Donnybrook to Nala Mia
Munda Biddi Trail
Start
Donnybrook
Time
3-5 Hours
Finish
Nala Mia Hut
Date Ridden
28th August 2021
Length
43.3km
Elevation
510m
Traditional Custodians
Wardandi People
The Ride - I love the South West of WA and when I was planning out this Munda Biddi E2E, this next section was one that I was really looking forward to. While there had been some town stays in the first week, the next seven days would see us ride from town to town as we criss-crossed the heartland of this stunning region. Making this day a little bit special was getting to see our partners, who were driving down to meet us in Nannup for our first rest day. Having slept like a log the night before, I was up around 7am and began packing my things together before meeting Aron for breakfast at the Big Apple Bakery.
With another long day of riding ahead, it would have been nice to start early but our bikes were locked up in the storage area of the Donnybrook Hotel and as there is no one living on site, we had to wait for someone to arrive before we could get going. After breakfast we eventually located someone but the old bloke wasn't in a rush so by the time we loaded up and departed, it was closer to 8:30am. This wasn't such a big deal as I was no stranger to this section given I had ridden it as an overnighter the previous year with my podcast partner. The hills weren't that difficult and it was a much cruisier ride than what we had tackled in the last week so I was confident we would be in Nannup by mid-afternoon. The weather for today was looking like a chance of a shower so perfect riding weather as we left Donnybrook and headed along the spur trail out of town. We passed the guard doggo we saw the previous afternoon and were soon at the trail junction where we would head left to go towards Nannup.
I absolutely loved the riding from this point on during my last visit, despite riding a heavy and almost un-rideable mountain bike. Once you enter the forest there are plenty of wildflowers, orchids and one of my favourite plants in the South West, the Pineapple Bush. The combination of wide gravel roads and enclosed single track (without being overgrown) makes for a really enjoyable ride and the cloudy weather gave some great lighting conditions. I was stopping quite a bit and then catching up to Aron as we both bumbled through the mixed forest and towards the first of many farmland sections for the day. I love that this area has a good variety of farm and forest with the vast land clearing not as apparent when you arrive at the edge of a paddock thanks to swathes of forest in the distance. Reaching the first medium puppa climb of the day, you traverse the edge of a farm that switches between open paddock and tall Marri/Jarrah forest with the State Forest on your right providing the opportunity to spot more wildflowers. I kept my Black Cockatoo streak alive with an early spotting, although the lighting wasn't very good for photographing them.
Leaving the farm views behind, we headed back into the forest for some lovely single track riding. It's this kind of variety that I love about the first half of the ride to Nala Mia as you are never too far away from something different. This bit of forest felt a lot older and more mature than anything we had ridden through this morning thanks to some thicker trees and a heavier canopy. Riding along a downhill section I had to slam on the brakes when I caught sight of what looked like grass growing on the top of a large fallen log. I knew it wasn't grass but had to confirm and was pleased when a closer look revealed a mass of Snail Orchids. Given the log would have been a fairly recent deposit (2-10 years at a guess), I found it fascinating that there would have been enough time for the Snail Orchids to spread there in such numbers. If you're a botanist I would love to hear why this might be as this was the first of two sightings where this had happened (second one was further south near Fernhook Falls). Moving on, the wildflower finds continued with some colourful Coconut Ice on the side of the trail and we entered a nice stretch of forest containing some tall and flowering Kingia Australis.
Reaching Goodwood Road, this would provide an opportunity to get some speed up and really make up some time. Travelling along this paved road, the first run is downhill all the way to the bridge over Capel River North. It only took us five minutes to cover two kilometres as we both tried to go as fast as we could down the hill. I clocked out at 64.5kmph as I got into an aero position and listened to the air rush past my helmet and smash into all my various bags. It was good fun but reaching a river almost always means travelling uphill again and this run was no different. It's only a smol puppa hill before another fun ascent down towards Capel River South. Only getting up to 50kmph this time, we had a medium puppa hill to negotiate after than so after taking some shots of the nearby farmland and chuckling at the name of this location (Paynedale), I continued along the paved road. Thankfully you aren't on the road very long as it is the main thoroughfare for travelers between Capel and Donnybrook so I was happy when the Munda Biddi markers pointed us left and onto a long gravel road to continue the climbing.
