22 March 2012

Liking where we are so will stay a bit. More when we get going again......

11 March 2012

So another big day. Up early and back down past Margaret River to 'do' a couple more caves. Today was Lake Cave and Mammoth Cave.
Lake Cave first up.

Lake Cave

Only 300 steps each way for this one! Once inside you can see all the usual stalagtites and stalagmites and straws and columns and a flow as well which is one of only two known in the world at present. There are sure to be more when caves are found or known caves are finally fully explored. This particular cave as the name suggests has water in it and when they turn the lights on it reflects the scenery into the water. Very pretty. This cave is not as complex as Jewel cave yesterday but it seemed to be deeper in the cavern part of it.

Some of the 300 steps!

We had a cuppa in the little tearooms attached to this venue then headed off again to the next one called Mammoth Cave. Mammoth Cave differs from the other two in that they are guided tours and Mammoth is a self guided walk. You get a nice little MP3 player on arrival and headsets and off you go punching in various numbers at marked intervals along the walkway and you get a pretty informative narration along the way to help you understand caves and the formation of them. This one is not as complex a system as the other two but the cavern size of it is definately mammoth! Once again a beautiful experience and only 176 ladder style steps to get back to the surface at the end and then surprise surprise you find out you have actually gone under the road during your walk through the cave and now when you are worn out from all those steps you have to keep your wits about you and cross the road between traffic to get back to the starting point!

Mammoth Cave

And they cheated, they did not count the couple of hundred steps through the steep bush to return to the starting point. Still in all it really was a great experience.

When we left the caves system we went to the Margaret River Cheese Factory. A good supply of cheese and lots of tastings and I got some cheese but was a little disappointed that the prices were pretty much the same as in the supermarkets!

When all else fails, eat chocolate! So next stop was the Margaret River Chocolate Factory. Bliss......

We washed that down with a drop or two at one of the many cellar doors just so that we could say we had done the Margaret River Wineries too.

So loaded down with wine, cheese and chocolate we headed back to camp.

Himself then went over the road and walked the entire length of the Busselton Jetty which is 1.8kms long. He was there and back in under an hour and that included time to chat to some of the many fishermen out on the jetty.

10 March 2012

Up early, washing done, housework done, then off touring.
We drove down to Margaret River, parked up and wandered around the town a bit and took a look at the Visitor Information Centre which has displays of most of the wineries in the famous Margaret River Wine District. They sell a poster that shows all the labels from the area and I could not count them all! I did say to Himself that it would be most dangerous trying to do a drive around all the cellar doors, one would end up exceedingly drunk well before completing the task. Of course you can take wine and food tours at great expense where someone else does all the driving, but they also do the choosing of which wineries to visit and their choice may not equal yours..... Other great things are available like cheeses and beads and they also have a leg of the International Surf Calendar called the Margaret River Billabong Pro Surfing Classic. Quite a town is Margaret River.
After lunch we went on down to Augusta and Himself took the tour of the lighthouse. Augusta is the most south western point of WA and officially the windiest too according to the guides. It is where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. The lighthouse has 175 steps to the top but apparently it is well worth the muscle ache for the view from the top.

At the entry gate and throughout the complex there are signs up warning that snakes have been seen. Yep we got the full experience! They have walkways to the left and right of the lighthouse thus allowing you to get closer to the ocean and after we had been on the platform on the left we spotted this bloke half in and half out from under our walkway off the platform. As luck would have it he was more frightened of us then we were of him because we tried to get a better shot of him and he turned back on himself and disappeared into the bushes near where his tail is in this shot. As is the way with snakes he was very very quick when he moved. Himself is guessing around 4-5ft.

We looked all over the complex and then drove back to Augusta passing this water wheel just below the lighthouse compound. It was used to supply water to the original lighthouse settlement in the 1830's but is now calcified by calcium carbonate and is now rock.

From Augusta we came back towards Margaret River along Caves Rd and went on the guided tour of Jewel Cave. You go down 260 steps to the cave floor and of course you have to come back up the same 260 steps to get out again. Steps are not one of the best things for me but it was well worth the effort. The cave(s) is stunning. The size and scale of it is breathtaking and the colours and formations are incredible. Himself used up two camera batteries trying to do it all justice. Everywhere you looked was another photo opportunity and most of the group were silent as they very quickly ran out of words to try to describe how they were feeling.

We got back to base very late and I am exhausted but it was really something special. Tomorrow we are going back out as there are two other caves on the tourist circuit that we want to see and then on the way home we are going to try to stop off at the Margaret River Cheese Factory...yum yum!

9 March 2012

So today we packed up and moved again. We motored from Manjimup to Bridgetown on a fairly nice road, then we turned onto the Nannup road and boy did things change! The nice road got a whole lot thinner although to be fair it did stay sealed. But then it went up hill, down dale and around the twist so much it was like being on a rollercoaster. Himself said it was a very pleasant drive with great scenery. I wouldn't know about that, I had my eyes closed most of the time, between blessing myself and every saint I could think of and a few I made up!!!!
Quaint little place is Nannup. It's biggest feature is that the road becomes much better from there on.
Arrived Busselton just on lunchtime, settled into our chosen park, then walked over the road to the famous Busselton Jetty and caught the little train out to the end of the jetty and went to the Underwater Observatory. The lass doing the tour certainly knew her stuff. Highly informative. Very clever of them to find a way to take you below the jetty and let you see how the marine life behaves. We saw all sorts of fish and corals and sponges etc, including a large school of tailor.

Well worth the walk over the road to see this. Himself will go back one day while we are  here and walk the 1.8km length of the jetty there and back (3.6kms) just to be able to say he walked the iconic Busselton Jetty.  I will watch and cheer from a comfortable chair somewhere on the shore!

8 March 2012

Happy Birthday to the Victorian Stephen!

Today we kept it simple and stayed local. We went out to the Four Aces. It is about 20kms out of Manjimup. We have been there before back in 1992 with our two youngest children. They are four identical karri trees side by side in a forest growing to enormous height. It was lovely to see them again and to be able to instantly recognise them from the previous visit.

The Four Aces

After we had seen these wonderful trees we went to the Timber Museum in town. Another good place to visit.  Really interesting but for some reason the entire place had a slightly unloved look about it. Maybe they are short on volunteers to do things. Bit of a shame really as it was and could be such a fascinating location.

We went into a display showing how the invention of the steam engine helped make it easier for the mills to process the raw logs. The equipment was rather large.

Once again came home worn out! Way too much information to store and too much to see and take in.

Wood is a fascinating naturally occuring product and we would be lost without it. It can be regrown, it takes carbon out of the atmosphere, it provides homes for all sorts of animal and insect life and can survive our harsh Australian bushfires.

Moving day tomorrow!

7 March 2012

Today we drove to Walpole and did the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk...... Twice!! Magnificent, wonderful, scary, beautiful, oh wow etc. So glad we did this trip. I found the intitial walk a bit scary with the bounce and sway and being 40 mts off the ground spooked me a bit, but it was so interesting and so special I was happy to line up and go a second time and this time it was great. I was over my fears and could just look in wonder at all the massive trees around us that we could see the tops of.

The walk is 600mts along a suspended walkway that is 40mts above the ground. So much to see. What a wonderful thing to see the tops of trees in a natural forest without having to climb the tree or  a very very big ladder. This is really a must do and we will be passing the information to other nomads we meet along the way. Mind you we will be making sure to tell them it is in Walpole. We did not know this and came to Manjimup from Albany and because of a bushfire we took the inland route instead of the road that would have taken us automatically past this brilliant tourist attraction. Oh well, you live and learn.

When you finish walking over the tree tops you can take another walk called the Ancients. This walk is at ground level and takes you through and around the natural bush near the treetop walk. It too runs for about 600mts and you can touch and see and hug lots of Red Tingle trees which are the ones that usually end up with a cavity at the bottom sometimes big enough for a man to walk into. Other trees in this area are the Karri trees which grow as straight as a ruler, truely wonderful trees the Karris

When you return to the Tree Discovery Centre you can watch videos and read some of  the informative notice boards they have. I particulary liked the display of the creepy crawlies.

To see this wonder we had to travel 119kms to Walpole from Manjimup. We did this along the National Highway #1. Himself says it was ok. I say it was a goat track! 119kms and for at least 85% of that distance it was double white lines with a 90kms speedlimit and no overtaking lanes for the entire trip,  and the road was not very wide. We had to share that road with logging trucks etc. Not impressed with the road one little bit but loved the day out.



6 March 2012

Yesterday we went to the Princess Royal Fort in Albany. It is a wonderful place full of history. This is where our troops left from for WW1. It was also the first place to be built to defend Australia and was done even before Federation with all states agreeing to pay a part each of the costs. During WW2 the Princess Royal harbour was used as a safe anchorage for the USA submarine fleet for repairs and refuelling.
We walked all over the sight and it took hours. The buildings and the gun placements are still as they were when it was operational so there was lots to look at. The scenery was pretty stunning too.

While we were there wandering through the bush going between parts of the fort we came across what we think was a bandicoot. It was seriously small, did not hop, was fossicking around the ground at the base of a plant. It seemed unaware of us until we stepped on dead leaves while trying to get closer for a photo then it scampered away.
Today we moved from Albany to Manjimup and have plans to stay a while and look at all the big big trees.

3 March 2012

Today we drove from Albany to Denmark for lunch then wandered around and had a look at the town and some of its "noice" shops. Then we returned to Albany and went out to Whale World, site of the last whaling station in Australia and now turned into a tourist attraction so that people can see how things used to be when whaling was an acceptable practice.
It was an interesting experience and certainly worth the time to look at.
Some of the exhibits are stunning. They have on display one of the last ever whaling boats working out of the station and you can walk all over it. Himself had a wonderful time checking out the workings way down deep in the hold. I stayed on deck and marvelled at the size of the chains and ropes etc.

I was fascinated to see skeletons of whales and to realise that they have bones similar to hands inside their side flippers. In fact most of their bones resemble ultra large human bones. Quite interesting!

Very tired after all that sightseeing but glad we went.