Day 63 to Day 75 –
11th – 23rd June
2013 - Perth & Southern W A
This period was planned as an interlude – a
time to relax, holiday, and celebrate our wedding anniversaries (a long
standing tradition of around 30 years) with good friends Denis & Karen and
this year in The Margaret River region. Firstly though, the very strong pull
for me to go home and spend some time with our sons Samuel & Sebastian in
Brisbane, as well I needed to check on business affairs. Firstly going home was
wonderful – I had had grave concerns from the very start about being away from
home for over 4 months so this trip home had been booked and factored into our
itinerary – so therapeutic for me, I have to be honest – going home, having
breakfast with the boys, cooking in my own kitchen for them & their girlfriends
– fantastic – it was truly wonderful to be home !!!!
Walter & Andrea enjoyed a few great
days in Perth, Freemantle and a day trip to Rottness Island whilst I was in
Brisbane. On my return we drove to Bunbury so that Andrea could stay in the
trusty campervan for the four days of our much anticipated 4 day break with
Denis & Karen to celebrate our respective wedding anniversaries to uphold
our tradition of celebrating this milestone together for the past 30 years or
so. It was unfortunate however
that a nasty strain of flu had brought down Karen & so we spent the first
day quietly to give her a chance to recover. Also unlucky that Walter picked it
up a few days later and spent the last afternoon & night of our trip
together trying to recover.
However we did enjoy a quiet time together
– visiting wineries, eating great food and staying in a few amazing properties.
Our anniversary lunch at Voyagers Winery was a highlight an extremely memorable
occasion – superb food, amazing wine and great company. (and everyone was well
that day !!)
Then it was time to drive back to Bunbury
and meet up with Andrea – bid a tearful goodbye to Denis & Karen (on my
part). We made a hasty decision to head to Busselton which was a great decision
as this meant the fulfillment of a long term traveling goal for me – to walk
the length of the world famous 1.8 km Busselton Jetty. The weather was glorious
– sunny but brisk !! We decided to also do the observatory tour -viewing the
ocean life 8 metres under the jetty. I enjoyed this immensely – There are only
2 of this type of facility in Australia (one in Airlie Beach and this one)
There are only 2 in the world where the fish are not fed and so one can observe
the underwater life completely in its natural state & habitat and that is
this one and one in New Zealand. As a person who is not the most confident
swimmer this provides a fantastic opportunity to view the underwater world in
all its natural splendor in the comfort of viewing windows located on various
depths so each level provides a different view / window of ocean life.
Then it was time to head south and explore
a very different part of W.A. Firstly to Pemberton heading towards Denmark to
visit The Gloucester Tree (a 65 metre tree which has steel pipe treads which
you can climb and it was originally used as a fire look out tower). Then
onwards to Beedelup National Park to see the Beedelup Falls and the famous Walk
Through tree which is a huge Red Tingle tree which is over 400 years old.
We had done some research and we were keen
to see a lot of the tall forests – the Kari trees, Tingle trees, Marri and
Jarrah. So we headed to the famous Valley of The Giants to experience the Tree
Walk – walking on a series of very bouncy steel suspension walkways and walking
through the canopies of these amazing Kari trees which are the tallest in the
world. Wow !! Then a slow walk through the ‘Ancient Empires Walk’ where we saw
huge Tingle trees some with a circumference of around 60 metres and with large
hollowed out trunks.
We arrived in Denmark with no accommodation
booked and in the main street saw a sign ‘accommodation’ – what a find – this
was a quirky cute and historical building originally built in 1943 now a B
& B called ‘Thirty One on The Terrace’ – Rob was a fantastic host who
showed us a few of the available rooms and apologized profusely that the
largest wasn’t available. We chose a retro room – with flouro green painted
wardrobes & curtains. We were told it was haunted but we weren’t too
worried !! Breakfast in the dining room was a social affair and Rob came to
check if we had slept well which we had – great beds. The continental breakfast
was really good – yogurt, fruit, fruit juice, cereals, a selection of breads
& crumpets and filter coffee you could prepare yourself.
Then a short drive to the Visitors Centre
where we met Lenore who had taken our booking for the 2 hour Denmark Tour the
evening before. She was happy to look at our proposed route to return to Perth
and promised to check on accommodation for us on the way whilst we went on the
2 + hours Eco Tour of Sensational Denmark & Surrounds.
