WE’RE IN AUGUSTA AND DENMARK

THURSDAY 21ST NOVEMBER   -   We left Margaret River for our next destination Augusta, one hour further south.  By 11.30 we’d arrived and were set up at Flinders Bay Caravan Park.  It was a waterfront park set in a lovely bay.  The parking bays were very spacious with high hedges separating them and gave good privacy.  The park was very well maintained.  It shuts for half of the year as it gets very cold facing the Antarctic.   Augusta is the nearest town to Cape Leeuwin on the furthest southwest corner of Australia.  It has a population of approximately 2,000.  It was a very pretty, quiet town.
 

In July 1986, 114 false killer whales became stranded at Town Beach.  Volunteers manned a three day rescue and carried them onto trucks that moved them to more sheltered waters.  96 of the whales were saved.
 

We went to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse and paid $8 for an audio guide around the precinct.   The area has one of the most dangerous coastlines in the World and is one of the most important and busiest shipping lanes.  We walked around the lighthouse keepers cottages.  Three lighthouse keepers and their families lived on the island.  Each lighthouse keeper worked a 4 hour shift on and had 8 hours off.  The last lighthouse keeper left the island in 1998.  The lighthouse is on the headland of Cape Leeuwin, where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.   It is the tallest lighthouse on mainland Australia and was built from local limestone.   It was fully operational by 1896.  22 shipwrecks were reported before the lighthouse was constructed. The light in the lens of the beacon is equivalent to 1,000,000 candles.

ONE OF THE LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER'S COTTAGES

THE THICKNESS OF THE LIGHTHOUSE WALL

 

FRIDAY 22ND NOVEMBER   -   We went to Jewel Cave, the largest show cave in Australia.  It was opened in 1959 and is thought to be about 1 million years old.  Only 40% of the cave has been developed for tourists.  It is 50 metres deep and 8 kilometres long.  The guided tour took us 45 minutes.  There were 700 metres of boardwalks and railings throughout the cave. When we entered the cave, we were immediately struck with just how big it was inside. We were shown the only natural entrance to the cave, a narrow tunnel above us that dropped right into the cave. There were four main chambers that we could walk through and about 300 steps up and down to the viewing platforms inside the cave.  The formations were magnificent and looked like dripping candlewax, some with calcified crystals covering them and shimmering when the lights hit them.  It was just breathtaking looking at the thin straws above us.  One of them was the longest straw stalactite in a cave, measuring 580 centimetres.  We saw a 20 tonne tower sculpture.  Some of the sculptures resembled a karri forest, another looked like a camel.  We saw really long and deep tap roots from a jarrah tree.  We went into the lake chamber that was knee high in water when it was first discovered.  It took almost 15 years for the water to disappear.  We saw the remains of a possum skeleton that was found when the cave was discovered.  At first it was thought to be around 50 years old, but after carbon dating at the University of WA it was thought to be at least 500 years old.  Some of the passages we passed through were so low and close together that we had to duck and dive many times throughout the tour.  It was hard not to hit our heads as we were looking every which way in amazement.  It was $22 each for the tour and certainly worthwhile.  It was undoubtedly the best cave we’ve ever looked inside.

TAP ROOTS FROM THE JARRAH TREE

THE KARRI TREE FORMATION

THE 20 TONNE TOWER FORMATION

A SHAWL FORMATION

THE RED LINE MARKS THE WATER LEVEL WHEN DISCOVERED IN THE LAKE CAVE

 

SATURDAY 23RD NOVEMBER   -   We left Augusta for our next destination Peaceful Bay, 277 kilometres south.  We drove through some beautiful countryside.  It’s lovely to see so many healthy lush green leaved trees around, some of them are so tall that they form an archway over the main road.  There were so many verdant fields and hills and the rivers actually had lots of water in them, such a contrast to further north.  The temperatures are obviously lower than up north much of the time and they have a higher rainfall making the landscape so much more colourful.   We stopped in Pemberton for lunch which was a beautifully quaint little place.   It felt like a cottage garden with lovely flowers around.  We arrived at Peaceful Bay Caravan Park and got set up.  They were pretty laid back when we checked in and said to go find a spot wherever we wanted.  It was an older style caravan park $28 per night, or $21 if you stayed for a week or more.  There were ducks roaming around.  The beach was across the road from the park. The dog section was also the area where 4WD’s are allowed, so we had to watch out for cars coming up and down.  Sally still enjoyed running around and chasing the seagulls in and out of the water. 

