I think we woke up with the smell of hamburger in our nostrils: amazing what not being able to have something does to your desires... So Mumby Pub has to be the main goal today. Bron has briefed us with her stories... and we can't wait!

I got up early during a break in the morning showers and took a couple of photos while Sandi slept. We eventually got away in pretty good time, under heavy skies, to walk the even grade through lovely Jarrah forest down to Glen Mervyn Dam.

Day 22 Google Earth Track

Yabberup Noggerup

Sandi wrote:

So today really has been great, quite amazing. Set off in showers quite heavy at times, but we both went OK. P in waterproof pants and poncho; me in jacked & poncho, no pants. So ticked along at a fair pace and kept quite warm. Sun came and went. Saw some strange and wonderful orchids, a Persian prince (formerly turban) and enamel and another not sure if complete or not with a spotted end on it.

The Track winds down to cross Best Road, then skirts along the side of the Dam before crossing over on the dam wall; at which point we stopped for morning tea.

Sandi wrote:

Had a fairly quick walk to Glen Mervyn Dam, which was lovely. Had a fairly hasty morning tea at the dam as it was quite cold, then trotted on. Had a nice part past those orchids, then a long forest walk with low understory and wide open spaces under canopy. Just wended away in a bit of a dream and finally we were on the bitumen road to Mumbalup.

Sandi wrote:

I definitely had hamburger in the sights by then and headed off across quite a broad but undecided river and down the road to the "Forest Tavern".

Sandi wrote:

Broad veranda where left the packs and an "oy" to find someone inside a very mixed pub. Some classic pub culture items: false boobies and girlie stuff. A motor bike being repaired, a pool table, an out of tune piano, a drum kit.

A log fire with tub chair style of couch in front of it (very pleasant indeed). A half finished painting on easel. A lot of 'art' for sale on walls. One black and white bush scene very nice, didn't like much else. One toilet labelled ladies (proved to have painted flowers up its wall), 2 finished timber tables with matching padded chairs. Normal bar facilities.

Sandi wrote:

Menu of hamburger, toasted sandwich or chips. We went for hamburger and got a good mug of coffee (Moccona) and I finished with a coke spider. Delicious hamburger. Very much enjoyed. Before it came a sudden change of weather brought a deluge of wind swept rain and pea hail. Crazy! So happy to be in front of fire.

At one point Lee, the owner, said he'd misplaced his drink. Sandi had noticed that he put a glass of soda water like liquid down next to her chair in front of the fire, and he was very happy and proceeded to extol to us the virtues of gin and tonic: which he happily had a schooner glass full of it in his hot little hands!

Perry wrote:

Lee, the owner of Mumblup Tavern (who didn't have wild eyes as Bron remembered, but did show the scars from the past times of his age) was extremely friendly, though talked in a disconnected way. When he asked us what music we'd like on, I told him about the YouTube video we'd watched most recently, where Frank Zappa played bicycle, and he said I was the first person to ask for Zappa. He played one song, then put on Diesel (and Chris Wilson) on, and kept saying we were leaving before the best song.

Sandi wrote:

Once ready to go we had sunshine again. Great walk along railway track with Kangaroo paws, Donkey Orchids, just lovely. Then a long hard hill on gravel road and very circuitous route to track. Delightful creek on way.

This section is actually part of a temporary diversion that looks like becoming permanent, but hadn't made it into the Guidebook. So we put the Guidebook away and just followed the Wauguls through a not very pleasant track next to the road, then up the roads past delightful farms to the National Park (where we must have re-joined the Track again: but we didn't make out where). The Guidebook did mention something about nice views of the valley from somewhere up here -- and they were picturesque.

The road walking did get tiresome, and we were very relieved to see the National Park and get back onto a 'soft' track and into the bush again. The GPS really taunted us though, as initially we were walking away from Noggerup campsite. The Track eventually gets around to the 'home straight' and crosses a little stream above a waterfall apparently (we didn't have the where-with-all to go looking), as it homes in on the campsite.

Perry wrote:

Today was everything I'd hoped: set off in rain and kept dry with poncho (though the sweat and condensation is fairly wet, especially on my back -- but it dries quickly) -- nice walk down to the dam for morning tea -- equally nice walk down to the tavern for lunch -- then a slightly longer walk through kangaroo paws to camp.

Two ladies were already resident in the shelter and had started a cooking fire before we arrived (which made the scene look very homely). The skies don't look too flash, so we get into warmer camp clothes (it really wasn't very warm) and got the tent up.

Sandi- wrote:

Cold night again. Very enjoyable. Pea hail again once in shelter. Thanks be to God!

Perry wrote:

The hamburger at the Tavern was amazing!! Extremely yummy. Interesting place -- very quirky, which is really just the personalisation of the owners (who are very nice). The Tavern fire was wonderful, and to be inside when it stormed and hailed was great (and a relief). The same thing happened after we got to the hut -- we were sitting in the hut chatting with two other ladies and a big wind blew through (which was very cold) -- then the rain and hail (pea sized). It's still very cold now (both last night and tonight have been very cold).

Noggerup			S	P	A	T
	Soup	Red Thai Curry	4.5	4.5	4.5	4.8
	Meal	Moroccan Lamb	4.5	4	4.3	4.2

Amanda, in very sportsman like manner, scored her Red Thai Curry as a 5.0

Some rare 'late night' writing and not-so-rare supper: we're wearing all our clothes again, because of the cold, which eventually drives us into our sleeping bags and our warm little tent. The end of a really delightful day.

	Distance			Time		Hours			Speed
	Section	Daily	Total	Arrive	Depart	H:M	Daily	Total	Km/h	Daily	Total
Yabberup Campsite	0.0				8:17 AM	0:00			0.0
Glen Mervyn Dam	7.0	7.0	373.0	10:03 AM		1:46	1:46	108.5	3.9	3.9	3.4
Mumballup Tavern	5.6	12.5	378.6	11:45 AM	1:00 PM	1:42	3:28	110.2	3.3	3.6	3.4
Noggerup Campsite	8.7	21.2	387.2	2:58 PM		1:58	5:26	112.2	4.4	3.9	3.5

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