Yallingup & more of the Margaret River Region

We decided to head closer to Busselton because we had to get Ruby serviced. We decided on the little coastal town Yallingup. We left camp at Canebreak early as it was raining & arrived at about 10am, check in wasn't until 2pm but they kindly let us in. As we set up it started drizzling & was really windy & freezing, I couldn't stop my teeth chattering. We tried to set up quickly so we could have a hot shower. After all the times we have set up on this trip, we completely stuffed this one up & forgot to level the jockey wheel before putting the tent up, so it was all wrong. So we had to take it all down again, I can guarantee we won't forget again, far out. We finally had a lovely hot shower & went down to the local pub for lunch & beer. Nice spot. We had a look at Dunsborough that afternoon & then headed back to camp. Yallingup is a lovely spot right on the beach. It has lovely sheltered bays on one corner, but then a surf beach on the other, that comes right into the sand & lots of kids learn to surf there. A pity about the weather though. 

Yallingup beach

The next morning we were up early to drive the half an hour or so to Busselton to have Ruby at Toyota by 7.50am for her 70 000km service, which would only take about 3 hours. We headed down the street for breakfast & then walked the streets of Busselton for a look. We were finished in less than an hour, so ended up at a coffee shop to pass the time until Ruby was done. All went well with the service, we needed a new air filter & as it was off capped prices servicing it cost us $520 for the service! Crazy, we didn't expect it to be that much. 

Lots of fat cows in the Margaret river area

That afternoon we went for a drive to the tip of Cape Naturaliste. You could do a tour of the lighthouse for $14 an adult, we declined & checked out all the coastal roads for just as good a views, Eagle Bay was just beautiful. Very pretty coastline again. We also stopped in at the Eagle Bay brewery. 

Coastline near Cape Naturaliste

The next day was a Saturday & we did the tourist thing. First off to the Yallingup farmers market, then the Margaret River farmers market, which was devine, we picked up some sheeps milk cheese, lovely bread, some fruit & choc chip cookies, but tasted about a million other delicacies. Next up we went to the Bootleg Brewery. We had been looking forward to this, it was the beer we were drinking on Rottnest Island, so we new it was nice. Again a lovely spot & great atmosphere. We turned up at about 11.30am & luckily we did as the place was packed & most of the tables reserved. We grabbed a table, Mat tried their beers & we had a lovely lunch. They then had live music, which was great, so we set back & enjoyed the atmosphere. The guy singing played a song called "Save Tonight" which was the song we had at our valedictory at school 13 years ago & my cousin BJ is just finishing at the same school this week, made us a bit nostalgic & we wonder where the years have gone! As I was designated Dave, Mat insisted on calling into a few wineries on the way home. It was a lovely day out. 

Bootleg brewery

The next day Mat was feeling sick, not from a hangover, but he had caught my flu, so he stayed at camp for the day & I zipped into Dunsborough to do the grocery shopping. The rest of the day was quiet, catching up on the washing & we cleaned out both the fridge & freezer & filled up on water etc. I went for a long walk on the beach & saw how beautiful Yallingup is & why it's so popular. 

It was time to get back into the bush for us & to check out some new country. More coming soon. 

Roast Lamb & Veggies

One of our favourite things to do in a camp oven is a roast. I didn't get as many photos of this beauty as I would of liked as about halfway through the cooking it started raining. Luckily we had placed the camp oven right beside the fire pit & could swing the BBQ plate over the coals & oven so it could cook, while it rained.  

Ingredients 

- a piece of lamb roast, ours was about 1.7kg

- salt & pepper

- canola oil

- veggies to roast, we had potatoes, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot, onion & garlic

Directions

- prepare you fire, so you have plenty of coals

- preheat your camp oven over the fire

- meanwhile make sure you get your roast out of the fridge an hour before you want to cook

- place your roast in a foil tray & season with salt & pepper

- place your roast in the camp oven on a trivet

- use about 2 shovels of coals under the oven & 2 on the lid

- check after about 45 minutes

- cut your veggies to size & in a bowl, coat them with oil & seasoning

- put the veggies in the oven around the meat & replace the coals if you need to

- cook for a furthers 25 mins depending on how you like your meat. We find it cooks quicker in the camp oven than the oven at home if you have good coals

- remove the roast from the oven & allow to rest

- cook the veggies for a further 10 mins to brown up, you can add a few more coals if needed

- serve & enjoy

Always yummy. Leftover meat always has that lovely smokey flavour the next day. You can do any type of roast you like, roast chicken is a favourite. You can also use heatbeads to cook your roast or to supplement your coals if you don't have very good quality wood. 

