
This was our fourth year in a row! We were all trying to remember on the weekend, but found it difficult to be sure. I’ve checked back through the blog. The search only looks at titles and one year it wasn’t in the title, so now will be much more careful to put events and places in the title.This small music weekend is a fundraiser for the Perth Children’s Hospital and the full title is Little Folk in the Forest.





They had some cancellations and a person who just did not show up for his session, but there were still lots of musicians, singers and spoken word content to fill the program. We also had a chance to catch up with the many people we know who attend this type of weekend. There were some Working Voices folk, plus other people we see more rarely, but have come to know over the years.
The volunteers put on a cooked breakfast Saturday morning, and this is something we look forward to from year to year. The Blackboard Concert is held in a green dome in the beautiful garden. It was quite a warm weekend and we were a bit worried about the heat, but there was enough of a breeze to keep it comfortable. We Working Voices folk sang twice, once after the dancing on Friday night and also at the Blackboard Concert.
Friday and Saturday night were cool enough for jumpers and comfortable for sleeping. Sunday was the only really warm day, and although there was an air conditioner going, the room was a bit stuffy and hot, especially as we couldn’t have doors open without losing what cool air we had.
We had decided to have a late lunch in Dwellingup with Eversley. The concert was supposed to finish at 2.00 p.m., but then was going on for another hour, so we skived off. We had packed up in the morning and were able to get away fairly quickly to meet Eversley in the town. We went to the Longriders Cafe and Restaurant, which Stephen and I had visited last year, mainly as, apart from the pub, it was the only place open. We haven’t yet been to the pub, so that it something I would like to do next time we are in Dwellingup.
After an unusual and very tasty pizza, salad and cold drinks Eversley headed home and we went to a campsite, the Old Marinup Townsite, about five kms from Dwellingup. We first visited the dump point and filled up our water bottles with what we hoped was drinking water.
The beautiful cafe beside the Visitor Centre has closed indefinitely, so that wasn’t an option. When we first arrived in Dwellingup at about lunchtime on Friday we made our lunch in the Sherwood nearby so that we could use the nice toilets.
When we arrived at the Marinup campsite it was still warm, with the sun very bright. We put out the awning on the sun side and sat in the shade at the rear. The bugs and flies, which had been a problem outside all weekend, were still causing problems. We tended to cover up as much as possible to try to deter them. The flies didn’t bother our faces but the big March fly type creatures loved legs and feet.
We set up the Starlink as we wanted to talk to Matt via Facetime in the evening. I also used it for a short time at the music camp to look up the words to a song which we thought we might perform during the dinner break. However, no else was performing and it was a song that most of us hadn’t sung for a long time, but we thought we would join with people from another choir to sing it. Fortunately, as we would have been under rehearsed, it didn’t happen. I left the Starlink out overnight at Marinup, switched off to save battery power, and tucked in close to the Sherwood. We set it up again in the morning.
I’m not too worried about it being stolen. For some reason, although the dish is vulnerable to being driven over at campsites, people don’t steal them. It wouldn’t do them any good anyway as it is powered via the wireless router inside and can only work if you are the owner. So even if you bought a router and fixed the cable you’d had to cut to steal it you still couldn’t use it. But not everyone would know this, of course.
The nights at Banksia Springs had been still and cool, but our night at Marinup was a bit warmer, though with a strong wind which kept things comfortable for sleeping. We had parked away from the trees so weren’t worried about branches falling on us. It is also better for our solar system to be in the open.
In the morning we had a cup of tea, then went for a short walk on one of the trails. A mountain bike trail goes through the campsite. As we walked along I noticed a lot of loose gravel which would make it difficult for riding, unless you are very experienced I guess. We heard a lot of birds, but couldn’t actually see any. There was one flowering bush.









Eversley pointed out, correctly, that my main focus in the past three weekends away is the camping, rather than the events which lead to us travelling. Although I enjoyed all of the weekends for the actual events that motivated our travel, I particularly enjoyed finding interesting places to stay.
We have no more trips planned for this year, but hope to head to the Albany region as early as possible in the new year. We were very fortunate in the weather, especially this past weekend, as we now in a heatwave that is predicted to last until next Tuesday. It’s very unusual for late Spring. We can only hope that if the very hot summer happens as predicted that the Albany region will mostly be much cooler.