Blogs from Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

So in late February 2024, I headed back to Perth, to complete the last 450kms of my Bibbulmun Track adventure. Most people say it is too early to start out on the track and with news outlets showing quite a few bush fires in West Australia, I was a bit concerned. However, I was committed to the trip and decided to go with it and see what transpired. I had decided to go as light as possible and therefore took my Deuter 32 litre backpack rather than the 75 litre backpack I had taken previously, which I felt was too big and heavy. So on the 28th February, I caught the TransWA bus down to Pemberton ready to head off the next day to complete the trek. As previously commented, I had to backfill sections that ... read more

So in late February 2024, I headed back to Perth, to complete the last 450kms of my Bibbulmun Track adventure. Most people say it is too early to start out on the track and with news outlets showing quite a few bush fires in West Australia, I was a bit concerned. However, I was committed to the trip and decided to go with it and see what transpired. I had decided to go as light as possible and therefore took my Deuter 32 litre backpack rather than the 75 litre backpack I had taken previously, which I felt was too big and heavy. So on the 28th February, I caught the TransWA bus down to Pemberton ready to head off the next day to complete the trek. As previously commented, I had to backfill sections that ... read more

This morning, we were booked on the 2.5-hour Super Pit Tour. We had to be at the Kalgoorlie Tours & Charters office on Hannan Street 15 minutes before our scheduled 8.30am departure. Erring on the side of too early we were at the office by just after 8.00am. The staff greeted us and we checked in and received our hi-viz vests and safety glasses. We were all dressed in our wrist to ankle clothing as stipulated on the website. The same could not be said of other tour participants who rocked up in shorts and T-shirts and had to return to their cars to change into suitable clothing. Seriously, the website was very clear about the dress standard. Despite wardrobe adjustments everyone was ready and on board the bus on time for an 8.45am departure. Ha, ... read more

We had the vehicles re-packed and ready to go by about 8.10am this morning. We drove back out to the caravan park to hand our keys in, parked the vehicles and then took the short Wave Rock Walk to view the iconic rock feature that certainly does look like a wave about to break. Damn, we should have aimed for even earlier because there were other tourists there even just after 8.00am in the morning. At least we were ahead of the coach tours visiting from Perth! With a bit of patience and some judicious cropping – and no doubt some photoshopping later on? – we managed to take some good photos of Wave Rock. We had to laugh at the Chinese girls taking posed photos. Lots of different poses! The photographer was instructing her subject ... read more

This morning, we drove back up to Busselton to visit the iconic Busselton Jetty. Stretching 1.841 kilometres into Geographe Bay it is the longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. Built in 1865 and extended several times the jetty played an important role in the early years of European settlement allowing ships to make port in Busselton to transport the grain, livestock and timber grown, raised and felled in the surrounding districts. Geographe Bay also became recognized as a bountiful source of whales and American whalers called regularly at the port. The jetty was used commercially for more than a century and serviced 5,000 vessels over that time. When the port officially closed in 1973 all shipping ceased, and government maintenance was withdrawn. In 1978 Cyclone Alby wreaked havoc on the jetty and it was ... read more

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 ... read more