Canebreak Pool & some of the Margaret River Region

Canebreak Pool & the Margaret River Region

It was time to head further down towards the Margaret River region & we were hoping to stay in a national park or equivalent campground to save a bit of money as no doubt it would be expensive. We left Bunbury on Sunday morning the 9th of November. We have found that it is not wise to move camp on a Saturday but Sunday's seem okay. On the way south we called into the Capel farmers markets & picked up a few fresh veggies & some eggs & saw this awesome kids train ride. 

The campsite we were aiming for was in the Rapids Conservation Park & was called Canebreak Pool. Luckily it was marked on the HEMA or it would of been interesting finding it. We pulled into a gorgeous campground amongst the trees overlooking a creek. It had been busy that night & there were still a couple of people packing up, but we chose campsite 1 as it had direct water views & was a lovely large site. This campsite is easily one of the nicest we have had on the whole trip. Solar was going to be a problem again, as even though we picked a pretty open campsite, it was forecast to be overcast & rainy for the next few days. Oh well, we planned to use the camp as a base anyway & explore the Margaret river area from it. 

We were set up again before lunch time, & instead of going for a drive that afternoon we decided to have a lazy Sunday & enjoy the peace & quiet as no one else was in the campground by this stage. We explored the creek, took photos & Mat went for a fish, but with no bites. We were allowed a campfire here, which was great & they even supplied wood & just our luck the wood pile was right near our site, Mat couldn't believe his luck. So we sat around the fire enjoying the night, only 1 other campsite was taken that night right down the other end. 

Wood pile 

The next day it was time to start exploring the area. We went for a quick look in Busselton to see what it was like, as we had Ruby booked in for her 70 000km service on Friday & wanted to see how long it would take to get to town, if we decided to stay at Canebreak for the whole week. The weather forecast was correct & the wind & rain started. It was freezing in Busselton, we really wanted to go for a walk on the huge jetty, but it was just to cold. 

We headed south again & during the morning visited the Margaret River chocolate factory (OMG just delicious, we had an amazing hot chocolate & warm brownie & ice cream, my excuse was that it was freezing cold, so I deserved one!) the providore, a nougat place, a olive oil place where we had lunch. We then went into the little town of Cowaramup to the candy place for fudge & the home via the Colonial Brewery for a beer. By the time we got back to camp we were stuffed! No dinner that night, we just stoked up the fire for warmth until it started raining, then we escaped into the tent to read. It drizzled most of the night. 

Chocolate anyone?

Not to cold for beer

The next day we headed further inland towards Nannup. On the way we stopped at another campground called Barrabup Pool for a look. The camping wasn't as good as Canebreak but it did have a fantastic day use area overlooking the pool itself with great access into the water. Just as we got there the heavens opened up again & we had to hide under the shelter until it stopped. 

Barrabup pool

Next up we went into Nannup itself, not much there, we heard it had a great gallery/shop of lots of locals artists arts & crafts, but it was pretty average. It was still freezing so we grabbed a pie from the bakery & that was also disappointing, so we left Nannup behind. We ventured up to Balingup & did manage to find an awesome gallery that was huge! We ended up purchasing a Jarrah bowl that had been turned out of a burl & it was almost perfectly spherical. We were glad we had finally found a nice souvenir from our trip to WA. The rest of the drive back was through a couple of other little towns called Mullayup & Kirup. A lot of the road ran along the Blackwood river & it was just beautiful. There were lots of chalet style farm stays right on the water. By the time we made it back to camp it had been another good day. Again we stoked the fire to get warm, not sure what is up with the weather!     

