Manjimup

Well I’ve done heaps today. Accidentally. 

I left Albany as planned and rode up to the Porungurup National Park, which was only about 60kms. I was cold when I left the hostel and stayed cold all the way to the park, so once I arrived, decided to have a walk to get warm. I only intended to have a bit of a wander but then realised that there was a full on bush walk up to the granite skywalk and Castle Rock, 2.2kms up hill. There was also a sign warning that the top bit of the walk involved some scrambling and a ladder. so I had to check that out, if only to see what the scramble was like.

The first kilometer was a standard bush walk, albeit uphill, but it was pleasant enough, through giant gums that had been burnt fairly recently but are now showing signs of regrowth. 

And just as I was beginning to think’ I could have ridden Gerty up here instead of walking’ the rocky bits started. Big lumps of granite which got bigger as the walk ascended.

But then gaps started to appear in the trees , giving glimpses of a huge flat plain laid out before the Stirling Ranges. 

So I carried on and then suddenly burst out of the top of the tree canopy and found myself surrounded by massive round granite boulders. One, known as the balancing rock (!) was balanced, poised on top of another boulder like it had been put there. But of course it had been eroded like that by sea and wind over millions of years. An incredible sight.

A few metres beyound that was the scrambling bit. Somebody had kindly mounted hanles in the boulders to assist the scramble, which would have been pretty impossible otherwise.

From there, it was up a near vertical ladder for about ten metres and then onto a metal skywalk which has been mounted around the side of a giant castleated outcrop, hence the Castle Rock moniker.

A couple of people who had made the trek couldn't do the last bit when they realised that the walkway was suspended over a huge drop and as it was a metal grid floor, you could see staright down through it. But they missed out; the view from up there was incredible. Right down to the coast at Albany and Denmark ( and BTW, Denmark was named after an English man, not the country) over the Southern Ocean, and westwards to over vast flat then wooded areas to Manjimup where I am now. There was even a huge fire burning over to the west, and of course that was the way I needed to go. Typical.

I stayed up there for ages, just looking out over the land and taking it all in. It's so good that somebody was sufficiently inspired to create a way for ordinary walkers to get up there and see the view from the top. Had they not done so, then it would have remained a secret, known only to some locals and those who climb I guess.

The walk down was harder than the ascent. Tired shaking legs and tree roots sent me stumbling several times but I stayed upright all the way down to a nicely rested Gerty, who was basking in the warm sunshine.

And look what I saw; a herd of caterpillars all going for a walk. Safety in numbers!

As I stood aside near the top, a man walking up said ‘ I saw you yesterday. You were down at the blowholes on the coast.‘  I was indeed, but then I was wearing my biking pants, so maybe he recognised them, although they are much cleaner today, having been washed ( twice) last night.

From there we rode on to Mount Barker where the pall of smoke seen from the top of Castle Rock was visible, and the odour of smoke was starting to waft across the pastures. But nothing was shut and nobody seem concerned, so I carried on to the town and found some coffee. As I sat there drinking it, various people came and went and then the same man, his wife and daughter came in and sat at the table next to me. Funny how you end up following people around when you’re out and about. They were from Cape Town, and he told me that they were travelling as his daughter had just finished school and he thought he’d get one last family trip in before she stopped speaking to him and wrote him off as an embarrassment. I know that feeling.

It was a long ride after that - 180 kms to Manjimup. But it was all on sealed roads so it was easy, although a bit samey, through woodland, bloody loads of it. But Lake Muir loomed up as I rode, so I stopped there briefly and took a look. 

It's all dry at the moment and grassed over but it usually has water in it. It's part of a wetland system made up of sevearal lakes in the area and its being managed to try and curb salinity but maintain the wetland habitat. Apparently it used to be a duck shooting area and duck season was declared every year. But attitudes change and the emphasis is now on conservation rather than sport and destruction.

I was a bit late getting to Manjimup and although I found the free camp recommended on Wiki Camps, it was no good for a tent as it was all concrete and in the middle of town. But that was OK  and I found a ‘proper’ campsite about 1 km down the road and managed to set things up just before darkness fell.

So tomorrow, it will be a shorted ride; I’m heading to Busselton, on the coast. I’m going to share a safari tent there with Shand whom I met in the YHA in Albany. I’m not sure what a safari tent is but I no doubt will do by this time tomorrow!