20th Nov

After the Lighthouse we did the Ngilgi Caves. We have done a few Caves on our travels but hey! another one wont hurt.

They have just set up a new lighting system using LEDs, as they don't heat up and destroy the surroundings. The grand opening was for the night of our visit so we got the full range of effects as they tried them out. A bit of a bonus.

 

Helen Liked this one!

All very spectacular and a bit Disney land but a pleasant change to all the dimly lit caves we have been in. I think it will be a hit with the Public.

 

There is some lovely Beaches along the coast and Hamlin Beach was about the best. The Windsurfers were having a ball coming in from about a KM out riding the waves in. There was a steady moderately strong breeze to keep them going. It all looked like fun to me though I bet the water was cold, and what about the Sharks!!

 

From here we drove to the other end of the Coast at Cape Leeuwin and the other lighthouse. Unfortunately it was closed for the day as they were removing Asbestos from the roofs of some of the buildings. Oh well one lighthouse is enough to see anyway. They are mostly round,stand tall and have a light at the top. A pretty standard design I suppose.

 

Next time more Caves, again.

Until next time.

Dave and Helen

19th Nov

On our way down to The Margaret River area we passed through Bunberry and had a look around the Waterfront.

A nice Beach that had just been groomed by a Tractor with a rotary sieve on the back!
From here it was on to Busselton and a walk down the longest Pier in Australia, all 1.8Km of it.

If you look on the Horizon you can see the end of the Pier as it curves around to the right. There is an Aquarium on the end and you would think that the attendance would be pretty thin, but they run a small Train out and back, for a small charge of course.

Here we are at the end of the Pier gathering strength for the Trek back. Photo taken by a couple of German Girl Tourists. I reciprocated by taking their photo as well.

You can just see the shore way in the distance. As usual it was blowing a gale which made the journey back a bit harder. We celebrated with a feed at Kentucky Fried and undid all the good we did with the exercise. Oh well it was pretty nice at the time.

From Busselton we ended up at Gracetown at the Motor camp and set up shop ready fora few days of exploring the area.

First off we did the small town,or maybe Village of Cowaramup. Try saying that with a mouth full of Rice Bubbles!! Its spoken like Cow wara mup, once you have got that sussed you are halfway there.

They have their own little gimmick to get people to stop and that is------

 What else but Cows. A whole container load of them shipped in from the Philippines,made of Fibreglass and suitably dehorned, this is Dairy country after all.

You don't have Horns on Dairy Cattle now do you. It seems to work by the number of people walking around taking photos,us included.

I thought this one a bit over the top, though it was in the Lollie shop, so I suppose it fitted in with the surroundings.

From here we did the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.

 

An historic old Lighthouse which had a great view from the top. As usual the wind was blowing a gale but that seems normal on this side of the Country. After we left the Area they had a big storm come through which did a bit of damage and a guy died in a Caravan Park when a Tree fell on the Van. Not a nice thought but I try and keep away from going under trees with the van if I can.

View from the top of the Lighthouse. The Lighthouse was built in Birmingham, England and sent out and assembled on site where it now still stands. The Tower was built to English design here, but all the workings were made in England.

Next its on to the Yallingup Caves and their new light show.

That's for next post.

Cheers Dave and Helen

16th Nov.

We hooked up the Caravan the next day and made our way out of Perth in a Southerly direction.
The GPS behaved itself and we cleared town and made for the South Coast.

We made good time and stopped for lunch by the Beach at Mandurah.

A nice spot with a lot of development going on along the Beach.

From here we carried on and thought the free camp at Stockton lake looked like a good place to stop for a night or two. It was just down the road from the small  Mining town of Collie.

 We managed to get a spot right on the lake with a fantastic view. The water in the lake was a vivid Blue and clear as crystal. Apparently its very acidic so there were no fish or weed growing.
Its a favorite spot for Water skiing and Boating in general,as we were to find out over the weekend.

The lake was formed back in the 50s when it was an underground Coal Mine and they were blasting and broke into an Artesian aquifer,which flooded the place. They had to get out quick so all the mining gear and stuff is still down there. I believe a few people lost their lives down there as they couldn't get out in time.

We found the old entrance to the Mine that was used before it was flooded.

Looking back over the lake towards our spot.

The Sunsets were pretty good as well.
We stayed for 4 days and in that time the local show at Collie was on so it was worth a visit we thought.
A nice country Show with animals,side shows the works. It was not very large but everybody seemed to be enjoying themselves.

 The Wood chopping had just finished.
We did a trip down the road towards the Mine sites and came across this being worked on.

That's Helen by the rear wheel by the way.
I have worked on these things but not as big as this one and a Caterpillar not a Komatsu.

A common sight around Mining sites, huge piles of tailing's.
There was also a Railway Museum in town with some Loco's Outside.

Well that's enough of Collie, next we head for the Margaret River area.

Cheers Dave and Helen

6th Nov

We headed away to Hong Kong on the 6th Nov and left the Caravan on the front lawn of our Nephews place in Floriat,rather than at the Caravan Park.

We flew overnight and arrived in Hong Kong the next morning. A good flight and we managed to get a bit of sleep on the way.
Grant and Saori are in a different apartment now so we were keen to see it. Its on the 77th floor of the Sorento in Kowloon. A different view from the last apartment. This one looks down the harbour towards Lantau Island and Disneyland, if you can see it in the murk that comes over from China. What difference will Julia's Carbon Tax make to this mess!!

This was the view out of the bedroom window looking down onto the Typhoon shelter for the boats on a slightly clearer day.
Looking back the other way towards the new ICC centre,all 150 levels of it.

We had a drink in the bar on the 118th floor the night before we left. Its the square bit on the side of the building 2/3rds of the way up.

 The photo was taken through the window at night so not very clear, but the cluster of buildings on the left of the photo are the buildings where we were staying, all 80 levels of it. Gives you an idea of how high the ICC building is.
We did a trip to Disneyland Hong Kong as we hadnt done this since it had been built. A nice day out with Grant and Saya. Saori being pregnant gave it a miss.

A selection of photos, the last one is the Lion King. It was a bit strange as it was all in Chinese.

 Grandad doing his thing with Saya at the end of the day at the Grand parade.

 The end of a long day and on our way home.

While we were up there Grant took me on a tour of the Simulators at Cathay City.

The latest was the new 747-800F for the new 800 series Jumbo freighter.

And a 777 300ER simulator.

I couldnt resist the temptation of sitting in the Old 747 Classic simulator as they are not used much nowdays as there are very few of them left flying.

 This is the Flight Engineers panel,all done by computer in the new ones. Compare these photos of the cockpit  with the new one above to see the advances made in flight controls and monitoring.

They dont make them like they used to,look at all those round gauges and switches and the ancient old First Officer. He should have been pensioned off years ago!!
From here we flew home to continue on our Journey South to the Margaret River region.
Cheers Dave and Helen