A Farm in Waroona

We met Laurie and John at our Just A Little Further presentation the other night at the Club and sat next to them at dinner that same evening. Laurie is an American who fell in love with Australia when she visited during her university years more than 50 years ago and subsequently emigrated, married John and raised her family here. John is a native South Australian whose family has farmed and raised cattle for export for generations. When they invited us out to their farm in Waroona, we couldn't believe our luck and jumped at the chance.  

We took the 35-minute scenic route to the pleasant little town of Waroona (population ~2,000). Laurie remembers a time when the roads were all dirt and hand-dug irrigation ditches for watering the fields were the norm. She took us to the top of the Waroona Dam which supplies water for the farm, which now uses huge pieces of irrigation equipment. Laurie's knowledge of the area made all the difference. She's authored a book about the area, in fact, entitled Drakesbrook Days and Waroona Years: An Illustrated History of Waroona Shire.

Their 2,000 acre farm is only one of three family farms in the area. Additionally, they lease over 3 million acres of government grazing lands in the Western Australia outback as cattle stations. The trek out to their stations, where the bulk of their beef cattle are kept, is an arduous 16+ hours over rough 4-wheel drive roads. Laurie showed us a panoramic picture taken from a few years back. John explained that the horses and camels originally used to muster (round-up) the cattle have been replaced by 4-wheel drive vehicles and helicopters.

Laurie and John still live in the family homestead which has been added onto over the years. The first section of wooden clapboard was built in the late 1890's with a brick addition added in the 1920's. An enclosed breezeway connects the two and serves as a place for morning tea. A picket fence encloses the front yard where roses were still in bloom. A stately old Moreton Bay fig tree shades the yard. A major renovation is planned soon which will upgrade the house using modern materials including the addition of central heating.

When we arrived, all hands were involved in “drafting”, the process of weighing and sorting the cattle, in this case heifers, which were bound for Israel as live export. The cattle are primarily Shorthorns with an occasional cream-colored Australian Droughtmaster in the mix.

Closer to the house, we spotted four little calves frolicking around in a corral. These little guys were orphans and being raised by hand. I asked about feeding them and Laurie said it was done by a Calf-eteria, a system of feeding the calves when the mother was not around. Clever name, huh? There was also a lone alpaca in the corral, recently shorn … not sure how he got on with the calves, but it didn't seem to be a problem.

It's not that David and I have never been on farms before. My aunt and uncle owned a huge poultry farm and I spent many weeks every summer as a kid feeding chickens and collecting eggs. Another aunt and uncle owned milking cows and we spent lots of time in the barn and worked hard during haying season bringing in the harvest. David participated in a couple of trail drives on horseback in Colorado bringing cattle from the summer to winter grazing grounds. Certainly, however, visiting a farm in another country is a novelty and seeing how things are done and what things are called made for an interesting day and a significant change from being on Nine of Cups.

Sunny Day on the Mandurah Boardwalk

We hadn't strayed far from the marina and the boat since we'd arrived and when a gorgeous sunny day appeared over the weekend, we decided to spend a few hours wandering along the Mandurah Boardwalk and foreshore. It's not far away … only a 10 minute walk or so … from our marina. We got to take a good look at Cups parked beside the end of the t-dock and she was looking fine in the noonday sun.  

A beautiful walkway and pedestrian bridge took us up over the calm waters of the Dolphin Pool and to the Boardwalk. It was gorgeous and warm and everyone seemed to be out enjoying the sunshine and the day. Shops and restaurants were all open, inviting patrons to brunch and lunch and browse.

There were several Farmer's Markets going on concurrently and we passed from one to the other, buying a flat white at one tent to sip as we ambled along and some tomatoes at another and stopping to look at crafts further along.

Beyond buying freshies, we could have loaded up on gourmet cupcakes, gotten tattooed and even had a pony or a camel ride. Never having ridden a camel, I was quite tempted, but declined when I noticed only 4-year olds were riding and insurance required wearing Hello Kitty helmets. I'd fit right in with the 4-year-olds, but the helmets? No, thanks.

The waters of the Peel Inlet and Harvey Estuary, one of Australia's larger inlet systems, form the center of Mandurah. According to Wiki, this estuary is approximately twice the size of Sydney Harbour. The city lies in and around this freshwater system which in turn feeds into the Indian Ocean. The whole foreshore area is a tourist magnet and people were taking full advantage of water sports, boating, estuary tours and fishing on a sunny autumn day.

There's a public art walk on the eastern foreshore of Mandjar Bay that is well-signed and very appropriate to the bay and its Aboriginal Noongar heritage.

A small sailboat was tied up to a wooden jetty along the foreshore loading passengers and David walked out to query the captain about the depths in the area. They chatted for a bit and when David returned he didn't know much more about the depths, but had an invitation to dinner. That's how it is with Aussies … friendly, generous and welcoming people.

There's lots more to see, but after what seemed like a hundred kilometers on foot and our backpacks full of freshies, we were ready to head back to the boat. Time for a late lunch … and a siesta.

Lovely Leschenault Inlet, Bunbury

We'd walked around Bunbury, but we hadn't dinghied around inside the Leschenault Inlet and decided this might be a fine foray on a sunny afternoon. A low bridge and a narrow gate, as well as shallow depths preclude Nine of Cups from entering the inner lagoon, but the dinghy was perfect for this exercise.

An estuarine lagoon, i.e. rivers flow into it, French explorer/navigator Nicolas Baudin named the inlet in 1801 after his naturalist aboard, Jean-Claude Leschenault de la Tour. Rocks line the outer walls of the channel which cuts from Koombana Bay to the calm waters of the inlet. Cormorants lined the rocks and seemed non-plussed as we puttered by.

The inlet is separated from the Indian Ocean by a thin peninsula of sand dunes. The channel was cut through in 1950. The water was reasonably calm in Koombana Bay, but the change in the tides was very noticeable when passing through the cut. The water roils and eddies as water rushes in or escapes.

Once inside and away from the channel, the water was peaceful as silver gulls floated by in flotillas, undisturbed by our approach. We'd seen a couple of bottlenose dolphins here yesterday, but they were playing in someone else's yard today.

A grove of white mangroves take up a good part of the northeastern portion of the lagoon which experts claim to be 2500 years old. It's part of a nature reserve with boardwalks meandering through it. The local waterbirds obviously enjoy the area. Up to 62 species inhabit the area, especially the tidal salt-marshes. We saw ibis and herons feeding, their long legs perfect for the shallow, marshy water.

The inlet isn't much more than a mile long, so it doesn't take long to get from one end to the other. There are various boat ramps and marinas along the way and we moseyed along at a snail's pace just enjoying the day and the sunshine. We went around the mangroves, aware that the depths were probably not much more than knee-deep, but sufficient to keep the dinghy moving. The view is always different on the return where the cityscape became the prevalent view. We picked out the spire of the new (2011) St. Patrick's Cathedral, but of course, the Bunbury Tower prevailed as the tallest structure, along with the Marlston Lookout and the lighthouse.

As we headed back through the channel, we noticed a sign we hadn't seen on the way in regarding the closing of the floodgates. We're glad they were open as portage of the dinghy from here to the outer harbor might have been quite a hassle.

Tomorrow, we haul anchor early and head to Mandurah. We're looking forward to marina life for a couple of weeks before heading further north.