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Published: March 31st 2008
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Naughty Boris
Our very first flat tyre on the trip We can't believe it's been nearly 2 months since we last added a blog! How slack are we! Well, not really, once we tell you what we've been up to along the way.
Our last blog ended with us on the road to Margaret River but first we have to tell you about our travels along the way. We left the John Butler concert and, after a short stay in Cosy Corner, headed back into Albany for a day or two....well a day or two turned into almost a week!! NAUGHTY BORIS is responsible. We simply went back to Albany to get a few travel items, then Boris decided he would shit his batteries & consecutively his starter motor. Naturally this happened on a Friday. Soooo to cut a long and expensive story short, $600 later (not including being stuck in a caravan park during their "peak" time...hellooooo $35 a night for just a powered site) we hit the road on our journey once again. Slight & expensive delays will be part & parcel of travel in a 20 year old bus...we don't walk around wearing rose-coloured glasses!!!! We just hope he is kind enough to only have one thing
Bath time!
Busselton WA at a time go wrong most of the time!
When we finally hit the road on the 2nd of Feb (happy birthday Carmena) we found rugged Lowlands Beach where we set up camp for the night. The waves were just massive so with a lack of swimming available we took prime position on the beach balcony, cooked up a weber and had a few reds. The mozzies drove us inside eventually and after killing the 30 or so that came in on our backs we hit the hay.
Next we went to a great spot called Parry Beach, after doing a bit of wine tasting along the way. It's basically a council-run park, solar showers, lots of old folk keen to have a chat & a cuppa & unload travel advice. So after a couple of relaxing days, and some awesome beach sight-seeing (see pics) we hit the road again looking forward to visiting the very green, very old forest region of Walpole. Our first stop was the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk which is a suspension walkway well above the forest floor. At the highest point we were standing...well more like swaying 40 metres above the
Hello Miss Piggy!
Tab makes a new friend at a Denmark winery ground. Interestingly the whole walkway only takes up 4 square metres of actual forest floor and it was very strictly managed - you could only have a certain number of people on any one part of the walk at once. It moved from side to side like a carnival ride but the views were beautiful. Afterwards we had to make a quick pitstop at the post office to collect some mail (thanks mum!) and alas when we tried to start Boris again he wouldn't start!! Uh Oh, we thought we'd be up for a cozy night sleeping in the Main Street...funnily enough we had parked just outside the cop shop so we didn't think that would be very welcome! Mechanic-extrodonaire Jeff once again got the defibrillators out and got us to the nearest caravan park again (yes, more wasted money!) so he could have a good look. After cleaning up all the contact points between the (new) batteries and the charging system we "again" hit the road the next day!
First thing the next morning we went to the Giant Tingle Tree. There are photos of this tree with a car parked INSIDE the base..it's that big! Then onto
Waterfall Beach
Amazingly this beach has a fresh water water-fall cascading only 30 metres from the beach-front! Just special! a beautiful swimming spot called Circular Pool, on the Frankland River. Could have stayed all day! That night we stayed at a great spot called Fernhook Falls, it was nice to be back doing proper camping again after so many nights at caravan parks! Naturally being a dry summer over here the falls weren't falling but there were some awesome rocky pools, a natural lake and some nice walks. We had a quiet night in sitting around the campfire and headed off for some bushwalking the next day. We walked up Mount Frankland which is a local fire lookout also. Basically it was a cruddy old building (manned on the day we visited) that had been tethered by thick cables to the top of the mountain! Mount Frankland is basically a bald rock surrounded by national park, the views from the top were uninterrupted and awesome. We also did a walk that went around the whole base of the mountain which was rugged and beautiful.
Tired and hungry we then went in search of a place to stay for the night and then disaster struck once again...Boris blew a front tyre while we were driving. So he got his
Jeff's favourite pasttime
gotta love a good tasting plate first ever smack! So while Jeff was once again the saviour Tab swatted all the March flies that tried to bite the mechanic. They are in plague proportions over here and at least 30 got killed while the tyre was changed! 30 times better off we reckon!
The next few nights we camped out at Shannon National Park. Except for one night when approx 40 Harley riding bikies did wheelies in the park till 3am we really loved it. Reluctantly we headed off and found a great town called Pemberton. After a pub lunch and some wine/beer tasting we stayed at Big Brook Arboretum where Bailey made friends with the local slimey wildlife and stayed up all night! The next day we visited some enormous trees and the local "fire trees". Jeff was brave enough to climb the Gloucester Tree (68 metres high) and as you'll see from the pics the method of climbing was by hanging onto the metal pegs that had been hammered into the tree about 50 years ago! Tab was a sooky-la-la and only got about a third of the way up before a change of mind!
After a brief stop-over at Nannup overnight
Wuss starts her climb
pulled out and hit reverse about a third of the way up we arrived at Bussellton where we stayed for 2 nights to catch up on some washing & civilisation...oh and to get the busted tyre fixed. Bussellton boasts the longest wooden jetty in the Southern Hemisphere and is 2.5km long! We made sure we walked out to the very end, it's pretty awesome to be standing that far away from the beach and not be on a boat! Boris also got a bath here as we suspect his bad behaviour may be related to the fact his cleanliness had been neglected for some time...well we figured it was worth a shot to hopefully end the bad run we'd been having!
As we edged closer to our Margaret River destination we decided to hit the coast road down to the bottom of the region, stopping in briefly at Margs to see what the job situation was like. Happily within an hour of our arrival Jeff had a job! Once again he would be hitting the tools at Margaret River Mowers and Chainsaws. With a few days to go before he started we headed down to the bottom of the point, visted some beautiful coastline, a cave & some beautiful campspots. On
Elephant Rocks
Climb over the large rocks on the beach and you find this beautiful bay. The rocks are enormous (about the size of a small house) and some shaped just like weather-worn elephants! our arrival back at Margs Jeff started work and Tab hit the local cafe's to see if she could pick up something too. She had work also within a day at Cafe 131 and guaranteed 4 -5 shifts each week. Just as we got settled in (we were living at the local caravan park) the park kicked us out when someone complained about the cats! Bastards! So were were out on the street and luckily found a share-house the same day. It was always going to be a temporary arrangement but it got us through a rough spot nicely. We lived with the owner of the house, Jolene, and 2 other guys - Allan (Irish backpacker & builder) & Mike (from Perth & works at local winery). Being Irish we naturally had a shindig on St Pats Day with Allan taking control of the bbq!! Met some other great backpackers he knows and had a ball. Have also hit the Margs Tavern with them all regularly for a few pints and are enjoying their company immensely.
Now we have moved into our own pad! Signed a 3 month lease last week and picked up a fridge/freezer, sofa-bed, lamps, rugs,
Climber boy
Jeff almost back to terra firma after climbing the Gloucester Tree, Pemberton WA beanbag, stereo, kettle, toaster & clockradio all for $170! Garage sales ROCK!! Our jobs are going really well and we are loving the Margs lifestyle a lot. The boys are now free to roam and have been loving the opportunity to hunt & play outside again, they have turned back into kittens! Well, big, fat grumpy kittens I guess! Next plans are to have a bit of a housewarming over the next few weeks and then settle into our new life.
We are also very excited to have our Melbourne mates Jase & Suzz coming to visit next week....so on that note will let you know all about those shenanigans next time! Cheers, be merry, eat & drink up, we know we will!!
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Bit Bit
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I think I may have left my liver at Margaret River. Could you please send it back to Melbourne when you find it? - Thanks Bit Bit