DAY 120 – FONTY’S POOL AND SCENIC DRIVES

The weather was a little better this morning, no quite so overcast, and intermittent bursts of sunshine…

Kathy decided to brave the weather and put a load of wash on to do…

Steve and I went exploring Fonty’s Pool more in depth today, and it was stunning.  Beautifully manicured lawns, and the gardens were a mass of colour.

The birdlife was prolific in the gardens, and you really couldn’t ask for a prettier spot.  We probably spent an hour wanting around them, just enjoying their beauty and taking time to smell the flowers.  

Prolific birdlife

Loved this little red breasted bird

Once Kathy had her washing on the line, we decided to take off and do some sightseeing.   We had worked out a list of places to visit, packed morning tea and we were off. 

Our first port of call was One Tree Bridge and 4 Aces.  

One Tree Bridge has somewhat mysterious origins, with a couple of different stories that explain its beginning. The most reliable history (as researched by Dave Evans) is that it was constructed in 1904. The main reason that it was necessary was the opening of a graphite mine on the western side of the Donnelly River off Henley Road, close to where One Tree Bridge is today. The products of the mine were transported by bullock wagons and there needed to be some way for them to cross the river to the eastern bank in order to get over to Manjimup.

The old "One Tree Bridge"

The creation of the bridge is testament to the ingenuity of local pioneers. Rather than engineer and construct a bridge from scratch, one single huge tree growing close to the riverbank was selected, then skillfully felled to lie across the Donnelly River. Planks of jarrah were then used to create railings and a flat platform on top of the logkt. This created the base for a bridge strong enough for bullock teams and their wagons to cross on their way to the new Donnelly River graphite mine.

The men who chopped the tree down were Hugo and Walter Gibblet, local pioneers who owned a block of land on the western side of the Donnelly River.
In 1933 the bridge was partially destroyed in a bush fire, so the jarrah decking was replaced by new jarrah decking planks and railings.

In the mid 1940’s the bridge was deemed dangerous, but there existed no other option for crossing the Donnelly River. A replacement bridge was built in 1948 next to the original, and rather than remove it, One Tree Bridge was left to ruin. It eventually fell down into the river and stayed there from 1964 to 1971.

1971 was when the latest incarnation of the Graphite Road bridge was built, and a remnant of the original old log bridge was hauled out of the river and “placed as a memorial to people’s engineering ingenuity of the early twentieth century”.

 A further kilometre down the road is the Four Aces.  The Four Aces are four magnificent karri trees standing tall in an evenly-spaced straight line in the midst of a beautiful Karri forest in the One Tree Bridge Conservation Park.  It is a beautiful place to stop and hop out of the car when driving along Graphite Road between Manjimup and Nannup – not only for the Four Aces themselves but for the incredibly beautiful and peaceful forest surrounds.
We did a walk through the forest at the Four Aces and enjoyed the serenity of the bush.  A couple of the huge Karri trees had fallen and we were amazed at the size of their girth, having stood beside them, they were still taller that us.

 Ian and Kathy met us here, and they quickly did the walk also before we took off on the scenic route to check out the Big Brook Dam.

Fascinated that this picnic table had a built in highchair for toddlers. 

This dam was built in 1986 to supplement the Pemberton town and Trout Hatchery water supply.  There is a sandy beach area, which is great for swimming and there were several people in there swimming when we were there.  Not sure why though, as it was pretty cold and we were all rugged up.  It made us feel colder just watching them in the water.   We enjoyed morning tea here altogether.

Ian and Kathy wanted to head home from here to get their washing off the line.  Steve and I decided to do the scenic drive back to Manjimup and head out to visit the Manjimup Timber and History Museum. 

 The Manjimup Timber and  Heritage Park is centrally located within the Manjimup town site and it highlights the region’s working life and cultural heritage.

It is set on 10 hectares of Natural landscaped and grassed picnic areas  and houses the State Timber Museum, Age of Steam Museum, Historical hamlet with period buildings and exhibits and a full size replica fire lookout tower. 

Amazing slide.... makes me want to be a kid again...

Water play area...

This is a wonderful complex, and has the most amazing children’s playground there.  Oh to be young again.  They had an enormous fire tower with an enclosed slippery slide coming off it.  It is places like this that we wish the grandchildren were so much closer so that we could share this with them.  

 We spent a good couple of hours wandering around the park looking at the different displays and gardens.  It was here that I saw my first flowering protea trees.  They were magnificent.  Love those flowers.

  Ian and Kathy had also come back to the Park, they saw us off in the distance but we missed seeing them, so both of us spent our afternoons doing our own sightseeing.

  Aptly named King Jarrah because of its size the tree is around 500 years old and stands 45 m high. The tree is set in a beautiful bush area, accessible via a nice boardwalk and there is a great picnic area and a 650m wheelchair accessible sealed track which winds its way through the Jarrah forest and understorey.

  There is also an interesting display along the way of Queejup's Birth Tree. It honours the life of a local Aboriginal stockman who played a bid role in the pastoral industry. Queelup was said to posses the gift of being able to charm the spirit of a horse.

Timber Arch coming into Manjimup

On our way back into town, we came across another beautiful flowering protea tree growing on the side of the road…. Of course more photos…. They are a stunning plan.
Our last sightseeing item on our list was the timber arch on the lead into town, so we headed slightly out of town, so that I could get a photo of the arch and then it was time to fuel up and head home before sunset.  

 Steve was keen to get the drone out and give it a fly over Fonty’s Pool. He hasn’t used the drone too much on this tour and is trying to rectify that whenever possible.  Fonty’s Pool certainly is beautiful and holds a wonderful charm, which makes it a suitable candidate for some drone footage.  

He also did a little fly over our van and the sheep grazing in the paddock behind us.  Such wonderful memories to have of a very special spot in which we camped.