The Jarrahdale Jaunt

By Glenice Matthews

Yes, we did have a jolly jaunt to Jarrahdale on Sunday August 19. It was a typical winter’s day for us: a little overcast, a little chilly, a hint of rain in the air, just the right climate for a drive in our proper English motor cars.

We met at the Causeway Car Park, an old familiar starting point for Club events. Over the past year the Perth City Council has redefined the foreshore around the Causeway and it was pleasant to see nice landscaping and interesting architecture surrounding the acres of asphalt. Plantings of kangaroo paw and other native plants helped soften the purpose built area.

Gathering at the landscaped Causeway Carpark

The route to Jarrahdale was a relative long one, going east as well as south to maximize country driving. The route took us over 100 miles of typical Western Australian bush land with beautiful vistas and outlooks along the way. Events Captain, Mick Rust and his partner in crime, (sorry, all things) Glenice, led us out along Welshpool Road and up Lesmurdie Hill. Lesmurdie Hill while not as taxing as Greenmount is always a good challenge for a car especially when you are sightseeing at the same time. The view from the escarpment is particularly good as you can see across the city to the sea.

From Lesmurdie we continued on through the Pickering Valley and on to Roleystone on minor roads so we could enjoy the country side without too much traffic. Araluen was in the midst of their tulip festival, but fortunately we turned off the main Araluen road before we reached the roads closed for the festival. The road wound around Canning Dam before heading south towards Albany Highway. It was during this section of the drive we managed to tangle ourselves up with the Ferrari Club, who raced past on narrow stretches of road spraying unfortunate member’s cars with pebbles and dust. While we were not going as fast, we were certainly enjoying the scenery more. As the route instructions promised there were masses of wattles in bloom along with lots of other native flora. With a light misty drizzle, the colours were spectacular and certainly
promoted a typical winter’s day.

A short spurt south along Albany Highway brought us to the Jarrahdale turn-off. Fortunately for our informal cavalcade most of the Ferraris roared past at this stage as they too were on their way to Jarrahdale and had certainly come impatient along the narrow winding road from Canning Dam. The road to Jarrahdale brought no surprises, just more wildflowers, misty rain and leisurely driving for our Members.

When we arrived in Jarrahdale there must have been twenty Ferraris lined up along the road outside the Jarrahdale General Store. The Ferraristi were sharing bids for food and tables with the Chevrolet Club as a pit stop.

Millbrook Winery, Jarrahdale

Luckily our destination was not the general store but Millbrook Winery just south west of the settlement. There on a beautiful lake stood the winery built into the side of a hill for practical wine making and restaurant ambience. Our hosts for the day, long time members Ross and Jan Jones had organized a special tour and wine tasting for us at Millbrook. We spent a rather relaxed and enjoyable hour under their tutelage with a comprehensive tour followed by an even more comprehensive wine tasting. The winery had organized us to taste a full menu of varietals and was most generous with their samplings. In their tasting rooms with a large log fire burning merrily away, it was indeed hard to leave and finish the run to the Jones’s orchard. But, we did manage to leave: many with bottles of Millbrook’s fine wines under the arm, members becoming well equipped for a leisurely lunch.

In the background, the packing shed.

We received a warm welcome from Ross and Jan; the kettle was boiling away for a cuppa in the orchard’s packing shed and as the rain had set in, all the tables and chairs were set up in the shed for our picnic lunches. There we relaxed and enjoyed each other’s company: eating and drinking, in fact everyone was so comfortable the walk around the orchard was postponed for another time. It was unfortunate that we missed the walk through the orchard as it is a magnificent property with many fine varieties of citrus, stone fruit and nuts growing in abundance.

At the close of the day, retiring President (it was his last official duty), Neil Williamson thanked Ross and Jan for their hospitality and presented Jan with a plant of her favourite
colour, purple. Coincidently, it was Jan’s birthday, so we all sang birthday wishes to her as well as showed our appreciation to them both for organizing a jolly jaunt to
Jarradale.