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The final leg of our journey around Australia has involved a two week jaunt from Perth to Albany, in south west Western Australia. However, as we ended the last blog just North of Perth, still in our campervan, we thought we'd pick up where we left off...
About 15km out of Cervantes we discovered that Hazel had left both of her new flip-flops at the campsite, so we turned round and retrieved them to save buying yet another pair! Part of our routine before leaving places will now be checking Hazel has all of her footwear packed. We then headed back to Perth and dropped off the campervan before catching the bus to Cottesloe and checking into our hostel for the night. We were delighted to find that Wednesday was free BBQ night, so we fed up on sausage sandwiches after a walk around the area. Unfortunately the free sausages did not out-weigh the sleepless night in the noisy hostel... I feel another Trip Advisor post coming on! Cottesloe, however, had a nice beach and a great little high street, so worth a trip.
The next morning we met Cathy (a friend of Hazel's friend Rachel) outside our hostel
and headed just down the road for brunch at the Naked Fig cafe (it was really delicious, and right by the beach, we'd definitely recommend it). It was a public holiday for Anzac Day and it turned out everyone else had been up well before us to go to the dawn memorial service, so everywhere felt busy and we had to wait a while as the espresso machine was taking a bit of a pounding. Unfortunately the weather was cloudy, so the beach was out, but Cathy had invited some friends to join us and formed a plan involving a couple of bars and a trip up to Kings Park botanic gardens. Apart from taking a couple of touristy photos across the city, we spent the afternoon blending in with the locals and living the relaxed Perth lifestyle - hanging out in chilled bars drinking beer or Pimms (it felt like a summer bank holiday back home).
Later in the afternoon we met Hazel's parents (Sue and John) at a hotel in town. They were on their own round the world trip and had arrived in Perth after a monster journey from Arizona. Needless to say, they were jetlagged
so had spent the day relaxing in and around the hotel. That evening we ventured out to the Grill'd Burger restaurant, which was recommended by Jo and Rob from their time in Sydney. The place has a tagline of serving healthy burgers which are grilled, as opposed to fried, although by the time Mark had topped his with cheese, an egg and bacon and washed it down with some chips, we're not sure that applied anymore!
The next morning Sue and John treated us to breakfast at a nice little cafe around the corner called Dome. We have since discovered it's a chain, as we see now see them everywhere we go, but they serve good coffee and breakfasts nonetheless and stay open past 3pm - which not many cafes do in WA! After a breakfast wrap, we started the self-guided walking tour of Perth from the Art Gallery of Western Australia where we checked out some Aboriginal Art. The city was pretty quiet and, as we found in Brisbane, had old buildings situated right next to large skyscrapers. As we crossed a road near the town hall, we saw a dog hanging right out of a car window
which was definitely worth a photo (and Mark has included it here because he thought Claire might like it - the dog was huge and had elbows!). The city is probably most picturesque from the marina near the Swan Bell Tower, so we stopped for a morning icecream down by the riverside. The other spot for great views of the city skyline is from Kings Park, which is on top of the hill and today made excellent photos as the sun was shining against a blue sky (so we re-took yesterday's cloudy photos!). We had picked up our hire car around midday, so we were sporting a Toyota Aurion, which is probably the best wheels we have had all trip. With the car all packed up, we drove 20 minutes out of Perth to Fremantle.
Fremantle (or "Freo" to the locals) is a relaxed little place with rows of coffee shops and bakeries just along from the main high street. We were slightly disappointed by the covered markets, as the food courtyard had fresh fruit and veg but lacked a decent range of cooked meats, anti-pasti or fish (and by "decent range" we mean that there was none, which
meant a last minute trip to the supermarket was required to grab some prawns for lunch). Maybe we were spoiled by the size and choice of the Queen Victoria Markets in Melbourne?! After lunch we meandered along the beach and through the fishing harbour, which was lined with cafes and restaurants, and later in the afternoon stopped at the "Little Creatures" microbrewery to taste a couple of pints (it would be rude not to!). John and Mark agreed that although our choices would make good "session beers", who could afford to at $10 a pop (£6.50ish)?
On Sunday we woke up early to catch the first ferry to Rottnest Island. The name comes from the dutch for rat-nest after the first explorer claimed he saw giant rats on the island. What he actually saw was a Quokka which is essentially a mini kangeroo and we spotted many during our day on the island. An interesting fact about Quokkas - as marsupials, they have one young at a time in their pouch, but also hang on to a back-up fertilized egg incase anything should happen to the current baby - then there is one ready to go on standby, without
having to find another male!
We stepped off the ferry and picked up our bikes and were almost instantly faced with a Quokka on the road drinking out of a puddle. Taking photos of them was pretty easy, as they are not afraid of people and walk right up to you. They are very rare on the Australian mainland but have no predators on the island, so roam about the place without a care in the world. If emus own Ningaloo then Quokkas own Rottnest!
