We thank all our old and new walkers who joined us at Nomans Lake and Dryandra. It was a wonderful time spent simply in nature with our GWN community walking, talking, singing and eating great food!

For the first 5 nights, we camped on Janey and Michael’s property at Nomans Lake, 50 km east of Narrogin in WA’s central Wheatbelt. This is one of a chain of lakes that form part of the headwaters of the Arthur River. The Great Walk Network is now in its 35th year and is thriving thanks to the interest of a new generation of young families.

Huge thanks to Janey and Michael for hosting us and to Rod, Colin and Candy for all the activities and stories they shared. Thanks to Basil and Rob for leading walks and Charlie for driving the bus!

Highlights of our first camp included:

  • We took walk in the rain with Landcare farmer, Angus Armstrong who has worked with tree planting group Activate The Wheatbelt to plant creeklines, shetlerbelts and corridor links across his large cropping and sheep farm. He also established over 20km of walk and bike trails across the farm.  It was heartening to hear how the farm has come back from a major bushfire started by a faulty electrical pole in the summer 2 years ago.
  • Several walks were enjoyed amongst the area’s lakes, including the Ramsar wetland of Lake Toolibin, which has had positive rehabilitation works over several decades to protect this Sheoak-covered freshwater lake.

Next, we travelled a further 70 km to the Dryandra Woodlands to camp at the Congelin campground and dam. Dryanda is the largest remnant of native vegetation in the western Wheatbelt.

We wandered through this vital and diverse conservation area in magnificent open eucalypt woodland, among the impressive white-barked wandoo and paperbark trees.

Dryandra is also famous for Barna Mia, a Nocturnal Wildlife Experience providing eco-education to visitors. Over two nights, many of our families visited this four-hectare enclosure that creates a refuge for marsupials like Bilby, woylie, boogie, male and Quenda.

A special shout out to Caralynn and Chris for getting the bus and truck to and from camp. We couldn’t have done it without you!