and a code for toilet/showers. The Visitor Centre runs from 10.00 a.m. until 3.00 p.m. and we made it here at about 2.30. We chose our spot, then I drove back to the Visitor Centre to pick up our key and paperwork. We are booked in for two nights, but may stay for three. The Transit Park where we are staying has a time limit of 72 hours, but a longer stay can be negotiated if they are not busy.

In the evening we went for a walk into town, and it was very short. We could have parked up and walked in together to the Visitor Centre. The walk has Bibulmun track signs as the track passes through Balingup. We wandered up and down the street. When the sun set we decided to get back to the Sherwood before dark.

There is one other campervan staying here and some young people who were camping in their very small car. It is getting a bit colder and we needed our doona overnight. Stephen was brave enough to sit outside after tea to observe the stars, but I was worried about getting a chill. He said that he has now done the research and has some things he can show me tonight.