Gnomesville (WA) – Aug 2013

I’m gonna call this the Gnomesville trip, but reality is that’s where we finished.

I was fortunate enough to scam the passenger seat in Doc’s Patrol for a run down south of Perth today. We departed at around 0700h and headed to meet up at the Pinjarra bakery. It was a good place to start a trip, with plenty of parking space and a bloody good feed to boot!

After the obligatory meet & greets with a quick chat about the days proceedings, we departed and headed further south just past Burekup before turning east for a short while to the end of Lennard Rd. Unfortunately the start of our track coincided with the finish of a school children’s cross country event.

We aired down and came across the first obstacle for the day. A nice technical little piece all about wheel placement. The photos don’t really show the drop (they never do), but along with the dampness it was enough to require a tad more thinking & caution.

Trying to get a big number of vehicles through resulted in the inevitable delay in proceedings, but that’s the reality of large numbers. Not too much further up the track we stumbled upon an interesting bog hole, where a couple of young fellas were finishing a recovery. Only one of our group decided to give this a go, unfortunately not getting through.

Towards the later 1/2 it started getting a tad slippier and the safer options were taken but I’ll let the pictures tell the story. As per normal we always mention the more ‘spectator friendly’ parts of a track, but the reality is the track was full of little challenges which could come out to bite very quickly if your mind wandered.

The occasional break in the weather and surrounding bush provided some spectacular views across to the west. I could well imagine that on a good day you’d have no issue seeing the coastline. I could also understand quite easily that it would get very cold on an early winters morning up in these hills.

The last obstacle of the day was a relatively benign downhill section, however it was spiced up by the wet clay surface with no ruts to follow. The decision was made to bypass it as no-one was keen to go home with damage – and there was a good chance with 15 odd vehicles that the last through wouldn’t have much control.

The trip finished at a place called Gnomesville where there is some great displays of various gnomes added by a variety of people. There is everything from weddings to birthdays and memorials for people past. A great little place where there was even a touch of Tassie 🙂

A thoroughly enjoyable Sunday drive.

Views like this were plentiful in places.

Views like this were plentiful in places.

Wheel placement was critical at times to avoid panel/underbody damage.

Wheel placement was critical at times to avoid panel/underbody damage.

The view of the track over the bonnet was quite often hampered.

The view of the track over the bonnet was quite often hampered.

The occasional small water hole didn't cause a concern.

The occasional small water hole didn’t cause a concern.

Whilst the downhill muddy sections led to some excitement.

Whilst the downhill muddy sections led to some excitement.

The larger holes were 'interesting'

The larger holes were ‘interesting’

Throw in the occasional side angle - just enough for the guys with roof-top tents to worry slightly.

Throw in the occasional side angle – just enough for the guys with roof-top tents to worry slightly.

Part of the lineup at the end.

Part of the lineup at the end.

Welcome to Gnomesville

Welcome to Gnomesville

The Overlander bus is full!

The Overlander bus is full!

The RAAF flew into town.

The RAAF flew into town.

And every display has a rocket.

And every display has a rocket.

A map just in case you don't know you're in Australia.

A map just in case you don’t know you’re in Australia.

And the best place of all - Tasmania   :)

And the best place of all – Tasmania 🙂

This entry was posted in 2013. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply