Heading back to Melbourne, via Perth.

Wednesday 15^th February, 2017.

A fairly full day of driving, non-eventful (as you'd hope) almost to the point of boring........ Avoided Busselton by using the Busselton By-pass road, which turned back into the Bussell Highway north of Busselton, and then got onto the South Western Highway south east of Bunbury, and drove on that to Armadale. From there we followed the same route we took on the way to Albany. Sort of. It would have been nice to take it a bit slower and have a few stops along the way but I was a bit worried about how the traffic would be in Perth mid-afternoon, turns out, I probably shouldn't have been. It was fine. 

I think the most exciting thing all day was seeing some camels in a paddock south of Armadale. Finally!! Ticked the last of our 'big game' off the list!

One advantage of a planned city is building the trainline in between the lanes of the highway. Very sensible. From Elizabeth Quay in Perth the train line sits snugly beween the lanes of the Mitchell Hwy which morphs into the Kwinana Freeway. They travel along together until the train line peels away near Kwinana.

Arrived back at the car hire place and the vehicle passed inspection.  I hope she gets a proper cleaning this time around, she deserves it. I've never heard of a Holden Malibu, but it was (mostly) a pleasure to drive, never skipped a beat, and wasn't too thirsty. 

Our bed tonight is at the Pensione Hotel on the corner of Pier and Murray Sts, with a very comfy bed, easy walking distance as it turns out to a few op shops but that mission is unsuccessful. We take a wander around the neighbourhood, planning where to have dinner. Rest stop with drinks at the bar attached to The Seasons Hotel, across the road from ours. We scratch Miss Maud's Restaurant as it's buffet style, and we really can't be bothered, so we end up at City Heart, and Indian restaurant with fairly decent food, and very close to the Pensione. 

We're very unimpressed that Virgin had changed our flight time from an early, but respectfully so 9.30 flight, to 7.30am. So, we're up early and out in time to watch the sunrise on the way to the airport. There has to be an upside! The cabbie is good for a chat, so the drive is dealt with quickly and we find breakfast at the airport. And then, we get breakfast on the plane.......... always the way, if we'd taken a chance and not eaten, we wouldn't have been fed on the plane! It's a 4 hour flight but with time zone changes, we arrive in Melbourne after 2pm. No lunch but not hungry after 2 breakfasts, so all good. Jump in a cab and head to Yarraville for a long weekend with family, before heading home to NSW.

Happy Valentine's Day

Tuesday 14^th February, 2017.

Happy Valentine’s Day.

Our mission today, whether we choose to accept it or not, is to find a way to get our wine purchases home without taking out another mortgage on our home! I checked up on the web overnight to see what the 2 wineries were like in regard to cellar door prices and though Palmer’s is closer, all their wines are above what we usually pay, so it looks like a nice drive back to Yallingup and Cape Naturaliste Wines. I’d read on Trip Advisor that Lisa, who ran the cellar door was pretty amazing, so come opening time, 10.30, I gave her a call. We had a really good talk and she said she was surprised that a local winery didn’t know about the freighting of a mixed carton of wine. 

She said come on out and she’d get us sorted – our angel!! We went straight over, tried some of the wines, which were great, met the owner and heard (from Lisa) about how he won’t sell his wines to restaurants where he doesn’t like the owners, or the food, which I thought was fantastic. We found spots for 4 bottles of their wine and then bought another one to have with dinner.  "See you when I get home, my babies" I said. "Are you talking to your pets?" asked Lisa. "No. The wine!" I replied!!

Wine sorted and now it’s off to explore the famous Busselton Jetty. It’s 28 or 29 degrees and it turns out I’ve forgotten to bring my shoes to change into, and keeping with the train theme of this trip, we catch the little train out to the end, almost 2km from the shore. The shallow water goes out almost to the end. They were certainly keen back in the day to ship their produce out from this town. We grab a bite to eat at the Busselton Beach Shack, a little cafe next door to Equinox, a very handy bar where we quench our thirst after the Jetty visit. The Beach Shack has a big pump bottle of sunscreen, for the complimentary use of their patrons, a very nice touch I thought. Full points. Before we left home to come here, I had been trying to find out if it was possible to snorkel at the Jetty without going to the end and snorkelling at the Underwater Observatory. No luck finding any information, so we didn't take any gear with us. Turned out the water was very cold anyway so probably wouldn't have been much fun, BUT, I did see a sign that said you could snorkel as long as it wasn't within 10 metres (I think) of the UWO. I'm writing this several weeks later, so the memory is a bit hazy, but it is possible, so I'll know for next time!

