South West Life

Photos and story by Josh Langley.

Another Sunday and another perfect time for a bushwalk.

I grabbed CALM’s "Bushwalks in the Southwest" book and decided to choose a short walk as my partner and I weren’t in the mood for too much strenuous exercise. The bridges walk at Hoffman Mill seemed perfect, only about 30 minutes from Bunbury and just 11 kays from Harvey.

Just a point of note: You’ll need a map to help with directions as you can easily miss the turn off from the South West Highway. Also when you get to Hoffman Mill and you have a copy of CALM’s "Bushwalks in the Southwest" at the ready, be prepared to have trouble finding the start of the walk trail. Here’s the easy version. When you arrive, ignore the first information shelter and continue til you get to the one near the rest rooms on the right hand side of the road. We made the mistake of going to the wrong info shelter and then spending half an hour trying to figure out where the track started from.

The walk only takes about an hour and takes you through beautiful tall NSW Gum tress that were planted by the timber pioneers from Hoffman Mill’s early days along with a variety of Jarrah trees and Sheok Groves. You cross the Harvey River a couple of times and all along the way you can read about Hoffman Hill’s history, which I won’t tell you about here as then there will be no surprise when you go there yourself.

We saw a few people enjoying a barbeque, some were camping, but generally it was pretty quiet and we had the trail to our selves.

I recommend stopping by Harvey before you head out to Hoffman Mill and grab some fresh Take-a-away food from the Harvey Bakery. It’s quick, tasty and there’s no packing up afterwards.