Moving on to Margaret River and Cruising on down to Cape Leeuwin

Thursday 10^th October

We headed out along Caves Road with our first stop being Canal Rocks.

 

It is a really beautiful area and there is a walkway and a boardwalk.

 

Sadly it was closed but lots of other tourists scrambled over the top of the rocks and walked out further anyway.

We drove through the most gorgeous countryside. There were wineries, Art Galleries, Chocolate and Nougat producers, a cheese maker and numerous farms. Finally we arrived at Cowaramup.

It is a tiny little town with 42 fibreglass cows and calves ‘grazing’ in the main street.

 

 

Several shops also incorporate ‘cow’ in their name. I loved it!

 

After that, it was just a short drive to Margaret River. It is a large tourist town. We went for a bit of a walk and then headed straight out to Big Valley Campsite.

 

 

 

It is a working sheep farm, 11 Kilometres out of town. (Ron was given a flyer about it when we were in Exmouth. It only cost $27.00 per night.)

 

And included a couple of surprises.

Our first surprise was being parked next to Mary-Ann and Roy who’s Uncle Terry and Aunty Lorain owned Indie before we bought him.

 

They come from Millmerran and we did meet them briefly in Helensvale just as we were setting out.

 

 

Our second surprise was that it really is a working sheep farm and they are in the middle of shearing at the moment.

 

It was really interesting (if indeed a little smelly and definitely very noisy) to watch the shearers in action. The farm has about 2,800 sheep.

Ron and I went over to the fire pit for sundowners with Roy and Mary-Ann and three other couples. There were a couple of French Back Packers as well. It was a great time with lots of chatting and laughing. I have missed that of late.

 

Friday 11^th October

We had thought of staying on another day and since I did not even get up till around 10 o’clock, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that we would stay. I think we were pretty well worn out from our last few adventurous days. I went and paid our money and settled down to doing my diary while I could still remember what we had done.

 

Before we knew where we were, it was time to sit around the fire again.

 

All the usual suspects were there again: Ron, Wendy, Mary-Ann, Marion and Xavier, Graham, Roy, Rob and Trish.

Saturday 12^th October

Mary-Ann and Roy dropped by this morning to say goodbye and invited us to stay on their property at Millmerran if we are in the area. Later I went and bought a dozen eggs from Shelly who owns the farm so we know they are fresh, and we headed off.

We drove through Witchcliffe to Karridale and then turned off to Hamelin Bay. It has a beautiful beach and is home to lots of Stingrays (but we didn’t see any).

 

 

The cliffs in the area are all limestone and the remains of the old jetty can be seen from the walkway. The photo next to me shows the original jetty and the heading on the board ‘Relic of Past Prosperity’, seems to describe us both (he he he).

 

 

 

 

From there, it was off to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse.

 

 

Built in 1835, it is the tallest Lighthouse on mainland Australia and is quite an impressive structure. To climb to the viewing deck consists of 176 steps (about 175 too many for these little black ducks, so we walked around the grounds).

On the path up to the lighthouse sits ‘Moorine Marauder’, one of the cows from ‘Cow Parade’, the world’s largest public art event, staged in 2010.  She is gorgeous!

 

 

Cape Leeuwin, Latitude 34°22´S Longitude 115°08´E, marks the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean.

 

 

 

Ron insisted I stand on the Southern Ocean side because cold and bitter matches my personality while he is warm and sunny like the Indian Ocean?????? 

 

 

Whichever way you look, it is pretty wild down there!

We adjourned to Indie for lunch and then made our way down the hill to the site of the old water wheel.

 

 

 

As we clambered over the rocks to get there, Ron got a bit arty, farty with the lighthouse in the background.

 

The wheel was built in 1895 to supply water for the builders of the lighthouse and later the lighthouse keepers’ cottages. The wheel is now encrusted in calcified lime.

 

 

Then we were off East at last! Heading towards the East coast of Australia. We have made our way as far as (289) Canebreak Rest Area (a freebie)! And it is so pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Bunbury via Katanning, Mt Barker and Manjimup then on to Busselton and Yallingup.

Monday 7^th October

We left Wagin and headed off to Katanning just so we could play in the big kids’ playground!!!!

It has all the usual play equipment (and a few different ones); it is just up-sized.

We had great fun playing and the sun even came out for a while!

 

Then we headed further south through some beautiful green countryside to Mt Barker for lunch.

 

 

We had home-made (by me) Pumpkin Soup for lunch at one of those convenient little roadside rest areas before heading off to Manjimup Central Caravan Park ($28.00).