There are still many little spots along the coast that we haven't had a chance to check out, so when we get back to Dunsborough, we drive out towards Cape Naturaliste and turn off to Bunker Bay first. We dropped in here on the first day, but it was miserable weather and a camper van was parked across the 3 spots where there would have been a view without getting out of the car. The weather was much better and there were more spaces to park. It's a very pretty bay and would have been good to spend more time there exploring the headland and maybe doing some snorkelling. We drove back out of Bunker Bay and turned in at Eagle Bay. What a pleasant surprise! It's a little community, a bit like The Bays near Woy Woy, but not as hilly. Very nice. Trevor says he would choose to live somewhere like this as opposed to Dunsborough and I agree, Dunsborough didn't do a lot for me. So we ducked in and out of little carparks all the way back to Dunsborough, along the Eagle Bay - Meelup Rd, through the Meelup Regional Park, some with no name signposted, others with lots of info. Point Piquet, Meelup Beach, Castle Rock and Gannet Rock, some with wide, white sandy beaches, others with more rock than sand, but all beautiful and beckoning.

The Thai place in town only does takeaway, so that's what we get and it goes down well with the bottle of wine from Cape Naturaliste Winery.  

Enjoying the coast

Monday 13^th February, 2017.

It rained through the night, so hopes weren’t too high for the day’s plans, but by the time we got going, the sun had broken through. Silly us, we thought it would last all day……………

Time to start prioritising our sightseeing. Canal Rocks is top of the list so we head that way, stopping off along the way. Yallingup was the first turn off we came to, so we turned, We pulled into each vantage point that we came to, so we saw the coastline at Torpedo Rock, looking south to the Super Tubes (surf break, not pumping today)and Smith’s Beach; and Slippery Rock before driving in to Yallingup and being very impressed with the place. If we come back, I think we might stay here. So tempted to have a swim, it was 28 degrees by this point, but didn’t want to spend the rest of the morning in wet swimmers. Definitely have to come back…………. Next stop is Canal Rocks. Finally, I’ve waited so long to see them! Noting the turnoff for Smith’s Beach to investigate on the way back. Canal Rocks is an amazing place, with a boardwalk built across the ‘canal’ which has been created over hundreds of years by wave action. I heard a lady say something about taking a photo from over near the boat ramp “on the old jetty”. My ears prick up, old jetties are always good for a photo! The fly in the ointment is the fact that someone seems to have caught a fish and word has gotten around, because there’s a sudden flurry of activity at the boat ramp, either side of the jetty. Patience is a virtue though, and I have developed great patience when it comes to getting a good photo. I could have watched the water move around here for ages, it was always changing. 

Smith’s Beach was a bit of a disappointment, nice beach, but nothing much else other than some ritzy looking accommodation. Mel had suggested we visit the Yallingup Cheese Company on Wildwood Rd and it turned out to be on the same property as Abbey Vale Wines, just across the road from Forester Wines. We tried some cheeses that were very good, but as we’re leaving the day after tomorrow, there was no point in buying any, but I did buy some port soaked prunes that were delicious. This mixed wine box is becoming more of a drama than we were led to believe it would be. The lady at Abbey Vale has never heard of the concept, but she’d happily freight a full carton of her wine over to NSW for us! We went back to Yallingup General Store for a sandwich for lunch and there’s a Post Office agency there, so Trevor quizzed them about the best way to get our wine home. A 12 bottle box will cost around $100!!!! We need to find a winery who knows about the mixed box freighting! We found the PO in Dunsborough and the very helpful Justin gave us a lead to follow up tomorrow, Palmer’s Wines, and the lady at Yallingup PO told us to try Cape Naturaliste Wines. So, fingers crossed. If all else fails, Justin said to come back and see him and he’d see what he could do for us.

When we were in Augusta, we purchased a 2 lighthouse pass, covering Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste, so we still had our ticket for Cape Naturaliste. On our way there, yes, you guessed it, just like yesterday, it started to rain! We could see a coach ahead of us on the road. O-oh!! Turns out, the Queen Mary 2 had arrived in Busselton this morning and this coachload of tourists were from the ship, many of them English. We had a chat with a couple from Guernsey. Our lighthouse guide was good enough to bring out some raincoats for us to use on the walk up the hill. Cape Naturaliste is a very different lighthouse to Cape Leeuwin. Disappointingly, you can’t see it from the road at any point on the drive up and really, not from anywhere else either. It’s on a higher headland too, so it’s a much shorter, stockier looking building, thankfully with fewer steps to the top. The rain had brought his friend Fog with him, so visibility was very limited. Our guide, Faye said that if it was a better day tomorrow, we should come back and we’d probably be able to go back up to the top. She also said that we should go to Sugarloaf on the way back to town, even though the weather was still not the best. Any weather condition is good to see Sugarloaf. 

