MANJIMUP 1 - FONTY'S POOL (14 - 18 MARCH 2014)

Before I get on with this next episode of our adventures, I would make the comment that the more astute amongst you may have noticed a change in the way my kayak is mounted atop the Cruiser. And you would be right. A short explanation is called for.

Despite the endeavours of the Metricup metal fabricator and his extension arm, which did improve things to a point, getting the boat on and off on my own remained a challenge and was actively discouraging its use. Things had to change. I was inspired by what I had seen during our stay at The Estuary, and, whilst last in Perth, took the plunge and had a 'Hullavator' fitted. It was not cheap. My penance, which was enforced with uncommon zeal by the keeper of the purse, was no pub visits for a month....but it was well worth it in several ways.

For a start, we have noted a fuel saving benefit through reduced wind resistance. This has gladdened the treasurer's heart and taken some of the heat off me! And does it work as I had hoped?...indeed it does.  Let me briefly explain.

The cradles are mounted on a set of hydraulic gas struts, which, when the handles at the outer end of each are disengaged,

can be lowered down to waist level alongside the Cruiser doors.

From here it is a simple matter to load the boat and strap it down.

Once the end handles are again disengaged, the thrust in the hydraulic system automatically hoists the kayak to its roof top position.  Lock everything up and the job is done. The placement of the rack on the edge of the roof even allowed me to retain my large rod holders on the other side. I took full advantage of this system whilst in Rockingham and managed to get in a few good paddles and now look forward to many more.....should have fitted this system in the first place...one lives and learns!

On to Manjimup, or more to the point as far as our digs for five nights were concerned, the caravan park at Fonty's Pool. This had come across Liz's radar some time ago when she was looking through a booklet which details the towns and attractions throughout WA. We later received several glowing endorsements from Perth friends who had stayed there.....it was now a must!

This is one of those rare parks where the reality actually matches the publicity. What a gem. The only drawback was no Internet or phone access....but I've grizzled about that before, and I suspect many would view this as a blessing not a curse.





Approximately 8 kms out of Manjimup along the Seven Day Road we found the entrance roadway to the park. We were enthused from the outset.

The quite lengthy entrance road took us to the park office, to which there is more than initially meets the eye, but more of that shortly. 












After the usual arrival formalities we turned left 









and made our way up to our site, a drive- through, grassed, shady whopper.  We were actually invited to make ourselves at home on what would be two sites during the busy season, an invitation we accepted with relish. This was getting better and better.

Trees are a real feature of this park....all manner of trees, large and small, native and exotic. As this back shot of our site clearly shows, we were in the thick of it from that perspective and although the weather was now cooling and shade not quite as critical to a comfortable stay, we could imagine the benefits of this stand of trees during the heat of the summer.






But we were far from alone! The local apple picking season was in full swing. Young travellers from predominately France and Italy (and a few other countries) had descended on Fonty's Pool in their droves. And set up their tents and assorted lean-to's right around the camping area. This shot shows probably about half their entire number. 



We had been assured on arrival that they were well behaved and quiet, and in the main this proved correct, except when it came to the manner in which they wheeled their varied assortment of vehicles through the confines of the park. Having driven in Italy and France, the speed and 'who cares' attitude came as no real surprise to me, but it did remain the one constant annoyance as dust inevitably flew in the wake of some of their arrivals and departures. It annoyed the park managers, too. I was heartened to hear one group threatened with eviction if they continued to treat the narrow park roadways as their personal rally tracks. (Liz had banned me from any personal confrontations....I obeyed with sullen resignation!)





For all that we did enjoy our stay here, and the service these travellers provide is more than useful to the local fruit industry.  Fonty's Pool includes a large and very well equipped camp kitchen

and the amenities block, which was a mere twenty metres from our site, was more than adequate.

The park is also graced with a number of quite modern cabins, the rear of some of which can be seen here looking along a park roadway to our site at the end of it. We were here over the weekend of a race meeting at the Manjimup speedway and the cabins were well patronised for a couple of days at least.





But the highlight of this park is the pool, the gardens, the associated infrastructure and the story behind its existence.

In 1904, Archimedes (Archie) Fontannini, a young Italian immigrant, landed in Fremantle with the princely sum of 12 shillings and sixpence ($1.25) in his pocket. Despite his youth, Archie had been around before making the move to Australia.  Born in 1880, as a 16 year old, Archie scooted off to France where he spent a few years acquiring the skills of a stone mason and general builder. At age 20, a compulsory three year stint of National Service found our hero off to China where the Italian Army had some involvement in dealing with the Boxer Rebellion (no further research done on this). Because of his literacy and handwriting skills, Archie became the unit hospital secretary where he learnt much about patient care, supervision and catering. 

