01 02 03 Holiday Road: Leaving Perth and visiting Pinjarra,Donnybrook and Gnomesville 04 05 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 31 32 33

Leaving Perth and visiting Pinjarra,Donnybrook and Gnomesville

It’s been a week since leaving Perth and in that time I suppose we haven’t really covered as much distance or explored as much as we normally do,only really because of the wild weather we had and a stop for bus batteries.
After leaving Bonney’s Ski Park at Baldivis where we had stayed for roughly the last three months,paying $175 a week with power.It's a great spot and quiet, the amenities are small but new ,there’s also a camp kitchen and wheel chair toilet/shower but not to forget the mangers are cool also!
http://www.bonneyswaterskipark.com.au/
Once we said our goodbyes and left we took the route from Baldivis to Mandurah where we filled up the bus then down the South Western Hwy with a overnight stop at Wokalup where we camped by the Witches @ Woky Roadhouse for the night and a bit longer into the next day than expected as we experienced rough weather to the point the kids were worried the bus was going to tip.Pretty happy though we hadn't parked amongst trees that night.

Shell Gateway Roadhouse,Bunbury

After leaving Wakalup we had a detour into Bunbury for unexpected new bus batteries,we ended up with one night at the Shell Gateway Roadhouse sort of stuck there waiting for new batteries and more rough weather the next day, from there it was onward to Donnybrook where we stayed for three nights at the Transit Park , we paid $27 a night with power but that price was not including the kids, they normally do charge a couple dollars extra per child per night, there’s a three day time limit and only ten sites but each site has it’s own ensuite this stop was made more so to see out the storm predicted for the Monday instead of being out on the roads in it!

As I mentioned earlier we hadn't seen allot this week, instead spending a bit of time in the bus out of the weather though a few of the days that weren’t half bad we ventured out looking around Pinjarra,where we visited the suspension bridge over the Murray River,along with a old Anglican church built back in 1862 and the very old cemetery that surrounded it,we also looked around a few of the antique stores in town and not to forgetting the collection of old steam trains & carriages they have by the Pinjarra Train Station where they are gradually restoring them.

Ahead the suspension bridge over the Murray River

A old Anglican church built in 1862

One of the steam engines by the Pinjarra Station

There is a 24 hour stop at Pinjarra not far from the station or town on a open grassed area,they have toilets at the station but no showers & if you are in a Big Rig you are likely to have a bit of trouble getting in there like we did,the overhanging tress made it look impossible along with the skinny driveway entry so we passed and parked next to it!

Donnybrook we also looked at briefly ,if you have kids it’s a must stop for the Apple Fun Park, basically situated right in town.Our first night at Donnybrook we headed for the Apple Fun Park even though the whole town was in darkness with power blackouts from the previous days storm ,we took the torches along and had a blast splitting into two teams playing hide & seek.

The foot bridge over The Preston River,Donnybrook

The Preston River,Donnybrook

The kids art project ,a scene for Gnomesville

Just a small group of the many resident gnomes at Gnomesville

Beaudine and Nadeine doing their best to save a few gnomes

Gnomesville was the highlight to our stop at Donnybrook ,it’s only around 30 ks out on Wellington Mills road,you can’t miss them! as they all sit in a wide spread area up & down the side of the road with also a little creek running through and a foot bridge over it.After Sundays storm allot trees had been blown over and squashing quite a few gmones or knocking them from their position,so we all picked up as many as we could and saved a few from the creek.Some of the tracks were covered in huge fallen trees along with the footbridge.This place is well worth the visit even if you don't have a liking to gnomes,it's a eye opener to how many gmones there really are there and the effort people have put into all the different scenes.Any gnomes that stray beyond the boundary of Gnomesville are then placed into the detention centre surrounded by fencing.Some people have even placed a gnome out of respect of a family member whom has passed! And the saying goes anyone who steals a gnome from Gnomesville will end up with bad luck.

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