The 2350 kilometre Great Southern Road Trip actually traverses the Peel, South-West, Great Southern and Wheatbelt regions of Western Australia. While only about 37% of the Road Trip is in the Great Southern region, it is a ‘Great’ road trip and its focus is ‘Southern’.
The Road Trip starts where the abandoned Alcoa railway used to cross the South West Highway. The remains of the bridge across the highway are clearly visible and more than likely a mystery to modern-day travellers who would not be aware of the history of this relic of the 1990s.
[Please note that this track is now closed]
Alcoa mined bauxite around Jarrahdale between 1963 and 1998. Jarrahdale is an old logging town, located about 46km south of Perth. The existing railway from Jarrahdale that connected with the Pinjarra-Armadale Railway, and used for hauling timber from 1872, was a bonus for Alcoa and its transport of bauxite. The service road runs along the old railway and, via numerous bush tracks, through to Albany Highway.
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- Service track alongside the disused Alcoa bauxite railway.
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- The railway is pretty much overgrown although the service track is accessible.
We left the track at Jarrahdale and headed south via the water supply dams.
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- Lake Banksiadale and South Dandalup Dam.
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- Spillway
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- The wall of the North Dandalup Dam.
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- Public park below the dam wall at North Dandalup.
We weaved our through the northern jarrah forest, past the bauxite mining areas to Collie and then onto Mumballup.
Winnejup
The day finished at our private riverside camp at Winnejup.
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- Our camp on the bank of the Blackwood River.
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- Our camp on the bank of the Blackwood River.
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- Early morning at Winnejup.
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- The Blackwood River from Winnejup Bridge.
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- Aaron and his Patrol at Jayes Crossing.
Chowerup
We had been past this quaint community hall a number of times in the recent past.
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- Chowerup Hall
The trip south of Chowerup took us to
Lake Country