Blackwood River above & below

The next day we headed into Margaret River town to post our wooden bowl. $107 later we weren't to impressed with Australia post, especially as the bowl was only 6.5kg, rip off b@stards. The weather also hadn't improved, so walking the streets to have a look was a nightmare with misty freezing rain. We decided to go for a drive out towards the coastal town on Prevelly for a look while hopefully the weather improved. What a lovely little spot, beautiful views. By this time it had stopped raining & we grabbed some lunch & headed back towards camp. 

Prevelly, lovely weather.....

On the way home we called into a Berry farm for a look & sampled their jams & liquors. We then headed back to camp for a quiet afternoon, again we needed the fire blazing to keep warm. It was also actually pretty busy in camp that night with about 6-7 other campers. This would be our 4th & final night. We decided to move up to Yallingup to the caravan park for a few days to see the rest of the Margaret River. The weather was still crappy & we both needed a hot shower! It was also closer to Busselton to get the car serviced on Friday. 

During the night it rained pretty heavy all night, so we awoke to a sodden camp to pack up. We were in no rush, but were still up early, so we let the tent dry out as much as we could, but the weather wasn't clearing so we decided to just pack up, we are glad we did, as when we just got the trailer hooked up, it started to pouring rain again. So we hit the road & headed up towards Yallingup, more on that in our next post. 

Canebreak Pool despite the weather was one of the best campsites we have had on our trip. Just a lovely spot. The cost was $7.50 per adult per night, the camping was in numbered bays & there were about 8-10 spots & an overflow area, pit toilets, firewood supplied & great access to the creek, must make this place very popular on weekends. We didn't see a parks & wildlife ranger at all during our time. It gets a definite thumbs up from us.  

Bunbury & surrounds

We left Lane Poole & headed into Bunbury. There were a couple of Parks & Wildlife campgrounds nearby that we were going to try, but the weather was still rainy & there was a strong wind warning forecast for the next day & I was also still sick with the flu & decided a hot shower was needed so we booked into a caravan park for 3 nights. Well the showers were terrible, easily the worst of the whole trip & at $38 a night it was a rip off. We weren't really impressed with Bunbury that afternoon as we had a quick look around. The dreary weather didn't help. We just hoped there would be enough to do in the surrounding area for a couple of days. That night on dark we had some really heavy rain & bad winds that shook the tent all night.

On day 2 it was still windy but the rain had cleared for now. We decide the check out the campground that we wanted to stay at just out of town called Belvidere. It is on an inlet & looked really good, they even supplied firewood. The area had a interesting history before coming a reserve it was pretty much a hippy camp for alternate lifestyles until it was shut down & turned into a reserve. Most of the buildings have been domolished but there are a few relics to look at. 

Inlet

On the inlet side that the camping area is on there is a great day use area & we saw more black swans than we have ever seen in one place before. We then drove around to the beach side. To be honest it wasn't that great of a beach compared to the rest of the WA coast but it did look like it had a couple of good fishing spots.

Belvidere beach

 We then went further a field to check out Martins Tank campground in the Yalgorup National Park. The drive in was very pretty with lots of grass trees & we saw lots of blue tongue lizards as well. The camping area here is on a lake, & looked okay but not great. Both camping areas were $7.50 per adult per night, pit toilets & numbered sites. On the way back to Bunbury we found a great brewery called the Old Coast Brewery that did some great beers at a great location, so had some lunch out there.  Back to Bunbury for another crappy shower, at least it had stopped raining though....

Yalgorup NP

Brewery

The next day we had a drive along Ocean Drive in Bunbury were all the flash houses overlooking the beach are. This is actually a much nicer part of Bunbury. 

Bunbury beach

After that we had booked to get out tyres aligned & balanced & while we waited wandered amongst the shops nearby. We then decided to go for a drive out towards Donnybrook. On the way we called into a winery called the Bonking Frog, we had a chat to the lovely owner & bought a couple of bottles, our first wine purchases. We then headed to Donnybrook & bought some lovely fresh apples & avocados. Just out of town we saw there was an apple cider place with a cellar door. Wow, what a spot, they had a great cellar door overlooking a huge apple orchard & dam. Unfortunately the cider wasn't very nice, we tried the tasting tray & only liked an apple & ginger one, that they didn't actually sell at the cellar door. This place has huge potential & was actually for sale. It definitely got us thinking, if only we could do something like this in central QLD. 

