Thursday 25th October 2018 - Our next destination is Margaret River. On the way we passed through Tuarts Forest National Park that has the largest remaining section of pure Tuart Forest in the world. With that in mind we decided we would stop and take a walk amongst the trees that led to a hide overlooking one of the many lakes within the area. Here the mosquitos were really bad; however we were determined not to let that stop us from taking in the sights. So we dressed for the situation; long sleeved shirts, trousers, hats and neck cowls pulled up under our sunglasses and finally repellent and then we set off. We must have looked like a pair of bank robbers the way we were dressed…

We walked along the boardwalk towards a bird hide surrounded by the Tuart trees and white Arum Lillies covering the ground with a few kangaroos grazing amongst them. Unfortunately, we were getting bombarded by the mossies making it unpleasant to hang around so with a quick peek at the birds on the lake we quickly made our way back to our rig and departed.

We stopped at Bussleton a beautiful coastal town with the Southern Hemispheres longest wooden jetty of 1,841 meters long. We walked around the jetty with the clear water below before moving off to Gracetown, Margaret River.

Friday 26th to Sunday 28th October 2018 - We're now in Margaret River and what a diverse place. Margaret River has lush green countryside littered with wildflowers, spectacular coastline with magnificent beaches and surf, wineries, breweries and good food; what more could you want?

During our time in Margaret River we did the following:

Friday - Dropped into the Mad Fish Winery, drove through fields of Arum Lillies and Balga's scattered in the lush green fields on the way to Dunsborough that is a lovely coastal town. It had changed since we had last visited, it had grown in size. Phil sampled a home brew at Occy's.

We visited Bunker Bay at Cape Naturaliste and Wow! What a spectacular place; a pristine white sandy beach with beautiful turquoise water where we sat and enjoyed the peace and quiet for a while.

We finally headed back to camp taking the coast road via Yallingup, with a stop along the way at the Eagle Bay brewery for Phil to try another beer.

Saturday - We visited the local Farmers Market and needless to say we didn't leave empty handed, we bought some beautiful free range sausages and lamb. Back to camp to stow our wares and to have lunch before heading off to the Black Brewery; yes you've guest it so that Phil could sample another beer. We sat overlooking the lake with its high fountain sending spray across the water before heading off to Moses Rock Beach.

Double Wow! Moses Rock was stunning with its beautiful white sand and its large turquoise waves crashing over the rocks, rolling up the beach. We spent some time here sitting out of the wind watching the scene unfold before us.

On the way back towards camp we stopped at another spot along Moses Rock were we parked on top of the cliffs and watched the Humpback whales breaching in the ocean close to the shore.

Our final stop was at the Cheeky Monkey Brewery for another beer…

Sunday - We had a lazy start before driving to Ellenbrook for a short walk to the Fern Grotto a small cave with a stream running through it and leafy ferns growing in the moist atmosphere. It is said that the spirits of two lovers live here hidden from the evil ones trying to keep them apart.

We then continued for a while walking through the trees and flowering plants along a small section of the Cape to Cape track before turning around and making our way back to the beautiful homestead that is currently under renovation. The white painted stone building sat in a clearing at the base of the hills with a small running brook and the sound of the surf beyond. It was a lovely spot to have settled in.

On our way back to camp we stopped at a lookout at the Umbries Reef to watch the large wave's crash onto the shallow rocks and the white sandy beach with a few whales on the horizon.

Back at camp to get ready to go out for our 6 course degustation lunch at rusticos, Hay Shed Winery where we spent the afternoon enjoying good food and complimentary wines.

Later as the sun went down we sat outside our rig to enjoy some cheese purchased from the winery with another glass wine. The peace and quiet didn't last long as were buzzed by four Kookaburras who had decided that they wanted some crackers and cheese too! Needless to say they were unlucky and flew off to bother someone else. After the excitement of the day we retired for the night. Thank you Phil for a lovely day.

Monday 29th October 2018 - As our next campsite wasn't too far we enjoyed a leisurely morning before packing up and moving on.

We drove to Contos a lovely campsite located within the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park where we set up camp amongst the beautiful flowering Peppermint trees before heading into Margaret River to have a look around the town and for Phil to visit another local craft brewery the Brewhouse.

Back to camp for an evening around the campfire enjoying a delicious meal and a celebratory drink - Happy Birthday to me!!

Tuesday 30th October 2018 - Today we:

Drove to Augusta to visit the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, the tallest lighthouse on mainland Australia at the headland of Cape Leeuwin where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. As we had been here before about seven years ago so we didn't stay long.

We stopped at the historic waterwheel that was originally built to power a hydraulic ram that would pump water from the nearby swamp to the lighthouse and keepers cottage. It is now encrusted with a coating of limestone and remains protected with the high calcium spring water that still flows through the sluiceway.

A stop at Skippy Point where we took a short walk across the cliff that gave an amazing sight of huge waves breaking along the rocky shoreline with the lighthouse standing tall in the background.

We had our picnic lunch with some chips bought at the local chippy sitting at Grannys Pool with its beautiful aqua and blue water and white sandy beach.

At Hamelin Bay we walked through the sand dunes that opened out onto a beautiful bay of turquoise & blue water where the remains of the jetty that was up to 600m long and used to service the local timber mills fell into disuse in 1913. As we wandered back to the carpark Phil spent some time skimming small flat circular stones across the flat water.

On our way back to camp we stopped at Merchant Rock where we walked out along the tops of huge rugged, rounded granite rocks to stand and take in the stunning sight before us. The wind was now up and had created massive waves that crashed and flowed over the top of the rocks at the shoreline. It was an amazing sight to see.

We eventually pulled ourselves away so that we could spend another evening by our campfire and as we drove back to camp we saw a Painted Button-quail sitting on the track.

Wednesday 31st October 2018 - So what did we do today?

Our campsite nestled within the national park was also atop the rugged cliffs to the beautiful WA coast. So before we set off for another destination we drove further along the track and stopped at Cape Freycinet.

Awesome… We walked along a short sandy track that led us out onto the top of more huge granite boulders, reminding us of Devils Marbles. The sight before us was of giant waves crashing over the top of the rocks. As the build-up progressed the height of the waves grew before the sheer power of the water was unleased pushing the waves up and over the shoreline.

We stood for ages drawn to the power and impact of the mighty ocean marvelling at the changes of colour as the waves stood tall, showing off the turquoise hue just before tumbling down into a white bubbling mass that cascaded towards us.

After some time we pulled ourselves away, back to camp, packed up and left for a pretty drive through the country side of tall trees and bright yellow flowers heading for Pemberton.

We stopped at Beedelup National Park where we had lunch being buzzed by an overly friendly Ring-Necked Parrot before we took the steep and winding track amongst the big Karri trees to see the Giant Karri tree that you could walk through.

We continued on to the waterfall walking across the 30m high suspension bridge to view the cascading water as it ran down the falls into Lake Beedelup surround by the Karri valley forest. As we walked around the forest trail we spotted Wood Martins, beautifully coloured Red-Winged Fairy-wrens, Australian Golden Whistler and Grey fantails flitting amongst the vegetation and wildflowers.

As the only caravan park in Pemberton had a bad write up and fully equipped to sustain ourselves we decided to free camp at the Big Brook Arboretum. A campsite nestled amongst a young forest of Karri, Sequoia, Californian redwood trees and different types of eucalypts that had been planted around the 1920/30's as part of plant and soil study.