Day Trips from Mandurah Western Australia

Mandurah is great place to visit. It’s on the lower western area of Australia next to the Indian ocean.

While staying there recently, we did a few driving day trips down the coast and some moderate distances in-land. I will include google map links so that you can see the route and locations.

Here is the location of Mandurah on the map.

The first day trip

(click to see the trip on google maps)

This trip took about 3 hours return. Mandurah to the Forest Discovery Centre then Lane Pool Reserve and return to Mandurah.

Dwellingup

On the way to the Forest Discovery Centre, you can travel through Dwellingup. It is just over an hour south of Perth but is only a short distance from the Forest Discovery Centre. It has a Visitor Information Centre and some Cafes that you might like to check out. The Hotham Valley Tourist Railway is a steam train which takes tourists back in time to a more gentle era.

The Forest Discovery Centre

This centre is worth a visit. It has a moderate number of craft items in the main building and some information about the area. You can go for a walk through the forest near the main building and we saw a large number of Black Cockatoos, some unique bush land and a mock-up of an old forestry camp site. There is some unique art work around the centre. There are structured tours also available such as Aboriginal Culture/Heritage Tours , Billy Tea and damper and Forest and Wild flower tours. You might like to allow about an hour to walk around the area. It will be well worth your time.

Lane Pool Reserve

To get these photos we took a walk along the river, then continued over the bridge on Nanga Rd for a very short distance, then walked down the hill and along the river. You need some agility to walk along the river bank as it is uneven and can be slippery. Here are some photos of the river and looking back to the classic old timber bridge. Although I have processed the photos to look quite rich in colour, this is pretty much how it looked on the day due to recent rain and low light. The moss and grass also looked quite fluorescent on the day. I thought there would not be much to see, but the scenery was quite stunning.

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The second day trip

The full trip is viewable here We begin by heading from Mandura out to Stirling Cottage and returning seeing some great things along the way.

The first stop after leaving Mandurah is a Dolphin Viewing Location in Dawesville. It is a location I recently created on google maps. It is well worth the visit if you like watching dolphins. It is simply located in a stretch of canal that has been created in recent years. Here are some photos of the dolphins and other birds in the area.

Lake Clifton Thrombolites.

The lake itself is quite beautiful. However it is best known for the things in the lake that look like rocks but are actually living things called Thrombolites that photosynthesize and are said to be about 2,000 years old.

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Preston Beach

This is a typical beautiful Western Australian beach. Note the beach wildflowers on the sides of the walking area.

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The next stop was Harvey Cheese, 11442 S Western Hwy, Wokalup WA 6221. It had some great general meal items and of course cheese. Some of the best I have tasted. There were Emus kept in the adjacent field.

On to Stirling Cottage

Located at 283 S Western Hwy, Harvey WA 6220. This is a replica cottage with a combined restaurant and stunning surrounding gardens. It was modeled on the original cottage from the mid 1800’s which was built by the first Governor of Western Australia, Governor Stirling. It was made from rough sawn Jarrah timber. The original cottage was lived in by the creator of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie “May Gibbs” so the cottage has some of those collectible items. We found it was a great place to have a meal either inside or outside on the patio looking over the gardens.

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I am sure you could find more to look at on this trip. You might try looking for places nearby in google maps. In the mobile phone version of google maps you can select “Search nearby” from the top right menu.