We rode the 22km bike trail around the island stopping off at various beaches and lookouts along the way. Snorkelling was off the agenda as the weather was pretty cold in the morning, but it soon started to heat up just in time for a long uphill slog to the lighthouse. This was made worthwhile by the inquisitive Quokka we found when we got to the top - he went right up to our unattended bikes, just as they fell over with a massive crash...As the bikes clattered to the ground he barely noticed and continued to walk around them, fortunately completely unscathed. There were plenty of birds on the island to keep
the Christys occupied, but the highlight was seeing the huge opsrey nests balanced on rocks just out to sea and later John spotted some flying and one standing on the cliff (needed a better zoom for that one).
Just after we had rounded the most westerly point of the island, Hazel saw a skink scurry back into its hole but he was too quick for us to get a photo. Disappointed that we had missed it, we started back along the north side of the island...and then Hazel fell spectacularly off her bike. Whilst Mark can't exactly be blamed for Hazel's clumsiness, Shelly won't be surprised to hear that he nearly caused a pile-up in the aftermath! Luckily Hazel only had grazes on her foot and elbow but we decided it was time for a lunchbreak anyway. While we were eating, a large and small skink came out of the nearby bushes before scurrying back in. They did this multiple times while we ate lunch so we managed a couple of pictures before making our way back into the town. After a look at the island's museum, which sets out its unfortunate history as a prison for aboriginal men,
we went back to the harbour and sat watching the local pelicans come into land and perch precariously on top of the lamp posts. We took a couple of photos and then caught the ferry back to mainland.
This part of Western Australia, it turns out, is great for wildlife. After our day of quokka, skink and bird spotting on Rottnest Island, we headed to Penguin Island the very next day. In answer to the question - does Penguin Island have penguins? the answer is yes, little fairy penguins. We caught a 5 minute ferry across the water and arrived just in time to see the first feeding of the day. The island works as rehabiliation centre for injured pengins, so we were able to see them close up, as the wild ones on the island were either out fishing or hiding in their burrows. We walked the loop of the island where we saw an abundance of seagulls and a pelican colony, but no little pengiuns sadly. After lunch we returned to the mainland and continued our drive down with a stop at Yalgorup National park to see the Thrombolites. These are similar to Stromatolites, but are formed
in a different way and are characterised by an internally clotted texture as opposed to a laminated or layered internal structure - YAWN! To wake ourselves back up and escape from the bombarbment of mozzies, we jumped back in the car and stopped to spot the many kangeroos in the fields on the way to Bunbury (after two months in Oz, we still find kangeroos pretty exciting. Ancient calcified microbes not so much).
We continued our wildlife quest the very next day - we had been told in Monkey Mia that Bunbury also had dolphins which swim onto the beach, so we got up early to check it out. We only saw one dolphin come to shore but the crowds were much smaller so we got a really good view. We then headed onto Yallingup, our base for the next few days, with a few photo stops at Busselton Pier, Dunsborough and Cape Naturaliste lighthouse on the way.
Yallingup is in the Margaret River wine region, so is famed for its premium wines, particularly Cab Sav and Chardonnay. This southern part of Western Australia has a lot going for it on the food and beverage front, so we
used having travel companions as an excuse to indulge a little bit more than usual. Also, the next day was John's birthday, which dawned grey and rainy, so we took this as a sign that we should head out for lunch...and for dinner! We started at Eagle bay brewery, where Mark and John sampled some of the local beers and we all tucked into some delicious pizzas for lunch, and then carried on the calorie-fest by hitting Margaret River for dinner. We'd chosen a 'BYO' restaurant so took a couple of Aussie wines along with us, including a Tasmanian fizz to mark the occasion!
As we were spending some time in the Margaret River wine region we thought it would be rude not to try out some of the local wines at the wineries themselves. We arranged a wine tasting tour which started with Sparkling Merlot at the Windows Estate vineyard and ended with Sparkling Shiraz at Mongrel Creek, with a range of wines in between. We also managed to visit Moss Brothers, Fermoy Estate, Woody Nook, Knotting Hill and Happs, so by the end of the day we were pretty wined out and took a stroll along the
beach where we were staying to recover - this turned out to be well-timed, as a couple of dolphins turned up while we were there!
We had pretty variable weather in Yallingup, as the passing showers were equally matched by bursts of brilliant sunshine. This meant that, as a lot of the beauty of the region is also in its dramatic beaches, we would drive around bays and alternate between grabbing a quick photo in the rain and spending longer to sit and have lunch. We also found a local Cultural Centre to keep us entertained during the worst of the rain and made two visits to Canal Rocks, a dramatic rock formation near where we were staying - the second time to actually leave the car and take a walk. We also spotted a few orange crabs from a distance, but managed a closer inspection of them when we visited the beach near Ellensbrook Homestead - Hazel reverting to a tried and tested childhood formula of declining a visit to a National Trust house! As well as the vineyards, we stopped for a tasting at the local chocolate factory and were impressed when the chap started producing more
types of chocolate from under his counter, after we had sampled all the ones which were left out - he obviously knew connoisseurs when he saw them!
