Blogs from Australia, Oceania - page 12

Our first stop today was at Jewell Cave arriving just in time to pay our $22.50/head to book onto the 9.30am tour. Jewell Cave is the largest show cave in Western Australia with lofty, cathedral-like proportions. Our guide, Georgia, led us through the cave’s three vast caverns pointing out the huge stalactites, flowstone and shawls adorning the caverns. She showed us the original entry to the cave which was discovered relatively recently in January 1957. The original explorers slithered down a twelve-metre, narrow hole in the earth suspended on the end of a rope! Wanting to share the cave with visitors unable, or just disinclined, to enter via a rope, efforts were then started to raise funds to make the cave accessible. At the end of 1958 the Government agreed to provide $10,000. With nine Augusta ... read more

This morning, we headed off on the Vasse Highway heading north-westerly through the tracts of national park we explored yesterday before the highway started heading in a more northerly direction. We turned west onto Stewart Road which proved to be a magnificent section of road linking the Vasse and Brockman Highways. Soon after turning off, we were amused to see on the map Pneumonia Road which takes you to the Snottigobble Loop. We didn’t take the time to explore that option! We continued to enjoy being surrounded by the trees in the Milyeannup National Park on our right and the Hilliger National Park on our left. Upon reaching the Brockman Highway we were driving alongside the Blackwood River National Park. There are so many national parks scattered through this southern part of Western Australia but interspersed ... read more

This morning, we had a later start as we had decided that we would do the 10.30am Pemberton Tramway ride out to The Cascades. Bernie has been wanting his hair cut for the last few days, so our leisurely start today provided the perfect opportunity. He put his boxers on and went outside to sit on one of the outdoor chairs on our small verandah at the back of our room. Tracey proceeded to execute the No. 1 clipper cut on his head and the No. 2 clipper cut on his beard. All of this under the beady eye of the motel’s resident kookaburra. Luckily the kookaburra didn’t laugh at the old bloke having his hair clippered out on the verandah!! After breakfast we headed down to the Pemberton Tramway. We hadn’t booked ahead online but ... read more

I got to the airport in Denpasar at around seven ish.. I think. It certainly seems like a long time again! The waiting time at the airport was really frustrating as they changed the gate number a couple of times… and they weren’t near by! But when that stuff happens to a group of people, it’s just not as bad as when it happens to you on your own. Passengers of many nationalities were conversing for the same cause…. Being in the right place, at the right time, to get where they need to be. Finally, we did get boarded. I think that the flight was about a six hour flight, but the time zone also moved forward.. again. So we add a further 3 hours on, so I actually landed at about 07:40 in Sydney. ... read more

This morning it was time to bid farewell to the delightful Lottie’s Cottage in Albany. We really enjoyed our stay here in a beautiful house in an idyllic garden setting. As an added bonus we had access to a compost bin so didn’t have to feel guilty about how we were going to dispose of fruit and vegetable waste. For someone accustomed to worm farming this was a welcome feature of our stay! It was also very handy to be able to launder some clothing while we were in Albany for four nights. We drove the scenic route to Denmark on the Lower Denmark Road through Elleker, Torbay and Youngs Siding rather than taking the South Coast Highway. The road was fantastic and signposted at 110/kph so better than some of the sections of actual highway ... read more