Hi from Margaret River

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The road from Albany reminded us of coastal NSW - the occasional green farmland but mostly edged in lovely tall trees. These were the karri (as opposed to the Q’ld kauri) trees, tall, solid, straight and beautiful. Between Denmark and Walpole there is the Valley of the Giants - a treetop walk amongst the tall karris which we had done on our last trip so we passed it this time - great walk though.

We drove on till we came to the timber town of Pemberton. There is a big mill at the edge of town and most of the little houses and shops are of timber, the homes no doubt for mill workers. We set up for the night at a pretty park full of the tall trees with a stream running beside it and lovely parrots with the boring name of Twenty-eights flying amongst the trees as well as the occasional kookaburra.

Next morning we left Pemberton and once more drove through the karri trees. An interesting sight were all the grass trees - blackboys - growing underneath them. We turned off the road when we saw a sign to Beedleup falls and had a nice walk through the rainforesty bush to have a look.

Our next stop was at Cape Leeuwin to view the lighthouse there. It was blowing a gale and the seas were pretty wild. We were told that one side of the Cape was the Southern Ocean, the other the Indian Ocean. We went into the cafe/tourist shop to read all about it, took a picture, then back to the motor home to get out of the wind. We found a semi-sheltered spot overlooking the beach and had lunch, gently rocking.

At last we came to Margaret River. It’s grown since we were last here, quite a tourist destination with vineyards and all sorts of gourmet delights to be had. There were a few nice shops which we had a quick look at and, best of all, we collected mail Jason and Jules had sent us from home, hooray! Then it was check in to a caravan park and do the washing, my life is so glamorous!

Today we decided we’d take a gourmet tour - the coach took us to wineries for wine tasting, a brewery for beer tasting, another winery for more wine tashding, then somewhere else for cheese tasting, a venison farm, lunch at a gourmet restaurant, a chocolate place chocolate tasting - all very delicious and we came home with some nice venison cabana and pate and full tummies from all the food and drink. Margaret River is a nice place to visit.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BOTH TARA AND ISIS - HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY XX

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Photos

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse
And me being blown to bits!

Margaret River shops
well, some of them