Jarrahdale

Jarrahdale is a historic town about an hour’s drive away. It was established in the late 1800’s as the state’s first major timber milling operation and WA saw jarrah exported around the world. Yesterday was a rare break in the heavy rain, (it’s been the wettest July for 30 years), so I decided to make the most of it for a drive and a bushwalk. The prime walk is Kitty’s Gorge, named after a cow called Kitty who fell in and couldn’t get out again. It’s a walk I’ve done several times, usually with a car shuffle so that it was only necessary to walk one way, as far as Serpentine Dam. On my own, my target was the guaging station, 6.4 kms round trip. The beginning of the walk is the car park opposite the cemetery and there were already lots of cars when I arrived at 11.00 am.

The trail was very wet and muddy, with a few trees which had blown down in recent storms completely blocking the track. Fortunately I was wearing my boots and carrying the two professional trekking poles which I last used in Spain on the Camino. I took extra care scrambling over rocks. It felt good to be out in the sunshine.

Some interesting fungi had sprung up in the wet conditions:





This is the month for seeing the Golden Wattle trees in flower:

The little stream was in full flood:

This is where I had my lunch before turning back:




In the afternoon I popped into Millbrook Winery which was just down the road. This has an exclusive restaurant where it is hard to get a booking. The chef has a reputation for growing his own food on site. On Mondays he serves up a pot-luck lunch to use up all the uneaten veggies from the weekend’s service. I just wanted to stock up with his eggplant pickle, but I was tempted to also try a glass of Tempranillo in front of the fire: