24th Nov

From the Valley of the Giants, after we regained our equilibrium, we headed for Denmark for the night. It was that awe inspiring I forgot to take any photos. Not a lot there so we carried on towards Albany, spoken Al bany not All bany, as we were put right by our Friends Bob and Rita.
We had a pleasant evening with them over a feed of Chinese and caught up with all their news and next day, they picked us up and took us on a tour of the local area.

Some lovely Coastline with the usual Sapphire Blue Sea,and interesting shaped Rocks.
They have an amazing War Memorial dedicated to the Australian Light Horse and the New Zealand Mounted Rifles high on a Hill overlooking Albany..

Beautifully done in Bronze.
We ended the tour at the Gap and Natural Bridge.

Some Tourists we stumbled across on our trip.
 Bob and Rita from Albany, who we met up at Airlie Beach, when we managed the Caravan Park up there.

On the way back to Bob and Rita's we came across these wood figures, made from old branches etc.

Some creative thinking gone in here.

From Albany we headed for Esperance on our way to Kalgoorlie.

More interesting Coastline and a huge Wind Farm along the Beach. You can only see a couple of the 20 plus spread along the Dunes.

Next its off to Kalgoorlie.

Cheers Helen and Dave.

22nd Nov
As we left the Margaret River area it was decided to visit the Valley of the Giants Tree top walk.
This was on the road towards Denmark and Albany so a stop was in order.

We have done the Tree top walk at Ottaway on the last trip, so we were looking forward to this one as well. The trees here are not growing anywhere else in the Country. They are Tingles and are similar to the Mighty Jarra trees,and some of them are over 400 years old.

 The walkway is suspended in the tops of the trees, and as it was quite windy, they moved around a lot.
I had one Lady come up behind me breathing hard and pushed past and nearly ran towards the end of the walkway. She didn't look very happy! No head for heights me thinks!!

Yes it is quite high up in the middle and with the sway on, quite exciting.

 It just seems to be suspended in mid air.

One of the Tourists I bumped into on the Walkway!

As well as the elevated walk there was the ancient forest walk as well. 

Some very old trees in there.

Some gnarly old trees and tourists alike.!

This one had a certain Erotic charm about it.
Enough of that ,next on to Denmark and Albany.

Cheers Helen and Dave

21st Nov

The second Cave we decided to do was the Lake Cave, a smaller Cave than the last one, but with a Lake inside, we thought worth a look. You entered via 300 plus steps down into an area where the cave roof had collapsed and into the cave proper at the bottom.

You can just see the walkway in the photo to the middle left.

There were a lot of old Stalactites and Stalagmites exposed to the outside that had been growing before the roof collapsed. Once out in the open they stop growing and get covered in Moss.

 

This Cave wasn't as brightly lit as the last one but had a certain charm non the less.

 

These two columns were hanging from the ceiling without touching the floor. Apparently they had been sitting on soft Rock which had worn away over the Centuries by the Water leaving them Suspended.

 

  Some nice Stalactites just hanging around.

 

And then there was the long climb back to the surface.

Well worth a visit but not as big or spectacular as the Ngili cave.

 

While in the area we decided to visit the Old Waterwheel. Yes we wondered what it was all about as well!

 

This should tell you all about it.

I dont think its been turning for quite some time.

Next we are on our way from the Margaret River area and Head for Albany.

Cheers Dave and Helen

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