As published in Adventure Rider Magazine Issue #60
Living in the south west of WA we are pretty lucky with the diverse rides close to home. But Easter & a 4 day weekend give the opportunity to explore a little further afield. Murphy’s Law meant that the weather was less than ideal on Good Friday so we used that time to load the bike, ready for an earlier getaway on Saturday morning.
We had a vague plan of which way we would travel, however being a long weekend it was nice to get off the main road early on & start tracking south east along various dirt roads. Our first detour took us through to the back of Glen Mervyn Dam, a popular camping site with locals. Water levels were quite low this early in the year which meant it was a bit quieter than we expected. From here we headed further east with a plan to get into the Wilga State Forest.
We came across the town site of Noggerup, which hosts an annual Two Up competition in August & from here ventured onto some roads we have not explored. It didn’t take long for us to come across the first hurdle. After finding a section of road following an old logging rail line & dealing with a couple of sandy sections of track we found ourselves at a dead end with a gate & signs claiming the section of road as private property. We tried several side trails but could not get our way around it so back tracked to find an alternate route to Boyup Brook for lunch.
This led us across the top of the Blackwood River & a random Gregory Tree, marked with initials by Augustus Gregory in 1845 while conducting a survey mission. The jarrah tree is long dead, but the stump has been preserved. We also discovered that the rodeo was on at the Harvey Dickson Country Music Centre, meaning that Boyup Brook was a hive of activity. Regan found a park right outside our favourite cafe & we were able to get a toasted sandwich & hot coffee before getting back on the road.
From Boyup Brook we started tracking south towards the Muir Highway, with a vague idea of where we might find a camp site. We ended up tracking through the edge of farmland & gradually found our way through to Frankland River. A search of WikiCamps showed a possible camp at Lake Poorrarecup & Leigh got her hopes up that the General store might be an opportunity to stock up on liquid refreshments for the evening. Unfortunately this was not to be, 3.15pm on a long weekend Saturday meant nothing was open in the small country town.
We skirted the lake & found ourselves at a great camp spot, although popular we found a small patch of grass to set up the tent & take in the views. This was a great free camp with basic facilities including showers, camp tables & a sandy beach by the lake. In peak periods there is a fee of $10 per vehicle to stay which would be worth paying for the facilities & location.
We woke to the sound of jet skis & boats on the lake, enjoyed coffee & a relaxed pack up before heading to Cranbrook, gateway to the Stirling Ranges for a refuel. We also topped up water & got a coffee at Nanna Vick’s Cafe. 24km of sealed road found us turning off & the ranges opened up around us as we followed the main drive west to east through the range. There are plenty of walk trails & view points through the park, as normal we played drive by tourist and thoroughly enjoyed the view from the bike. The roadside is abundant with native WA vegetation, plenty of kangaroo paws & flowering shrubs. My favourite view though is the white gums which are so smooth & stark against the red dirt.
We reached Bluff Knoll, which is the most well known landmark of the Ranges, 1095m high & one of the only places in WA where it can actually snow. We thought that there was an event on, traffic was queued at the start of the 11km road to the car park. This was solely due to the car park being full & after chatting to the warden we were told it was a 30 min wait to get access. This gave the perfect chance to stop for a hot lunch in the car park while some of the traffic cleared. After finishing lunch, we headed up the road for a quick stop & photo opportunity at the base of the Knoll, then began heading north west to find camp for the night.
More research on WikiCamps found a lake only 30km out of the town of Katanning, another free camp on the edge of a local ski lake. There was only one other group camped here at Lake Coyrecup. The road in had a couple of mud holes, but nothing too complicated to navigate. The evening was perfectly still & after 2 days on the bike we knew that sleep would come easily once the sun set.
Monday morning found the pillion looking for coffee & the draw card of Dome Katanning got us up & moving. While packing up the tent we discovered that we had been a drawcard for dragonfly nymphs in the night & there were numerous empty shells clinging to the internal wall which needed to be removed. We captured some footage as this was something we hadn’t seen before.
After breakfast & coffee at the Premier Mill Hotel it was a windy trip back up the highway to Collie for another coffee. The sky was turning ominous so we took the time to put on wet weather gear & this was a solid decision as 25 minutes from home, the skies opened & we got absolutely drenched.
To see more of this trip, head on over to Regan Rides & check out the video here
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