Day 174 Bridgetown (Nannup) WA

I had a restless night with very cold temperatures and no central heating.  I filled the hot water bottle twice throughout the night and its warming comfort brought back memories from my childhood in cold old Warwick on the Darling Downs. Philip and I were quite the picture of loveliness in our beanies, gloves, socks and trackie dackies,  but we were relatively warm.....

We stayed in bed as long as we could this morning, until the temperature reached 10 degrees, and that wasn't until nearly 9am.  At that time we dressed ourselves in warm clothes and set sail along the River Walk where the markets were being held.  However.....no markets!  We were disappointed as we had forgone breakfast thinking that we would be able to purchase something to eat at the markets.  As the town centre is only a kilometre or so from where the markets should have been held we headed in that direction to find a coffee shop for brunch.

This photo is for you mum...

The place we found was lovely and the food and beverages were very warming and appetising.  Philip chose the Eggs Benny whereas I went for the standard Bacon and Eggs.  We didn't linger over breakfast though as we knew we had a return walk of almost five kilometres.  We were back at the van by 11.30 and it was then that I suggested to Philip that we drive along Tourist Drive 251 to Nannup that is reputably one of Western Australia's most scenic.

The tourist drive starts at Bridgetown and then traverses the Ellis Creek State Forest before arriving into Nannup. From Nannup we headed through the green winding hills of the Blackwood River Valley to Southampton and Balingup. We diverted slightly from the tourist drive and turned off near Greenbushes to arrive into Bridgetown from the eastern side.  We only drove around 150kms today but it took us around three hours with many stops along the way - even for turtles.....

Another of the stops we made was at Tank 7 lookout that overlooks Nannup.  This is also the starting point for the many mountain bike trails throughout Nannup.  I was astonished at the starting point that is a wooden platform that simply drops off many metres to the ground below!  These mountain bikers certainly have big hearts..

Today was a fitting way to say goodbye to this lovely area of Western Australia, where every turn of the road brings you to another breathtaking view and the small towns we drive through are postcard pretty. Tomorrow we head to Wagin in the wheatbelt area.  We will stay in this area for the next week before heading south again. We thought it would be a good idea to head inland to get away from the school holiday crowd.  I had this feeling today though that I should ring ahead to Wagin and the caretaker that I spoke to told me that she was glad that I did ring ahead because every night she has been fully booked!  Can you believe it.  Every grey nomad has the same thought as us apparently 😂😂😩😩😩