On the way to Sugarloaf a bird flew up from the side of the road, very close to the car and just when we thought it had managed to turn itself away from the car it hit the passenger side rear view mirror and then hit the window. Good job the window was wound up. These birds out here are a bit crazy! Yesterday when we were driving back from Sugarloaf, a bird flew in front of us, flying in the same direction as us, just like a cartoon bird. Flapping for all it was worth, trying to escape the big white beast. And today, it happened again when we were leaving! Crazy! I wonder if we go out there tomorrow will it happen again??

Our host, Bruce arrived home as we were getting out of the car so he asked us what we’d been doing and how everything was going. Michelle must have heard us because she came out with fresh towels for us. They’ve been good hosts, leaving us to it once they’d shown us around. If the style of this studio is any indication, I’d love to see inside their home. From the outside it’s very interesting, a Japanese inspired building at the front, almost floating above the land. There are little hints of some Asian travels in the yard too.  

Crumbed chicken kievs from the local butcher cooked in our own little home for dinner, with salad. Yum!

 

Lest We Forget

Sunday 12^th February, 2017.

We’re running a good half day behind now, due to the roadwork on the way to Pemberton. So this morning, instead of leaving early to take a leisurely drive up to Dunsborough, we have some catching up to do. Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse is a must do on our list and we head there via the waterfront because today we actually have a bit of sunshine for better photos. We arrive in time for the 11am tour and fill in 20 minutes or so wandering around and listening to the audio guide included with the entry fee. The climb to the top with guide April, is done in 2 stages, just as well, as she sets a cracking pace! I can’t believe that the light keepers carried up 32 litres/kilos up the stairs every morning with kero for the light, and then crank a handle to lift over 100kgs in the weights that slowly lower over 24 hours to keep the light turning. 

Cars are driving up to the lighthouse after our tour finishes, and we are left wondering what’s going on. Turns out that it’s the anniversary of a Naval tragedy off the coast here, so there is a commemoration service for the 10 victims and for all servicemen lost at sea. On Feb 11, 1945, the HMAS Nizam, an N class destroyer, was sailing from Melbourne to Fremantle when, 12 miles off Cape Leeuwin she was hit by a freak wave, in near gale force wind, rolled heavily 75 to 80 degrees to port and 10 ratings were lost overboard. They were apparently on deck late at night due to feeling sea-sick. The ship circled for some time but being dark, no survivors were found. We spoke to one of the women walking up to the lighthouse where there is a naval memorial and she told us the whole service is usually held on site, but this year due to the frailty of the few surviving servicemen, the main commemoration was held in town with only the wreath laying held at the lighthouse. The man working behind the desk when we returned our audio guides told us most of the story.

We grabbed a quick bite in town before making for Hamelin Bay to see if the stingrays were in the shallows. They were and we spent more time there than planned, walking up onto the lookout as well. The rays were swimming near the boat ramp and some people were wading in the water, patting them at times. Many girls ran up the beach squealing, then ran back down into the water. The stingrays were an amazing sight to see and I wish we could have stayed longer, but by now, we were running behind again. I had told our Air bnb hosts we’d arrive around 4 but I had to let them know it would be more like 4.30, which wasn’t too bad. We had to skip a few things and if we have time we’ll go back, it’s not far, only about half an hour.

After we got our bags out of the car and got settled, we went for a drive up to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse for a sneak peek, but the rain came so we couldn’t get out of the car. Also checked out Sugarloaf Rock as it’s on the same road, quite impressive, but again – rain.

The accommodation is very nice and it’s a short walk to the town centre, but the rain has returned so we have to drive to the tavern for dinner. Crumbed Fremantle sardines, spicy coated WA prawns and a big bowl of apple coleslaw, shared.

Let's get Tipsy!

Saturday 11^th February, 2017.

