It was a bit overcast and chilly this morning when we woke up, but no rain is expected until Wednesday. We reached a top of 20 degrees later in the afternoon while we were driving around.

Collie River Valley Caravan Park (to give it its full name) is a lovely and quiet caravan park. The people staying here are dotted all over the site which means most have no close neighbours, as is our case also. They also have clotheslines dotted around so most can see their washing if they use the line within their area.

We heard from all the noisy birds last night and this morning – kookaburras, magpies and mournful cawing of crows.

And I got a text message from the office to say my new speaker had arrived. We picked it up on our way back to the van later.

Now that the hardware store was open, we needed to get some wing nuts as Russ lost the bolt when he changed over the battery There is only one holding the bracket down at the moment. That was our first stop.

Russ has found a bakery!!! This one hasn’t got a reputation like the Pinjarra in Waroona, but its pies and pastries are heaps better. The potato pie was much larger for starters, and the apple turnover had more apple in it as well as heaps of fresh cream. The custard cream donut was excellent.

While Russ ate his pie I went across to the Red Cross Op Shop for a look around. Of course, I found some earrings and two tops, so I was a happy camper also. I also picked up a hard cover book by JD Robb – the newest one in the Eve Dallas series – for $4. I almost swooned.

Collie’s main street is cut into two by a wide swather of parkland and car parking areas. It certainly changes things up as you only have to look one way. Some of the area also has children’s playgrounds. Lots of trees and bushes so very nice to wander through.

We decided to go back to the caravan park so that Russ could put the second nut onto the battery. It is a mongrel of a job the way they have set it up in the motor. There is a long metal rod with a curved ‘j’ on one end and the screwing section on the other end for each side of the battery case. But it has to be hooked into a circle at the base which keeps popping out as you try and put the bracket across the top of the battery and put the wing nut on to hold it in place. There was some swearing involved by both of us as we needed all the hands to make it work.

After the fiasco was completed, we decided to take a drive out into the country as the day was still relatively young. We both washed the grime off our hands and then I made up our thermoses in case of need.

We took off to see the Glen Mervyn Dam, and we travelled through native bushland. We found out it is the Newman State Forest and there were several splashes of different colours while we went past. Looking good for other days ahead.

The WA Water Corporation have 52,000km of pipeline servicing 2.6 million sq km across the state. To put this in perspective, the combined length of all those pipes would stretch around the equator 1.3 times. Think about what that means for plants and pumping power!

Located on the planet’s driest inhabited continent also means serious climate change impacts, not to mention soaring population and growing industrial demand. This means their planning for the future needs to be spot on.

WA now gets less water from rainfall than previously. So, WA Water Corp were the first utility in Australia to introduce desalination as a large-scale, climate-resilient source of drinking water.

At present there are two seawater desalination plants – one at Kwinana and the other at Binningup- which provide water security for Perth and have the capacity to supply around half of the local water needs. Looking to the future, they are investing in seawater desalination across the state.

Desalination turns seawater into fresh water for drinking, using a process called reverse osmosis. An intake pipeline tunnelled under the seabed transfers seawater from an intake head into the desalination plant.

These intakes have a screen to prevent large sea animals from entering. They are also designed to take seawater in at low speeds, similar to natural ocean currents, so marine life can swim away from the pipeline.

Then seawater goes through an initial screening to remove larger debris like sand and seaweed when it reaches the desalination plant. After this, a pre-treatment removes any fine particles from the seawater.

During the reverse osmosis process fresh water is separated by pushing the filtered seawater through membranes using intense pressure. These membranes have sub microscopic pores which act like ultra-fine strainers, removing salt, bacteria, viruses and other impurities.

About half the seawater that enters the desalination plant becomes fresh water for drinking. This water is very pure, so minerals are added to make the water safe to drink before it enters the water supply for all to enjoy.

The remaining water, known as brine, is around twice as salty as normal seawater. It is returned to the ocean through a pipeline that extends offshore to a suitable depth.

At this point, specially designed diffusers, combined with natural ocean currents and water movement near the desalination plants, disperse the brine into the ocean.

I always wanted to know more about desalination plants.

The Glen Mervyn Dam is a picturesque body of water which makes it a hub for recreational activities, including fishing, kayaking, swimming, and waterskiing. Surrounded by jarrah forests, the dam provides a tranquil backdrop for a day of adventure or relaxation. Anglers can enjoy casting their lines for rainbow trout, redfin perch, or marron (WA yabbies) during the season.

For hiking enthusiasts, the nearby Bibbulmun Track offers endless opportunities to explore the region’s natural beauty. This world-famous trail meanders through forests, hills, and valleys and provides hikers with breathtaking views and a chance to connect with nature.

We drove into the road leading to the Day Area of the Dam and followed the gravel road until I spotted a pink flower. It was a Pink Fairy Orchid, so the cameras came out.

