More of a scenic drive than any kind of challenge to your vehicle’s capabilities, the only time you’ll require 4WD on this route is if you visit the Sapper Road campsite within the Avon Valley National Park. The descent down to the river is steep and deeply rutted. Sapper Camp is equipped with toilets and BBQs for your convenience. Visitors should note that no open fires are allowed during summer months and camping is only by prior arrangement with the ranger (Phone 9571 3066). There are about ten campsites and camping fees are $10 per couple, $2 per child. All visitors should note that dieback hygiene is necessary within the park and vehicles need to be clean and free of any mud deposits.

These trip notes will take you over the Brockman River where Joe preyed on remote settlers during his bushranging days and through the Moondyne hills where mounted troopers and their trackers stuck to Joe’s tracks for weeks at a time. They will guide you to Joes Cage, the remains of one of Joe’s horse traps re-discovered during the author’s original research for his book in 1976. Only a few termite-riddled posts remained at the time, and would have crumbled away by now. Joes Cage is on the Surveyor’s Heritage Trail that strings together a number of the stone cairns erected by John Forrest when he surveyed the Avon Valley during the 1870s. Our trip notes will take you on to ‘the Gaol they built for Joe’ (although he was never held in it) at Toodyay. Well worth a visit, it is a museum now, filled with relics of Joe’s times. Also, consider making your visit during one of Toodyay’s several festivals, more particularly the Moondyne Festival held annually on the first Sunday in May. Check out the town’s many attractions at the Visitor Centre. From the historic town of Toodyay, you’ll head back down the Avon with superb views of the valley, then past Bailup where there once stood a pub to which Joe was a regular visitor.

Enjoy your visit to Moondyne country.

 

Please note that you can purchase this and 14 more great day trips out of Perth in 4WD Days out of Perth (5th Edition)