chapter 2

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ok so it's been a few days since we've had the chance to update the blog due to lack of decent towns with internet cafe's. most of the towns we come through look like something off bonanza!

anyway, we headed down to Augusta,which was really windy,i was fighting with the van to keep it upright,not the most aerodynamic those vans you know? so we travelled to practically the end of the earth and landed at a circular carpark with a huge lighthouse right at the end. we paid our $24 and had a wander around before the tour started. it was just the 2 of us on the tour so it was pretty cool. this woman showed us around and took us up the 176 stairs to the top. fortunatly there were stop-off platforms every now and again so you could have a rest and get you breath back! at the top the views were magnificent showing all the coast of the southern part of the area,you could also see where the indian ocean meets the southern ocean,whey cool! in the winter months it's a great place to see the whales migrating but all we saw were more bloody seagulls! were also had to hang on for dear life as the wind up there was even more gusty than below,however, there was a small area of the light house which you can stand where the wind was nothing more than just a gentle breeze,eye of the storm sort of thing.

after the liht house we trekked to a caravan park right on the beach.once unpacked we went shopping and i had to make dinner,i had a huge steak and jacq had hotdogs so the diet is really going well! the next day saw us leave bright and early to get to the jewel caves. apparently these can't be missed and when we got there we saw why. the jewel cave was discovered in the mid 40's and has been opened up into a tourist attraction. there were a load of steps getting down but once inside the views were amazing,even though the water basin had been soaked up into the ground,the limestone patterns and stalektites they left behind were great. after the cave adventure we headed on to another horse drawn town called northcliffe. this had very little to offer apart from a blinding cidery!they made all their own cider at the place and it ranged from apple juice to a really sharp scrumpy(gnat's piss) but the spider cider was top notch! after a few ales we headed off to Pemberton where we stayed in a great caravan park. as sad as it sounds this place had a proper stove,hot plate,fridge and kettle which is a god send compared to having to boil up the normal kettle we have and wait for the whistle to blow! been right on the beach you could hear the waves all night,even over jacq's snoring! a quick shower and breakfast and its back on the road again, this time heading towards Warpole.

warpole is where all the really tall red trees grow and the one in particular that we went to see was called the gloucester tree. it stands around 68 metres high and some genuis desides to bang 6ft iron nails in the side so you can climb to the top. before we got there we were both really up for it but when we saw what you had to do to get up there the response was 'bollocks to that!'. there was no harness or anything,literally just the iron bars and a fishing net at the side to keep you on track. you had to pass each other either going up or down which was scary just watching other people do it. Jacq,being the daring explorer that she is decided to go up half way and decided that was far enough,which i couldn't argue with as i kept both feet on terra firma! apart from that we had a stroll around the wooded area and saw some great views. on the way back to the car we came across some wild birds which we fed and got scratched to hell with their claws and headed off back into the van to go to pemberton!

we'll update more a bit later,it's a dollar for 10 minutes!!

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