Then we came across our first Blue Squill flower for this trip, some more flowering Clematis and, in a first for us, we came across a pink flowering sundew.

These sundews are a much lighter green almost a mossy colour, than the usual counterparts which are darker green tipped in red. It was an exciting moment for us. We take out pleasure in simple wins like this. (smiley face)

It was then time to drive back to the caravan park for a late afternoon tea, and to put on the casserole for tea tomorrow night.

Diary updated – check. Photos to edit – check.

And more adventures in the area to look forward to tomorrow.

We both had a good night’s sleep and only woke up when the occupants of the studio apartments across from us turned on their vehicles. It was 9:12am and the day is grey and overcast with some light showers forecast.

First place we went to after breakfast was the Information Centre in Collie. Denny was the very capable lady who provided us with a lot of pamphlets, and a map of the local area with places of interest for us to explore.

After that we travelled to Australind, just north of Bunbury but closer to Collie by some few kilometres. Once there we went to Supercheap Auto and bought a new battery – $300 – and then to Bunnings to buy a multimeter ($59) so Russ can keep an eye on the charge from now on. His old multimeter bit the dust and hadn’t been replaced.

We returned to Collie after that and I read some more of Cat Among Dragons on the way. We also crossed the Booyi Bridge which is our odd name for the day.

Once back at the park I did the washing and placed it in the dryer – then got it all folded and put away. While I did that Russ spent some time tidying up the back of the vehicle and making sure he can access those items he might need. Washing machines $5, and Dryer $3 for 15 minutes but it is a huge industrial job and so you don’t need to pay any more than the initial cost.

Diary updated after afternoon tea, and a quiet evening to be shared by the two of us. We have so many pamphlets to go through and figure out what we want to see while we are here.

My new speaker is due to be delivered tomorrow.

Thanks to the guy behind us turning on his radio early this morning we woke up quite a while before the alarm would have wakened us. We decided to get up and get going, which meant that we left the Waroona Caravan Park at 9:20am and the temperature was sitting on 18 degrees.

I took a photo of our electricity meter before we left – just in case – but it wasn’t needed. Julie advised us along the trip that the extra charge to pay was $35, which we were very happy about. It meant that we had paid $26.40 a night. Very nice indeed.

Along the way to Collie, we passed a big building for Peter’s Ice Cream at Harvey. This company has an interesting history.

Peters Ice Cream was founded in Sydney by American migrant Fred Peters. His first Peters Ice Cream family bricks, reputed to be made to his mother’s recipe, were sold from a horse and cart in the suburb of Manly.

In 1927, Peters’ Victorian factory opened in Melbourne. The slogan “The health food of a nation” lasted into the 1970s when regulations about health claims forced a change.

The brand was sold in 2014 to UK-based R&R Ice Cream, which has now partnered with Nestlé to form the world’s largest ice cream company, Froneri.

After several unsuccessful business ventures in Australia, Fred Peters began to manufacture Peters Ice Cream in his backyard in Manly. He set up Peters’ American Delicacy Co. Ltd in 1907 and subsequently expanded operations to two hired freezer rooms in Paddington.

In 1911, he opened his first major factory at Redfern. At that time, it was the world’s largest ice cream factory.

Peters then expanded into Queensland, amalgamating in 1927 with Arctic Ice Creams Pty. Ltd., a company set up in 1923 to produce and market the new ice cream sensation Eskimo Pie.

The Queensland entity, named Peters Arctic Delicacy Company, opened a new factory in Townsville in 1929. In that year, new companies were also created in Victoria and Western Australia.

Although Fred Peters was a shareholder in each of the companies, the different state entities operated independently and not always harmoniously.

Fred Peters retired as managing director of Peters in 1936 and died in 1937. After his death, the divisions between the companies deepened, although the Peters brand remained strong.

A young organic chemist, Emil Christenson, joined Peters in 1929, and from 1931 until 1970 headed the company’s operation in Victoria. With fewer than 100 employees in 1931, by 1971 the Victorian company – by then named Petersville – had more than 5000 on staff. It became one of Australia’s largest food companies, owning brands including Four ‘n Twenty and Edgell Birdseye.

In 1960, Peters in Queensland became part of Queensland United Foods (QUF). Competition between QUF and Petersville saw the Victorian company marketing its products in Queensland, for a time, under the brand name Penguin. In the 1980s, QUF and Petersville severed all ties with the Western Australian operation.

The Peters Ice Cream operation has changed hands repeatedly since the mid-1980s, having been successively owned by the Adelaide Steamship Company, Pacific Dunlop, Nestlé, Pacific Equity Partners, R & R Ice Cream and now, Froneri.

