Quoi de 9 chez Bel: A quick stop at Hamelin Bay and arriving in Manjimup

19/02/12

After a nice weekend at Margaret River, we hit the road again towards the south.

For lunch we stopped at Hamelin Bay. A beautiful beach; white sand and turquoise sea. Normally there are lots of rays in the sea, but we didn’t see any.

Late afternoon we finally arrived to the place we head been heading for since we left Perth : Manjimup.

Manjimup is a small town (5000 inhabitants) about 306km south of Perth.

Manjimups’s first settler, Thomas Muir, took up land near the present town site in 1856. Early Swan River settlers used jarrah for building and were so impressed with the quality of Manjimup’s wood they called it ‘Swan River mahogany’. It wasn’t until the 1860s that the Aboriginal name for wood came into usage.

The name Manjimup is derived from the Aboriginal word ‘manjin’ – an edible reed found in the area and ‘up’ meaning ‘place of’.

Both entrances to the town, impressive timber arches span the road bearing the town name. These symbolise that Manjimup is the gateway to the magnificent southern forests.

Agriculture, viticulture, aquaculture and horticulture feature prominently on the landscape. Soils are tilled to produce a wide variety of delicious fruits.

We came here for the fruits, or rather to work in the fruit business as apple pickers. (It was also in Manjimup that the Pink Lady apple was created!)

We arrived in Manjimup on a Sunday afternoon at 4pm. Our first impression: is Manjimup a ghost town? Everything was shut. Not a soul nor car to be seen in the streets. The town seemed completely deserted.

Lucky for us, the tourist information centre was open. We were able to get a map of the area and find out where the closest campsites where.

Before settling down in a campsite we decided it would be a good idea to go and find the place we had to go for work early the next morning. Manjimup being such a small place, finding the company was rather an easy task.

After this short drive, we headed back to the centre of Manjimup to settle down in a campsite (which was to be our home base for the next month).