Wagin and Stirling Ranges 25th Feb to 1st Mar 2013

Wagin

Left Perth for Lake Towerining to visit Ian and Theresa again. We have just got a phone call from John and Wil and have organised to meet up again, I am sorry liver but they are good fun.

 

 

We have decided to meet up at

the Stirling Ranges. So we head south east and head toward the Giant Ram at Wagin.

 

We came across the pioneer grave of John Marsh near the town of Williams. These pioneers were absolute heroes for what they went through. We pulled into Wagin with the view of having a look around and then just pulling up on the side of the road somewhere between here and the Stirling Ranges.

Went to see the historical village, more tractors and it seems that it doesn’t matter how many of these thing you go to you will always find something that you haven’t seen before.

It was funny the caretaker came out from her office and said, I bet you that I can show you something that you would never have seen before. OK I will take you on, she then points out a magpie nest that is made entirely of fencing wire. Apparently a farmer had watched two magpies over a series of weeks go off and retrieve lengths of fencing wire to build the nest.

They would weave and bend the wire to make the nest. It had hardly been finished when a storm came through and dislodged it from the tree, the farmer had then donated it to the historical village. One of the original buildings is the National Bank building which was built in 1927 and only ceased operation in 1989, it is still set up like it is due to open up to customers tomorrow.

 

As we drive around town looking for somewhere to park the van we find a caravan park which was put in by the local council, it is immaculate and only costs $20 night, this is where we are staying tonight.

 

Next door is the Giant Ram, it is 9 times the size of a standard ram but I am sure his Cajunas are double that. It is 13 metres long and 9 metres high weighs 4 tonnes and took 8 months to create. The park in which it is housed has been created by a combination of work for the dole, local community groups and council, they have done a great job. Communities are so strong in all these small towns, something that is missing in the cities.

 

Wagin used to be a very busy town but like many other small towns when the railway stopped so did the town. Katanning has taken a lot of residents away from Wagin.

 

We went for a walk around Wagin, quite a large town with the older section to the West of the railway line and the newer to the East. Having a look at the lines, trains have not passed through here for a very long time. We packed up and headed to Katanning on our way to Stirling Ranges.

 

We Meet Up With the Costellos Again at the Stirling Ranges

 

We headed towards Stirling Ranges Retreat to catch up with John and Wil, the range just rises up out of nowhere, it is very spectacular. It was fantastic to meet up with John and Wil, we spent the rest of the day catching up on stories and having a few drinks.

 

Not far from camp is Bluff Knoll, we planned to leave by 9.00 am to climb this bloody tough hike. Trice made the summit, she nearly gave up numerous times but kept going. This climb was rated moderate, MODERATE are you kidding me!

The only way this thing with a couple of thousand steps could be rated moderate is if you were a mountain goat with legs like a marathon runner. Can you imagine what it would be like to climb continuously for 2 ½ hours with most of the climb being steps.

The problem with the steps was that they were not well formed steps they were logs, rock and anything else that could resemble a step.

 

It was a 5 hour round trip, legs were dead and we could not wait to get back. You look up at this knoll and wonder how the hell you are going to do it.

 

Then when you are up there and look back at the starting point, you wonder how the hell you are going to get back.

That is where we came from over Trice's shoulder in the photo to the right. The hardest part had to be the last 500 metres, you can see the car park, your legs are screaming and you head downhill only to get an uphill climb at the very end. All Trice could do was lay down and die.

Ian and Aileen are the owners and Ian gave us some gear to go yabbying, we walked about 500 metres only to find the dam was dry with a dead kangaroo rotting away. We came back to Ian and he took our bait and put it in his private dam. Over 100 yabbies, cooked up and yum.

 Still getting over the sore legs, buggered knees, slow start, Johnie did a walk and Trice and I did a flat walk but only 3 1/2 klms. Did a drive. Dirt road was very rough so we turned around. Ian came back with another 100 Yabbies, so we cooked garlic yabbies for dinner.

 

Another sad farewell to some great friends, we pack up today with the intention to head to Parry Beach, very windy and likelihood of rain. We had a change in plans and decided to head to Albany to restock. Weather is crappy so I get to watch the touring car racing.

 

Very quiet because of the weather so we use the time to do a bit of shopping.

We read that Parry Beach is now limiting the height for bigger vans but a local tells us that we will have no issues. Off to Parry Beach we head.