I'm finally updating my blog! Hard to believe I know. So now I can tell you all about my little 5 day jaunt around the south west. It didn't get off to a great start weather wise. Cold and rainy was not the kind of weather I was expecting. On the first day we were heading for Augusta. Our first stop along the way was at Bunbury to go to the dolphin discovery centre. Unfortunately the dolphins decided not to appear whilst we were there but the centre was fairly interesting and we got to stretch our legs. Then it was back on the bus to go to Busselton to have some lunch and see the jetty. Apparently it's one of the longest wooden jetties in Australia or something. It was pretty long and felt like it was about to collapse in several places. We were all late back for lunch by the time we'd walked along it so it was a rush to head off to the Ngilgi caves. I think I must have seen a lot of caves in my life by now but these were pretty spectacular. The name comes from an aboriginal spirit who is supposed to live in the cave who drove out the evil spirit Wolgine. After having a look around we hot footed it off towards Margaret River so that we could do some wine tasting. Yum yum yum. Then we had a look around Margaret River itself. In the pouring rain. Think it's a place to go back to in the sunshine! And it was still raining when we got to Augusta to stay the night.

Day 2 and we headed off to see the magnificent Karri and Tingle forests. I think the Karri trees are supposed to be the taller of the two, but they're both pretty impressive. In the Karri forests they used to use the tallest trees as fire lookouts. There's some you can still climb, one of which is called the Bicentennial Tree. Trouble is that they're not the safest things to climb. It's literally just some metal poles driven into the tree trunk going round and round up to the top. All there is to stop you from falling down is a bit of wire around the sides. Basically you would have to be mad to climb it! Especially in the rain like it was the day we were there. Not surprisingly no one climbed it, or at least not all the way to the top. It is 60m tall after all. Not for the faint hearted. Then we headed off to the Vally of the Giants and the Tingle forests and the amazing tree top walk. This was really impressive. They've built a whole load of suspended walkways right up in the tree top canopy, and the whole lot sways as you walk along it, which is a bit disconcerting. Then you can also go on a board walk at the base of the trees which is where all the photos of me inside big trees is from. Then we headed off to Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks. Once again it was a shame the weather wasn't great, though at least it wasn't raining! All the beaches around the south west are just amazing and Greens Pool is no different. The water is incredibly clear, but also incredibly cold. We lost a football in the water so one of our group found out exactly how cold! After that we headed off to see The Gap and Natural Bridge, which is what the photo is of. Really they're just some pretty cool cliff formations. Then we all spent the night in Albany.

Day 3 we headed off to climb to the top of a big hill whose name I've forgotten. And as we climbed the rain and mist descended so that by the time we got to the top the amazing view we should have had was absolutely covered in clouds. But it gave it a whole eery gorillas in the mist kind of look which I liked. On the way to Esperance we stopped of at another vineyard. Yum yum yum again.

Day 4 we headed off to the beautiful beautiful beaches of Esperance. The best and second best beaches in the whole of Australia are in this area in the Cape Le Grand National Park. First stop was Lucky Bay, the number 1 beach there is. The sand is absolutely white and contains so much silica that it squeaks when you walk on it. The water is so clear you can see right to the bottom. And it was almost deserted. And the sun finally came out! So we all went in for a dip despite the water being freezing! To work up an appetite we then attempted the climb up to the top of French Mans Peak. Seriously amazing views from the top. Then after lunch we hit Hellfire Bay which is the number 2 beach in Oz. Though I actually preferred it to Lucky Bay. And once again there was almost no one there! Seems to be a theme with western Australia that there' all these amazing places and almost no people at them! In the late afternoon we took a drive along the coast and saw dolphins playing in the surf. We also stopped at the jetty to see Sammy the Seal, one of Esperances longest residents who gets fed by the local fishermen.

Day 5 was our last day and we started heading back towards Perth. On the way we stopped at Wave Rock to do a spot of fake surfing and also at the dog cemetry. We also stopped at the very cute town of York which had a completely oldy world charm about it.

So overall it was a brilliant trip. Still amazes me the difference between the south and north of western Oz. If you go to Australia and don't go there you are missing out!