Cuballing

Description:

In Cuballing's vast backyard sits Dryandra Woodland - one of the world's flora hotspots and the largest remnant of original woodland in the central western wheatbelt. Take a walk through town and you'll find the locals have devoted just as much love and attention to preserving their heritage architecture. This other world in the Wheatbelt is just a two and a half hour drive from Perth, heading south east along the Great Southern Highway. From here, it's just a short hop to the natural wonders and wildflowers of Dryandra. More than half of the 28,000 hectares that make up Dryandra are located in the Cuballing Shire - home to over 850 varieties of native flowering plants, 100 species of birds and 25 rare and endangered native marsupials, including the bilby, woylie and numbat. The best place to spot these cute but shy creatures is to pay a visit to Barna Mia Animal Sanctuary, where you can enjoy a close encounter in their natural habitat. For a cultural journey into early settler life, explore Cuballing's restored heritage architecture, from the Tavern and Post Office to the old Agricultural Hall. The original galvanised iron tavern was built in 1891, comprising seven rooms and a brick-built kitchen, wash house and cellar. The iron section was destroyed and rebuilt with brick in 1905/06, and a second storey was added in 1912. The old kitchen, wash house and cellars still remain to tell their tale today. Just outside town, the Yornaning Dam invites you to join the locals for a picnic or barbecue. Spend a lazy lunch watching the resident waterbirds, take a refreshing dip, or walk off your indulgencies on the one and a half kilometre nature trail that circles this water playground. To discover all that Dryandra country has to offer, book a night or three at Cuballing's hotel, self-contained units or caravan park. Or surround yourself with sounds of the forest, camping out with the echidnas, woylies, possums, kangaroos and numbats at Dryandra's Congelin campsite.