A separate Peters Ice Cream business in Western Australia was bought by Fonterra in 2006 and then Nestlé in 2009. Nestlé continued to own some ice cream brands, such as Drumstick and Skinny Cow, which Peters manufactured under licence.

The things we didn’t know.

We arrived at Collie a lot earlier than the 12-noon time we could check in, so we drove to the reception check-in area and had our coffee in the thermoses.

Claudia drove one of the work carts up to reception and booked us in early, so a big thank you to her.

However, when we were about to go to our new site at 11:11am, the battery was dead as a dodo once more. Another call to RACV, who then put in a call to RACWA, and we waited for them to show up. Russ took the hose out of the back and went to the site to hook it up while we waited. He came back a very happy camper and said it was well placed and would suit us nicely.

After that we sat in the car, and I read aloud some more of the Cat Among Dragons ebook.

At 12:08pm the guy from RACWA arrived without a battery as the shops were shut on Saturday afternoon. He jump-started the car and said that we could trickle charge the battery once we were on site, which Russ ended up doing later in the day.

He was also correct in that the site is terrific. We were able to drive across from it where there was no car or van and then reverse straight back onto the site. All the sites are tarmac and the areas around are all lawn. It is a very well laid out park and has lots of people in it.

By 12:35pm we were all set up and enjoying our lunch. There were kookaburras laughing and later, magpies warbling very near us. I love the sounds of nature.

Collie is much bigger than we thought it would be. It is near the junction of the Collie and Harris Rivers, in the middle of dense jarrah forest and the only coalfields in Western Australia.

At the 2021 census, Collie had a population of 7,599.

The town is named after the river on which it is situated. James Stirling named the Collie River, which in turn is named after Alexander Collie. He and William Preston were the first Europeans to explore the area, in 1829.

It has been reported that coal was discovered in the area by a shepherd named George Marsh in the early 1880s. The townsite was surveyed and gazetted in 1897. Coal production began in 1898 when the Brunswick Junction to Narrogin railway line was extended to Collie.

The town was once referred to as a “dirty mining town”, but on 8 April 2006 it won the Australian Tidy Towns Competition from finalists from six states and the Northern Territory. Collie was named the top Tidy Town because of the commitment of the community to recycling, waste management, beautification and community projects.

Today we awoke to bright sunshine and a top expected to be 19 degrees.

We went for a drive around the reserves and parks near Waroona and went past the Lake Navarino Caravan Park that has just been bought by G’Day Parks. It is being upgraded before it opens again in time for summer tourists. Russ got to do some 4WDriving – with water hazards – which he enjoyed immensely (Me, not so much!). Don’t try the extension of Scarpa Road unless you are in a 4WD vehicle.

Lake Navarino provides the opportunities to bushwalk, cycle, fish, water ski, kayak, explore, and – most importantly – relax.

At one stage I thought we had found our first feather flowers, but they were pink myrtle flowers instead – and very beautiful.

While I walked around a bit at the entrance to the Lane Poole Reserve, Russ finally got a Parks WA membership for us. We have been going to do this since the start of the trip.

There have not been that many strange name locations for a couple of days, but this one today is a beauty – Dwaarlindjirraap.

While we were travelling in the park we came across Bob’s Crossing so that was a water photo shot just waiting to be taken.

By 2pm it had reached 20 degrees.

Lane Poole Reserve sprawls over nearly 55,000 hectares in the picturesque Murray River Valley. It’s a dreamscape where spectacular beauty graces every corner of this natural wonderland. You move from the lush valley slopes and rock-rimmed river pools to the majestic forest canopies of Blackbutt, Jarrah, and Marri trees that stretch towards the heavens.

Lane Poole Reserve beckons adventurers with boundless nature-based experiences and excellent facilities – scenic campgrounds, mountain biking, hiking, and paddle trails, all easily accessible by 2-wheel-drive vehicles.

Nanga Brook cascades down a trout ladder and into the Murray River, the longest pristine river in the jarrah forest. It meanders, creating a dynamic landscape with lively rapids, small waterfalls, and deep, tranquil river pools. In winter, it’s a thrilling fast-water rafting destination, while summer transforms it into a gentle stream for swimming, canoeing, and fishing.

In 1984, Lane Poole Reserve was declared to protect the conservation and recreation values of the northern jarrah forest and the Murray River. It was named after C.E. Lane Poole, Western Australia’s first Conservator of Forests and a devoted conservationist – possibly the first Greenie.

Among its treasures, the reserve offers popular campgrounds, including the historic site of the old Jarrah Mill at Nanga, which fell victim to the 1961 Dwellingup fires. These remnants now rest beneath the sheltering embrace of towering pines, a poignant testament to the region’s rich timber heritage and the enduring resilience of nature.

