Munda Biddi - Donnelly Mill to Hewer Sleepers camp

At 8:00am, we are all packed and ready to go and sitting in the general store reviewing the day ahead. We could not resist starting the day with scones, jam and cream, along with that ubiquitous kickstarter beverage: coffee.

Distance travelled = 57 km
Temperature 11 to 22. Not too humid. No rain and fairly calm.


A new map is required: the Sidings rail trail. It covers the Old Timberline track, I wanted to do this as it is purported to be a good alternative to the main route by other bloggers. If you draw a line between Nannup and Cambray Siding, the Sidings rail trail curves east of it and the the Timberline west. Both tracks are about the same length just over 20 km.
We did not dwell for too long and say goodbye to our new found native friends, as well as our genial hosts at the store.
Other than the trees, there is much to love about the forest, whether it be the cool shade on hot days or the lovely smells after a morning due or shower.
Also most mornings we awake to the sound of kookaburras and other birdlife. The array of fungi is interested with colours ranging from bright yellow-orange to white to dark brown.

This ride took us to a town called Nannup.  The road leading to Nannup is an excellent surface of bitumen with a nice lot of descents. It is a pleasant small town and well worth a stop for lunch and a look around. Originally we wanted to go to the pub, but it was closed. This was fortunate as we enjoyed a good lunch at a couple of cafes close by - me and Ed at a vegetarian place, the others at a place across the side street catering for meat lovers. 
Nannup proudly boasts its position as the halfway point and has taken that position seriously. It has a nice park, the amenity of the park even has public showers.
The head of the Munda Biddi, for the first time even had a bike maintenance stand.
Functional and appropriate artworks: a nice bench which was a sculpture composition of sprockets, cranks and other bicycle components.
We marvelled at a tree with height markers showing flood heights. The bridge we cross to join the track was lofty and seemingly an overkill, yet the tree indicates otherwise. We would be inundated with a flood of 11.6 metres.

Just after crossing the bridge we join the Timberline track. A new set of symbols are used to mark the track, an icon in the form of an axe. 
I got rather annoyed at Nev and Mark as they elected to go on a different track to the one Me and Ed were following. I thought they were with us, as they clearly saw us turn, yet when we got to the top of the hill there was no Nev, Mark nor Jon. Upon phoning we found that they were unsure of our choice of route, and so decided to take a different one ! Number one rule of travelling with a party in the bush is to stick together. Numerous people have been lost and search parties organised because of this very action. I would rather us all be lost together than end up as a fragmented group wandering around searching for one another. Enough of a rant, we all rejoined later at the Workman's Pool.
The Workman's pool was named as such, because it was for the workers. Management swam in a different pool, the Barrabup pool. Not being elitist, and because it was the first, we swam at the Workman's pool, enjoying the warmth of the sun and water.

There are relics of the logging past along this track, the pools, old bridges and campsites. 
After all that recreation of late start, lunch and swimming we were running out of daylight. Come 5:30pm we arrived at Sleeper Hewers camp and decided that it was a bit risky with the time remaining to go further to make the official site. The campsite here looked good so the decision was unanimous to stay. 
After a full day of activity, sleep arrives quickly and it luxury isn't relevant.

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