We are a long way from Gnome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello everyone,

On our next Day at Margaret River we took ourselves about 50 kilometres north to the town of Busselton. Busselton is a lovely seaside town which is a service centre for the area and is famous for having the longest timber piered jetty in the world. It is 1.84 kilometres long and has a railway track out to the end where there is an underwater observatory. We walked all the way out to the end and back and were thankful it was not too hot or windy. After our picnic lunch, we travelled back to Margaret River where we stocked up on groceries and fuel.

On leaving Margaret River we travelled north to Capel and then to Donnybrook where we had a picnic lunch. Donnybrook is a lovely community and like many of the small towns we visit it was very clean and the people were lovely. During the afternoon, we visited Thomson Brook Winery where I purchased a couple of bottles of port. The winery allows you to free camp on the property so we set up camp before heading out to see some of the district where some of the wineries were participating in an art festival.

Thomson Brook Winery free  camp

  Thomson Brook free camp

Cheryl with one of the art exhibits

We travelled up to Boyanup and through to Dardanup where we visited “The Bonking Frog Winery” and checked out a sculpture exhibition. We then made our way to Gnomesville at Ferguson which like the Tin Horse Highway near Hyden that we posted about earlier, is a little gem. Gnomesville started when a local lady put a gnome in a redgum tree which had a hollow close to the ground. Another local man believed the gnome should have a name so he put up a sign “Dun Gnoming” above the hollow. From this small beginning, other people started participating & Gnomesville was born at the side of the road! There are gnomes as far as the eye can see & dare I say there is “gnome” more space left!

 Chezza watching television in bed & Gnomesville

 We left Thomson Brook and travelled only a few kilometres to the township of Collie. Collie is a well-equipped town of 9000 residents – large enough to offer all the services but small enough to retain plenty of country charm. The area was at first recognised as being useful as pasture lands for timber production, but with the discovery of coal in 1863, Collie’s future direction was set. Coal is still Collie’s main economic base and its coal provides 51% of the energy grid for Western Australia.We free camped at Stockton Lake which is about 6 kilometres east of Collie. It is a lovely spot.

Stockton Lake free camp