Tues, 20th Dec, 2016 Ross & Lara’s, Wattle Grove to Jarrahdale RV area, Jarrahdale, WA (exploring Jarrahdale, Serpentine Falls & Dams)

Packed up to head south a little way. Said bye to the sheep and locked the gates. Onto Tonkin Highway south, turned off at Armadale onto South Western Highway then turned east to Jarrahdale, heritage timber town. The town is named after all the Jarrah trees that were milled here in the early days.

The town provides a 72 hour RV stay (self-contained) with water and dump point. There was a van and a motorhome parked on a concrete slab but when I asked the chap in the motorhome he said you can park anywhere. We worked out which way the sun will travel and parked between two big trees. Forecast is for 38 degrees in Perth today so we are being prepared.

Map of the area and history walk.

Had some lunch then headed off. The sun is hot but in the shade it is nice. There are hundreds of little flies – what were they doing before we started the walk!! I had put on some cream that Rick had bought for us but it didn’t make much difference!! First was the single men’s quarters for the mill.

Then the site of the 1968 electric timber mill – needing some repairs. The Council has bought all this land and are hoping to develop it into a tourist site.

Climbed over a broken fence to read this sign – no water tank visible here. We are keeping an eye out for snakes!!

Continued down the road past the mill site. The pump house was down beside Gooralong Brook.

Following little markers now through the bush – must have been logging tracks. Startled a few black cockatoos but this one stopped still for a photo.

Found a ‘swish’ to use on the flies – should have put my fly net on.Wandering alongside the brook – Mr Kookaburra was singing us a song.

Back on the logging tracks again – lots of banksia.

Got to Jarrahdale Road and the markers said turn left, heading out of town. Lovely tall gums along the edge of someone’s garden.

Cute little cottage.

Steve found some old machinery. When we peered through the fence there was hundreds of old trucks and machinery. The chap does tours by appointment. We have been watching American Pickers on TV and they would be in heaven here.

Across the road was an info board – we have lost our town history trail and found the one following the original railway line to Rockingham.

Interesting to see this is also the site of the first Bauxite mine (1846) hence the pathways are covered in bauxite – Steve has been for a slide already on the ‘marbles’.

Back along the road heading back to town - lovely colour everywhere.

Found our history trail again at the brook.

Across the brook - part of an old boiler.

Found a pear under the pear tree – ready for the 12 days of Christmas!!

Site of the first timber mill (1872).

Lots of information. Reminds me of all the photos Dad has of his father’s mill in Millaa Millaa.

Another big Jarrah tree – 400 years old.

Another sign about Millar’s Timber Co cottage – no longer here and the old Post Office (1896). Unfortunately the museum isn’t open Dec-Jan.

Next door was a cute little Anglican Church.

Around the back of the Post Office are roses and a grape vine (not as big as the grapes growing on Ross’ vine.

Some old machinery from the mill. Steve was impressed with the wood splitter.

More pretty flowers.

Continued along the track beside the brook to the Mill Managers’ house – it was huge. The shed/garage was set to one side.

Walked around the verandah – old kitchen reminds me of Millaa house.

The General Store was moved onto Jarrahdale Road and the old office is just a pile of rubble.

Back to the back of the Jarrahdale Timber Works we started at. Followed the road but the gate was locked so we had to walk past the mill to where we first walked down the road. The walk marker was hidden in the grass.

Back to the van for a cold drink at 2.30. It was 32 degrees in the van with all the windows and vents open but it didn’t feel too hot. The shade of the tree to the west was starting to come across the van so it should be cooler for the afternoon.

Read that the Serpentine Falls area closes at 5pm so we jumped in the truck – past the old General Store that had been moved here from down by the mill.

Back out to the highway and then down to the Falls area. Two rangers were at the entrance to collect National Park fees. As we had our pass we could go straight through. There are a couple of walks from here too but I think we have wandered in the bush enough for one day. They had the furtherest carpark open so we had to walk through the next carpark before getting to the entrance to the Falls area!! Across the Serpentine River – the ranger said the water is fed over the falls in the summer as the Dams upstream is for drinking water for Perth and surrounds.

The drinking water pipes from the dams upstream.

There is only a small area to sit on the rock – which was very hot as there is no shade. Rules say you can’t have floatation devices, chairs, food, drinks etc and it says swimming is not recommended!! There is a ranger here too keeping an eye on everyone.

Didn’t bring out togs so we headed back to the truck. Back out to the highway again then turned south and then turned off onto Kingsbury Drive which took us up into the Darling Ranges into Serpentine National Park. Stopped at Kingsbury Lookout. Hazy view.

Zoomed in on Perth then Rockingham.

Across the road was a Buddhist Monastery.

Continued along – all the left side of the road has been burnt for a long way around to the Serpentine Dam. Everything is so dry no wonder they have fire bans for 5 months.

Passed the Karnet Prison Farm where they have a big agricultural area, growing vegetables, orchard and farm land. Drove across the very wide earth dam wall looking for somewhere to park. Drove all the way around to the café – all the carparks were locked up so went back and Steve parked on the edge of the road while I ran around taking photos.

Needs a lot of water to get the spillway flowing again. Probably like Mundaring Weir – all controlled so it never flows over.

Down to the outlet pipe area.

Across the dam.

Drove down to the lower picnic area – that was open! Not sure why anyone would want to picnic here as you can’t get near the water as it is drinking water and there are big signs everywhere. Found a sign though there was no view left because the trees had all grown up.

Back across the dam wall and we continued along to Day Road which went down to the Serpentine River again and the Pipehead Dam. Stopped below the wall first.

Then walked down a path to the river and an old weir.

Drove back up to the dam wall top and found an info board.

Walked across the wall to the middle. Zoomed in a bubbling area near the big pipe. Not sure what that is about. The water is very clear.

The water isn’t flowing down the river from here.

As the gates are locked at 5pm here too we got going. Found the outlet pipes where the water is treated then sent down to the cities.

Back into Jarahdale for a late cuppa. The motorhome had gone but the other people in the van were there so we invited them up into our shade for a drink a bit later.

Lance and Janet are from Auckland, New Zealand and came over to see their daughter who was working in Broome and Coral Bay. They bought a van and have been working at van parks and housesitting and touring in between. We had a great afternoon/evening chatting with them and fighting off the marchflies – they were terrible. Tried Rick’s cream and it seemed to work better on the marchflies though they still found the bits where the cream wasn’t. The big inch ants were enjoying our ‘dead’ droppings!! After the sun went down at 7.15 the temperature dropped and we had to give in at 8pm and go inside to close up the van as we were getting quite chilled. The thermometer in the van said 25 but the breeze made it feel a lot cooler. Closed up the van and into the warm pjs!! Go figure.