Saturday, Sunday and Monday, 25th, 26th and 28th October, 2024

On Saturday evening we made our way to the Astronomy Deck near the Town Hall. We found it disappointing for star gazing as there was so much light polution from the park and on the jetty. There was a cold breeze and I gave up quite quickly, though Stephen stayed for a while.

On our third night of stargazing we went to a spot on the lake that is near the caravan park, hoping for darker skies. Although Sunday was warm and still, about the time we went out a strong wind came up. This may have contributed to the haze rising from the lake, which again made finding stars very difficult. We returned to the Sherwood and Stephen took up his post just at the front, leaning against the car.

He often found this a good spot when we were travelling and it proved to be quite good for stargazing as he could avoid looking towards the south over the lake. We also found the line of sheoaks at the edge of the caravan park protected us from the wind to a certain extent.

Late on Sunday morning we took another walk beside the lake and went out on the jetty. We could see the plants growing beneath the water and although the water was fairly clear I wouldn’t want to swim.

We made our way through the town to the pub for lunch. The pub is about 100 years old and quite well maintained. It has fairly new owners who have been there several months and have plans to renovate the interior. In the meantime it is quite liveable and offers accommodation.

We asked about alcohol free beer and were surpised to find, in a country pub, that they had about four types. We ordered a couple and also placed our order for lunch. We asked about seating indoors (the flies were bad) and were directed to the hotel dining room which is obviously for the resident guests.

Stephen asked whether they had The Weekend West, the answer was ‘no’, but Stephen was offered some reading anyway. It turned out that our hosts belong to a type of Pentacosal Christian sect and the newsletters and book were from the sect. It reminded me that the main source of weird, US-style beliefs that are imported into Australia is fundamentalist Christian sects.

Stephen read about the evils of 5G and I read the exciting first chapter about a man trying to raise funds to take he and his family to the US for a conference. Once I finished the chapter we left, somewhat enlightened as to how people could live and find purpose in a small country town. Our host was kind enough to take these photos and we can see his wife, the chef. working hard in the kitchen.

From our caravan park host we had learned that the local school has two teachers, a teaching assistant (herself) and 10 pupils covering six years of schooling for the students of various ages. Quite difficult, of course. Still, it’s amazing that it is funded at all, given they could run school buses to a larger town and consolidate.

In the 1920’s and 30’s the town was visited by people from Perth, arriving in trains, to one of the few towns with a semi permanent lake deep enough for recreational boating and swimming. There are warning signs about the danger of swimming in the lake, with a photo of a child jumping into the water.

We returned on Monday after a visit to the little cafe. We had quite good coffee and chai lattes and sat on the only seating inside (away from flies), a couple of deep armchairs. Very comfortable.

At around 11.00 a.m. we left for home. In Brookton we went up to a lookout to have soup and toast. We have often seen the sign to the lookout, but this is the first time we have been there. The road in was pretty much a 4WD road, with deep ruts from winter rains. There were no level spots to park for lunch, so we ended up choosing a spot in partial shade and rather on the wonk.

We called in at Marie and Geoff’s place on the way through Roleystone. We hadn’t thought to check if they would be home and they weren’t, they were staying down at Taunton Farm for a few days. I rang Marie as we wanted to drop something off and she guided us to a suitable hiding place for the ‘something’.

Oddly enough we didn’t feel very tired when we arrived home. I think it was probably due to having a restful couple of days in Yealering, rather than our usual driving holiday. We ate healthily and slept well whilst away.

Stephen commented that it seemed like we had been to a different world during those few days away. Being home felt almost as strange as it felt after we were away for three months.

Last night we went out on our driveway and Stephen showed me a way of star hopping (using binoculars) to see stars. First you start with a very bright star, then move to a barely visible star, then use the binoculars to see a small group of very faint stars. I found it quite exhilarating. Although we have a lot of light polution where we live, including driveway lights, it’s not a dead loss here.

October 25^th and 26^th, 2024

Why Yealering and where is it?

Stephen discovered that Yearlering is a designated Dark Sky town about 200kms from Perth in the Wickepin area. It has a freshwater lake that has some water all year round, although that dimishes to the middle only in summer, when it becomes choked with reeds and other plants.

