Getaway 4WD Club – Towards Serpentine (October 2023)

Mathieu and Genevieve led a fantastic trip with 14 vehicles leaving Craig Street, Mundaring at 08:30.

From Craig Street we turned onto Mundaring Weir Road, tail end Charlie Phil & Lee informing leader we were all on the right route.
First things first! The topic of milk was the first important chit chat for the day. There was a request for soy milk (no names will be mentioned, you know who you are). This wasn’t to be, although Mark did state he got up at day break to milk the oats for oat milk!
We’ll ponder that one Mark.

Whilst travelling along Mundaring Weir Road we were informed that the weir was previously known as Lake C.Y. O’Connor after the gentleman known for developing the pipeline between the weir and Kalgoorlie. It was also inter-esting to learn that Mundaring weir last overflowed in 1996. We continued until we turned left onto Ashendon Road hitting gravel. There was a disgruntled (feral) vehicle behind us but we soon turned left again on our way to Barton Mill making him a happy driver once again!

We stopped at Barton Mill for a look and to take photos. Genevieve gave an overview of the history which was very interesting. We continued on to Mt Dale driving through powerlines which went for miles. Along the way we observed some amazing flora; Za-mia palms Balga’s, Orchids, Purple Fringe Lilly’s, several species of trigger plants, just to name a few.

We arrived at Mt Dale to see amazing panoramic views and took photos. We enjoyed morning tea and a walk around seeing more beautiful flora including several stunning Enamel Orchids (thanks to the knowledge of Graham and Denise). We left Mt Dale at 11am with Genevieve again enlightening the entourage with fascinating historical tales.

We continued until we reached Brookton Highway turning left and then back onto dirt roads when we turned right onto Kinsella Road. We continued until we turned left into Gleneagle Road and stopped at the old town site for lunch. We all had a chit chat and continued on at 1310 leaving Gleneagle to turn left at Albany Highway and then anoth-er left onto Randal Road heading east.

We took another right onto Sullivan Road where there was a lot of new vegetation, flowers and a few kangaroos. We could see Sullivan rock in the distance before turning right back onto Albany Highway and a quick left onto Balmoral Road heading towards a POW/Internment camp for WW2 prisoners. Fascinating place with loads of history.

Back on the road……dirt……dust…… Back on bitumen and then stopping at the out-skirts of Jarrahdale at 3pm where the trip ended and to say thank you to Mathieu and Genevieve for organising an excellent trip.