Further south

South of Northcliffe is the coastal D’Entrecasteaux National Park.  We had a great time down around the Windy Harbour area with some stunning views.  There are several cliff top walks and we enjoyed seeing the coastline from different perspectives.

We had to return through Northcliffe and there we did a forest walk known as “Understory Art” – as you walk through the forest admiring the trees and wildflowers, you come across a variety of sculptures at intervals along the way.  They’re all meant to reflect our relationship with the forest and there were some fabulous pieces.  We loved it!

Sculpture climbing a tree

About 8 of these hidden in the forest

A little further east is the beautiful Shannon National Park with its grove of giant karris and the “Great Forests Tree Drive”.  The campground in here was fantastic – most national parks are, but this one actually had a hot shower and after a week of ‘bird-baths’ it was much appreciated.

A highlight of this area was seeing a bright blue fairy wren.  The ones at home have blue on them, but these ones are completely blue.  They’re fairly common around this area apparently and are absolutely beautiful. 

We took some back roads and went via the Mt Frankland wilderness area, full of gorgeous wildflowers, eventually making our way south to Walpole.  Again we were pleasantly surprised by the beauty and diversity of the area.  It’s only a small place, not far from the sea but set on two inlets and surrounded by forest.  Just out of Walpole is a forest walk among the giant red tingle trees – a tree found only in this region.  What a fantastic walk this was.

The base of a giant red tingle tree

Bush camp among the karris

We decided to try one of the 4WD tracks down to the coast to find a bush camp for the night and when we stopped to camp there was the biggest red kangaroo we’ve ever seen standing nearby – huge – megafauna!  He hung around in the scrub chewing on bushes, then bounded heavily up the hill.  Did I say, he was huge! 

South west forests

from 3rd October

From the deep south we cut across inland to Bridgetown, such gorgeous country!  It’s fairly hilly, green and lush.  We both really liked Bridgetown, a former timber town set in the hills.

 

A taste of the sort of country we travelled through to Bridgetown

About 15 minutes south, halfway between Bridgetown and Manjimup, is the tiny settlement of Yornup where we spent 3 nights with ‘Doc’, someone Phil knows.  This was good, as Doc’s an interesting fellow and with the weather being pretty wet we couldn’t have done a lot of outdoor things anyway.  He lives in one of about 15 old buses he has on his property – we stayed in another.  So much room! 

The bus we slept in - Doc has dozens of them!

Our travels then took us into the amazing forests of south west Australia, through Manjimup, Pemberton and Northcliffe.  All of these are former timber towns and lovely little places.  Some of the taller, strategically located karri trees were used as fire towers and still have the pegs circling the trunks to enable them to be climbed.  We only went up a short way, just for the experience. 

 

Deb

Phil

Happy together in the karri forests

There are so many national parks in this region and we had a fabulous time exploring.  It’s impossible to describe the beauty of this area.  The weather was cool, there was some light rain at times and this only made the forests even more inviting.  We camped out in the bush for 7 nights in a row, each at a different location.  So peaceful!  The fresh smells, the bird sounds, the colours.

Soooo much better than a caravan park!

Morning view through our window

Margaret River

(Haven't had internet (or enough data) to update this for a while but here's a little bit more.)

We weren't sure what to expect of Margaret River - we knew it was beautiful but thought it may have been more touristy than what it was.  The campground we found is only 1.5km from town but in lovely forest and with great facilities for campers, a good base for exploring the area.

The beaches are absolutely beautiful - Prevelly, Redgate and Gnarabup especially.  We thought the sign, above, was very appropriate!  I've tried every other sort of rehab for my back but this beats them all :)

It wasn't really swimming weather (for us anyway) but we thoroughly enjoyed our time on the beaches.

 Then there are the caves.  Many, many caves in this region.  We decided on Mammoth Cave as it's a self-guided walk with personal mp3 players so we could take our time and experience it in our own way.  Well worth doing and different to some of the caves we've seen elsewhere.  We could have done several others as they all have different features, but at $22 each per cave it gets a bit pricey.

This is Lake Cave, which has a suspended deck way above the entrance.  The views were lovely and there are perspex skylights in the deck for looking down into the forest below.

Apart from the hundreds (?) of wineries, there's a chocolate factory, ice-creamery, silkworm farm (which we saw a story on last year on Landline) and numerous attractions within a short radius.  One little village was Cowaramup which trades on its name with cow-themed business names... we thought "Wholey Cow" was a good one for the wholefoods shop.  There were plenty of cows scattered around the village too.

We had a great time and even caught up with a friend from Beechworth (Ilena) who was visiting with a friend of hers.  When we realised we'd be in the area around the same time we arranged to meet and do a couple of things together.  

Then we headed south into the Boranup forest, driving among the beautiful karri trees, camping in the national park, visiting the gallery (one of the best we've seen anywhere), walking etc.  This eventually took us down to Augusta and further on to Cape Leeuwin down on the coast.  A bit chilly and windy but fun to be so far south nonetheless.

Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park

4 October

Yesterday was rather momentous – we did a big left turn and are now heading east.  After travelling south for so long, it really does feel weird.  We can no longer take a short little detour to the Indian Ocean, it’ll be the Southern Ocean from now.  Of course heading east means we’re heading towards home, which means the trip is nearing its end.  No-o-o-o-o!  We prefer to view it as beginning a 6 week journey across southern Australia.  Ah, that feels better J

The big difference in travel since about Geraldton is that there’s a lot to see and do in a more concentrated area.  So we’re having to make decisions about whether we’ll go inland or coastal, this township or that one.  Up north it was a fairly standard route with fewer decisions and we’ve become used to not having to make such decisions.  Of course this means seeing some areas and missing others.  Oh well, I guess that leaves us plenty to see should we get back over this way J

Since leaving Perth we’ve had quite a bit of choice and decided on the coastal road as far as possible.  This has taken us through lovely national parks as well as towns like Bunbury and Busselton.  One beautiful place we camped was ‘Martins Tank’ which is in the Yalgorup NP near Preston Beach.  It’s a proper bush camp among the trees and birds and with a very light drizzle the air was fresh with the smell of the eucalypts.  When I pulled the curtain open next morning there was a big red kangaroo with a smaller female carrying a joey standing a couple of metres from the back of the troopy, quietly watching us.

We did go inland in places and found the area around Harvey to be lush, green, pretty countryside supporting dairy farming and citrus orchards.  Apparently it supplies the bulk of WA’s milk.  As has been the case in so many areas at this time of year, everything’s in flower so there’s plenty of colour around.

 

Bunbury’s a large town on the coast where we spent some time by the harbour and also looking around some of the new housing estates.  We climbed the lookout tower which was great as it gave a good perspective of where we were – the river, inlet, harbour and ocean. 

Then we enjoyed a visit to the art gallery which houses some fantastic pieces of local work – really finely sculpted wood designs, glass work, paintings etc.

 

Bunbury art gallery, housed in an old convent

We liked Busselton a lot.  The weather was cool and drizzly but we still enjoyed time by the nearly 2km long jetty, the beautiful foreshore and exploring the residential area which always gives us a feel for a place.  We both thought this would be a very easy place to live – if we wanted to be in a small town, or in the west.  

Rather than a photo of the jetty, here's the rainbow we saw in Busselton

Then we came to Dunsborough and the area between the town and the cape (Cape Naturaliste).  What a beautiful area this is. After exploring some of the bays and beaches we went for a look at the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse and then a walk.  

We walked along a coastal track high enough to give a good view across the ocean and before long were seeing spouts of water, big splashes and glimpses of huge bodies - it was so nice to see whales again.   It’s such a buzz!

Fremantle

25th-26th  September

After a couple of days in Perth we made our way to Fremantle and we both liked it instantly.  What a lovely atmosphere it has.  The old buildings are just beautiful and there's a bit of history here too.

The Round House is WA's oldest building and was used as a gaol before the arrival of convicts.  We were able to go into a couple of the old cells, barely big enough for 2 people but which at times held 6!  It's right near the signalling station, where a welcome flag is still raised for visiting ships.

Outside the Round House

Inside the Round House, with the signalling station outside

  

We spent ages in the Shipwreck Galleries museum, which contains heaps of relics from various WA shipwrecks.  The Geraldton Museum had a couple of canons from the "Batavia", along with bricks, coins and individual items but this gallery holds the pieced-together planks from the hull of the ship.  This was pretty exciting, having read the story of this shipwreck and mutiny.







The Maritime Museum was great too - we visited there the next day.  One of the main exhibits is the America's Cup-winning yacht from 1983, Australia II.

Again there was a lot of history displayed in here.

Cappuccino Strip in Fremantle

Greg James' sculpture studio was an interesting
visit, especially as we got chatting to him about
the techniques he uses.  It's quite a process!  He
does them in bronze.

We spent a couple of hours at the Fremantle Market yesterday,
which was fun.  It was a lovely warm day so we bought some
delicious food to eat out in the courtyard.

Just one of the many really good stalls - watermelon shoes, among others

After spending up at the market, Phil had to take
to busking!  (Okay, just kidding)

We feel like we did heaps in Fremantle, there's so much to see and do.  With rides on the CAT buses we got to see all over the town but mostly we walked.  And walked.  And walked.  Oh yeah, we did ride on the ferris wheel!  I've never been on one believe it or not, so we thought it was a good thing to do on my birthday.  We had great views over the harbour and it was fun.

Being my birthday we thought we'd better have "happy hour" and where better than in our faithful troopy.  Pink bubbly, nibbles, a candle, Phil's rendition of Happy Birthday ... great fun.

 And that brings us right up to date.  We ended up driving through to Mandurah last night and the weather's very wet and very windy.  So rather than keep heading towards Bunbury this morning, we're in the library where it's light, bright, quiet, full of books and free fast wifi.  We have to do our tax so will get onto it before hitting the road a bit later on.