I found Wellstead Bush Camp somewhere on the net as we had heard that Bremer Bay, close by, was a great spot and also good for fishing too. Bremer Bay was too expensive so I chose Wellstead as it seemed to be a central sightseeing spot. See my separate Bremer Bay page.
Wellstead Bush Camp has pros and cons. The pros are that you are made to feel welcome and the toilets, hot showers and camp kitchen are nice and clean. But the best pro is happy hour outside the camp kitchen and beside the camp fire. Cons? Well we got no phone or internet connection and we could not get any telly channels. You don't realise how much you miss these things until you have spent a week without them. 😟
Our hosts told us that they were leaving in a few days time and asked hubby if we wanted to fill in for a few weeks. Hubby thought that would be a good idea as it would provide us with free accommodation and in return we just had to keep the happy hour camp fires burning, collect fees from people and clean the toilets, showers and camp kitchen.
I conceeded that the experience may be able to afford us a better position filling in somewhere where it is hot and there is a beach. One can only hope. 😝
Anyway, the view from our van with the ranges in the background was pretty good.
Wellstead was in a central spot for the beaches and mountains.
We wondered
where this name Boat Harbour comes from. It certainly
had no boats and was definitely not a harbour.
Boat Harbour is the closest beach to Wellstead. Don’t think we will be coming here
again. Too wild and windy and the track
was dodgy.
--oOo--
CAPE RICHIE
This beach
was nice. Hubby got out his fishing gear
and I walked along the shore with my camera.
Picked up a few shells too. I’ll
make some shell chimes later when I gather enough; something we loved doing
years ago at Hastings Point. There were
a ton of butterflies. And I took a ton
of photos lol 😉
Trying to nail a good shot.
Wildflowers were starting to come out. It's a little early for wildflowers but the early winter rains had brought out some. Hubby
pointed out patches of red lesunaulture on the road side. I thought that it only came in blue. Interesting.
--oOo--
STIRLING RANGES
We did a
little round trip to Borden about an hour away.
I had thought that the Tavern there might be a nice place for
lunch. The whole town was as dead as a
doornail. Shop had hardly anything in it
and the Tavern looked like it had been shut for years.
I am glad
that we checked it out as I had Borden Tavern on the itinerary for our next
stop on the way to a lakeside camp up north.
Consequently, the itinerary is now changed.
So, we headed back via Amelup and a dirt back road that afforded us a great view of the ranges. I knew that we could get a feed at the Amelup Servo. Not bad pies here. Amelup is the home of a fun nudists crossing sign next to the Servo. Here is a pic from 2013 when we were here.
This is the view from the picnic table near the sign. Nice hey 😊
The best place to take photos of the Stirling Ranges is a few K’s north of Amelup. It’s the same spot that we pulled up in 2013 when the fields were full of canola in flower. This time, the farmers were just planting the crops.
 |
| Canola Field near Stirling Ranges 2013 |
 |
Stirling Ranges 2021 |
--oOo--
View from the backside of the ranges and a few wildflowers.
--oOo--
Back at camp, we got out the camp oven and made up a beer bread damper. We were excited with anticipation.
After a ceremonial uncovering, we were presented with a charcoal lump. Lol.
A couple of
days later we tried again. Getting
better but still a long way from that perfect loaf.
--oOo--
DAY TRIP TO ALBANY
We had to
do some business and a food stock up so drove 100 K’s to Albany. By this time, I was going crazy of boredom so
welcomed the trip and was looking forward to making the most of it. It was also great to catch up with the family
and sadly let them know that we were going to be off the grid for a couple more
weeks. I made sure I bought a whole huge
book of puzzles to keep me occupied. 😉
I had
noticed the place that we had dinner back in 2013 and thought this would be a
great restaurant for lunch. Turned out a
perfect decision. I had steak and hubby
had chicken and we washed it down with a bottle of local red. Spent more than we really should have but I
tell you, it was money well spent. I
would totally recommend Rustlers Steakhouse and Grill, located at the bottom
end of the main street and turn right at the cute Tudor cottage and up the road
a bit, on the right. Easy parking too
and Monday is a good day as not too busy.
So, I guessed you noticed that they had a picture of us in the wall.
Lol, nah….
I just got so bored that I had a photo play.
First
picture is of the 2013 crew and the rest now in 2021.
SUNRISES/SUNSETS
There is
another good thing going for Wellstead.
The sunrises and sunsets are awesome.
But then that is normal anywhere out in the bush. We also finally saw stars and the Milky
Way. First time since we left Perth that
we actually had clear skies. However, I
am not leaving the warmth of our van to photograph the milky way. It is way too cold here 😉
Anyway, the
sunrises and sunsets were pretty good.
--oOo--
DAY TRIP TO MT BARKER
I had been cooped up in camp pretty much doing nothing; well except from dunny cleaning. Not my idea of fun 😔
So, a day
outing to anywhere was welcome. Our day
trip to Mt Barker was more than welcome.
Ahhh, wine country 😊
We pulled
in to the Information Centre. Well worth
a visit. I bought a cute BYO wine holder
and a hot sauce that’ll blow your socks off.
--oOo--
WINERIES
Now I am glad that our itinerary has been changed to drive through Mt Barker as there is tons to do here at this little country town.
First stop,
West Cape Howe Winery. We were
pleasantly surprised by the wines here.
They were all nice. We overspent,
but what the heck; it was well worth it.
They had a cosy fireplace complete with a roaring fire. The weather outside took a nosedive so we
decided to have lunch here. Not a big
menu but everything looked really good.
We opted for a Mediterranean Pizza.
Good choice with our bottle of Shiraz Tempranillo 😊
On the way
back we hung a left and checked out Galafrey Winery. It reminded us of Blueberry Hill Wines in the
Hunter Valley as it was perched on a hill overlooking the valley and distant
Stirling Ranges. They had a good Port
which is light but with a different taste.
I also bought three bars on scented soap.
--oOo--
Hubby had been doing quite a bit of lawn mowing, wipper snipping and fixing stuff at the camp. The owner, farmer Rob had learnt of our love of wildflowers so he let hubby know where he had spotted a few. So we hit the dirt track near the farm for some wildflower spotting.
And a few cows and some sort of alien looking grass tree.
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