J20.5 Coast, Wheatbelt & Suburbia

This post is part of a series called Journey 20 ● Bremer Bay 2017

J20.1 Bunners, Bunker Bay & Hamlin Bay
J20.2 Tree, Honey & Sea
J20.3 Granite Skywalk & Wines.
J20.4 Whales, Seals, Eagles and beach-time
J20.5 Coast, Wheatbelt & Suburbia

So, today is a Monday and the last day separated from my daily routine, however before I begin my fairly long drive back to Perth, it’s essential that I make a visit to the closest beach in Bremer Bay where the Wellstead Eastuary meets the sea and as you’d expect, it’d be different now from any other point in time that a photo would’ve shown the beach as. After a brief observation of a 4×4 barely making an impression in the sand, it was time to hit the beach with the convertible’s rubber paws and for my first time ever, drive onto a beach!
What a great photo opportunity, even without the 5 on the pristine white sands, while calm & clear water only a foot deep passed a few metres away linking the estuary to the sea. Stunning!
A fillup to farewell peaceful and relaxing Bremer Bay, then a sealed-road shortcut via Gairdner to Jerramungup for a fuel top-up led me briefly to the familiar tarmac along Gnowangerup-Jerramungup Rd before entrusting the GPS’ instructions to take a “road in poor condition” toward Pingrup, however the road was fine with a few kilometres of well-graded gravel at the end.

Now we’re in new territory which is what roadtrips are all about, with the satellite imagery scanning I did last month leading me to speculate this should be a worthwhile region to explore and in all honesty, Pingrup-Lake Grace Rd was both enjoyable for the regular turns and some surreal salt-lake scenery dotted amongst the rollings fields of wheat and merino farms. Lake Grace is a neat and well presented town with the actual lake just outside of town much larger than I had expected so a quick photo stop and walk onto the lake’s surface was due, though I didn’t walk too far in as the surface was slightly muddy!

From here it was down to entrusting the GPS again and hope that some signage would confirm I’m heading the right way, driving through Tarin Rock, North Kukerin, Dudinin along the Rabbit Proof Fence and Wickepin before hitting Narrogin for lunch. I can’t quite recall where but along the route the skies opened up while I hit a gravel section before Wickepin, maybe not the best idea but luckily it wasn’t too wet and slushy!

After a shameful fast-food lunch choice – in my defence, the cafe I planned to lunch at wasn’t open – it was a washed-out and very wet drive North-West through Popanyinning, Pingelly and Brookton before hitting the highway into the Perth hills with a final highlight being the infamous Zig Zag scenic route just as a briefly dry and overcast sunset fell across the wide view of Perth’s metropolitan landscape, making it home just 30 minutes later than my usual weekday arrival!

So in conclusion, I’d love to revisit Bremer Bay and explore the Fitzgerald River National Park between there and Hopetoun, an ideal opportunity would be the upcoming wildflower season which is when this part of Australia’s south coast really shines and although Bremer Bay didn’t offer any clear skies for evening astrophotography, plus it was a little cooler than I would’ve liked for a summer getaway, it was well worth the long drive! Another thing this roadtrip highlights is yet again how many amazing places are yet to be visited in the future, both near Albany, the Mt. Barker and Porongorup region, Frankland River region and also Augusta which remains an elusive destination I always seem to miss with not enough time in the day!

Best highlights were the beaches west of Dunsborough, Elephant Rocks & Green Pool, the stunning scenery in the Porongorups and Bremer’s beaches which thankfully were nice to me by not being too cold and just enough wave action to make it worthwhile taking that damn bodyboard along!!

So that’s the end of Journey 20 and planning has begun already for Journey 21 which is building up to be quite an exciting adventure, stay tuned as we head overseas for the first time in 4 years…way too long!