After climbing along a wildflower lined road including spotting a few Kangaroo Paws, some Running Postman, Sundews and a Jug Orchid, the trail heads back into the forest for some single track fun. I remembered this little section for two reasons, the first being a nice photograph Donovan took of me riding past a big tree (I recreated the shot in the 7th photo of the above gallery but unfortunately Aron wasn't around to provide the same shot) and the second being the bumpy nature of the trail thanks to the exposed rocks. It forced you to slow down in order to negotiate the rocks and this was great as it meant also slowing down to spot various wildflowers and orchids. Re-joining Vernon Road for a short climb, from here you wind around on wide gravel roads until you are back in the forest for more enjoyable riding. The mature trees through here continued to impress and it's always a nice experience to just be out in nature without a care in the world.
Stopping for a short break, I whipped out the lollies I had bought the previous afternoon in Donnybrook and these would contribute a lot to making the rest of the day a pleasant experience. Never underestimate pure sugar as an energy source when riding and it was nice to break out a couple of jellies every few kilometres to give the legs an extra boost. Coming out of the forest, we joined a track running along the edge of a paddock that I immediately recognised from my last visit through here. When riding with Donovan, we spotted a pack of working dogs rounding up some sheep but by the time we reached them, they had already moved off well into the distance. This time I was armed with a 140mm lens and thankfully they were on the edge of the forest that was a bit closer to Aron and I. What a coincidence this was and it was fun to watch the working dogs stalk, run and bark at the sheep from the edge of the paddock. With the show over, we continued along and skirted the edge of the paddocks for a while. Donnybrook is well known for being the WA home of apples so it was nice to see another orchard, even if we were well out of season and the trees looked a bit sorry for themselves.
The end of riding parallel to the paddocks comes when you pass a small dam that had a lot more water in it than last time I was here, no doubt aided significantly by the record July rains. Arriving back at Vernon Road, I like that the trail detoured off for some farm views instead of continuing straight as there is plenty of that type of riding coming up. The right turn onto Lidel Road starts a long journey along vehicle tracks that while not such a bad thing on a bike, was made a bit worse by the diversion that we were yet to arrive at. For now I remembered this spot as where we stopped for lunch and the mozzies being a big nuisance. This was generally the case in the southern section of the track as it seemed every time you stopped, all the mozzies in the area would all of a sudden descend on you. To counter this, the stopping was minimal through here as we just settled into a rhythm and pounded out the kilometres. I actually enjoy the riding along here with Lidel Road running parallel to a creek (probably explains the mozzies) so the forest is really enjoyable. The wildflowers continued to be amazing and while I haven't included them all, there was plenty of Wattle, Pink Fairy Orchids, Bitter Peas and Purple Hovea.
Arriving at a small dam that has no name on any map, it's a bit of an oddity given it's completely surrounded by forest and look to serve no purpose. Perhaps it's an old forestry dam used to top up the old steam engines with water or maybe an old mining dam. Either way it exists and provides an interesting photo opportunity with the unique colour of the water, similar to Black Diamond Lake and the other "lakes" around the Collie region. We rode past a couple that had setup their campervan just off the road and it didn't look like they'd come out for an overnight visit so we didn't linger long. Finishing off the last of a long medium puppa climb, you continue along Lidel Road as it weaves past some Bullich, Kingia, Pineapple Bushes and mixed forest towards Claymore Road. Reaching the pine plantation bordering Claymore Road, the Munda Biddi is meant to continue through the middle of the plantation but we found a diversion notice saying that timber harvesting was going on (dated Spring 2020). Given this is a pine plantation, I was hoping the diversion was a short one and we would re-join as it entered the forested section.