This range of acquired skills was to serve him well in his new country. After working for three years in a timber mill, Archie responded to Government encouragement to take up land in the south-west of the State and in May 1907 was granted 460 acres in an area he had selected for its constant spring fed water supply. 







Archie married and set about building a bush cottage on his land.







He ring-barked 60 acres of the local karri forest and planted 10 acres with apples. Potato, cauliflower and other vegetable production followed. To regenerate the soil, Archie built a log dam across the small stream flowing through his property to provide residual silt. By this time he and his wife Lucy had a young family who, with their friends, took to the ponded stream with relish during the summer months.  

In the nearby and expanding Manjimup, a shortage of water had precluded the development of any public bathing facilities. The local authorities prevailed on Archie to open his dam to the public for a fee.  He agreed to do so.....Fonty's Pool was born. 

As its popularity and patronage grew, Archie replaced the log barrier with one of cement and lined the pool floor and in 1925 it was 'officially' opened.  The pool itself now covers just over an acre and holds 18 million litres of spring fed water which flows in over winter at 44,000 litres per hour. 

The Fontannini family set about surrounding the pool with beautiful gardens and began an extensive tree planting programme.  These improvements included a purpose built log chopping competition area.




On Australia Day 1947, Fonty's Pool hosted a log chopping competition and swimming carnival which attracted wide spread interest. The log chopping arena is still an integral part of the park. This carnival continued for 11 years and hosted thousands of competitors and spectators.




In 1950 Archie retired from farming to focus his attentions entirely on expanding and maintaining the pool gardens. By 1974 Archie, now 94, was unable to continue, and the pool closed.  

The Western Australian government persuaded the family to consider a re-opening of the pool as part of the State's 150 years celebration.  Eldest son Joe Fontannini responded to the call and the popularity of the venue was confirmed by the fact that 12,000 people attended the 1979 log chop and swimming carnival, but its future remained clouded.  

Under the management group brought into run the place, Fonty's Pool and its surrounds regressed.  Public liability insurance loomed as a major problem and in 2005 the intransigence of the insurance industry forced another closure.  

Jeremy and Kelly Beissel, the present owners, bought the property from the Fontannini family, and with assistance from the National Trust, an injection of unusual common sense from an insurer, and the installation of a 300 metre fence around the pool, Fonty's Pool and Caravan Park is again open for public use. 

And what of the far sighted and incredibly hard working founder? Archie finally shuffled off this mortal coil in 1982, a centenarian, but not before his achievements both at Fonty's Pool and throughout the wider Manjimup community had been recognised with an MBE and heartfelt local respect.

Let me take you on a quick tour of this incredible place, now listed on the National Heritage Register.



On on edge of the pool, near the old house, a diving platform has been erected over a relatively small area of the pond which is the only spot deeper than just over a metre.











Just beyond this, at what I'll call the 'far end' of the pool, a cement barrier separates the public section from that which is reserved for the outlook of the owners

who now occupy this charming home on a rise overlooking the pool.










On the opposite side of the pool, a wooden stage has been built to allow those who so choose to marry in this sylvan setting.

And afterwards, it is but a short stroll along the lawns to the reception area which is located next to the park office

whence the wedding party and guests can enjoy this view across the pool in addition to all the other goodies on offer.

Even the bushland beyond the immediate boundaries of this extraordinary park seems to have been 'made to order'









and the watering of these wonderful grounds can create its own spectacle as we can see here where the water jetting from this huge, single spout sprinkler on the log chop area sparkles and gleams against the green backdrop of trees as it catches the rays of the late afternoon sun.



We were lucky (from my perspective at least....I love autumn colour) to be in this area just as the leaves were turning.  But the best was still a couple of weeks and a few more snappily cool nights away.

Let me close our tour of Fonty's Pool with this shot taken in the full splendour of autumn...the photo obviously used on the park website (and why not?)  No wonder Liz was hooked from the outset and thank goodness she was.  We would return here in an instant. 

Oh, and yes, I did belt out a number of laps in the pool out of sheer determination to say I had....it is challengingly refreshing at this time of year!

ROCKINGHAM 3 - GRAIN LOADING, CAPE PERON & THE SOCIAL SCENE (4 - 13 MARCH 2014)

The may be several ways in which to describe the Rockingham bulk grain loading facilities...and all will be fine providing they include the words 'huge', 'massive' or something equivalent.

Not only do they dominate the skyline at the northern end of our caravan park, they can be seen from most parts of Rockingham, including here looking across Cockburn Sound from Cape Peron.

This shot, also taken from across the Sound, hopefully provides some idea of the size of this facility. We estimated the highest section of the grain storage building to be in the order of 15 - 20 storeys.








