South-West Journey

I began my journey to the South-West region of WA, meaning for it to be a

relaxing holiday but it became much more. It became educational, I learnt so
much about the area, through my own research while I was abroad. I began in
Bunbury and went through the amazing towns of Margaret River, Pemberton,
Walpole, Manjimup and Collie, then ended up back in Bunbury for my train back
to Perth. If ever visiting the South-West you should check out all these places and
do some of the things that I did, and of course learn about where youre going
beforehand, what you find might surprise you.

To get to Bunbury I took the Australind train from Perth City Station. It was
$32.10 for myself to get there but I would suggest to take some food for yourself
if you get hungry quickly as
the trip takes a few hours. The
most common way to get
there is obviously just to drive
there along the Once there I
walked to the car hire place,
there were others to choose
from such as Thrifty and Avis
but I chose Hertz as it was the
closest to the rail station. From
there I chose to go to Margaret
Australiand Train
River, the tourist area of my
journey, along the Bussell
Highway. The South West and Forrest highways intersect into Bunbury so the
traffic can get busy around that area. If you dont want to hire a car, there are
bus/coaches that travel to different towns in the area. Transwa travels to all the
major towns, including the ones I went to and others such as Busselton and
Nannup. Another coach line is South West Coach Lines, they travel from around
Perth to the South West but stop off at less popular locations. When going to
Margaret River I also found out that Bunbury has an airport and port that allows
passenger an alternative way to get to the South-West. So if you prefer it you can
be classy and arrive by plane or ship. Although you must be rich to travel them.
It took a couple hours to get there and since Id been travelling no stop, when I
got to Margaret River I plonked myself down in the hotel for the night. The next
day I decided to actually tour wineries in the region, since thats what Margaret
Rivers famous for. My friend showed me a good touring company Bushtucker
tours so I used many of their tours for this trip. I was picked up from my hotel
and throughout the day I was taken to lots of different wineries and breweries.
Since I came alone I had to join another group for the whole thing. The tour also
included food tasting from different produce in the local area. Another one off
their tours that was more my style was a canoeing and bush tucker tour. I also
had to join a group of strangers but the tour guide set us in our canoes and we
followed him up the river to a small cave that we explored and crawled through,
which was very uncomfortable itself. We then followed him back to a place where
they had organised lunch for the group. As given by the name of the tour it
entirely consisted of native food that I had never eaten before. There was native
fruits, different meats, such as kangaroo and echidna, they even us a witchetty
grub which was one of the most horrible things Ive ever tasted. All in all it was
good though, new experiences. To cap off my time in Margaret River I went on a
cave tour, the Lake cave tour to be specific. It was amazing, to see the beauty
underneath the surface of the earth was just breath taking. The guide told us all
about how the cave was formed over time by the dripping ceiling and
underwater rivers. The problems with these caves I found out was that they are
on the brink of being destroyed. In many other caves over the region roofs have
collapsed, have run dry leaving the cave to remain as it is and promote collapse,
so caves have flooded completely through blockage of the stream. But
surprisingly human have one of the most dramatic effect on the cave systems.
Just by being in these caves we can erode it much more than nature ever could,

much of the water that runs into the ground from farming can run down into the
caves and flood them. There are some groups trying to protect these caves
though, they may take dramatic actions such as closing these amazing
attractions but it helps, and will save these caves for the future.
You can learn some valuable lessons from all these different experiences, their
main purposes may be entertainment and to grovel money off you but their
secondary messages can have real purpose. The brewery and winery tour tells us
to appreciate local products and that not everything has to be made in a big
factory from business superpower have high quality. The canoeing tour, that tells
us to try new things, you may not like them but at least you tried. It also explains
to us that time outside away from our homes can be relaxing and enjoyable.
Finally the caves tell us to think about how our everyday actions, even those that
seem insignificant, will affect the environment around us and affect the future.
Next place on my stopping list, was Pemberton. I remember going here as a child
with my parents, and for some reason it stuck
in my mind so I just had to visit it. From what
I remember it was rather dry but still cool in
temperature, and it was isolated in a small
community. Obviously a lot has changed, now
it has become a semi-popular place for those
that like outdoor recreational activities, such
as bush walking, canoeing and camping. Also
the temperature was a lot different from what
I remember. I looked at the Bureau of
Meteorologys website and found this:
Lake Cave

Climate graph: Pemberton

250

30

200

25
20

150

15
Precipitation (mm)

100

10

50

Precipitation

Temperature (Degrees C)

Temperatre (C )

