Rockingham Off The Beaten Path

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Another pleasant drive from Rockingham is up into the hills to the Serpentine dams.

These dams were built during the 50's to supply the ever growing need for water in the Perth area.

The main Serpentine dam has a capacity of 137.7 million cubic metres covering a surface area of 1067 hectares.
The water is piped to the city from the Pipehead dam through two 55k long pipelines.

The main dam has large picnic area with playground, drinking water, toilets and free barbques.
A restaurant by the main carpark has a verandah overlooking the dam and attracts the many wild birds in the area which include kookaburras, black cockatoos, parrots, magpies and wrens.
The menu is limited (the wedges with dips are good), but the venue is pleasant with information about the area, gifts and a comfortable reading area.

Below the restuarant is an Aboriginal garden. This paterre garden symbolises a mythical totemic snake, linked by the Aborigines with fertility, rain and assured water supply.

There are stone steps leading down the to water. If the steps are too much for you (they are long, steep and rough; hard work!) you can drive down to car park on the same level as the water to walk across the top of the dam wall .

There are several marked nature walks.

Please remember that this area not only provides drinking water for the city, but is a natural conservation area.
Respect it, use the rubbish bins to keep it clean, stick to the paths, do not light fires, do not walk in the streams.

Below the dam is a pleasant shaded picnic area with free barbecues.

The dams are open the the public until 6pm

Maps showing how to get there are on the website.
The drive takes about 40 mins from Rockingham.

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This macadamia nut orchard is about 15 mins drive east of Rockingham, (about 30 mins south from Perth)
You can stroll around the orchard, and have a guided tour of the processing plant (by arrangment for groups-see website).
The orchard looks east over the coastal plain to the Darling Range, you can see the hills in the distance in the photo.
Free tastes of the nuts with different flavourings are available in the shop, (to encourage you to purchase of course), they are quite delcious. As well as the nuts, you can buy macadamia saplings and products made from the nuts.
The shop also serves very good plunger coffee, and tea in a proper teapot to go with their home-made cookies, and has a shaded outdoor cafe area.
It's a pleasant drive from Rockingham (see map on website for directions), well sign-posted and easy to find. from Rockinghma the drive is through rural areas where you will see the typical 'bush' vegatation of the locality, lots of large gumtrees and native shrubs.
You may even see some wildlife, we saw two bobtailed lizards on our drive there. (see photo). Do not mess with these lizards, they defend themselves with an awesome bite. This one was at least 30cms(12") long from nose to tail. It was slowly crossing the road.

You can combine this outing with a visit to the Baldivis Nature Reserve, only a short distance away the other side of the freeway if you'd like to see more flora and fauna.

Update Jan 2009
I visited here with my daughter recently, the plunger coffee and and tea-in-a-teapot are no longer served, and have been replaced by an automatic machine. However, it is a good quality one using fresh coffee beans and a selection of fancy teas. The biscuits are as good as ever!
A superb new addition is made-on-the-premisies macadmia ice cream bombs, delicious and a very generous size.

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This beautiful little patch of bush is situated on the corner of Baldivis Road and Fifty Road, behind Baldivis school.
In spring and early summer it at it's best, full of flowers, and as soon as you're out of sight of the road, it feels as though you are out in the bush miles from anywhere.
At the entry to the reserve there is a wooden box with leaflets telling you about the place, be careful though when you open the box, there was a large wolf spider in there the day we went! (wolf spiders are not poisonous). The leaflet explains the many varieties of native flora and fauna you are likely to see, markers along the way pointing out items of interest. It suggests coming for an evening walk with a torch to spot possums, geckoes and night birds such as Tawny frogmouths and Boobook Owls.

Flaura and fauna are protected here, you are not allowed to pick the flowers! Please stay on the paths to protect the fragile environment. Please take your litter home with you.

It's only a 15 min drive from Rockingham, and not hard to find. Go out of Rockingham along Dixon Road, at the end turn right into the Old Mandurah Road. A couple of kilometres further along, turn left into Fifty road.

There is a footpath to follow but it's not sealed and is rough and overgrown in places. Good walking shoes/boots are recommened. Not suitable for wheelchairs/pushchairs or those who are unsteady on their feet.
There are no toilets and no-where to get a drink here, make sure to bring some water, it gets hot wandering about in the bush.

As we drove through Rockingham you got the feeling that there was some major effort underway in reviving the city and its parks. I'm not sure what these monuments are representing, but it was good to see the re-furbishments changing the streetscape.

Jolly Jalopies
Enjoy driving your "pedal powered car" along the paved pathway at Churchill Park on the Rockingham Beach foreshore. Fun for all ages! Seats 2 adults or 3 children.

Times: Weekday afternoons, all day weekends and public holidays.
Fares: $6.00 for 15 minutes
$12.00 for 30 minutes
$20.00 for 1 hour.

Swap Mart.
Held every Sunday by the Rockingham Rotary Club.
Second hand goods and plants only. Handmade goods and crafts often on sale. All proceeds to community projects.

In the carpark, behind the Rockingham Beach shops (opposite Churchill Park).

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This was the home of Fred and Phoebe Hymus who arrived in East Rockingham with their 11 children in the early 1850’s. They settled on this property on the Fremantle-Mandurah track. Soon after their move, their daughter Eliza married Thomas Smirk who settled a few miles north of this property. The property is now privately owned and can only be viewed from the road.

Location : Mandurah Road

In 1991 the Kwinana Heritage Group, local businesses, and also assisted by the National trust completed the restoration of the cottage. The cottage is set up with all the old styled furnishings that would have been around in that time for a family. Today the cottage is being used by Museum and is the Headquarters for the Kwinana Heritage Group and is now in the Town Council Depot.

Location : Smirk Cottage, Beacham Crescent, Medina