Mel picks us up right on 10am. Mel is a resident of Augusta with a young family and a baby on the way, and she takes us to her favourite places in the area, as far north as Margaret River township. The first place we visit is the Hamelin Bay Winery, whose logo just happens to be a Wyvern, a winged two-legged dragon with a barbed tail. The wine is good too, so I just have to buy some. It’s a beautiful setting, as you’d expect from a winery, rolling hills, covered in vines, large interior and external terrace overlooking it all. Next stop is a place that doesn’t have a cellar door open yet, so we’re getting a preview and we’re supposed to be having our wine tasting on their verandah but it’s still blowy and a bit rainy, so we sit inside around their dining table. Sascha and Ben have big plans for their property and Kerfuffle Wines, and I’d love to be able to visit again in a couple of years. Ben has a degree in agriculture and viticulture and Sascha has a degree in wine making (I forget the proper name) and they met when Sascha came to Ben to source some grapes for her wine. He was close to ripping out his 19 year old vines, so Sascha saved the day! 

All this wine onboard, it’s time to put a bit of food in our stomachs, so Mel takes us to Whirlwind Olives, to taste some oils and dukkah and of course, some olives. 

Arlewood Estate, winner of James Halliday’s 2017 Dark Horse of the Year award for 2017, is our next port of call and our hostess confesses that she’s a bit nervous, this being her first solo attempt at a tasting. If she hadn’t told us, we wouldn’t have known!

It’s getting on and we decide lunch would be a good idea. Mel likes to go to the Margaret River Distilling Company, for something a little different. They also have a distillery called Limeburner’s in Albany, but down there they concentrate on whisky, whereas in Margaret River they distill whisky as well as gin, so while our lunch is being cooked, we are able to have a tasting. Trevor chooses a bourbon style whisky and of course, I have their ‘base model’ gin. Trevor doesn’t mind his, but mine is too ‘botanical’ for my liking. Lunch is ready, so we eat while planning our next move. There’s a couple of options, but the ones we like the sound of are a micro-brewery and the chocolate factory. So Mel takes us to the Colonial Brewing Co where Trevor bought a beer tasting paddle that had 5 beers to taste. Unfortunately, we didn’t really like any of them enough to have a full glass. Temper Temper Fine Chocolate on the other hand, has so much yummy chocolate that it’s hard to choose. There’s lots to taste, chocolate made from origin specific cacao, from all over the world. The absolute best is the Wild Amazonia chocolate, but sadly, it’s also the dearest, so we settle for a taste or two, or three…… I do make a purchase, but it’s going to be a gift for someone. Next door there’s another olive product shop, this one with body products, room fresheners, olives and various other foods, including pickled zucchini, something to remember to try making at home. 

We headed back to Augusta from there, discussing plans for dinner. We told Mel about our attempt to try shark in Albany and we said we were going to walk to the fish and chip shop at the top of our street to buy some. Mel said that wasn’t the best place in town and that she was going around further to Colourpatch Café to buy fish and chips for her own dinner and offered to bring us some back and we could just pay her for it. Good deal! So we finally got our shark, bronze whaler. Full marks Tipsy Tours!

Augusta. Prepare to be blown away!

Friday 10^th February, 2017.

We were meant to be leaving Pemberton first thing this morning but seeing we missed the tram yesterday, the plan is to go on the 10.45 run today. The rain has finally caught up with us, not sure if it’s the Perth drenching, or the rain coming over from Esperance, where Jo nearly got caught in flooding when she left us at Albany. Either way, it’s not too heavy when we wake up but the roads are very wet. 

We eat breakfast in the hotel, where my phone rings. It’s my cousin Jeff who has just realised I’m in WA. He’s heading over next week for a holiday and we plan to attempt to catch up in Perth – him on his way in, us on our way out. After brekkie we pack the car and drive down to the tourist info centre, hoping to find out where we can see some marron farming, or maybe buy some. Apparently there’s a place down the road with big tanks and the fella there will explain a bit about them to us. Then we get to the tram by 10.30 for the 10.45 departure. We board about 5 min early and the driver kicks the motor into action. There are a couple of late arrivals but it’s ok, we can’t depart until we get the green flag from the station.

The first bit of excitement happens not far out of the station as we near the first road crossing. The driver stops the tram level with a little locked box next to the line, opens it and throws a switch. This activates the level crossing lights and boom gates! Awesome! A blast of the horn and we’re away again, only to stop an equal distance on the other side of the road for the reverse procedure to be completed. The lights stop flashing and the boom gates lift. We pass the town’s timber mill, recently decommissioned but still with piles of karri logs piled up, being watered to reduce the fire risk. Over the many years it’s been here, it’s burned to the ground twice. We also see a mumma kangaroo with a joey in her pouch standing near the mill, watching the train go by.