At the cider factory

Next up we went to a winery called Oakway Estate that also did lunch & we had some lovely wine & a great pizza overlooking the vineyard. We had a long chat to the owner about his operation, as he also had beef cattle & a wood plantation. A very interesting afternoon. By this time we had to head back to Bunbury. 

If you are looking for a decent sized town to resupply or grab something you need Bunbury is a good option. Apparently the big attraction for the grey nomads is the golf courses. There is plenty to do around in the area though if you are willing to drive. Definetly have a look at Belvidere if you want some cheaper camping, it is only about 10 minutes from Bunbury. The distances are so tiny down this way, the wineries around the area are definitely worth a trip to. But it was time for us to get back in the bush. 

Lane Poole Reserve - Dwellingup

We left camp at Herron Point pretty early on Sunday the 2nd of November & headed to our next camp at Lane Poole Reserve near Dwellingup. On the way we went through the town Pinjarra & were suprised to find a Coles, so we stopped in to grab a few things. It was then about 10am when we arrived at Lane Poole Reserve which is run by the department of parks & wildlife. It has a online booking system for most of its campgrounds & we had booked into Charlie's Flat for 3 nights at $7.50 per adult per night. There are 5-6 campgrounds some are bookable others aren't. It is very popular on weekends as its only 100km from Perth.

Home for 4 nights & we had no neighbours the whole time

The campsites themselves are pretty small, but we had booked a camper trailer site, but we only just fit in length wise. It was a lovely campground though set on the Murray River amongst the forest. The reserve is a conservation area for the northern Jarrah forests & has fantastic access to the river for fishing, swimming & canoeing. There is also remnants of the past timber industry especially at Nanga Mill that is now a campground. 

In the reserve

Just a lovely spot, so we decided to head back to the park entrance to see if we could extend our stay by another night to take us to 4 nights total, while we were out we also cut some firewood, as we were allowed to have a campfire again, yeah. So we did lots of camp cooking that you will see on the blog soon, hopefully you have already seen our campfire cheese recipe here.

As we lit the fire that afternoon & were sitting around relaxing our first family of blue splendid wrens turned up. They are so beautiful & would continue to delight us for the next 4 days as I tried to get photos of them, which is not easy as they flit around. They were hoping under our chairs, on the tables & all over the wood pile. A red shouldered wren also turned up as well & beautiful black cockatoos (Carnabys cockatoos with white under their tails & white cheeks) & also the inquisitive grey fantails & the ever present ringnecks. 

As the camp was surrounded with trees we weren't sure how we would go with our solar panels, so the next day we decided to go for drive to get the fridges off the trailer batteries for a while. It was also quiet cool, cloudy & rainy. It continued to be like this for the whole time we stayed unfortunately. We went to check out some more of the park & found a great fishing spot. There was a duck there that followed us around he had obviously been fed before, so as we made a coffee for morning tea, he had to have a piece of bread as well!  It was a lovely day out & our surroundings were completely different to anything we have seen or camped in so far on the trip. 

Fishing spot

Morning tea spot

The next day we went for a drive to have a look at more of the park, as well as the towns nearby & did a loop through Waroona, Pinjarra, North Dandalup & Dwellingup. A lovely area full of wonderful farming country with fat cattle & sheep & lots of forestry as well. That afternoon I was starting to get a sore throat & felt like I was coming down with something. 

The next day I felt worse & we zipped back into Pinjarra to get some cold & flu tablets. Not fun. The flu while camping is a nightmare. Me coughing all night wasn't great for either of our sleep each night. 

Can you spot the old log bridge?

Cycad

Grass tree

Typical forest

One of my favourite flower colours for the whole trip

Other than getting sick, we had a great time at Lane Poole Reserve & we can see why it is so popular. A very nice spot for a few days. Our campground had pit toilets but no other facilities. There was a picnic table & firepit in each site as well. They are developing a flash new caravan campground on the other side of the reserve, hopefully they will leave lots of bush camps as well. The roads in the park are pretty standard dirt roads, but very dusty & windy in parts. The plants & wildlife are really great & different in the reserve as well. Next up it was out of the bush & off to Bunbury, more in our next post.