After travelling down by myself, I collected two vehicles in Nannup on the way through, and Roland was waiting at the gate for me. There was plenty of daylight hours to set up and get the small fire going. Paul Nolan arrived shortly after the rest of us and Jim and Janie in the early evening. There were clear skies so the milky way and satellites were visible – it also was very cold overnight.
On Saturday we made our way into Nannup and left the foreshore area at 10.30. We headed off to Mowen Road and then onto Brook Road. After dropping our tyres, we headed off again. We had one piece of wood over the road which was easily removed. The first hill was easily ascended when in Low range and everyone called people through when at the top. We stopped to wait for everyone and someone found a really good looking mushroom under a small tree. We took photos and left it alone. The road had had “speed humps” put in some years ago, however the closer we got to Jalbarragup, the more worn they were and the more rutted the road was. The morning was very sunny and the bush looked fresh and green after recent rain. We stopped for a break under the Jalbar-ragup Bridge and some stone skimming went on. The place is obviously popular as there are fewer really good flat stones to find. Janie wandered up to read the plaques and then just out to the edge of the bridge. She saw a turtle in the water.
River Road heading back to the block was decidedly more of a challenge with lots of ruts in various places, which meant watching out for tyre placement over the ruts. At the end of the rough track, we turned onto the more formed road. The paddock in front of us had about twenty emus on the far side. They started to run when I came onto the road, but everyone was able to see the charge. Then the cat-tle that were in the paddock with them decided that they also needed to charge after the emus. Quite a funny sight. The rest of the trip was uneventful – with just lots of Kingia plants in one area.
Back on the block there was a concerted effort to clean up a large fallen branch and to add it to the bonfire. Some of the large sections were dragged across the paddock. The resulting effect was that the bonfire was a lot larger.
At about five o’clock (with some extra children and Ross L) the boys started to use firelighters to light the fire. They were having some success when Paul arrived with paper towels rolled up into a log from Coles that he had soaked in “camp fuel” which he got from Markus. He had soaked it in a bucket away from the fire, then carefully placed it on a convenient low branch. One match thrown in and the flames shot up like a rocket. Even the neighbour thought it looked spectacular.
My thanks to those who helped me unhitch the van and set it up. Thanks also to Katherine Ellis who followed my GPS to give me the location of Brook Road and who took photos for me.
The fire was a great success and we were able to sit and enjoy it much more easily this year. It started sprinkling about 9.00pm. The next morning, the Ellis family picked up some more ‘sticks” and put two trailer loads on the fire which then reignited.