This time around I went in June, so that means before I must have went in around
December April time. Also on the Bureau website there was some other info on
the area. It seems most of the area experiences between 600 and 1200 mm of
rain annually, Pemberton I found out experiences around 1180 mm a year, so a

very wet place it seems. The temperature is about 20 C average for the whole
year, while for the area it is between 21 and 23C. So really Pemberton is a
relatively cool place throughout the year, but am I talking about temperature. If
you go there I would suggest some warm clothing as at night it can drop to 9C.
The road led me south towards Walpole, it was a nice
place, lots of
people
camping
around
there. The
best part of
Walpole was
just all the
nature
Stalactite creation
around it, everything created over
time by immense forces, just wow.
One such example is the Valley of
Tree Top Walk
the Giants, it is just massive. The
trees there are hundreds of years old but are all over the place. The tree top walk
there is something you should do. Also in the valley I walked along some of the
tracks they have there, like the Bibbulmun Track. I went along those for a couple
hours, and saw so much. There was so much wildlife around, wildflowers,
kangaroos, and more. What was good seeing was the river that made the whole
valley around me, it seems so small to create such a vast landscape but it did it.
In the region there are quite a few rivers accompanied by valleys, most likely the
reasons for all these rivers is the climate being quite wet. The trek was difficult at
first due to the hills in the area and those around it, but as I approached the
coast it flattened out. The coastline around the South-West is famous for its
beaches and I can see why, they are long, flat, sandy and empty. Its amazing
how they are formed, just water and time. Erosion breaks down the rocks into
sand and is washed into a beach. The water even creates the bays and inlets in
the area, rivers also help with this, not just the ocean. Caves are another natural
beauty in the area, the creation for those can be even more amazing, an
underground river just rushes through the rocks and erodes creating a massive
area of open space, and water that drips from the ceiling creates all the
stalactites and stalagmites. Features like these are common around the SouthWest area, but its the Valley that makes Walpole special.

Next stop was Manjimup, not the most exciting place but it served its purpose.
The problem with it was that there was litter everywhere, they did clean it up but
not before I saw it. That got me wondering what other problems did the area
have, and I found a few. A large problem for them was destruction of the land,
either through clearing, salinity or fires. The clearing was removing the land for
new purposes such as housing and stuff or just logging trees down leaving the

land bear. Salinity is an increase in the water table that brings up salt and
decimates all plant life in the area, and it is caused by guess what clearing of
land. Fires are a problem just about anywhere but the dense forests in this region
literally add fuel to the fire, and with the summer months becoming hotter it just
creates better conditions for the fires to burn. The other category of problems in
the area is with different organisms. There are quite a few introduced species in
the area and kill the native wildlife making some species endangered and
needing human protection. A really big problem in the area is a fungus called
Phytophthora Dieback, this kills trees, bushes, the lot, and unfortunately it is
common to see. But I hear you ask, What are people doing about it?, good
question unnamed person. Well for the logging, they plant more trees or create
plantations for logging in particular. For salinity they help that by planting more
trees, especially among agricultural
land. For fires, there is not much they
can do about it except to do regular
burn-offs and be ready for a wildfire.
To solve introduced species, they set
down traps for the predators in
particular or poison a large area with a
plant that native animals are immune
to. The Dieback is solved by more of
decreasing the spread as there is no
known cure, they encourage the use of
tracks not off road, they have special
washing stations for shoes and tires in
Effects of Dieback
non-infected areas. It is also encouraged to not go walking after rain and to not
enter Dieback quarantined areas. All these problems are felt all across the region
not just one town. Dieback is seen all over the South-West more so in the coastal
areas. While the others will often happen more if there are humans around.
The last place I visited was disappointing, Collie. I thought it would be a small
town but I guessed wrong, it is a Supertown as they put it. The town is really
based around industry, less than 15km from the town is the light-industrial area,
heavy industry two coal mines and refineries and the Worsley alumina mine and
refinery. These create business mind you, but they also create traffic, it can get
noisy and the smoke they produce is just ugh. In the area they also have two
coal-fired power stations, which creates more smoke. Towards the town centre
they have a shopping centre, with shops such as Woolworths and Target. There is
a residential area towards the outskirts of Collie, with family homes. The other
towns I have visited during my journey are unlike this, except for Bunbury. They
have small shopping strips/areas and have houses filling the rest of the area,
with the occasional recreation place. These towns are usually more focused on
agriculture than other industries. Collie is similar to towns in the South-West such
as Bunbury and Busselton, as they also have the industry along with them.
At that I travelled back to Bunbury, dropped off my hire car, and caught the train
back to Perth. This journey as said in the beginning was very educational, it will
impact on how I will act now and travel through the South-West in the future,
which I suggest you do. Remember research before you travel and of course try
to enjoy it.