Fri, 14th Feb, 2025 Bush camp at Kulyaling Park, south of Brookton to Memorial Park RV Stop, Boddington, WA (exploring old sites & Wandering)

13 degrees, clear sky and light breeze. Not as cold as predicted but still chilly for us.

Packed up as the wind picked up again bringing in some clouds.

Back onto the Great Southern Highway and headed south to Pingelly. Turned south-west towards Wandering. Up and down hills through more farm land.

Turned off that to check out Pumphrey’s Bridge on the Narrogin-Wandering Road. Passed the historic homestead, est 1867 but no other info. Someone lives there and you can view it by appointment so I didn’t get a photo.

Across the Pumphrey Bridge over the Hotham River. The old bridge has broken in two.

Turned into the rest area by the river. The wind is still cold when we got out for a walk. Checked out the bridge then walked up to the hall - CWA, but there is no history info here. Googled it up - William and Catherine Pumphrey arrived from England in 1854 and lived first in Pinjara. They moved here, then called Hotham Crossing, and worked the land. The bridge was built in the early 1800s.

Across the road is a sportsground, shed, playground and picnic shelter. I found a plaque closer to the road about the local aborigines.

Back across the bridge - view of the other side.

Next stop was a rest area at the site of Codjatotine Hall & School. Good history info here and display of fencing.

While we had a cuppa I noticed another couple of plaques.

Across the road was the track to the Hotham River which we followed to the pool. Not too inviting at the moment.

Back to the camper and continued on to Wandering, est 1861. Drove past an old church, tavern, post office then noticed a nice sculpture so we pulled in for a look. Steve parked next to a big shed full of old machinery. I got photos through the wire gates.

Chunky sculpture of an Indian chap, Veer Singh, who was a hawker around the area.

Across from that was a plaque about the timber milling industry of the area.

Next door is the Agricultural Hall (1896) which had a great Street Library out the front. Steve found some new books to read so we went back to the camper to get the ones we have both read to leave for the next person.

Time line sign out the front also explains possibly how the town got its name - the horses had wandered.

Walked down the road past the Post Office then a couple of old homes, Road Board and the CWA Hall at the end.

Across the road is the Tavern.

Turned up a road where lots of different native plants have been planted in rows then into the site of the old school and where we can join the history/nature walk. On the other side of the gully is the caravan park.

‘Wandered’ along, haha, reading the info. The top of the posts have plaques of past and local families.

Jam tree - that explains why the fence posts mentioned at the rest area before said Jam posts.

Reached the other side of the ‘park’ then crossed the road to follow the track along to the church. Sign said to ring the council to get a code so we could go inside - I didn’t bring my phone!

‘Grassdale’ across the road.

The outhouse with the ‘pan’ door at the back.

Back to the road and along the edge of the ‘park’ following the signs.

We will be going to Crossman on our way to Boddington.

More history.

Picnic area with more tracks into the ‘park’ for when the wildflowers and birds are about.

Found the walk entrance next to the van park - which has a few powered sites, couple of cabins and big open area for unpowered.

Wogolin Gully is dry at the moment.

Back to where we started then along the main road to the truck. Headed back the way we came crossing Wandering Brook which did have water in it which will flow into the Hotham River.

Turned onto the road to go past the old townsite/mill of Dwarda. Across the Hotham River - wide sandy and treed area - no water here. The brook would flow in just along from here. Need to do all these river again after winter when they receive their rainfall but it’s too cold for us then!!

Turned up the Dwarda Road but there is nothing left of the mill etc here except a sign indicating the school site.

Continued westward then left onto the Albany Highway then right at the site of the old Crossman Roadhouse. The highway crosses the Hotham River just north of here.

This road will take us to Boddington. As we neared it we turned off to check out Ranford Pool (Hotham River) to have lunch. It was the site of a tanning factory in 1970s. Unfortunately they are in the process of doing it up so the car park next to the picnic area was closed so we just did a quick walk around. Nice spot for a swim though it isn’t fresh - still brackish from the salinity in the soil.

We continued on into town and pulled into the 48hr RV Stop at the Memorial Park. Nice spot overlooking the river pool to have lunch.

Looked back at the photos of Feb 2018 when we were here and the pool is a lot lower so last year mustn’t have been a good wet season for the whole area.

A big Unimog pulled in beside us and Steve recognised it from Mataranka and the camp spot in NT just before crossing into WA. He had chatted with the chap and his Dad. Mike and his wife have now sold up their place in Perth after that trip and are heading off to wander Aust.

While Steve chatted I worked on my blog. I have a ‘day by day’ list on my laptop so I can look back to find places etc. I decided I needed it on the actual blog too so I added the year list to the end of 31^st Dec story which will help when I am trying to find things when using my phone.

Got to 33 degrees today. After a cuppa we walked back to the info board and a sculpture of the rodeo rider. Boddington Rodeo is one of the biggest and held in November each year. There is a Medieval Festival in May too.

Across the road on the corner was some emus which were done by the same sculpture of the rodeo rider. He did these in 2019 so we hadn’t seen them before.

After drinks we walked down to the river and along to the nice picnic area. Looking down towards the weir then back along to the bridge. Spotted one black swan.

Back to the camper - camp site full up now.

Sat outside to eat dinner as it was so nice listening to the birds. We heard a Woo Woo and Steve said it was an owl. After a while a pigeon flew down near us and we realised it was him making the call. Then a female called back from the branch of the tree above him. He flew up then there was a fluttering of wings behind the leaves and then she flew into another branch making funny noises! Then we saw some ducks getting together - must be mating time for birds! He started calling again - typical male!

Everything quietened down after the sun set and there isn’t much traffic so it is lovely here.