Home > Travelogues > 2010-2017 Travelogues Index > South West, Wheatbelt and Great Southern snippets
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In the Great Southern Region and nearer the south coast, we have a view of the Stirling Ranges in the distance from our kitchen window. 
 
See also our trip through the Great Southern
Dryandra Woodland is a 27,000 hectare nature conservation area featuring the largest remnant of original vegetation in the western Wheatbelt. More than 25 mammals, 100 birds and 50 reptiles call Dryandra home, including Western Australia’s state mammal emblem, the numbat.
 
Take a guided nocturnal tour in the Barna Mia sanctuary that has become home for some of Western Australia’s native animals facing extinction.  Entry fees apply. 
 
There is an accommodation village with self catering cottages in the park as well as the Department of Parks and Wildife Congelin Campground where DPaW camping fees apply.  A new campground has opened at Gnaala Mia which is located on Godfrey Road, one kilometre west of the York-Williams Road.  There are fourteen caravan sites and four tent sites, set in the forest at least twenty metres apart. 
The Congelin Dam once provided water for steam trains when a freight railway line ran between Pinjarra and Narrogin
The Congelin Woodlands, a haven for native fauna in the wheatbelt
Moving into the wheatbelt, near the regional centre of Narrogin we visit the Dryandra Woodland Park.  It is also near the towns of Williams and Pingelly.
 
See also Northern Wheatbelt, Midlands Wheatbelt and South East Wheatbelt
 
The Dryandra Woodland Conservation Park  #
Above pictures show part of the extensive recreational and picnic areas along the well developed Busselton foreshore, with a safe swimming beach for families.  There is also a netted area for completely safe swimming. 

If you don’t want to walk to the end of the mile long Busselton Jetty, a train will make it easy.  Visit the Underwater Observatory at the end of the jetty.  Descending eight metres beneath the surface, visitors can view the amazing corals and fish life through eleven viewing windows, at various levels within a 9.5 metre diameter observation chamber. 

 

This Busselton artificial reef showcases more than 300 individual marine species including vividly coloured tropical and sub-tropical corals, sponges, fish and invertebrates.
 
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Busselton
At Port Geographe, on the northern side of the town of Busselton, a canal development and marina has each house with a private pontoon jetty to moor their boat.  Views from the balcony of one of the canal edge homes.
Wheatbelt
Great Southern
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Kojonup

The Myrtle Benn Flora and Fauna Sanctuary features a walk trail and is a short distance from the town via Tunney Road.  Farrar Nature Reserve is another one for wildflowers in spring.  Seven kilometres west of Kojonup via the Boyup Brook Road, turn south, then follow the track which branches off to the old railway dam.  A wonderful place to find native orchids.  The delicate native flowers of the South West and Great Southern are very different to the carpets of everlasting typical of the Mid West.

As an RV Friendly town, Kojonup is a neat and welcoming town on the Albany Highway between Perth and Albany. Even a bigger claim to fame for Kojonup are the pies and pasties from the local bakery in the main street (Albany Highway).

 

There is 72 hour camping for self contained for $5 on permit from Visitor Centre (Kodja Place). A dump point and water fill point are alongside at the Old Railway Station, and there are several public toilet blocks in the town for the convenience of travellers, including just across the Albany Highway at Apex Park. This flat area is close to the Kodja Place, with bakery, shops and hotel not far away.  Access from Gordon Street; turn off the Albany Highway at the Wool Wagin feature.   

 

The Kodja Place houses the Visitor Centre and a number of well set out displays of the history and farming in the area. There is also a rose garden maze featuring over a hundred different Australian roses, but I did not plan to get lost amongst the thorns.

 

The Military Barracks, which holds significant historical importance as the oldest building in Kojonup is in accessed from Spring Street, adjacent to the hospital, and houses a museum with limited opening times. This outpost for the British Military was originally built in 1837 alongside a natural spring. A signed walk trail of military history and to the well is nearby.  Sorry, my photos pre-date digital. 

 

Standing on a boulder of Kojonup granite in Apex Park on the Albany Highway in central Kojonup, a life size statue of Brigadier Arnold W Potts was unveiled in 2007. In 1942 when Japanese forces were in New Guinea and heading for Port Moresby, Brigadier Potts and his men had the task of retaking Kokoda Village and stopping the Japanese advance. Outgunned and outnumbered five to one, Potts realised that to stand against such forces would mean annihilation and leave the way open for the Japanese to take Port Moresby.  Potts chose a fighting withdrawal over a three week period which so depleted and delayed the Japanese advance, they were forced to start their long withdrawal.

 

Plaques on the bridge alongside Potts statue include those dedicated to the memory of all those who served on the Kokoda Track in August and September 1942, list some 300 soldiers who lost their lives on the track and other plaques tell of the hardships endured by soldiers on the Kokoda Track. Other plaques pay tribute to the women who ran the farms during the war year, and the military and peacetime history of AW Potts.

 

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Snippets about places in the area we live

January 2022 it was announced that 15,000 hectares of the Dryandra Woodland would be declared a National Park.  24 mammal, 98 bird and 41 reptile species are all known to call Dryandra home, including WA’s animal emblem, the numbat, which is an endangered species, that is ‘likely to become extinct’ in the wild.