Bridgetown

Trip Leader: Peter Belcher

Dates: Thurs 28th Mar to Mon 1st April 2013

Location: Bridgetown

By Thursday evening some 9 caravans and 19 club members met up at Bridgetown Caravan Park situated on the banks of the Blackwood river.

On Good Friday most went to explore the attractions of the town and the river walks, and after happy hour and dinner all settled down to an Easter Trivia Quiz organised by yours truly. The worthy winners by only half a point were Bridget, Sam and Rosalie.

On Saturday morning seven vehicles set off in convoy, trip leaders Peter and Denise and tail end Charlies Jeff and Maxine. Club convoy procedure being observed we entered the township of Greenbushes by south west forest route and proceeded to the Lookout over the Cornwall Pit – a disused open cast pit originally mining tin but more lately mining Lithium and Tantalum. The open pit ceased operations a few years ago but if you use a mobile phone, camera or laptop then the chances are your equipment has  a tantalum capacitor manufactured using Greenbushes Tantalum as it is one of the world’s largest defined resources of Tantalum.

After a short 4wd we arrived at the Greenbushes Heritage Park where mornos was enjoyed followed by an interesting hour going round the Greenbushes Discovery centre. I would recommend this attraction to anyone travelling through the area as it is a very well put together interactive exhibition of the local industries and environment. There are working displays of a tin mine complete with a blasting sequence and a mockup of a timber cutting control room as well as an interactive logging truck to drive. Many more displays and a plethora of information about logging and local industries .Well worth a visit.

Returning to Bridgetown by the highway we deviated to the Bridgetown Cidery where we were just in time to join a cider tasting group and sample some 9 or ten different ciders before arriving at the Bridgetown Tavern where a hearty lunch was enjoyed.

After a recovery session in the afternoon our usual happy hour was replaced with free outdoor musical entertainment and a free steak and snags BBQ – all courtesy of the Caravan Park.
Easter Sunday arrived and all found that the Easter Bunny had been busy and each caravan had been surreptitiously visited and several eggs deposited. The children especially had a veritable feast of chocolate.  The local church was attended by some of the party and others explored the local craft, produce and car boot market in the adjacent park. That evening the group had their final joint function consisting of a dinner at the Nelson’s motel which all enjoyed.

On Monday morning all departed after a leisurely start and fond farewells.

Peter Belcher