Lane Poole is home to the Dwellingup Adventure Trails network, offering mountain biking, hiking and paddle trails for all abilities. Visitors can explore beginner-friendly tracks, take on challenging technical rides, or enjoy mid-distance hikes. Treetops Adventure adds another layer of excitement, with high rope courses and zip lines weaving through the forest canopy.

When we left the park, we decided to travel north to Dwellingup and then down south again to Waroona, completing a circle for the day’s drive.

Russ uploaded the recent photos to the website before tea, and I listened to Collingwood get thumped by Brisbane Lions. I have to say here that the young kids in the team stood up really well to the intense pressure supplied by the Lions, and I think good times are ahead next season with this crop of youngsters.

All things considered, we had six players who haven’t even reached the 50-game mark yet, so they did well in the circumstances.

Personally, the sooner we are out of the final’s race the better I will feel. I think the AFL’s Wildcard is the silliest thing they have ever dreamed up in a long time.

The sun was shining this morning, but it had no heat in it at all. At 10am the temperatures sat at 15 degrees. By 11:20am it had risen to 22 degrees, but the wind kept it feeling much cooler than that.

We set out to visit the next Giant – Jytte’s Hytte (and I can find no information about why it was thus named or what it means).

Russ had checked out its location, and we travelled to the car parking area. As we arrived, so did a bus load of school kids and it was a very tiny car park area. Russ then suggested that if we went along the side road, we might be able to get closer than the 1.8 kms walk (one way), so we left the car park and tootled along the parkway road.

This giant is located within the Yalgorup National Park. The parkway drives along the boundary area on the east side. We got to a good area where we could park off the roadway, then walked a few metres to a locked gate.

Many people have obviously taken this short cut as the fence at the side of the gate has been changed to make it easier to climb over. Once on the National park side of the fence, we followed the road until we came to the resting place for the giant – 600 metres.

The Giants are really a talking point, and they look tremendous when you get to them. We took all the photos we wanted and had managed to beat the rest of the crowd that had gathered in the official car parking area.

Once back at the car (after taken photos of some of the flowers encountered on the walk), and we headed north to see the Secret Giant – Little Lui.

This location is another one where you have a 2.4 metres walk round trip. So, once more, Russ did some research and found where we might possibly be able to do it a bit shorter.

However, it is in a more populated residential area, and we assume that the local homeowners had reason to complain about the tricks people were using for car parking to shorten the walk time because all the area surrounding the location was marked off with bollards. There was no safe place to pull over at all.

We went to the public toilets (not at the park itself but at the nearby cemetery) and spent a bit of time looking at the maps. We decided it was too long a walk for Russ as his Achilles is once again causing him some issues, but there was a locked gate area where he could pull up and let me off, so that is what we did.

The gate area had a place for walkers to use, and the path was not very far off from this location. I had my phone with me along with the camera and was able to use the phone to follow the path.

I got to the top of the path and found a T intersection. I was very lucky that the worker on safety duty with the Stop sign saw me pause in the walk and let me know the path continued on the road before going back into the parkland. So a big thank you to him for his assistance.

If you didn’t know where to look, I think many people would still have walked past the spot where Little Lui resides. He is seated on the ground, and his face is behind the roots of a fallen tree. The roots form part of his hair.

I did get some great photos and then hoofed it the 1.2 kms back to the car park where Russ was eating his lunch.

I passed a Carnaby Cockatoo in the trees on the way but did not have the right lens to get a photo of it, but there were several flowers that I got along the walk.

All in all, it was a beautiful day for a stroll in nature.

On the way back we went to Big W, and I now have enough of my coffee to get back to Victoria. There are not many Big W stores around anymore and it is the only place I can buy it.

While we were walking to Big W we passed a Lowes Menswear store, and they had polo t-shirts in Russ’ size on special. Erica was the cashier and she had fingernails like talons. They were at least an inch longer than the tip of her fingers. I asked her how she managed to get anything done and she replied she had worn them like that for such a long time that she no longer has to think about them. Russ bought three shirts while we were there, but I put my foot down when he found a fourth in a lairy Indigenous design. It was gorgeous but the price – $75 – was not what I would spend.

There is a Millar Street in Waroona, along with Ferguson Valley but that it closer to Collie so we will visit it then.

On the way back to Waroona Russ did a Bruce – which means he went the wrong way, and we saw lots of places we were not expecting to see while he found the right road once more.

Finally, we were back at the van in time for afternoon tea and some relaxation. I did the photos after tea.

Today was a household chores day of rest.  It rained early this morning and did not clear up until well after 2pm. The skies continued to be grey and overcast, and it was cold.

I washed clothes and towels and dried them in the dryer. I needed two washing machines, for the loads but the dryer is a huge industrial model that took everything I had washed – merino thermals excluded as they don’t handle driers very well. At only $2 for 20 minutes, it was excellent value.

I had to go across and see the park manager for some change. She seems a bit weird, but I got the impression that she had received abuse in the past from previous visitors/permanents and it had made her very defensive.

