Hiking & car camping around DRYANDRA

28 Apr

It's the ANZAC Day long weekend and we're heading off to Dryandra for several days of camping, hiking and exploring local history. We camp at the former Congelin Siding where I show the remains of the railway that closed in 1960. I also go through some new camping equipment including a Jetboil Flash, a camp kitchen, a lithium battery/inverter and a blow up reclining chair! We then defend our dinner from a possum...

The next day we check out the planned location of the Congelin townsite. This was mostly never built besides from a cricket club and a hall (the hall was badly damaged by an intense storm in 2020). We then check out the Happy Valley Homestead down the road (otherwise known as Bells Homestead, built in the 1910s) before heading up and onto Contine Hill. There's a great picnic area here and also the remains of several fire lookout towers.

We then visit the TARDIS on the Wandering-Narrogin Road before arriving at Lol Gray for a 12km hike! There's also a fire lookout tower here, and the Lol Gray Trail takes you west in a figure eight loop to the Dryandra Settlement. A holiday park now, it's a rare example of a forestry village this far east, established for the Mallet Bark plantations. There's even the remains of a mill! The hike itself was fantastic, traversing through many different environments. But best of all... we spotted two echidnas!

Sources

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/dd1c2d07-e5db-47a6-aabc-7b0024f26ab5

https://dryandravillage.org.au/dryandra-village/

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/c9806694-7b75-43b1-a51c-597ae602a36c

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/b60b6a00-63ad-438a-871d-0c6b3437bfc5

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/80c10a83-6b31-4803-b7d2-228f9923d614

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/b23f1eb3-71f9-4e82-90c6-9930b1a61abc

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/955ae2ab-dad2-4f42-9a01-a1d3fa4de768

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/32abe552-4585-4130-b400-cb879d399649

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/b56a24cf-976f-4ac7-bd4b-acdf5361068a

https://inherit.dplh.wa.gov.au/Public/Inventory/Details/b0c09290-49e4-479e-96fe-66d04054223d

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dryandra_Woodland_National_Park