HERDS OF DEER WE PASSED BY

 

SUNDAY 24TH NOVEMBER   -   We went for a drive to the main town of Denmark, 50 kilometres from Peaceful Bay and passed many wineries, pottery and art studios on the way.  It was known as an old hippie town with organic growers, greenies and artists living side-by-side. It was a coastal town in the Great Southern Region of Western Australia, 414 kilometres south west of Perth and a 4 ½ hour drive.  It had a lovely feel to the place and we stopped at the famous Denmark Bakery for one of their delicious home-made pies and had a walk around the town.  We drove to Ocean Beach and watched the surfers  and Parry’s Beach on the way back –  a good cheap camping area, but  they don’t take bigger vans or buses and actually had a height barrier on the entrance where you drive in, which is the first time we’ve ever seen that.  It was a good fishing area and popular with families for the weekend.  There was an overflow area higher up that you’re only allowed to camp overnight on if the other area is full up.  Shame as we would have liked to stay there. 
 

MONDAY 25TH NOVEMBER   -   We left Peaceful Bay for our next destination Bunbury, a large coastal town.  It was the third largest city in Western Australia with a population of 71,600.  It took us over 4 hours to get there. The main road meandered through Walpole-Nornalup National Park, South West State Forests and Shannon National Park, which were so picturesque.  We saw lots of big bales of hay rolled up in lines and a paddock of pure white goats with black ears and/or hoods.  Passing through Manjimup, we saw a sign for The Annual Cherry Spitting Festival to be held on 14^th December!!   As we approached Bunbury we couldn’t help laughing as we passed by The Bonking Frog Winery (I kid you not).  We MUST buy something from there just for the label alone.  We also passed The Moo Kow Kafe appropriately painted white with black patches to resemble a cow’s body.  We arrived at the Top Tourist Discovery Holiday Park at 2pm.  It was close to the main road and local shopping centre, parks and beach.   It was a 4 star park with a swimming pool and lots of permanent residents living there.   We had a large drive-through site close to the amenities block.  We got set up and headed straight for the beach.  It was less than 7 minutes drive to Ocean Drive with a beach that stretches for miles and miles.  There is a lovely walking path along the coastline which was busy with joggers, walkers and bike riders. 
 

TUESDAY 26TH NOVEMBER   -   We went for a drive around the town and stopped at Boulter’s Height Lookout and walked up the 100 narrow stepped spiral staircase to Marlston Hill Lookout with great views over the coastline, the harbour and Koombana Bay.   Next we went to Taffy’s the family run home-made chocolates and lollies.  There was so much to choose from.  We watched them making the candies that are cooked in copper kettles, cooled and placed on   pulling machines, cut into bite sized pieces and wrapped in the old-fashioned way.  They make truffles, fudge, peanut brittle, chocolate coated dates and pretzels to name but a few – what a choice!! 



 

We really enjoyed being in Bunbury and were quite surprised by the lovely beach and parks being so nearby.  
 

FRIDAY 29TH NOVEMBER   -   We left Bunbury for our next destination Busselton to stay overnight with our friends Alan and Sandra.  It was a short 45 minute drive to Busselton.  We had a lovely time caching up with them once again and meeting some of their friends that we met at the Rally in Collie a few weeks ago.
 

SATURDAY 30TH NOVEMBER   -   We left Busselton and said goodbye to Alan and Sandra and headed back to Perth to Bonney’s Water Ski Park once more.  We will be based there until 3^rd January 2014 when we’ll be heading back to the Central Coast in NSW until early March 2014.  Our plan is to head up through Queensland and on to Darwin, maybe coming down the centre and back to Perth at the end of next year.  Great plans – we’ll see how they all work out.
 

This will be my last blog for this year as we will be busy painting at Daniel and Min’s house, gardening and doing whatever we can to help them out until we leave next January.
 

Thanks for your company this year and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about all of our adventures. 

Wishing you and your families a very Happy Christmas and New Year, lots of presents, gatherings and parties and not too many hangovers!!   Looking forward to telling you all about our new travels in 2014.