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Published: September 27th 2013
Visitor Looking for Food
This beautiful Kookaburra frequented our camp site looking for food, until the rain set in!It's the Pigs!
Fernhook Camp to Margaret River
It started with a raindrop on the roof, I don't know what time it was, I reached up to close the skylight in the roof and in his sleepy state Andy said "Don't worry it's just possum's on the roof" I replied "That's just wishful thinking" and I recalled that we have not seen possum's for a long time and perhaps none at all on this trip.
Eventually the rain stopped and I opened my eyes to see blue sky, but that quickly left as a raincloud came over. It would appear very showery this morning, it was forecast but disappointing (for us) nonetheless.
In between showers we managed to get the kettle on and have a quick cereal breakfast, we did not unhook last night so all I have to do is pull the roof down and we can go.
On the way out, it is raining again, back on the main track toward the highway we see something moving in the distance. It would appear to be a wild pig and her piglets! She made haste across the road and disappeared into
Arum Lilies
Hundreds of these grow in the wilderness in this corner of WA. the bush. We both recalled an odd noise when we were in bed last night, it was almost as if something rubbed against the brake cables on the trailer and now we think we have our culprit, it must have been one of the pigs, as there appeared to be several runs through the bush where we camped.
We turn off toward Northcliffe from the main highway a car turns in behind us, I could see he was looking to overtake and for a while he travelled on the opposite side of the road on the back end of Gypsy, a corner was coming up and then they decided to overtake!!!! Fortunately there was nobody coming in the opposite direction.
By the time we reach Pemberton the day starts to brighten up, I checked the radar and there is still rain around but I am hopeful. We have a coffee break at The Millhouse Cafe and watch the world go by, it is very busy here, the red lights start to flash and the bell rings at the railway crossing and the little Pemberton Tram goes through.
Our journey then takes us toward our
Arum Lilies
Our camp site in the National Park was surrounded by these beautiful lilies stop for the night at Boranup Campground which is in Cape Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park. We pass several through several National Parks with some amazing scenery on the way.
There is an abundance of Arum Lilies growing in the wild, they just appear to be everywhere and when we found our camp spot for the night, we are surrounded by them! Looking them up on the internet I found a website which classifies the Arum Lily as a weed, it seems strange to me considering we could buy them in florists in England.
The day had turned out beautifully, camp was all set up, $7 each paid for the privilege, wood was ready for the fire tonight, we did have a mooch around the area but in the main we spent the afternoon relaxing.
The fire was difficult to get started as the wood supplied was quite damp, but we persevered and managed to get some flames out for a while, but eventually we gave up and went to bed.
Margaret River
I had barely closed my eyes last night when I thought I saw a flash of light, I waited for a roll of thunder but nothing came, I slipped off to sleep but woke up when the heavy rain started pounding the roof of Gypsy, the night was fairly warm. There were more flashes of light and this time accompanied by rolls of thunder.
I have no idea what time it was when the storm came overhead but I would sleep and then wake then sleep until eventually the daylight crept in through the skylight.
When I was brave enough to get out of bed, i.e. when the raid had stopped, I found that there are bits of trees strewn around us, fortunately nothing landed on us in the night, but there is a small branch that has fallen off a tree and across the track blocking our exit from the camp site, but that was easily moved.
It started to rain again, I think it is going to be like this for most of the day so we quickly packed up and then drove up to Margaret River in search of breakfast.
I had not realised how big and bustling Margaret River would be, not to mention beautiful area, but then it is at the heart of one of Australia's most popular wine regions. We find ourselves in the Bakery, we order breakfast and sit down on the sheltered veranda that is warmed by gas patio heaters, it is very popular, the bakery itself is very eclectic but very comfortable. No sooner than we sit down at the table the heavens open again.
Breakfast was terrific, I could not eat it all, far too much on the plate, scrambled egg and bacon on toasted sourdough bread, delicious.
The surrounding areas of Margaret River are absolutely breathtaking, I love driving up through the wineries, there are acres and acres of vines and because there has been so much rain, the dams are full and the flora is looking amazing.
We are driving in and out of the rain, one minute heavy and the next minute we are in bright sunshine.
Our current journey is nearing it's end, we seem to have stepped up the pace since coming into Western Australia, quicker than anticipated but that is partly down to the weather, as soon as we reached the coastline at Esperance, we started to get the rain and figured it is not worth hanging around getting wet and miserable.
Our original intention was to have a stop in Bunbury tonight at a caravan park to shower, do some washing and then head to the Leschenault Peninsula where we would meet some friends of ours for a weekend camping. Some of our longer term blog readers may remember that we camped there with the Travelin' Trueys on our original trip around Australia.
However, the weather forecast is looking bleak, rain, rain and more rain is forecast and another storm at the weekend, in the end we decided to bail out and end the trip earlier than anticipated so phoned our friends in Mandurah to forewarn them of our impending arrival, they had been expecting us but not quite so soon.
So on we drove to Mandurah and the first real bed we will have slept in since 3 1/2 months ago when we started our trip from Woodstock. We were very glad to have this safe haven from the weather that followed.
For now, our current trip is finished, but we will keep you posted.
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D MJ Binkley
Dave and Merry Jo Binkley
Love this one
Great photo