Jarrahdale in the Serpentine NP

6th September 2014

Raining this morning but we set off anyway to Jarrahdale, which is an old milling town set deep in the forest.   A few of the old buildings remain and it is quite picturesque.  The Jarrah in this area was felled from the 1870's through till the 1940's so all the current forest is regrowth since that time.  No really big trees left.

Tramway track in Jarrahdale shortly before the rain started.

We walked a track on the route of the old tramway which was constructed to get the logs to the mill.

A few km's into the walk the rain came pouring down and by the time we got back to the car about 1.5 hours later we were completely drenched despite wearing waterproofs.

My consolation was finding an orchid I had not previously seen.

Wet and bedraggled we returned to the van for a change of clothes and a dry out.  By this stage it had stopped raining and the sun had made an appearance so we drove into the forest again, this time to the dam on the Serpentine river, which is used as a water catchment.  The level was suprisingly low!   We walked up no end of steps to a cafe on the top of the hill which normally has spectacular views across the valley, but not today as the rain closed in again. Poor John got drenched for a 2nd time going back to get the car.