1962/63 DipAg and Certificate in Ag Reunion

    1962/63 Diploma in Agriculture and Certificate in Agriculture Reunion Tour of South Western Australia

From the 4th Sept 2018, we had a 7 day trip with a group of 1962/63 Lincoln College Dip Ag and Certificate of Ag Old Boys. There had been talk of coming to WA for years and it finally happened. 7 from NZ, 2 from the Eastern States and 3 from WA. With partners we made a group of 20. We stayed 2 nights in Fremantle with a day tour around Perth the first day and an “official” dinner at night in a restored Fremantle Heritage Hotel. Left soon after 8.15am for a long day to Albany, about 450 kms and we visited two properties on the way that were of great interest to everyone.  The first, owned by a Lincoln graduate, Joe Young, at Kojonup 300 Ks SE of Perth in a 20inch rainfall area. The owner has leased his farm and runs a canola crushing plant set up on the farm. The plant is fully automatic and runs 24 hrs a day, 7 days a week with the aim of getting around 340 days a year with the balance for maintenance. They crush just under 100 tonnes a day with the aim of getting it to 120 tonnes a day soon. The canola oil is all food grade and the meal by-product goes into stock feed.  The second property, Cherylton Farms, was in the same area and is an 8,000 hectare accumulation of 7 properties (one of which had previously been owned by Brian and Oe Cooper one of our couples on the tour) owned by a big Perth house builder.  It is operated by a manager with 8 staff and runs 50,000 sheep equivalents (sheep for wool and lambs, plus stud rams and cattle for beef and bulls) growing crops of wheat, barley, canola and oats. A very impressive well-run operation. We stayed 2 nights in Albany and in the morning visited the National Anzac Centre which opened for the centenary of the Gallipoli landing in 2014. It is a magnificent modern building full of high tech displays about the First World War. It is situated on a hill overlooking King George Sound where the ANZACs, over 41000 soldiers and 7000 horses gathered in 2 convoys before heading off for Gallipoli and Egypt in November 1914. All the ships from Australia and NZ gathered here before setting off under escort of a few Aust and NZ warships. It is an awesome setting standing there and visualising 70 odd ships gathered in the sound below.In the afternoon we visited the Cheynes Beach Whaling Station which is the only shore based whaling station in the world that has been retained, left as it was and converted into a tourist attraction. One of the last 3 whale chase boats has been restored and mounted for the public to enter. The next day we headed west and stopped at the Tree Top Walk in The Valley of the Giants. The raised walkway goes for 600 metres and at the peak is 60 metres in the top of the forest canopy. The Giants are tingle trees, a eucalypt found only in this small area 15 km by 5km and unlike most eucalypts they are shallow rooted with no taproot and form a buttress at their base of up to 20 metres circumference. The big daddy that was around 80 metres tall was loved to death by people tramping round it and driving their cars to it, fell over in the late 1980s. Subsequently an area has been built with raised walkways through the forest to allow limited access while protecting the trees, a most impressive place. Our next adventure was a boat trip around the Nornalup Inlet with an award winning guide, Gary Muir. His family settled the area and the 8th generation still live there.  The particular tour has been run by someone for over 100 years and Gary is a fountain of knowledge about the geology, plants and animals of the area and presents with theatrical flare. An hilarious and informative tour the like of which is seldom experienced.  Many of the rivers along the south coast run into inlets, the mouth of which are often closed by a sand bar and the water is dark brown from tannin leached from the trees in the forest.After a night at the Karri Valley Resort overlooking a beautiful 30 hectare lake ringed by big karri and marri trees we continued west to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. The lighthouse is the tallest in Australia, operates automatically all the time and sits on the most south west point of the continent. It is the convergence of the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean and a desolate place. A salt spray laden wind is always blowing and the vegetation is tough shrubs little more than knee high. It has been well developed for visitors with a café, very good signage and excellent access.We spent the last two nights at Yallingup at the Seashells Resort beside Caves House which is a Heritage listed Hotel built in 1903 as accommodation for the many caves in the area. It has been renovated numerous times, is surrounded by 4.5 hectares of Heritage listed gardens and for much of the last century was the premier honeymoon hotel in the South West. This is in the Margaret River Wine region where there are 25 Wineries with Restaurants and 12 Breweries with Restaurants plus over 70 other wineries. We visited a brewery and 3 wineries including Vasse Felix which is the site of the first wine grape plantings in the Margaret River Region in 1967. We were fortunate to have included in the free sampling  their 2014 Cabernet Sauvignon. This had been rated 99/100 by a top wine judge and retails for $180 a bottle. It was a great taste experience for those who are not normally drinkers of red wine. Caves House has live music every night of the week and Rodger, one of our group was able to get a 20 min spot on the grand piano during a break. Turned out one of the musicians had been to Lincoln and now lives in Margaret River making coffee and playing music. Again, you find Lincoln graduates everywhere employed in all sorts of fields.Our last day was a leisurely drive back to Perth with a stop at the Busselton Jetty which stretches 2 km out from the shore. There had been no harbour and for the early exports from the region a wooden jetty was pushed out. It had been severely damaged by fire and storms but the community support ensured it was restored and is now a major attraction with an underwater viewing room at the end. We have not managed to get underwater yet as numbers are limited and booking ahead is necessary. Our reunion and trip was great. Everyone fitted together very well.  As a group we all settled quickly into a happy band of like minded friends as we had been when we first met 56 years ago. Some great experiences were shared, with those of us from WA being able to show this area that has developed world renown in the time that we have been living in Western Australia.