The final night (13 April) of the tour to the southwest of WA was spent at Bridgetown. We picked Bridgetown after we had difficulty finding accommodation in the nearby Balingup.
Bridgetown was once called Geegelup, a kind of fresh water crustacean, accordingly to Aboriginal language. I was curious to find out the reason for the change of name. I soon discovered the reason when we drove across a bridge along the South Western Highway just over one kilometer south of the town centre.
The bridge approx. 130m long spans across the Blackwood River is made of timber. This is indeed unique considering its long term need to sustain the heavy traffic of a bituminous finished highway. Understandably, timber unlike reinforced concrete and steel cannot be built with long spans. The solution is to have a lot of intermediate supports planted in the river course itself. Such feature would not be permitted in my home country because the supporting columns in the river course itself are deemed an obstruction to the river flow. Big objects brought down from upstream especially during flood flow may ram into these supports causing damage to the bridge structure. Somehow, this is not a problem in Blackwood River!
The bridge approx. 130m long spans across the Blackwood River is made of timber. This is indeed unique considering its long term need to sustain the heavy traffic of a bituminous finished highway. Understandably, timber unlike reinforced concrete and steel cannot be built with long spans. The solution is to have a lot of intermediate supports planted in the river course itself. Such feature would not be permitted in my home country because the supporting columns in the river course itself are deemed an obstruction to the river flow. Big objects brought down from upstream especially during flood flow may ram into these supports causing damage to the bridge structure. Somehow, this is not a problem in Blackwood River!
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| A little shop in town still uses the original name of the place. |
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An advertisement put up by an
ingenious butcher outlet. |
Our stay in Bridgetown was a pleasant one. We checked into a new motel, Lakeview Lodge which was opened in Christmas 2017, barely five months old. It sits on a hill overlooking a man-made lake. One can easily spot kangaroos roaming in the opened area. Early in the morning, thick mist/fog descends and overcasts over the lake creating a spectacular scene!
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| Kangaroos aplenty at the neighbourhood of the motel. |
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| Brand new trees-lined motorway connects motel area to main road. |
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| Timber bridge across Blackwood River. |
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