Betten On Bike: DAY 63 TO DAY 75 - 11TH - 23RD JUNE 2013

Day 63 to Day 75 – 11^th – 23^rd 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.