Unfortunately this would not be the case and the timber harvesting was mostly likely a long campaign by the numpties at the Forest Products Commission to rid the forests of carbon capture at a cost to the taxpayers of Western Australia. At this point of the trip it had not been announced that the FPC would be banned from logging native forests but now they have, this area might be able to recover over the next century to a properly functioning forest. Setting in for the long haul, we started our ride down Claymore Road, a not entirely unpleasant tree-lined road that at least at the start had some redeeming qualities. Putting on a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert (Slane Castle 2003) on my bluetooth speaker, I got into a rhythm and enjoyed some music as we tootled along. While the main wide shot didn't really change, just a long road surrounded by forest, I was scanning the edge of the road for wildflowers and was rewarded a few times with some Hibbertia and Wattle. The advantage of this type of riding was the unprecedented level of speeds we were able to maintain for long stretches. Clocking between 18-26kmph for kilometres on end depending on the gradient had been unheard of on this trip but we were sailing through to Nala Mia. It quickly became apparent that we would be on roads like this all the way into Jarrahwood and Aron's Munda Biddi app confirmed this as we got further away from where the trail was meant to go. Reaching Jarrahwood Road, at least we knew this would lead all the way to our lunchtime stop but wasn't a very pleasant way of getting there.
I had a good chuckle at the bogans who had shot at the Rough Surface sign, creating a rough surface on a previously smooth surface before looking skyward and realising we were going to get rained on soon. This combined with seeing the aftereffects of logged pine plantations and/or native forest didn't leave a good impression. Given that this area was also being logged and from memory, the path the Munda Biddi takes into Jarrahwood is on mostly vehicle tracks, what was the point of the diversion? Riders would still come across logging trucks and equipment, it was now just a less pleasant ride. As we approached Jarrahwood, the rain eased off and we found the diversion notice that was missing at the pine plantation end showing the route we had just taken. It was a short ride into the old timber settlement of Jarrahwood to where the Munda Biddi has setup a campsite known as Nala Mia. Having stayed here before, I didn't find it a very nice location so deliberately planned to skip it on this E2E. Set in the middle of a weedy patch of cleared land and surrounded by the remnants of old timber cottages, some still lived in, the place looks a bit like a shanty town, lacking the charm of a Donnelly River or Quinninup. Some riders enjoy it but I was happy for a place to rest for lunch while we sat in the sun drying out. More than half of the day down and a really enjoyable run into Nannup to come.
Final Thoughts - There is something relaxing about doing a ride or hike for the second time, you know the lay of the land so can just settle in and savour the bits you enjoyed the first time around.
This is the experience I had between Donnybrook and Nala Mia (well at least for the first 28km) and it was every bit as enjoyable as I remember.
Some people may not enjoy the mixed forest and farmland, finding it a bit so-so but this kind of riding keeps things interesting as there is always something new to photograph. The Jarrah forests through here are nice, although not as towering as what you'll find around Dwellingup and Collie but still full of wildflowers and the iconic Pineapple Bush.
The diversion was a bit annoying, mainly because it doesn't avoid any logging activities but having ridden that section before I wasn't missing out. Having had a few logging diversions, hopefully these will be a thing of the past now and the Munda Biddi won't be a logging operations tour of the South West.
You might disagree with me on the look or feel of Nala Mia but I don't find much joy in it. I would have preferred the Munda Biddi Foundation put the campsite about 150m east of this location where it would have been surrounded by trees and the small side trip to Jarrahwood being an option. The site is way too weedy and exposed with the surrounding bits of the town looking very unappealing to the eye.
Given Nannup is a short ride away, my advice would be to push the body and enjoy a stay in accommodation plus a hot meal.
Get out there and experience it!!!
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