Whilst I was waiting for the drier, I made some more bookings ahead to ensure that we will have a place to park our van and us during the upcoming school holidays. Some places I tried had no availabilities already.

I had to amend the itinerary and cross out Albany as the caravan parks there are asking $70 a night. They seem to think that being on the beach makes it worthwhile, and I suppose some people would agree and would have no problems paying that sort of money out.

Instead, we have booked into the caravan park at Mt Barker where we stayed the last time, we were here, four years ago. Apparently, it is now under new ownership and is getting excellent reviews and is costing us $48 a night instead.

While Russ had his afternoon nap, I watched the drawn game between the Pies and Hawthorn. Russ said he was not in a good place for watching it and needed something to grab his attention so watched some of the videos he had been unable to download until the Starlink was renewed.

We had tea early and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

We didn’t end up going down the street. Instead, Russ managed to send out the email and has left the photos for tomorrow when we will have Starlink back online and can do it easily.

The sun was shining when we woke up, but there is not a lot of warmth in it as yet. At 10:22am when we left the park the temperature was sitting on 15 degrees.

The road to Mandurah is in excellent condition.

Our first stop of the day was to the Information Centre where you get the inside info on looking for the Giants. Milan was our contact there and she has wonderful customer service skills, so a big shout out to her.

From the Info Centre we sat down and decided the best way to tackle our To Do list before we find the Giants.

It was easier to head to Singleton (to the north of the city of Mandurah) where we would find one of the few Chemist Warehouses in WA. We also found a Woolworths at the same plaza so grabbed our grocery items while we were there. A big shout out to Alyssa at Woollies for her customer service skills.

Russ found a Potato Pie for lunch, but it wasn’t up the quality of the Pintarra Bakery back in Waroona. It was dry and the top looked stale. He ate it anyway and I thoroughly enjoyed my Custard Cream donut for breakfast at lunch time.

By 12:30pm the temperature was up to 19 degrees.

It was now time to check out the locations of the Giants and decide which ones to do today.

The tourist information states: – A magical and whimsical world of forest creatures awaits – but not as you know it.

Thomas Dambo’s Giants of Mandurah (Mandjoogoordap),is a free world-class outdoor installation in and around the lands in the Mandurah (Mandjoogoordap) and Peel region of Western Australia.

Towering up to five metres high, Dambo’s artworks are an evocative, playful and gentle reminder of the environmental impact humans have had on the earth. Dambo’s work has a deep sustainability focus, with each sculpture carefully handcrafted from recycled, mostly locally sourced, timber.

Dambo has created over 80 sculptures across the world, and his installations can be found in locations ranging from the forests and mountains of the United States to Puerto Rico, Denmark and South Korea.

In this latest edition of the series, the unique wooden structures will call Australia home, shining a spotlight on the outstanding beauty of the areas in and around the Peel Inlet, Harvey Estuary, Greenfields, Dawesville and other locations close to Mandurah’s (Mandjoogoordap’s) town centre.

In 2022, during the Noongar season of Kambarang, six colossal figures emerged from the wetlands of Mandurah and the leafy surrounds of Wandaraguttagurrup/Subiaco, forming the first Giants trail in the Southern Hemisphere.

The project was shaped in consultation with Bindjareb Elders, who guided the integration of local lore with Dambo’s recycled-wood artistry to create a profound intersection of the Bindjareb Creation Story and his global water cycle narrative.

Mandurah is situated in globally significant, Ramsar-listed wetlands; it is also a place of intense water-based recreation, which can clash with environmental sensitivities. Culturally, the connection and Custodianship of the Bindjareb Noongar Traditional Owners with this Country is very strong, though perhaps not widely appreciated outside of the immediate area.

As Australia’s second fastest growing regional city, Mandurah has also experienced social problems associated with high levels of disadvantage and below-average education outcomes.

This imaginative, large-scale cultural tourism project incentivised visitation, elevated environmental awareness and provided avenues to address some of these opportunities. Importantly, it brought a post-COVID economic and tourism boost to the area, and to Perth as the gateway to WA.

As a family-friendly, open air, self-guided, art-based installation, it also encouraged people to get out into nature and walk the trails, with the attendant benefits to health and wellbeing.

To further entice repeat visitation, Dambo deliberately designed the installation as a game: a playful, subtle way of exposing visitors to all the Giant sites. Visitors collect “clues” from five Giants, put them into a special “codebreaker” and only then can the sixth be found.

As we were in Singleton it was easier for us to go and see Yaburgurt Winjan Cirklestone first at the Coodanup Foreshore Reserve. It’s just around the corner from the 29-hectare Creery Wetlands: a marshy habitat for some 22 species of migratory shorebirds and native quendas.

