Well, it seems as though the weather forecast was correct. After a wet and windy night at Busselton we woke to blue skies, but the wind was still making its presence known. We headed off for a day trip toward Augusta, planning to drive the coast road there, have some lunch at Augusta and then drive the inland road through Margaret River back to Busselton. After grabbing something from the bakery at Dunsborough, we turned off toward Cape Naturaliste to have a look at the lighthouse and the coastline. At the Cape we disembarked from the Pajero and were not all that surprised to find the wind howling across the Cape, and bringing a small but annoying amount of rain with it. We braved the conditions to go for a walk out to a lookout, where we were told by the woman in the lighthouse café that we would be able to see some seals on the rocks below. After a pleasant walk to the end of the Cape we managed only to see two seals, and they were some distance away. Still, apart from the wind it was a good walk… then it poured rain, and got windier! Briskly walking the 3 km back to the car, struggling to hold our umbrella in the gale and still maintain it's effectiveness as a rain shelter provided us with a challenge, but we made it back without getting too wet. Back in the shelter of the car and almost instantly the sun came out! This was to be a common theme everywhere we stopped along that section of coast. After a repeat performance at a couple of other beaches, we decided that maybe it was not the best day for visiting beaches, and so we headed inland slightly to visit a sheep shearing and wool sales shed that Kathy had found in the tourist brochures. It was an interesting place, but unfortunately the shearers were on holiday for the month of August and there were no demonstrations. We still had a look through all the woollen clothes, boots, socks, beanies, you-name-it that they produced and sold. It was all good stuff, but way too expensive. A short drive from here brought us to the Margaret River Chocolate Company. Here, the brochure tells us, you can sample free chocolate. That was a good enough excuse for us to visit, especially as the weather was getting no better and the inside of a chocolate factory was looking rather inviting. As we entered the doors into the huge building, we were met by a counter that held three large "punch bowl" sized bowls. Each of these bowls was full of small chocolate pieces about the same size as M+M's. One bowl was for milk chocolate, one for white and one for dark. Each bowl had a spoon in it and you were free to put a spoonful of chocolate in your hand and browse the factory. Of course, being one of the best chocolates I have ever tasted, there were numerous return trips made to the free chocolate bowls in the time we were there!! It was now after midday (so much for lunch at Augusta), so we indulged in a couple of their hot white chocolates and a bowl of chips for lunch. We purchased a few chocolate items on the way out and then decided to visit their winery next door and sample some of their chocolate liqueur. Again, we didn't leave empty handed… This place is well worth a visit again for anyone visiting the area, just make sure you don't bring a lot of money or you wont be going home with it! From the Chocolate Company we eventually made our way to Augusta. The town itself was a non-event, nice enough place but nothing outstanding. The road through town led us down to Cape Leeuwin and the lighthouse. Cape Leeuwin is the most South-Westerly point of Australia, and it is also the point where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean, these two facts alone are a good indication of how rugged the coast is and how wild the weather can be there. By the time we arrived the weather had cleared to being broken clouds, but the relentless wind was going nowhere. Kathy decided we should do the lighthouse tour, as we had spoken of a lighthouse tour on a few occasions on this trip and hadn't done one yet. The tour was interesting, as was seeing inside the lighthouse and learning of its operations before it was all automated. Standing out on the lookout at the top of the lighthouse in the wind was even windier than on the ground, the gale blowing in off the Indian Ocean was making our eyes water and our ears hurt from the noise. Talk about getting some fresh air!! After the tour was finished it was getting quite late in the afternoon, so we headed north again along the Bussell Highway, passing through Margaret River for a quick look before arriving back in Busselton shortly after dark. It was a great day out. We don't normally do tours and culinary delights, so it was something different. The next day we packed up and headed through the countryside toward Pemberton.

We had barely travelled 50km from Busselton when Kathy noticed a sign on the side of the road "Sheep cheese tasting". Before you could say, "I wonder what sheep cheese tastes like", we had parked the car and were standing in a small room on a sheep farm tasting cheese. It was very nice! An early lunch was in order, so we ended up sitting in the sun on the edge of a green paddock next to a rustic old farm building, eating a cheese platter for lunch. There are worse things one could have for lunch…

Once gorged on cheese, crackers and coffee we waddled back to the Pajero and continued our way south-ish, through Pemberton before stopping at the Shannon National Park where we camped for the night. This was a beautiful spot nestled amongst the trees and it reminded us very much of the bushland surrounding Gippsland. In fact, the whole south-west of W.A. is very Gippsland-like, rolling green hills, lush bushland and big Gum trees. We had a peaceful night at the campground and woke to a rather fresh 2 degrees in the morning. Two degrees in the morning is cold enough when you need to leave a house and go to work, but when you are without a heater, and you must make breakfast outside before packing away cold, wet canvas… well, it is bloody cold!! Packing up was made with haste before the heater was cranked up in the car as we drove out of Shannon National Park. We drove down through Walpole before stopping for a look at the Valley of the Giants treetop walk, in the Tingle State Forest.

