Shannon to Manjimup 1/5 to 10/5

Shannon Campsite

At Shannon Dam

"Twenty-four"  Parrot at Shannon

After driving from Walpole to Shannon National Park we were extremely happy to find a sunny spot, complete with an outdoor table and a campfire cooking pit which gave us another chance to use our camp oven.  We were pleased to find that the Shannon campsite included several walks and found one walk that directed you through the site of the old Shannon township.  According to the blurb, Shannon had flourished right up until 1973 and had been established as a timber mill town.  The mill finally closed down in the mid 1960’s and then not long after in the early 70’s the Government banned logging completely in this area.  During our walk it was very difficult to actually discern where the townsite had once been, as there weren’t any of the original buildings left, just a few concrete foundations and a flat open space which was the site of the old town oval.  According to the posters this township once included a workers club, general store, service station, school, post office, railway terminal, tennis court, playing fields, etc, yet once the buildings were transferred to another location, nature had quickly taken back the space.  It was sad to see part of our Aussie history disappear in such a short period, but it does make for a lovely national park.  The walks at Shannon were enjoyable and while we were trying to catch sight of a quokka on our walk to the dam (which had provided water for the old township and the mill) unfortunately they remained hidden from us.  We also drove to Windy Harbour and Salmon Beach which, as we’ve come to expect from this region, were quite spectacular.

"Australia House"

From Shannon we stopped over in Northcliffe on our way to Pemberton.  The drive through this region which is noted for its Karri eucalypt forests was very beautiful.  You drive through an avenue of trees, each tall and straight, reaching to the sky.  At Northcliffe we enjoyed seeing sculptures in the forest at the local visitor’s centre.  During a 45min audio tour through the forest walk you come across many varied sculptures.  The artists who were commissioned for this project were each asked to exhibit sculptures which represented the local area and the forests.  As you can see from the attached pictures each sculpture was unique in its message

Forest People

Hands - (Made from Govt Docs, the hands that protect?)

Cat Sculpture - Some of the foods that feral cats eat.  Can you see the cat?

Bound

Sundew

Forest People

Campsite at Big Brook Arboretrum

After our Northcliffe stop we then headed on to Pemberton, another town where the towering karri forests are the highlight  (closely followed by its wine making skills according to Mark). Winding our way down the dirt road to the valley floor we were hopeful that there would be a space to park our van at the bottom, or at least a place to turn around.  Once again our luck held!  We had a wonderful campsite at Big Brook Arboretum and enjoyed campfires here every night of our stay. 

Some of our campfire group

On one night we had couples from Toowoomba, England, Melbourne, Brisbane as well as four backpackers from England, Germany, Sweden and Switzerland around our fire until very late at night.  It was wonderful sharing our stories. 

Not long after arriving at the Big Brook campsite we decided to unpack our bikes, pack our lunch and explore a few of the local gravel roads and walking tracks.  After a couple of kilometres we found a bush track that led down to the Big Brook dam which provides water to the Pemberton township.  The dam is quite large and is a popular spot for local families to visit.  We came across several groups who were walking around the dam and other groups who were fishing for Redfin and Marron. We wanted to try fishing ourselves in the dam but there were several signs warning that fishing wasn’t allowed unless a license had been purchased. A bitumen walking track ran for several kilometres aound this very beautiful location.

 During our trip we’ve met some lovely people and it was great to once again catch up again with Dennis and Diana from Victoria who joined us for lunch at the local pub.  On our last day at Pemberton, they also invited us to accompany them on a kayaking adventure on the Donnelly River.  We found it a really different experience pedalling a kayak and steering with a dial, but this will probably prove to be bad news for our bank balance, as we really enjoyed the experience travelling up and down a pristine waterway in a `Hobie’ kayak.  We could see many times in the future when we’d be able to use one of these kayaks and according to Dennis you have the option to add a motor or sail to propel these small vessels even faster.  It was great to share this experience with the Freemans and we had a great time paddling the kayak almost silently up and down this unspoiled and untouched river.

Another highlight for Mark at Pemberton was climbing the 60 metre high Gloucester Tree.  These giant karris were used in the 1930’s and 1940’s as ingenious ways of spotting fires in such tall forests.  They had lookouts constructed in the crowns.  In those days the fire spotters climbed them using special shoes (crampons) and a climbing belt; today the intrepid climbers use spikes hammered into the tree.  Mark was really excited about this as it was quite a strenuous and exhilarating adventure.  After hearing from a ten year old at our campsite that he had climbed the bicentennial tree up to the 25m tower, I was also keen to have a go.  Unfortunately, even with Mark’s encouragement, I just couldn’t do it.  It’s scary looking back down to the ground each step to locate the spike on which to place your foot.  Obviously he has much better balance than me as on the suspension bridge at the Beedulup Falls he was very comfortable, whereas I was holding on all the time.  This could have been because Mark liked to make it sway sideways!

Off he goes!

Halfway up

Look at the view from here

A tick off the bucket list!

After four days we moved on to Manjimup where we’d booked the car in for its 80,000 service.  An interesting note, on the first night we were the only ones in this caravan park. The caravan park has recently been refurbished, is centrally located and has totally new and modern facilities.  Wonderful hot, clean showers, new washing machines and lots of space – what more can you ask for?  

Timber & Heritage Park

The sawpit

This is another 'Karri Country' town and we visited the Timber and Heritage Park which was only a short stroll from our caravan park.  Many of the exhibits date back to life in a forestry village and by modern standards these pioneers did it tough. Using very simple tools they built homes and created some wonderful furniture.  The exhibits on display range from examples of the logging campsites that were set up in the forests and the various techniques that the loggers used to extract the fallen giants out of the forests for milling. I think I'd prefer to be 'top dog' in the saw pit.  The poor worker underneath had to lay down in the dirt or mud, and push the saw up.  These saws only cut on the upstroke.  What a job!

Where to from here?  We’ll follow the road and see what unfolds.