Gosnells RSL Hall, 2 Mills Road East, Martin WA 6110 pr@wa4wda.com.au 0418 904 844

Adventure 4WD Club – Harvey Day Trip (September 2022)

Did you know? One of Harvey’s main attractions is Stirling Cottage, built by the first Governor of Western Australia. The cottage was famously the home of May Gibbs, author of beloved children’s storybook characters, Snugglepot and Cuddlepie. The original cottage fell into disrepair and a replica now features extensive gardens, tearooms, and a dedicated display to May Gibbs’ stories. Harvey is also the heart of dairy country, providing the bulk of WA’s milk supply, plus orange juice, beef and increasingly wine.

Sunday dawned a perfect morning for the 1.5 hour drive south, with sunshine and 15 degrees, although we were hearing reports of storms and even hail back in the city. We met at 8.30am at the Harvey Bakery and sampled the local wares, good reports on the chilli dog. Ange drew the short straw on the random number generator to be scribe. The convoy was:

  • Dave – trip leader – Landcruiser
  • Ange & Rob – scribe – Hilux
  • Glenn, Eli & Brayden – Rodeo
  • Paul & Cooper – Hilux
  • Mark, Imogen & Taja – tail end Charlie – Landcruiser

The rough plan was to circumvent the dam, picnic lunch with a view, visit a local farmer, and head back via Waroona Tavern for debrief. At 9am we headed back north for a few kms to Honeymoon Pool Road. The bush was  green and wildflowers aplenty, a lovely time to be out and about in WA. By 9.20am we were all aired down and on the tracks, right from the start slipping in the mud and a bit of a drop off. Taja had her first ever 4WDing experience with a nice sideways slide.

Pretty much awesome tracks everywhere we went, with the first views of the dam about 10am, looking very full with most of the dam side tracks under water after the winter rains. Dave gave it a good go but turned around after a few slides back towards the dam. Mark waded in to his thighs to confirm the track was becoming too gnarly and sensibly turned the convoy around to drive another day.

Spent half an hour on a very rutty hill climb ”short cut”, which really wasn’t, but lots of fun, a bit of road building and some screaming from Imogen and Taja. Lots of purple lavender in bloom and rivulets at the roadsides. Lunch stop just before 12 with water views, getting a bit more breezy and some grey clouds looming. Back on the road at 12.20, bidding farewell to Mark and the girls as they headed home. Met up with the farmer on the south side of the dam.

By 2.30pm we were aired up and heading for the pub. Another great outing with the Adventure 4WD Club.

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