The name ‘Yealering’ originated in the attempt by settlers to recreate the Indigenous name. It means ‘place of water’ and is quite different to the land around. Coming from the rather bleak late Spring dryness of the surrounding countryside, it is a pleasant oasis of trees, lawns and apparently is suitable for water skiing.

Yesterday when we arrived in the late afternoon we experienced what locals call the ‘Albany Doctor’, very strong and gusty winds that continued at night. There was quite a lot of cloud, which made for an attractive sunset, but, combined with the wind, it was a washout for stargazing. We settled in for the night and whilst Stephen did some exploring I cooked rice, heated up a beef curry (made by Stephen) and set up a computer screen so that we could watch TV.

We were experimenting in a couple of ways. I had set up the living area as a lounge that was easily converted into my bed for the night. This was so that I didn’t have to sleep in the farthest part of the loft bed. And, we brought our Starlink mini to test out to see if it would provide sufficient speeds and reliability to be our travel internet.

Both were successful. The bed, with mattress cover and a doona that matches the one on the loft bed was extremely comfortable overnight. For the first time in a few weeks I slept really well. And the Starlink mini was able to provide sufficient internet for us to stream TV and Youtube even though it has the wireless router built into the dish, which was outside the van on the ground. Normally, with Starlink the router is separate and can remain inside whilst the dish is outside.

This morning after a leisurely breakfast we took a walk along the lake and into the town. There is a beautiful area of lawns and gardens and a jetty as well as the concrete platform for Stargazing. There is a list of 8 points for beginners.

We called into the small shop which is where we found out some information about the town. The owner is selling up, but only in order to retire and travel, not because it isn’t doing well. This sort of town was busy in the early 20^th Century as people liked coming here from Perth for holidays. The Pub/Hotel was built to provide accommodation for visitors and now is a community hub. There is a bowls club, what looks like a neglected Golf Club. and well maintained tennis courts.

There is a coffee shop/pantry that, unfortunately, is only open during the week. Unfortunate for us, that is, because we have to leave on Monday as there is a funeral on Tuesday that we don’t want to miss.

It is also a CBH storage town, with white silos that could be decorated in the way that other towns have decorated theirs, but the white is also very attractive, perhaps they are best as they are.

We are staying the caravan park as there is no free camping in town. Still, we are only paying $27.60 per night and have parked with our big windows facing the lake. We have water and power, ablutions and a small laundry. The campers’ kitchen is a basic open air structure. Everything is well maintained.

I’m presently reading Richard Flanagan’s new book “Question 7”, an intriguing memoir of his life where he tries to make sense of what is happening in the world from the point of view of someone who is only alive because of the nuclear bombing of Japan in the Second World War.

Tuesday October 1st, 2024

We took the Sherwood up to John Forest National Park for the day. We had been wanting to take walks away from the city and as we haven’t been to this park for many years it was ‘calling’ us. We knew we would be too late for the best wildflowers and were surprised to find there were still quite a lot.

On arrival we took a short walk and saw a kangaroo and joey right away near the picnic area. There were also parrots feeding there. Unfortunately, even if people don’t deliberately feed the wildlife picnic areas end up with some food on the ground.

We had a packed lunch with us and as it was rather hot in the middle of the day we had our lunch and a rest inside (with fans going) until about 3.00 p.m. We walked to the right along the creek, then walked down to the falls on the road/path towards the old railway tunnel. We saw more kangaroos on the walk and they didn’t seem too bothered by us, a little wary, but not scared.

We left the park at about 6.00 p.m., hoping the traffic would be a bit less frantic. It’s relatively easy to make the right turn out of the park onto Great Eastern Highway as it’s a divided road with a pausing area to check the traffic going the other way.

It was a really lovely day out and we will try to have more of them. The day was pretty warm because rain was forecast the next day, and it really poured on Wednesday.

The old tavern in the park has closed and become a part of the ranger station. They are building a new cafe and car park and the machinery was working until quite late in day. We hope to visit again when it is open, perhaps in a few months.