From the silos, a conveyor system transports the grain under the beachfront road and then along the elevated conveyor to the gantry loading heads. These huge systems crank and grind their way up and back along the wharf to place the outlet pipes directly into each of the ship's holds.  

And from what we observed, they do not mess about with the loading.  This newly arrived bulk carrier is sitting high out of the water as loading began, and

bingo, but 24 hours later, the ship's bulk has almost disappeared below the dock with the weight of grain in her holds.  I must admit that this is not the sort of thing which will appeal to all, but I found it just fascinating to watch, not only from the perspective of the size and speed of the operation, but to then imagine the destinations of the departing ships as they sailed off up the Sound and out into the Indian Ocean. I guess it's the old story....you can take the boy out of Port Lincoln, but not Port Lincoln out of the boy!

Immediately north of the grain terminal lies the oil refinery and docks of Kwinana, so there was no shortage of shipping for me to watch (Liz was far less enthused but remained kindly tolerant of my youthful excitement about all that was going on!) 





Enough of docks and shipping....let's take a tour of Cape Peron, the point of land which marks the southern end of Cockburn Sound.

The Cape can be reached by driving along the Esplanade past Palm Beach where we stopped to look back over a couple of the short jetties here and the cafe district of Rocky in the  background.

Like the main beach, this southern end of the Rockingham foreshore is lined with very functional and inviting parks, 

whilst opposite, rows of relatively new apartment blocks indicate that this end of Rocky has 'been discovered'.  The lucky folk in these domiciles have marvellous views north up Cockburn Sound.

Past the entrance to the Garden Island causeway we drove and less than five minutes later we were gazing west across the limestone rock formations of the tip of Cape Peron.

From this same vantage point, looking in the opposite direction, we could see back along the coast over a few local rock islets to far distant Mandurah.

From this same spot we could also see across the scrub of the Cape to the trig marker atop the highest point.....this was clearly the place to be.













After a short but significant climb up a rocky stairway in the shadows of the late afternoon sun we reached the summit.

It was well worth it.  From the vantage point of this old military gun sighting lookout, we could see west out over the Indian Ocean and, 









to the east, back along the road we had just travelled along much of the length of this short Cape.....over the red roofs of a school holiday camp facility (what a spot for a school jaunt) to the sweep of the main Rockingham beach on the left and that of the Cape beaches on the right.

From here we could also see much of the length of the Garden Island causeway, although sadly it only appears as a thin grey strip in the centre of this shot. (I will lash out on some serious photographic equipment one day!) and of course, the grain silos hold a place of prominence in the background.







This vantage point did allow me to take a close up shot of the impressive causeway arch which allows for the passage of small vessels out of the Sound past the southern end of Garden Island,

and the main naval docks of HMAS Stirling (which I freely admit will mean little to any who have not been there).







Cape Peron is a place much visited by a certain group of Rockingham locals diving for the crayfish to be found in the rocky underwater ledges and fishing from the various beaches, beaches which are quite different from those of 'Rocky central', but with equal appeal.

As I have mentioned previously, we really had a good time in Rockingham. In addition to Stu's homecoming, the delights of the water activities on offer, the scenery and the interest of the docks, we were also able to again catch up with Perth friends and repay some of the hospitality they had previously shown us.  We were delighted to welcome Deb and Greg Glossup to our humble abode on our final Saturday evening, and, with timing which probably should have been better managed from the point of view of my state of health, 





the redoubtable Finlay-Jones's for a Sunday BBQ, where the quality of John's vinous gifts did much to quickly revive my social stamina.

We did enjoy a wonderful afternoon (even if I was a tad late getting around to cooking lunch!)





And thus our Rockingham adventure came to an end.  What better way to close than with one of the quite spectacular Rockingham sunsets of which we had seen a few during our stay.

We were off again down south....destination Albany, but with a planned five day stopover en route at one of Liz's 'bucket list' parks.....Fonty's Pool just out of the Southern Forests town of Manjimup. The great karri forests of southern WA beckon.

ROCKINGHAM 2 - THE FORESHORE (4 -13 MARCH 2014)

If I managed to convey the impression in my last that we liked Rockingham, I am pleased.  We did enjoy our time there. Obviously catching up with the young Lieutenant was the highlight of our stay, but 'Rocky' has much to offer we discovered, and, we suspect, suffers from a somewhat undeserved reputation. Indeed we did spy the odd 'dero' or two in the seafront parks, and instances of hoon driving were not entirely uncommon, but apart from that we were very pleasantly surprised by what we found.



The front gate of our park leads to the Rockingham Esplanade which stretches some 2 kms or so south to the foreshore cafe and restaurant area. A well developed and maintained linear park lies between the roadway and the beach.

