Dalwallinu

 

A month ago we decided to head to Dalwallinu for the weekend. Just because.

We really love to do this as a family... take a weekend away to discover new towns around Western Australia. We avoid big cities and towns, but instead head to the small towns filled with community spirit. We did something similar when we went camping at Yealering this time last year. It was really good.

We have to consider whether we will do it again though because one night in these towns just isn't enough! And considering it took us five hours to get to Dalwallinu from Darkan, our time was limited there. But we still had a a great time!

Map from Wikipedia

(Dalwallinu is about 30km south of Wubin, whilst Darkan is between Williams, Collie and Kojonup)

 

In Western Australia, I have never been more north than Northam. And that's just a bit further north than Perth. So it was so exciting for me to see the change in landscape. The trees got smaller and the horizon got flatter. I love the WA Wheatbelt!

We stayed at the Old Convent in Dalwallinu. I cannot recommend it enough. It only reopened at the beginning of August, so it had only been in operation for two weeks when we were there. It's run by a lovely young couple who made us feel really welcome. And the facilities are fantastic! If you go to Dalwallinu, stay there.

We arrived at about 4pm on Saturday and had to leave by 11am on Sunday, so most of our time was spent sleeping. But the beds were comfortable!

 

We followed some of the walking trails and had a walk around Dalwallinu before it got dark on the Saturday.

Then we went back to the Convent for pizza for tea. We even got to help make the pizzas and feed the cute lambs they had there.

The next day after breakfast we were off. We had a quick drive around the rest of Dalwallinu and then visited my father's godmother who lives just of of the town. On our way back to Pithara, we drove via Kalannie, another small farming town. At Pithara, we had lunch at the tavern since it was featured on the front page of the Weekend West a few months ago.

On the way home, we stopped in New Norcia. It is an amazing town founded my monks many years ago, so it has amazing monasteries and buildings. It's such a weird thing to find in the middle of the Wheatbelt! It seemed as though you could have been in Spain...

 

The trucks on the road up that way are huge...

All too soon, we were back home! We really didn't have enough time, but it was a great weekend. I had a fantastic time, and just wanted to keep driving and driving and discovering new places!

There's always next time...

Do you like to discover new places? Or head back to the family favourites?