 

 

 

 

Tuesday 8^th October

The area around Manjimup is really gorgeous. There are rolling hills and valleys, fruit orchards, wineries and truffle farms and lots of sheep and cattle. There was even an Alpaca Farm. The area is extremely lush (probably due to the rain which is threatening yet again as we head out this morning).

Our first stop was the Diamond Tree, a massive Karri tree with a tower structure perched on top.

 

 

 

. It has spikes spiralling around the trunk so you can climb to the top. Since I am now so thoroughly aware of my own mortality, I was reticent to climb all the way to the top.

 

 

Ron and I did however find a climbing tree much more to our liking a short walk away.

 

The forest was really gorgeous and there were lots of lovely flowers.

 

 

 

 

From here, we headed off back through town and out to King Jarrah stopping at a roadside stall to buy some Avocados for lunch.

 

 

It is a pretty impressive tree!

We walked along the walking trail and then had lunch in the picnic area.

 

After lunch we headed out of town to One Tree Bridge. The signage left much to be desired and of course, by now it was quite drizzly so we donned our ponchos (now there’s a fashion statement!) and headed off on foot in search of the bridge, only to discover, quite by chance, Glenoran Pool.

 

 

 

We turned back to the car park where we had left Indie and headed in an entirely different direction and crossed under the road bridge and finally discovered the One Tree Bridge.

 

One Tree Bridge (the name is a bit of a give-away) was built from one tree!!!!

 

 

Then we headed off on a two kilometre round trip to The Four Aces.

We trudged along the track and it started to rain a bit more so rather than shelter under a tree, we sheltered in one!!!!

 

The story goes that long ago thousands of Karri seeds sprouted in a burnt out log. They struggled for water, sunlight and food from the soil. Four of those seedlings are living today. They are the Four Aces!

 

We were a little underwhelmed but at least we can say we have seen them.

And the walk in the forest was really enjoyable (in spite of the weather).

We decided to walk back to Indie along the roadway. When we arrived back, Ron asked if I had the keys; which I didn’t. Guess where they were.

 

Yep! Ron had left them in the door.

Just as well it is a low crime rate area!!!!

 

From there, we drove through more green pasture land, through Nannup, a pretty little town and on almost to Bunbury. We are staying in Discovery Holiday Park ($34.20) tonight and heading off to get our solar controller in Bunbury tomorrow.

Wednesday 9th October

It is a lovely, sunny day but the wind is still cold. We have headed into Bunbury to ‘Battery All Types’ to get our new Solar Controller fitted. They were the loveliest, helpful and efficient folk. They had it all done and dusted and working in no time flat. It was $200.00 well (and quickly) spent. But it is all good now and it means we can get back to free camping (eventually). There is nothing here on the coast.

We did a quick drive-by of the beach front to see how different it looked in sunshine and then proceeded down the Bussell Highway.

We passed through Ludlow Tuart Forest. Tuarts are a type of eucalypt and grow only in south west WA. The Ludlow Tuart Forest Tuarts are the tallest: upright, single stemmed and up to 40 metres tall. There were also heaps of white lilies growing around there as well.

 

 

Then it was off to Busselton and its famous jetty.

 

The Jetty is 1.8 kilometres long and is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. It has a train and an underwater observatory.

We opted to walk rather than take the train.  There were a few interesting little structures on the jetty and it has a lovely flat, even walkway.

 

 

 

We are experiencing the Melbourne weather that we always joke about; but instead of 4 seasons in one day, we are having 4 seasons on one jetty!

 

First it was fine and hot, then very cold. When we got to the section without the railing, the wind almost blew us over the edge and of course, halfway along it poured rain for about 10 minutes. But, dauntless we pressed on and did finally make it to the end! (The sunshine was very obliging for the photos!)                                                             

 

After grocery shopping and posting off another care package to Paul, we headed off through Dunsborough to Cape Naturaliste.

 

 

We did a two kilometre loop walk around the lighthouse. On the way, there was a kangaroo grazing on the pathway and in my usual inimitable style, I missed the photo entirely. He was unusually dark, almost black.

 

Then it was on to Yallingup, a pretty little surfside town. We went to Yallingup Beach Holiday Park ($34.20) which had lovely views overlooking the beach.

 

The sunset view from the Bar-b-que area came highly recommended so we set off, camera in hand to wait patiently.

 

While we were there, we met Cheryl, a lovely lady from Carnarvon who was holidaying with her two daughters.

 

She told us about a great spot further down the coast so we will see if we get there or not.