Immediately across the Esplanade from the front gate of our park at the northern end of the beachfront park we found a very well set up Naval Memorial Park in which the feats and sacrifices of many navel vessels and their crews are recognised. As is obvious, this is the memorial to Perth and her crews.

This park, which fittingly overlooks Cockburn Sound and the Naval Base on Garden Island, stretches south along the foreshore for two hundred metres or so. 






I was particularly interested to find the stone block and plaque (pictured) which is a memorial dedicated to the RAN Helicopter Flight Vietnam, a group of navy aviators who flew Huey gunships and troop carriers between the years 1968-69.  My special interest lay in the fact that a number of these pilots later flew with Lloyd Aviation, the company which provided the aircraft for the SA Helicopter Rescue Service, the organisation which I helped found and develop from late 1979. The feats of this extraordinary group of men have been wonderfully recorded in the book "A Bloody Job Well Done" which I had the pleasure of reading some years ago. Sadly, these brave navy pilots (they often flew where the RAAF refused to send their choppers) were shunned for many years by the RSL members at Nowra when they returned home as 'not having fought in a real war'. Thank heavens the wretched treatment of all Vietnam Vets by the Australian society of that era has been largely rectified.

The southern end of the park is marked by this old 'O' class submarine fin and a gun turret (ship unknown to this author).  











From here we could either wander along the footpaths of the Esplanade or toddle along the smooth expanses of the cement pathway of the linear park.

As we found in Perth itself, this park is liberally dotted with highly functional BBQ and picnic areas, all with adequate parking nearby.  They do this very well in the west.

And why would one not want to come to the beach at Rockingham?  The blue and clear waters of Cockburn Sound, sheltered here by the length of Garden Island, and bordered as you can see by a pristine white fine sand beach, make for as good a seaside spot as we have found anywhere.  And the water is warm!




We were not surprised on the weekend to find that the entire length of the Esplanade park was jam packed with visitors enjoying the beach and other facilities on offer.






Our jaunt along the beachfront to the cafe area took us past varied housing.  It is obvious that many of the original homes of 'old Rocky'











are now being demolished to make way for structures of a much grander design...some totally 'over the top'. These two were but three houses apart...what a contrast!  

As the beachfront path approaches the cafe district, the history of Rockingham is depicted in a series of plaques set into the cement,

and whilst these were very informative, they did have the tendency to challenge our ability to 'step it out'.

A couple of high rise apartment buildings mark the beginning of the Rocky Beach cafe district,











where things do become a little crowded as traffic squeezes its way along the Esplanade between the food outlets and the park. This is one area where I actually support the 40 kph speed limit.












A southerly run along the Esplanade ends here at this intersection, where, to the east the road leads to one of the more commercial areas of Rockingham.

Walking to the beachfront here provides a great view of the park and coast back to the ever present bulk of the grain silos some 2 kms away to the north.

At this point the coast of Cockburn Sound sweeps away to the west at its southern end and here, at what is known as Palm Beach, we find another row of cafes and restaurants, including 'The Sunset' where Liz, Stu and I enjoyed a fine evening.

Panning a little more to the right, the Palm Beach jetty and the local yacht moorings come into view.  At the risk of repetition, I have to comment that this really is a spectacular beach.











Why the yacht mooring basin? Simple really....the building seen here at the end of the cafe strip is the well positioned Rockingham Cruising Yacht Club.

From this same point, looking directly to the west, the main docking facilities of HMAS Stirling on Garden Island can be seen across the waters of Cockburn Sound. On the left side of the shot the high arch of part of the lengthy access causeway also comes into view.

And, again from this same point, a last look northwards along the Rockingham beach where the silos and the loading gantry continue to dominate the distant skyline.






The good citizens of Rockingham are obviously proud of their patch and its history. In addition to the walkway plaques, the seafront park is dotted with items of historical interest of which this anchor is but one. This chunk of iron originally served to anchor the 200 tons wooden Norwegian brig 'Dato' until she sank in the nearby Careening Bay in the late 1880's. Interestingly the wreck was not discovered until 1968. 


A stroll through this park also brings one past other 'pieces of interest', of which this is probably the most notable. 

At first glance I couldn't fathom why the seagulls were congregated around the base of this granite ball.  A closer inspection revealed all.  Hewn from a 3 tonne piece of green granite, the 1200 kg ball 'floats' on a water bed where the pressure of 90 kPa allows it to continually rotate. This more than interesting feat of engineering was commissioned by the city in 2000 to mark the new millennium....the gulls were putting the water to another use entirely...a drink!  




Let us leave this sort tour of the 'Rocky' foreshore with a quick look at one of the many car parks which allow visitors to stay well off the narrow roadway where the entrance is marked by these two dolphins.






Next, a look at the nearby Cape Peron, the grain loading operation and a spot of socializing.