Resting on the land of the Bindjareb Noongar people, Mandurah’s Yaburgurt Cirkelstone giant is in honour of a respected Elder, George Windan, from the region and in consultation with Bindjareb Elders.

Built in collaboration with local community members, the Giant replaces the Vivi Cirkelstone sculpture which was damaged by arsonists in December 2022.

From Coodanup we went to see Seba’s Song – the giant (5 metres tall) is perched on the rocky Wannanup/Dawesville Channel Groyne. It is very hard to get a good shot of this giant unless you are out on the water, so our photos were taken clambering over rocks. I have found a shot taken from the water which I have included in the photos so you can see her, but it is NOT my photo. This giant is supposedly female.

From here we travelled to Hall’s Head to find Santi Ikto. Santi Ikto is a 7m tall Giant who is sitting cross-legged, high in the sand dunes overlooking the ocean. It is a wise old Giant, with a big bushy beard made from sticks.

His arms are raised above his head, fingers stretched out to the sky as if asking the sun to make the water evaporate from the ocean and turn into clouds, so that the rains can come and nourish the land once more, according to legend.

You can’t help but fall in love with these extraordinary creations as you marvel at their size, their structure, the ‘stuff’ they’re made from, their settings and their stories. They inspire conversations, they invoke wonder and curiosity, and they bring joy to those who find them.

We are still to do Jytte’s Hytte at a secret location in the Yalgorup National Park, the Swan Coastal Plain’s largest national park, just a half-hour drive south of Mandurah.

Jyttes Hytte is sitting down, with her arms and legs hugging a very big tree! This Giant is over 5m high and 4m wide. She is peeping at us from behind the tree with her big, kind-looking eyes.

Some 10 lakes span the national park, a thriving natural habitat for migratory waterbirds, kangaroos, and wallabies. The most renowned lake, Lake Clifton, is home to a more unique species: the otherworldly thrombolites.

And last, but not least, is Little Lui. There’s nothing little about this friendly giant with his unruly mane, who at over 5m high and 6m long, looms large over his spot in the swamplands of Marlee Reserve.

The sixth Giant in the series is at Subiaco, but we will not be travelling to include this one in this adventure.

By the time we had visited the first three on our list I had walked 5.5 kms and Russ had walked 4.3 kms. He rested for the last one and took photos of birds that were nearer the water and car park area.

After a very long day we headed back to Waroona and the caravan where a cuppa was a most welcome addition to the day.

All the grocery items had to be scanned in for Nielsens, and I discovered there was a glitch in the app. It would let me load the code of an item and if it was on special or not, but I had no area where I could add the cost of the items.

I sent an email to Nielsens explaining the problem and will wait to hear from them.

Waroona is nestled in the Southwest region of WA, and the area has a rich and diverse history shaped by both its natural environment and the people who have called it home. Originally inhabited by the Bindjareb people of the Noongar Nation, the region is steeped in Aboriginal culture and connection to the land.

At the 2021 Census Waroona had a populations of 3,868 people.

Waroona is renowned for having WA’s largest Fairy Door Trail. There are over 300 fairy doors to discover throughout Waroona and the Fairy Door Trail covers more square kilometres than any other in WA, and possibly Australia. Magic Barn Fairy Garden is dedicated to everything fairies and is one of Waroona’s most popular destinations.

Not having any great grandchildren with us, we did not visit this site.

The town was originally known as Drakesbrook and was first settled by John Fouracre in 1891. A railway station on the Pinjarra to Picton Junction railway line with the name “Drake’s Brook”, named after William Henry Drake, an Assistant Commissioner General and original landholder in the area (1847), opened in September 1893 and the town was surveyed and gazetted by March 1895.

The surveyor-general of the day recommended the name change from Drake’s Brook to Drakesbrook as “it is more euphonious and would look better on the plan”. The change was made official in October 1896, and in the same year a post office was opened.

In 1895 Joseph McDowell built a timber mill in the northern end of the surveyed townsite at present-day Mill Street, near which a railway siding was opened. Due to the unpopularity of the initial subdivision, new lots were surveyed near the mill, which became known as Waroona.

This name was most probably a corruption of Werroona near the Bendigo goldfields in Victoria, believed to be McDowell’s hometown. (The original word meant “resting place” in the Djadjawurrung language.)

The town was boosted by the building of the railway, for which local timber was milled for sleepers. It catered to the needs of the mill workers with a post office, general store, school, blacksmith, a number of hotels come boarding houses, churches, doctor and dentist.

The farms supplied butter, fruit and vegetables for the men of the mills, and chaff for the horse teams that hauled the logs. In March 1899, McDowell’s Siding was converted into Waroona Station, and figures for rail traffic on the Southwestern Railway reveal that total earnings of outgoing traffic from Waroona was the highest of any station from 1904 to 1947.

