A short day today and a bit of exploration. We set off to Collie first thing to stock up on provisions at the Coles supermarket.

Leaving Collie we headed into the Harris River State Forest, following mostly unsurfaced tracks. The majority of the tracks were in good condition with few/minor corrugations and the forest made for some decent scenery along the way. There was maybe 5k worth of track with bad corrugations that looked to have had some heavy vehicles along it.

The tracks we used crossed a conveyor belt three times, each time heading over the top of it on a bridge. The conveyor belt has a corrugated tin roof over it but you can see the belt and supporting wheels. The belt is one of the longest in the world and extends for 52km from the mine to the refinery, cutting through the middle of the forest.

Another sign of the bauxite mining in the area was the long ramp that the road went under in a tunnel. It looked similar to an old incline but MUCH bigger as it was carrying mine tipper trucks rather than a railway.

Having reached the north of the forest by early afternoon we stopped at a collection of camp sites but it didn’t look too appealing so a quick search of WikiCamps threw up a site at Pinjarra Park. It’s not as far north as we’d intended but it’s a nice spot and we’ve moved a bit further north.

Best of all, we seem to have moved our of the weather system that has been giving us clouds and rain for the last few days, clear blue skies and a warming sun – that’s more like it ! Obviously we reserve the right to start complaining about the heat now 🙂

We’ll probably head past Perth tomorrow, either stopping at one of the sites to the North East of Perth or heading to the pinnacles, we’ll see how we feel tomorrow and take it as it comes.