SW Tour - Day 6

Last night we moved Katy down from the shared roof space bed and tucked her mattress on the floor between the kitchen cupboards in a hope to prevent covid spreading! It was rather squishy for her and we had to block the gapping hole from our accident with the picnic blanket.

Another day another trail much to Katy's delight (not!). She was grumpy that Ella has managed to get out of these walks firstly by being in Adelaide and secondly by having covid. Today's trek combined two trails into a circuit in the Porongurups. 

Leaving Ella in the camper, we began in a clockwise direction, passing the Tree in The Rock (a karri tree growing out of a crack in a granite slab) before ascending through the mossy lush forest to the granite slabs at the top. Hayward's Peak is the first of three high points on the ridge. We briefly stop for a rest, soaking up the vista over the forest and farmland below. 

   

The track undulated through the head high heath before another little climb up the next granite rock slab to Nancy's Peak. From here we had fantastic views across the valley to Devils Slide and Marmabup Rock.

From the next bare rock slab known as Morgan's View, we began the descent down. It was rocky going and we bumped into a work crew who were building new steps. 

Crossing the fire trail at the bottom, we began the climb up the side trail to Devils Slide. This track was much rougher and steeper winding its way up mainly in the gully adjacent to the large granite slabs. Towards the top, we negotiated Devil's Slide silently thankful that it wasn't raining.

 

A few minutes later, we emerged once again from the forest at Marmabup Peak, the highest point (670m) in the Porongurups. It was very windy up here so we quickly admired the view back across to Nancy's Peak where we had just come before making our way back down. A short 1.6km easy walk on the fire track concluded the circuit.

 

It was during this last section we received a call from Apollo Assist informing up that a replacement camper was being driven from Perth to us arriving early evening! Needing to purchase new supplies, we drove the short distant to Mt Barker. A visit to the IGA followed by a coffee at a local cafe (leaving the girls int eh camper to eat ice cream). Back at the campground we began to pack up our gear so when the new vehicle arrived at 8ish, it would be a quick changeover.

The replacement vehicle rolled into the campground just after 8pm. A quick transfer and we then bid Hippie goodbye. Similar in design, this camper was an Apollo brand and hence earnt the name Polly. Polly was slightly wider in and a little taller but essentially the same just without the hole!