The Valley of the Giants is a section of the forest that preserves a large number of Tingle Trees. These trees are ancient and some are over 50 metres tall. We completed the treetop walk before exploring the forest floor and seeing the trees up close. You definitely get a better perspective of the size of the trees from the ground than you do from the treetop walk. The huge base of the Tingle Tree is sometimes hollow and there a couple of trees that you could nearly park a car inside the trunk hollow! From here we drove to Torbay Inlet and camped for the night. We had set up camp here and I was struggling to light a fire with all the wet wood around, when we first noticed a Bandicoot wandering around on the edge of the underbrush. As the afternoon drew to a close, the Bandicoot became a lot bolder and even approached us near the fire. Kathy got some great footage of the Bandicoot hopping right in close to me near the fire and smelling my boots, before deciding he was better off in the underbrush and bolting back. He came out again and again, providing us with a few hours of entertainment. Who needs T.V.?

On the way to Albany the next day we visited Torndirrup National Park, stopping in at Frenchman's Bay and a couple of lookouts that provide a view out over King George Sound. From one of these lookouts we spotted a couple of Southern Right Whales in the Sound, making their way back out to the ocean. They were a long way away, but we could make them out easily with binoculars. Albany is a well presented town with a lot of old buildings lining the streets. There are large amounts of industrial buildings close to town, which kind of ruins the feel of it. We stopped here for lunch, had a drive around and continued on our way. We continued along the South Coast Highway before turning off to take a detour through Fitzgerald River National Park. I was looking for any excuse to get off the highway. The need for a dirt road was eating at me and Fitzgerald River National Park was as good a dirt road as any. We turned off the bitumen and drove through the relatively barren National Park along a dusty, corrugated dirt road. We (meaning me and the Pajero) were happy again!! Apparently, Fitzgerald River National Park is home to more bird species than any other park in W.A., but we didn't see many birds. What we did encounter were Shingleback Lizards. We saw at least 8 in a few kilometres once we began counting them. At one stage I pulled the car to a stop and grabbed one for a few photos. They are a feisty little thing and very eager to bite, but I managed to be quick enough to avoid a nip. The dirt road continued through the Park until it hit the coast, where it unfortunately had just been sealed. The windy sealed road is a very scenic drive along the coast with a few very nice spots to stop and take in the views before arriving at Hopetoun. From Hopetoun we continued following the coast, no more dirt road though, we passed through Jerdacuttup Lakes National Park before camping at Munglinup Beach. This was another very secluded campsite next to a small bay on the south coast. We had the place to ourselves for the night, so it was very quiet.

The next day was a short trip into Esperance where we set up in a caravan park. The weather was closing in on us again and it looked like it was to get nasty, so we decided to find somewhere sheltered. We went for a drive to look around Esperance, the crap weather meant the beaches were far from tourist brochure perfect and the town was pretty much just another town, again, with a lot of industry attached. After a very windy and rainy night we woke to find the weather had begun to break up, although it was still very windy. After consulting the weather forecast and finding out that the wind and rain was to hang around the coast again for a few days, we decided to pack up and head north for the trek across the Nullarbor. Rather than drive along even more bitumen to Norseman, I was keen to head east and out to Cape Arid, then drive the Balladonia Track north to meet up with the Eyre Highway again. Unfortunately, the Balladonia Track had a 3.5 tonne load limit at the time. As the Pajero and the camper tip the scales at a shade over 4 tonne, we had to give it a miss. So, we trudged along the highway to Norseman and then turned east along the Eyre Highway, before camping the night at a roadside stop at Fraser Range. We had left the crap weather behind for a change when we left Esperance, and the sun was shining on us as we set up camp. It's a reasonably quiet rest area beside the highway and we are tucked in amongst the trees. Tomorrow we'll pack up and head off to begin our journey across the Nullarbor.