Day 172, Manjimup, (Beedeelup NP & Winery), WA

By 9am we were in the car and heading the 30 odd kilometres to Bridgetown to look over our next destination.  It's a camping site for vans only with no power but there is a long hose to access water.  It looks decent enough although driving up the very steep hills towing a van will be challenging.  There are some really lovely walks in this area so we are looking forward to that and also the Farmers Markets are going to be held this coming Sunday so we might be able to pick up a little produce.

We stopped at Manjimup on the way home because we needed more chemical for the Loo.  The camping store is also Sportspower where I picked up a lovely warm hoodie for the cold nights in store for us over the next couple of nights without heating 🙁...

The other thing we had on our list for today was to drive to the Organic Winery just outside Pemberton.  The Mountford Winery came to us on a recommendation by one of our fellow passengers on the tour we did earlier this week.  The winery is down a long gravel road and the Cellar Door is charming.  We were greeted by the owners when we entered and were given some tasting notes about the wines that they make.  They also brew some pretty decent Cider if you are into that.

They do not have an extensive range of wines but that is a good thing because it enables them to perfect the ones they produce. We were keen to sample their wine and was pleased to find that they had sampling paddles.  We chose three whites and two reds.  I particularly liked the Select Chardonnay but asked to try the Reserve.  It was a no brainer as to which one I liked the best.  Philip stayed with the reds and his choice was the Cabernet Franc and the Merlot.  I hope we don't have buyers regret when we open the first bottle!  The wines always seem to taste better at the cellar door 😩 We also purchased a bottle of organic mixed olives and a port and cheddar cheese that we had tasted during our wine tasting.  Both were delicious.

While we were settling our account we started chatting about where we were from etc etc.  Talk became more talk and the owner asked us if we had visited Beedelup Falls yet? No we hadn't and after some instructions on how to get there we decided to visit here before heading home.

Beedelup Falls in the Beedelup National Park where just a ten minute drive from the winery and once we had parked the car we walked to the map of the park and decided to walk the loop that would take us over the river via a suspension bridge.  The whole walk was around a kilometre but quite a few steps (again....)

The Falls were not the most impressive we have seen on this trip but it was certainly worth the drive.  We passed a lot of hikers along the path that also forms part of the Bibbulmun Track. I don't think I have mentioned this track in my posts but it is one of the worlds longest tracks at 1000km's.  It stretches from Perth to Albany.  There are 49 Campsites along "The Bibb" and it is certainly a challenging track for hikers to complete!

I had to include a photo of Philip when he first stepped onto the Swing Bridge.  Had he had a camera on my face I would certainly have had the same look.  It feels VERY unstable with all the swinging and swaying..

Once we had completed the circuit it was a matter of "Home James".  It was quite late and we were both starving.  Fortunately I had made the Spanokopita yesterday so it was a matter of popping it the oven to warm while I tossed a Greek Salad to go with it.  I think I could become a Vegetarian after todays lunch..........not.