All the way to WA - Rain, rain, go away!

 Day 10 August 2, 2023

The weather gods did not look favourably on us today.

By the time we left Bunbury at 9:30 this morning, it was raining, and it did not let up all day.

With Wallsy at the wheel, we travelled first through the Ferguson Valley and then the Wellington National Park, to reach the Wellington dam. The dam is renowned for a remarkable mural painted across the wall, which is the largest dam mural in the world.

Brisbane-born graffiti artist, Guido Van Helten turned his talent to painting photorealistic murals and is today known for his silo art in Brim, Victoria and Nashville, Tennessee; a nuclear cooling tower in Chernobyl; and a multi-story building in the Ukraine, just to name a few. This mural, Reflections, covers an area of 8000 square meters and was completed in February 2021.

The rain eased enough to enable us to walk a short distance to view the mural from the bottom of the wall, but the thunder and lightning began as we were returning to the car. The lengthy drive from one side of the dam to the other (made longer by the fact that the access bridge was under repair), to the viewing platform above the wall, took quite some time in challenging conditions on wet and windy roads.

Unfortunately the weather prevented us from exploring the many walking trails and picnic areas along the way and we arrived at the kiosk on the other side, in dire need of coffee and cake, hoping the rain would soon ease. It didn’t appear to be letting up at all however, so we braved the conditions and set off for the short walk down to the viewing platform. The closer we got to the dam, the heavier the rain became, and by the time we had all returned to the car, we were a wet and bedraggled bunch.

The drive to Busselton was quite subdued and the rain continued to pour. Thoughts of walking the length of the impressive Busselton Jetty were abandoned, and we settled instead for a pub lunch before journeying on to our stop for the next two nights at Margaret River. Here we were happy to find a warm and very comfortable house and soon had the washing machine, dryer, and heater all fired up!

The females took on the hunter, gatherer role and braved the rain yet again, to purchase food for dinner and we spent a pleasant night in, enjoying a delicious meal, making plans for the next few days and eventually playing a fun game of Pictionary, which confirmed the fact that neither Wallsy, nor I are going to pose any threat to Guido.

The mural, Wellington Dam, Collie.