Development was confused in the early years as Drakesbrook and Waroona both persisted in usage – in the 1890s referring to the separate towns 2 kilometres apart (of which Waroona was the focus of most major development) but often coming to be used interchangeably. The two settlements gradually merged into one town, which became known as Waroona. The name was officially changed in 1946.

The first Waroona Dam, now the Drakesbrook Dam, was built in 1931–32 under the guidance of the Waroona Irrigation District by unemployed people on work programmes during the Great Depression.

The completion of the dam, together with drainage and irrigation works, were the start of a period of considerable development in Waroona. The present Waroona Dam, further up in the hills, was officially opened in 1966.

The railway cottages, built in 1896 to accommodate railway employees (until about 1970), and which have survived to the modern day and have been heritage-listed, are the only surviving timber and iron clad platelayers’ cottages in WA and are among a very small number of nineteenth-century timber and iron railway houses still surviving in 2003.

Like many rural towns, Waroona thrived on community spirit, with dances, picnics, and football at the heart of social life. That legacy continues today, with Waroona maintaining a strong sporting culture and vibrant community atmosphere with many social events and activities.

Mandurah’s history is a blend of Indigenous heritage, European settlement, and modern growth. The land that now encompasses Mandurah has been inhabited by the Bindjareb people of the Noongar Nation for tens of thousands of years.

European settlement began in the 1830s, with Thomas Peel being a prominent settler. The city’s name is derived from the Noongar word “mandjar,” meaning “meeting place” or “trading place.”

Mandurah’s early years were primarily focused on agriculture and fishing, with the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary providing abundant resources.

The railway line in the late 1800s connected Mandurah to Perth, enhancing its status as a tourist destination.

During the Second World War, Mandurah was involved in defence efforts, hosting military bases and serving as a rest and recuperation centre for returning personnel.

Today, Mandurah is a major regional city with a population of 107,643, and it has grown significantly since its post-war boom in the 1950s and 1960s.

The city’s reputation for boating and fishing has attracted many retirees, and its connection with Perth has been strengthened with the opening of the Perth-Mandurah railway line in December 2007.

This morning it was overcast when we got up but the promised rain arrived around the 11 o’clock mark. The temperature dropped quickly and I had to add to my clothes to keep warm.

Russ looked at the kitchen tap this morning and found out he could not change it over to the new one because he does not have the right tools for the job. It will wait until we get back home.

It was then time to hunker down and pound the keyboard to get these diary days completed and ready for upload. To do it properly and with less frustration we needed to drive to the Information Centre where the signal coverage is terrific.

The rest of the day is a lazy one, but we hope to go to Mandurah and see the Giants tomorrow.

We had a wonderful sleep in after yesterday’s travel. The park is nice and quiet even though we have other people around us. There are a lot of permanents here, but they are very friendly.

The sun is shining this morning and by 11am the temperature was up to 18 degrees.

An unusual park in that we paid cash instead of an electronic transfer into their account, and we get charged for the amount of electricity we consume while on this site. It will be interesting but as we have only been charged $21.40 a night for the site, we can’t complain. Apparently, we are metered and they read it before we depart.

Russ turned the gas on in the caravan and turned the hot water heating on, so we don’t consume a whole lot of power. On the other hand, although I am keeping it short, I have thoroughly enjoyed the ensuite and hot shower.

Russ, on the other hand, would have a great deal of trouble enjoying the shower as he probably wouldn’t be able to fit in there without hitting wall and the shower curtain.

The sites at the park are lovely and shady with very well-kept gardens around the site. The washing machine in the laundry is $4 a load and $2 for the dryer. This is in direct contrast to the local Laundromat which charges $4 on the small load, $12 on the large load, and the dryers are $1 for 5 minutes.

I washed clothes and hung them in my portable airer near the van and it only took a couple of hours to have everything dried, folded and put away.

Just before lunch we went down to the Information Centre to pick up some leaflets for the area. Russ stayed in the car while I wandered around looking at all the local things on display for sale.

I bought 3 bars of soap manufactured by Wavertree and London (from Victoria, if you please) as they were on a special. They smell divine and it worked out at $6.70 a soap bar instead of the $8 a bar from the website. It is also half the price of the soap I buy through Saison (merchant in Richmond) as they come from Florence in Italy. I got hooked after our Italian adventure.

I bought a pair of earrings in silver which are a pair – one of the sun, and one of the moon. They look terrific and are a great souvenir for me.

I also picked up a souvenir for Jeannie while I was at it and a load of leaflets for perusal later today so we can organise where we want to go each day.

There was a bakery across the road (Pinjarra) from the Information Centre, and it has a really great reputation for its pies etc. So, of course, I went across and got some pies for lunch and a piece of apple strudel each for after tea tonight.

