I find myself blessed living in the south west, with the abundance of varied natural environments and really do not take advantage as much as I should. In saying that my family and I love taking day trips out and in this post I will attempt to relay our day out to the Wellington Dam catchment area.
Collie River
Located east of Bunbury in the Darling Ranges it is the largest water catchment in the Sth West region. It is fed by many tributes but mostly by the Collie River system and has excellent picnic and camping areas scattered all around. There are walking / mounting biking and 4x4 trails throughout the area and it is hard to imagine being able to explore all of them in any kind of shortened period.
Source:google maps
I've been coming to this area for over 20yrs and every time I find something new to explore, something new to share and discover. The area is also famous for it's fresh water cray fish called marron, and these will beat any salt water variety hands down and as such can only be fished with certain methods at certain times of the year, under licence with the rangers red hot to protect this delicious, sweet meated morsel.
The dam wall itself has recently undergone a face lift with prominent artist Guido Van Helten designing and painting an 8000 sqm mural on it, which is as impressive as it sounds and these photo's really don't do it justice or portray what a feat it must have been. The kids we're astounded that such a thing could exist and was a real eye opener for them.
Wellington Dam Mural
As I mentioned earlier there is a plethora of picnic sites that are curated in this area but the best ones are off the beaten track and are more make shift, with bridges, waterfalls and any number of natural nooks and crannies around every corner, you never know what you'll come across if you just go a little further and it is amazing when you find that hidden gem. Even on a cold winters day the beauty of the area stands out.
There are pitfalls, with loose gravel tracks and slippery rocks, so minding the little ones is always a challenge but I like to be prepared and carry my 'man bag' full of band-aids and other assorted first aid goodies. Trekking about with the fam in the bush is one of my favourite things, listening to the whinging and moaning of my little girls is not (normally about food, lol) so finding a good spot for the picnic is a priority even though I don't like to rush these things :)
After our picnic lunch, with the girls all fuelled up and ready to explore we begin investigating little creeks and shallow waterfalls, finding little fish in pools and testing our nerve on the slippery rocks to cross creeks. Today the day passes without incident and the well prepared 'man bag' is not needed.
As it begins to rain a little harder and the girls are knackered I call time and we pack up and head home, our little day trip adventure over but ready to come back and explore another time.
If anyone reading this ever gets the chance to spend a day out in this area, I can't strongly recommend it enough and to see the dam wall mural itself is worth the time and effort let alone the wonderous natural scenery that accompanies it.
Cheers - Platypus