On our travel day south, the climate turned noticably colder and so did the sea, so we ditched our shorts and swimming stuff in exchange for jeans and jumpers. On the journey down we stopped at Hamelin Bay for a quick look and spotted what looked like a black sting ray swimming the length of the beach. We followed it down to the jetty and found two or three very large sting rays swimming very close to the shoreline. So close, in fact, that Mark had to back out of the way to prevent one from swimming over his feet! This was a great morning's entertainment - and particularly fun because we hadn't expected to find them (it turns out that, had we read the guidebook, we should have known that there was a colony of rays living near the jetty!).
At this point in our journey, we had driven all down the west coast and were rounding the corner onto the southern stretch of coastline. Before we did so, we
made a short detour to the lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin, the very south-western peninsula. We were hoping for similar dramatic views to the very north of New Zealand, where two seas also meet (the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean in this case, vs. the Tasman Sea and the Pacific Ocean in New Zealand), but unfortunately these two seemed to join without even a splash. Disheartened, we refused to pay the $5 to go and have a look round the base of the lighthouse, so opted for a coffee in the cafe instead! Bah humbug!
We stayed the night in Pemberton, after a lunch stop in Augusta (more stingrays off the beach here, and pelicans too!), which is in the middle of the southern forests. Forests then seemed to be the order of the day for the whole of the journey on to Albany. It seemed like we were in amongst the trees for hours! Fortunately we found a couple of canopy climbing options for some light entertainment - the Gloucester Tree in Pemberton and the Valley of the Giants near Walpole. The Gloucester Tree turned out to be a 60m high Karri tree, which was used as a fire
tower in the days before they had planes to spot bush fires. Weirdly, in these health and safety concious days, you are still allowed to climb up the outside of the tree unsupervised, using the original nails hammered into the trunk as your ladder. This was another chance for Mark to put his vertigo through its paces... He couldn't back out once he'd started though, as Hazel and John were hot on his heels! It was so much fun once you were up, and you got some cracking views over the canopy and into the countryside beyond. Hazel also got to see Mark's skydive-plane-exit face again! The treetop walkway at the Valley of the Giants is apparently similar to the aerial walkway at Kew Gardens - you start on a ground level boardwalk, which climbs pretty steeply until you find yourself 40m up on a swing bridge between the red tingle trees. It was a bit less exciting than the fire tower, but a bit less jelly-leg inducing too!!
In Albany we were staying in another property with a view of the beach. One morning, after deciding to brave the chilly water for a swim (the sandy beach was
so white, and the water so gorgeous and turquoise that we couldn't resist), we were delighted to spot a huge pod of dolphins swimming across the bay. They hung around for a couple of hours, so we moved back to the house (it got a bit chilly watching them from the water!) and sat on the veranda with cups of coffee, watching them swim back and forth across the bay - we think they must have been chasing a school of the local salmon and it was fantastic to watch as there must have been at least 100 of them. Seeing as we'd been so energetic in going for our morning swim, we went into town to have the quintessential Aussie pie for lunch - yum! There wasn't a huge amount going on in Albany but, being the oldest settlement in Western Australia, it had some quaint old buildings running up its high street and is set on a lovely harbour. Perfect, as we needed a walk to help us recover from pie, chips, gravy and peas!
While around Albany we visited three local national parks. The Natural Arch and The Gap of Torndirrup National Park had immense waves
crashing between the rocks and filling the air with sea spray. In the Stirling Range National Park we drove up to the lookout at Bluff Knoll to take photos of the mountains and across the planes. Porongurup National Park was probably our favourite. Even though the 'tree in the rock' does exactly what it says on the tin, and is therefore a bit uninspiring, the walking trail up to the Balancing Rock was a good afternoon hike and reminded us of a Devil's Marble (in the Northern Territory) but in granite - perfect for some entertaining photos! The trail was made even better when we discovered the "Granite Skywalk", which was just a further 100m scramble over some rocks. This was a walkway along a cliff edge and up a ladder to a platform suspended from the rock high above the surrounding land...not great for Mark on the vertigo front but it provided awesome views out across the surrounding farmland and to the Stirling Range in the distance.
Our journey back to Perth, via York, has been relatively uneventful although decidedly rainy. We have passed through a few towns with lovely historic buildings still intact on their high streets,
but generally the towns on the return leg of the loop are pretty quiet. The long drive has been made worthwhile, however, by all the highlights of the last couple of weeks. We will say our good-byes to Hazel's parents, our fellow travel companions and Rummikub competitors, in Perth on Saturday before flying back to Sydney. If you made it this far through our mammoth blog post, then we take our hats off to you and have rewarded you with a few videos we had taken in the Southwest of stingrays, penguins and quokkas. As always we have a few more photos below... Enjoy!
Sting Ray comes on to the beach
Quokka eating vegetation
Penguin waddles back along the sand
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Kat
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Your photos are getting arty! There's some brilliant ones here. Although I don't like the giant rat. I am unconvinced that it is a mini kangaroo and think it just told you that so it sounds cuter.