The commentary is fairly continuous and interesting, ranging from the pioneers of the area, to the different types of trees we pass by. We stop at The Cascades for a 15 minute break, disembarking and walking down to have a closer look. We are warned that the rocks can be slippery so we need to watch our step. I feel my foot slip, and then the other one – my life almost flashes before my eyes!! No!! Don’t fall!! Somehow I manage to stop myself and carefully head back onto the dirt path. Phew!! No broken bones today! If only we’d known, or been told that there was a metal footbridge over the brook about 100m further down, I would have taken that option. The driver toots the whistle and we reboard to continue to Warren River Bridge, the turning point of the trip. We’ve been very fortunate, there hasn’t been a lot more rain and even though the windows are open, we’re not getting wet. It is a bit cold and windy though. We return at a quicker speed and the tram makes more noise, so there’s no commentary on the return. By the way, the driver just moves to the other end of the tram and drives us back from there. 12.30 sees us back at Pemberton station where the driver confirms the marron information the tourist info people gave us. It’s easy to find the place in Pumphill Rd and we spend about 30 minutes there talking to the guy and deciding which size marron to buy, ending up with the 100-150g size for $49kg. We are given a receipt because it’s outside marron season and they’re undersize, so we’d be in big trouble if we were pulled over by the marron police. 

It’s lunchtime so we buy coffees from the Millhouse Café to have with our sandwiches and I get talking to the woman there about the movie ‘Jasper Jones’. I knew the movie was out soon but I only found out last night that it was filmed here in Pemberton. I was already looking forward to seeing it, now even moreso. The scenes were filmed around town and in the forests, the woman I spoke to said her house is in the movie. It was filmed about 12 months ago. Pemberton has many heritage listed timber homes built from the local karri trees. The tram driver told us that one tree provided enough timber for two houses! The movie is going to look fantastic! I wish I’d taken more photos of the houses.

We eat our lunch down by the local ‘swimming pool’, one of the few places in town where there are undercover picnic tables. Years ago, the locals decided they wanted a swimming pool, so they dammed the river and have made it into a nice spot. 

Time now to move on to Augusta, our next stop for a couple of nights. I must say, I wasn’t that keen on Pemberton when we first drove in, but it’s grown on me. Nice place to visit, but I couldn’t imagine living there. Nannup is the major local town, but we didn’t see it, so don’t know what it’s like. On the way to Augusta, we stopped off at the Beedelup Falls, where there is a pleasant loop walk to the Falls and back to the carpark. One way is wheelchair friendly, the other has quite a few stairs, but the bonus for trecking the stairs is the swinging bridge! Just like being back on the Indian Pacific. I imagine it would be a lovely spot for a picnic too. 

Driving time to Augusta is about 90 minutes and the road is pretty good, and there’s no rain to speak of. We arrive in town, find our accommodation and nearly get blown away. The wind feels like it’s blowing straight off the Antarctic, probably because it is! It’s also feeling a bit wet, so we unpack the car before it gets worse. This place was available on Air bnb, but it was cheaper on Stayz. Odd. The keys were where we were told they’d be, always a good start. There’s room to sleep 6, but 2 twin beds are in the living room, so, maybe not……… 

The Augusta Hotel is just around the corner, as is the IGA and Tourist Information office. It’s a good location, as planned. We buy some salt for our marron and book our lighthouse tour. Augusta is home to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, ‘Light Between Oceans’ territory. I’m in book/movie heaven! I know this movie wasn’t filmed here, but it’s the setting, so that’s good enough. If you plan on visiting Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse as well as Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, it’s cheaper to buy a combined ticket which we did. We’ll visit Cape Leeuwin properly on Sunday before we leave. We had a bit of time before it got too dark so we went for a drive out to the lighthouse just to check it out. It’s wild and woolly out there today. I must be a lighthouse junkie, my heart leaps at my first sighting! The Old Waterwheel is also close and a good photo op, so we stop there too. Too cold for Trevor, so he waits patiently in the car. The ocean is wild but I’m sure it’s gets wilder, let’s hope we don’t see that! A drive home around the water’s edge reveals lots of nice places, or they would be in better weather. We even found a potential snorkelling spot, but I don’t think we’ll be getting wet at this rate. 

Marron cooked as per instructions from the seller and they turned out really well. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I liked them. Trevor really enjoyed them, I think he really wanted to try some while we were here and it looked for a while as if that might not happen. I forced him to go to the marron farm and he thanked me for it! 

Mel from Tipsy Tours is picking us up at 10am in the morning for a winery tour. Just the 2 of us, she has no-one else booked. Lucky us! Personal service. We’re getting picked up from here and don’t have to meet her up the road at the ‘appointed place’.