However, in transit they somehow got mixed up and I ended up eating the Beef, Cheese and Bacon pie that was for Russ, and he got my beef and mushroom pie. They were delicious.

After lunch Russ relaxed and tried to get rid of his headache while I did some entries into the diary and some more editing of photos.

The internet here is very spotty so it is very frustrating to try and do things electronically. We also so not have a good phone signal so imaging us standing with one foot in the air to keep coverage up and running while you talk.

I have to wait two more days before our Starlink clicks over onto unlimited internet coverage. We thought we could get by with limited upload and download capabilities, but it turns out not to be. We then bit the bullet and went to the unlimited plan but had to wait for the original agreement to finish on 18 August.

We relaxed some more after tea and kept checking the AFL games to see how the teams were going, and Bulldogs and Carlton had a draw as well as our team. Their draw was not the second for the same teams in the same season.

When we left Brookton this morning at 9:50am, the speedometer read 171841 and the temperature was sitting on 13 degrees.

We re-fuelled at Pingelly without any drama, and we got exactly 50 litres of diesel which cost exactly $123.45. An amazing conglomeration of numbers.

Along the way we passed signs for Tanglefoot and Wandering Tavern (we wondered where it had wandered to).

As we had driven the first part of this road I read some more of the ebook to Russ. We stopped just outside Boddington to stretch our legs and to enjoy our thermos of coffee.

Boddington is a very large town that has heaps of events throughout the year. To name but two of them are the Medieval Fayre and Feast and the Field of Quilts.

The Medieval Fayre and Feast was held in April this year and the event starts at 10am and concludes at 11pm. There is a very full agenda of things to see and do.

The Boddington Medieval Fayre and Feast is a family-friendly event that brings the medieval era to life with re-enactments, role-play, arena battles, and traditional craftsmen and women.

The event is divided into two parts: a day fayre from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm and a night feast from 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm. It is a perfect opportunity for families to enjoy a day of entertainment and historical reenactments.

Some of the performers come all the way from Perth and include Pipe Bands from different sectors.

Each year on the 4th Sunday of September is the Boddington Field of Quilts & Vintage Car Show.

You can wander through stunning quilt displays and admire beautifully restored classic cars and motorbikes while soaking up the relaxed country atmosphere.

There are plenty of food options available including Devonshire tea and food stalls where you can purchase your morning tea and lunch whenever it suits you.

And, if you love a good bargain, the local op shop is a must-visit!

A perfect way to spend a leisurely Sunday enjoying crafts, cars and great company.

Also at Boddington is the Newmont Boddington Gold Mine – a world-class gold and copper operation located within the Saddleback greenstone belt in WA, approximately 130 kilometres southeast of Perth and 16 kilometres from the rural farming town of Boddington.

Situated on 33,000 hectares of land traditionally owned by the Wiilman people of the Noongar nation, Boddington is a drive-in, drive-out site that offers employees the opportunity to live locally or in WA’s southwest.

The mine has consistently delivered over 800,000 gold equivalent ounces annually. Recognised as a Tier 1 asset and a cornerstone of Newmont’s global portfolio, Boddington is also a leader in mining innovation — becoming the world’s first gold mine to implement an Autonomous Haulage System in 2021. By 2022, the autonomous fleet had safely hauled over 100 million tonnes of material, marking a major milestone in operational efficiency and safety.

We then continued on our way and by 1pm the temperature was sitting at 22 degrees as we arrived in Waroona.

There are Naked Coral trees all around this area. We first saw these trees in San Diego, and I think they are gorgeous. A bit like the Magnolia tree the blooms appear before the leaves and produce a brilliant red forked flower.

When we arrived, I discovered that I had made a mistake in my booking dates. Julie informed me that I had booked in for a week starting tomorrow but was happy to change it to today. However, on Monday I will have to ring Claudia at Collie and make sure I can change the date there to an earlier day.

I think the stuff-up occurred as a result of the unexpected extra day we stayed at Mukinbudin, which ate into the original Brookton week and put me off.

It didn’t take us long to set up, and the site is very level with a concrete pad. The ensuite that comes with the caravan site reminds me of Lake Colac when we stayed there.

It is dated late 60s early 70s, but has been well kept and is very clean, with darker shades of brown and yellow flowers as the décor. It has the material shower curtain, and a toilet along with the washbasin.

It is a very funny caravan park in that there are no printed pamphlets for information about the park. There is a drawing on the office wall of the supposed layout, but it is certainly freely drawn, and I found it difficult to see where things were (not where they are on the map, for sure).

I finally found the laundry which only has one clothesline, but we are apparently allowed a portable clothes airer on our site, so the portable clothesline came out as an airer.

I listened to the Collingwood game against Hawthorn on the radio and it was nail-biting. It is the first time in VFL/AFL history that two teams have drawn both games in a season – 92 points apiece.