Dr Dave of Out Of Sight Eco Tours does a
great informative tour of Denmark. And surrounds including Greens Pool and
Elephant Rocks. We knew we didn’t have much time and we wanted to make sure we
saw as much as we could of this area so we had decided to take this tour and
yes it was fantastic – Dave took us to all the key places and we had heaps of
time to experience the beauty and raw nature of this part of southern W.A. The
photos speak for themselves.
Then it was time to start to head back
towards Perth via Mt Barker – We had a tasty curried beef pie at Plant Café in
Mt Barker before heading to Porongurup National Park to tackle the 2.2km Castle
Rock Granite Skywalk. This was a tough upward walk and we enjoyed the view from
the steel skywalk but unfortunately the tunnel / ladder which was to be
accessed over rocks via steel hand holes was a bit beyond Andrea & I – really only suitable for very
advanced climbers. We were disappointed that we couldn’t complete the final
section of this walk.
Then a 100kms + drive to Kojonup and a
quick stop for groceries and then on to a farm stay B & B which had been
organized for us by the Denmark Visitors Centre. It was a home away from home
as we had the use of a large living room / dining room with a burning log
fireplace and the bedroom was very comfortable.
In Busselton we had decided that a few
extra items were required before heading onto the next stage of our journey to
address the rapidly changing climatic conditions we are now facing. So we
popped into BCF and meet a very friendly young sales assistant Stephen. He
showed us a 3 sided tent structure which we could fix onto the sliding door
section of our campervan hence creating a protected ‘room’ outside for cooking
and eating our evening and morning meals.
We decided to erect it immediately upon our
return to our camping grounds and it looked like it would work a treat except
for the suction cap devices which didn’t adhere at all to the van. Walter was
keen to do an hours ride and said he would drop in to BCF to see what could be
done. Stephen organized 2 new very robust suction caps from Bunnings for Walter
to pick up on his return from his ride. That evening I noticed Stephen had also
made a donation to our fundraising for Alzheimers Research . Thank you very
much Stephen for all your support – we really appreciate it. It is people like
you who motivate us and inspire us to keep going.
This break also gave Walter an opportunity
to have his bike serviced – this had been pre-booked at Wembley Cycles – Walter
says thank you for a great job in servicing his bike – it is now ready to
tackle the next 5000 kms or so.
Finally it was back to Perth and we
welcomed the opportunity to catch up with Stephen & Pauline a couple we had
met at Cania Gorge last September during Stage 1 of our trip. We had a wonderful lunch and a great
chat at Cottersloe Hotel and then it was time to say goodbye to Andrea who will
fly back home tomorrow to The Netherlands. It was a quick but teary farewell –
we had enjoyed her cheerful company and assistance as support crew immensely.
Then to a camp ground to the south of Perth
in the vicinity of Armadale conveniently located close to the start of the
Brookton Highway where we head off in the morning (unfortunately this was in
the pouring rain) - fingers
crossed that the weather will improve for our first day back on the road
tomorrow.
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| Bell Tower Perth |
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| Maratime Museum Fremantle |
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| View from Rottness Island |
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| Thank you Wembley Bikes |
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| I built it last night !!!! (Balancing Rock) |
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| Happy Anniversary Denis & Karen |
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| Fremantle Fishing Harbour |
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| Kings Park Perth |
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| Pitchfork Winery |
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| Wine Tasting - Voyagers |
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| Anniversary Lunch at Voyagers |
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| Voyagers surprise desert |
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| Busselton - view under The Jetty |
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| Busselton Jetty at sunset - Wow |
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| Beedelup Falls |
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| Porongurup National Park walk |
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| Gloucester Tree |
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| A nearby visitor to the Gloucestor Tree |
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| Enjoying The Valley Of The Giants Tree Walk |
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| Part of the amazing structure of The Valley of The Giants Tree Walk |
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| We can only say Wow about this view near Elephants Rock Denmark |
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| Also in Southern W A near Elephants Rock Denmark |
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| Near Wilsons Bay, Denmark |
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| Cape Lunch |
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| Voyagers Winery - a beautiful place to visit |
