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Published: March 15th 2024
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Our first destination this morning was Eagles Heritage established in 1988 to meet an overwhelming need to protect and conserve birds of prey. The centre aims to educate the public and rehabilitate sick, injured and orphaned raptors.
Millions of Wedge-tailed eagles were killed in Australia between 1920 and 1973, many because farmers blamed them for killing their newborn lambs. In fact, less than one percent of lambs eaten by Wedge-tailed eagles are alive when preyed upon, most are already dead or dying. So, they rarely, if ever, kill lambs BUT a pair of Wedge-tailed eagles can kill over 800 rabbits each and can help keep feral cat and fox populations down.
Hundreds of birds of prey are still shot and killed each year in Australia with 99 percent dead before they are three years old. With most birds not breeding until they are three years old these are some alarming statistics for the future of these magnificent birds. Reading info boards like this breaks our hearts because we are bird nerds and particular fans of the raptors.
After this introduction we did the bush walk around the aviaries of the resident birds who are all permanently disabled and
homed at the centre for captive breeding, research and education. After our walk it was time for a session with Anne-Maree and Sheree with Alby, the Barn owl, and Booey, the Boobook owl.
Anne-Maree shared lots of information about the two young owls and educated us about the dangers of poisons to our Australian owls. Australia is one of only a few countries that still allows the use of second-generation rodent poisons such as Ratsak and Talon. Anne-Maree encouraged us to consider alternatives such as trapping to protect birds of prey who feed on rats and mice from being poisoned … and to encourage our neighbours and friends to avoid these dangerous rodenticides too.
Afterwards we were able to have our photos taken with Alby and Booey. With their heads able to swivel through 270-degrees it was hard to capture a shot with them looking front and centre!
Afterwards we headed into Margaret River where we had a lovely bakery lunch at the very popular Margaret River Bakery. After lunch we headed back to the coast to visit the pretty little village of Gracetown, a small town that has suffered more than its fair share of tragedy.
A cliff collapse during a swimming carnival claimed nine lives in 1996 and there are several memorials commemorating this sad event. In 2004 and 2010 surfers were taken by great white sharks close to the town. Today it was hard to imagine people surfing here with the sea as flat as a millpond.
We drove back out to Caves Road. We have been driving along Caves Road quite a lot over the last two days! The road runs for 111-kilometres and is named for the (at least) 120 caves that are underneath the road and surrounding areas. Today we sort of leap-frogged along the road pulling out to the coast again at Injidup Point and Canal Rocks. The coast and the ocean were so picturesque today with blue skies and sunshine… and no wind. After a couple of very windy days in Augusta it was lovely to have no wind blowing.
Next, we headed for Dunsborough where we will be staying for the next four nights. We drove in the back way via Biddle and Commonage Roads as we had the SatNav programmed to take us to Simmos Ice Creamery. Yum, sixty flavours to choose from! I’m sure
we will visit again before we leave town.
After satisfying our ice-cream habits we drove around to Cormorant Cottage and unloaded the vehicles before heading around to the local Coles Supermarket to stock up on some breakfast items.
We enjoyed back-to-back home-cooked meals while in Augusta so tonight it was back to the pub for fish and chips all round at the Dunsborough Tavern.
We played Bolivia tonight with the boys winning out over the girls. We followed up with a game of Blobs with Cathy the victor.
Steps: 12,980 (8.30kms)
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