Since we have crossed the Nullarbor we have visited some lovely places in Western Australia (WA) and I shall do a quick rundown on them. However, we have just had the most amazing, unexpected day, in the middle of nowhere, and so this blog is actually going to focus mainly on that, because it is sometimes the most unexpected, unplanned days that turn out to be the best!

First stop after the Nullarbor was Esperance, where we chilled for a few days and didn't drive too much!! We loved the beaches at Esperance but, unfortunately, the weather was not at its best. The most definite highlight though was Lucky Bay where we met a kangaroo on the beach. Although Lucky Bay is famous for this we were there at the wrong time of day and so not expecting to see one. We went for a walk and who did we bump into? Mr Roo, who posed happily for us!

Then to Albany, the next town but a good 476 kms from Esperance and, seeing as we did some sightseeing before we left, we ended up staying overnight at Jerramungup (love that name!). We loved Albany - laidback, compact, friendly. There was a guy with a chainsaw who created amazing wood sculptures, the two guys painting the silos with a spiny sea dragon, the Boatshed Markets (awesome goats cheese!), and the Whaling Station. This was, in fact, the most amazing 'museum' we have come across so far. The whaling station was active until 1978 but they had the foresight to retain some staff to turn it into a museum, complete with the last whaling ship. It was quite humbling to be able to walk all around the ship, even into the sleeping quarters, and then stand on the flensing deck, which was where the whales were brought in and cut up. They had saved video of the boats and crew in action and, even if you don't agree with whaling, it was a compelling story of how a whole community lived and died, literally, by whaling!

Denmark was the next stop, not far, but we had been told to visit Green's Pool. Huge waves were crashing in, the noise was awesome, but a barrier of rocks protected the shore and there was a lovely turquoise (green) pool in which to swim, which we did! Denmark is also home to an immense number of wineries, so another tour had to be done. I know we do a lot of these, but we learn so much about the area and where to visit, meet such lovely people and usually have a great lunch so they are well worth it. This time we were told we should visit Monkey Rock before we left. We duly did - OMG! Monkey Rock was at the top of a 500m 40 degree incline and then we had to climb up onto the rock, literally! My average heart rate was 133bpm! However, there was a guy running up and down - he was on his fifth lap when we passed him for the last time, mad! But, yes, the views from the top were worth it!

And so we left Denmark for Hamelin Bay. Bob and I never rush in the morning, and usually stop for coffee and lunch, so once it became apparent we weren't going to make the journey in one go we looked for somewhere to stop the night. The ONLY place was Pemberton, or the side of the road in the middle of nowhere which we didn't fancy! The guy at Pemberton told us to visit the swimming pool, the Gloucester Tree and Beedelup Falls. His first recommendation turned out to be a natural swimming pool, formed by damming a river. Unfortunately, the weather again prevented us from having a dip, but we were impressed enough to want to give his other recommendations a go!

So, to the unexpected day I mentioned above! The Gloucester Tree turned out to be one of eight Karri trees (a very tall straight eucalypt) in the area that were used as lookouts for bushfires. Bushfires are devastating and so people were employed to climb these trees and spot the first signs of fire. This tree was 53m high and had round 'rungs' inserted into its trunk to form a spiral 'ladder' to the top where a 'treehouse' was situated. At some points these rungs were vertical. They were only 500cm wide but you had to pass people coming the other way. There was no safety at all, apart from a thin net enclosing the rungs. A warning notice said to wear the right shoes, don't climb if you are scared of heights (doh!), don't climb when it is wet and not to let children climb. We just looked at this tree and there was no way either of us were doing it, although Bob did venture up a little way for the obligatory photo. We had just decided that anyone who attempted it was mad when two young German guys turned up and went straight up!! And, as we left, more and more people turned up with the express intention of climbing this tree, which they did. I couldn't watch, it was SO high and Health and Safety was nowhere to be seen!!

So on to Beedelup Falls, which were actually a tad disappointing as they were more of a trickle at this time of year. However, there was a certain suspension bridge to be crossed. It wasn't that high but boy, did it move. I had asked Bob not to follow me, or let anyone else on the bridge at the same time, but at one point the bridge was swaying so much I was sure he had followed me. I ran off, turned round to yell at him and he was still at the other side! In my defence he did say the bridge moved a lot after he had crossed!

We then set off for Hamelin Bay, driving through kms and kms, or miles and miles, of Karri Forest. It was eerily beautiful, the trees have amazing colours and are just so tall and straight. However, the real highlights of this drive were seeing a bandicoot, emus and some huge bulls! At Hamelin Bay we headed straight to the beach to try and get a glimpse of the Eagle Rays. These are wild and live in the Bay, but are happy to see humans and interact with them, even swimming over your toes while you give them a stroke. Well, they are huge and the barbed tails are long and big. We were a bit apprehensive of letting them get too close but I did pluck up the courage to stroke a smaller one - really soft and smooth. The original idea was to spend the afternoon on the beach but the weather was not too great so we decided, on a whim, to head off to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. Well, without realising it, we had stumbled on another gem. The views were stunning, the self-guided audio tour was so informative and the lighthouse was one of the prettiest we have seen. However, hidden away behind the lighthouse, was a little signpost with the Indian Ocean to the right and the Southern Ocean to the left. We had reached the point where the two huge oceans meet! We spent ages there as we spotted a huge pod of dolphins out to sea and were trying to get a good photo but they were so quick. However, were they dolphins?! In hindsight we are not so sure but more of that later!

To cap the day off we were driving back to the site when Bob suddenly braked - a joey was sitting in the middle of the road looking at us. His mum came out of the bush and they hopped off into the woods together, lovely! As I said, a very unplanned day that ended up giving us so many good memories!

However, there was a sad end to all this. The next morning we packed up and left Hamelin Bay, heading to Margaret River. First we passed a speeding police car heading into Hamelin, then a fire-truck and there was far more cars than usual headed that way. There is no internet or phone signal so we were at a loss to explain what was going on. On arriving at Margaret River we stopped for a coffee, I checked my phone and read, with horror, that 150 small pilot whales had beached themselves at Hamelin Bay overnight - a fisherman had discovered them early that morning. Most were dead and a rescue operation was underway to save the few surviving ones. Apparently volunteers and vets working together saved 6 in the end, but one of those kept beaching itself again and again and had to be put down in the end. And the amazing fact is that this was 8 years to the day that this had happened at Hamelin Bay before - how spooky! So now we are wondering if we saw the pilot whales the day before at Cape Leeuwin, and not dolphins?! We only saw their fins! Either way we were quite glad we hadn't ventured to the beach before we left, as had been the plan at one point, as I don't think I would have liked to see that sad sight!

Since then the weather has been very disappointing. We were looking forward to spending days on beautiful white sand beaches but have ended up wearing jeans and jumpers and watching surfers from the warmth of Winnie! We even had soup and hot coffee for lunch today!

So I shall finish on that note, as I'm sure it will make all those of you in the UK feel a lot better!!