Water, Wind, Wine and Wood (SW WA)

After surviving the Hopman Cup, and finding out we were very ambitious to go to both a day and evening session we set of for Bunbury. The drive was disappointing as there was not a lot of scenery but it was a short trip for us.

Bunbury was an interesting place with nice beaches a florist called "Florist Gump" which tickled our fancy,and someone with initiative had developed old grain silos into very trendy apartments. We quickly settled in the park which was straight across the road from Koombana Beach.




It was easy driving to do a day trip to Busselton - this was just lovely, beaches and the long jetty. On the way we found Geographe Bay - a millionaire playground - beautiful houses and very large boats! Through Dunsborough (which reminded us of Double Bay) and a lovely drive to Cape Leeuwin lighthouse and then back along the coast stopping at Meelup Beach for lunch (and drooled over the 5 luxury boats moored in the bay). The beach was just beautiful and lots of people had the same idea as us. We returned to Bunbury via the inland route stopping in Donneybrook for a well earned ice cream.

Our next stop was Margaret River. We chose to stay at Tauntons Farm in Cowramup which is a central location for the whole area and it was very easy to access all highlights both north and south. There are about 120 wineries located in the area, and we decided to do a wine tour - this comprised 4 wineries, a brewery, cheese and chocolate tastings - with a lovely lunch as well at Notting Hill Winery. Judy and I managed to go another day to Churchview Winery and arranged for some wine to be sent home. It was interesting to see the differences between some of the wineries - particularly those new and those of the "old establishment" such as Vasse Felix and Leeuwin Estate. These two in particular are outstanding and beautiful properties - but also the price per bottle is beyond my budget!



We managed to see the whole area travelling down to Augusta (where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean) and up to Yallingup calling into lovely beaches such as Gracetown on the way. It was here that we managed to catch a few more "rays". All in all while we enjoyed this area we did think it was a bit overrated and very overpriced.



On the way to our next stop, Albany, we stopped to have a look at the Valley of the Giants and took the walk among the treetops - which is a suspended walkway and yes it does get up quite a swing. At its highest it is some 60 feet above the ground - so for those like me that do not like heights it is a little challenging - but I survived. The trees are very old, very tall Karri and Tingle trees, you can see from the pics the size in relation to Peter and I. While we enjoyed these trees the actual drive to Albany is so boring - nothing to look at except trees, trees and more trees! It would be quite different during the wild-flower season as there were bushes and shrubs everywhere including many we use at home for garden specimens - our next trip will take the wildflower season into account.

We were excited to get to Albany - for some reason we had been looking forward to this stop with the park right on Middleton Beach - even though we knew it would be school holidays. Disappointment set in when we found our allocated site was down the back with tents and campers. We do not have anything against tents and campers but as we had booked some 9 months earlier, paid in full and we received confirmation, we were not happy. I had a discussion with the manager of the Big 4 Park there and explained that if I had wanted a powered camping site I would have asked for that, she apologised and said she wasn't sure how we got the booking as they were always booked out with regular returns - anyway it seems that someone overbooked and as we were not regulars we lost out. Iexplained to her we could have been a return booking but that would never happen, and I would ensure we also told others of our experience. In othert words they were happy to take our money 9 months ago but when we got there we were made to feel anything but welcome - we will never go back there and there are plenty of options to consider.

Putting aside the caravan park - Albany is a lovely place - wonderful harbour, so much granite and the old buildings are just beautiful. Whale world is a good value money outing - we spent about three hours there and it proved to be a real education of how the whaling industry operated before it was closed down in 1978.

Interestingly Albany was the jump off point from Australia for the Gallipoli soldiers and it was quite sad to stand on the spot which was the last glimpse of Australia for so many. They are doing quite a bit of work around town to commenorate this.

At Albany we were able to continue the Wally World part of our trip. A place called the "Squid Shack" was recommended to us "open every day" was the word, so we got ourselves organised and headed off. When we got there - you guessed it - it was closed for the day. The place had been burgled the night before and for the first time in its history was closed while the police investigated and re-organised. Bloody Hell!!!!!

Next we were off to Bremer Bay. This is a top spot - beaches and blue water to die for (although it was not hot enough for us to swim). Beautiful little boat harbour and holidays houses and apparently the fishing is good too. Peter tried his luck, managed to catch a couple of small bream and a very nice whiting (which got a reprieve to live another day) - he had fun anyway!

The caravan park was beautiful, very shady and lovely green grass - a big surprise for Peter was that the person next to us was Dave Jamison, formerly with ACT Forrests, who he worked with at the Emergency Services Bureau during the 2001 and 2003 bushfires - it really is a small world. All is well in Dave's world and he is now happily working at the UWA.

It was our intention to go to Wave Rock next, however on route after a phone call received by Judy we changed plans and headed straight for Esperance to get Jude onto a plane for Perth that night. Yes, unfortunately Jude has returned home - she made the decision to fly home to enable her to support her daughter Nadene through health issues concerning her father and grandmother. We will do Wave Rock next time around.

We were however also able to have a giggle as we realised that we did not have a bag for Judy to use for luggage (only a small cabin bag). Judy said "don't worry, I will buy something in Esperance". Upon booking into the park, I asked for directions to the shopping centre - the manager looked at me as if I had two heads and said "Esperance shuts down on Sundays - nothing is open" and they were right - all shops shut! (Remember Wally World!) So plan B came into action - Judy looked ever so fashionable at the airport with one of those plastic striped bags (you buy them in $2 or discount shops) - luckily I found one under the bed. We were so busy organising her that I forgot to get a photo of this occasions!

Judy arrived home in Albury the next day (modern technology is wonderful), and while we will not complete the trip all together we did have some fun from Darwin (when she rejoined after the broken leg) to Esperance.

We have spent a week in Esperance and it is a magnificent part of Oz. The beaches are very white and the water so blue, we probably have not seen it at its best as we have had overcast and rain following the cyclone that presented in the NW of WA.

Once again the coastline is rugged and a lot of granite. This can best be seen when you take a trip along the coast tourist road and a visit to the national parks. We took a trip to Cape Le Grande National Park and while we did not do any bushwalking, this would be an area we will return to as some stage. Areas that we visited were Lucky Bay, Rossiter Bay, Thistle Cove, Le Grande Beach and Frenchmans Cap Peak. Lucky Bay has recently been voted the beach with the whitest sand in Australia. There are a couple of really nice van and camping areas in the park which are worth visting, they are not powered but have everthing else for $7.50 per person per night.

I was also excited to catch up with Claire Slater (nee Campbell) who I went to primary school with in Jerilderie. Her family left and came to Esperance in 1964 and this is only the second time we have seen each other in that time. For those that know the family, Mrs Cambell is still well and hearty (at 80years of age) living in Esperance as do Claires younger siblings Meredith and Peter. Ian resides in Perth and Richard is the local publican at Bolgart a small town NW of Perth. Thanks again to Claire and Geoff for their hospitality.

After travelling about 25,000km we are ready for the next stage of our trip to Kalgoorlie then across the Nullabor to SA - time is going so quickly now our next major deadline is in Yarrawonga in eary March which is only 5 weeks away.