Day 43:

Left Albany not at the crack of dawn as we only had under 100kms to do to get to Mt Trio Bush Camp. Headed northwards and followed a van the entire way. This place is a first in first spot so we wondered whether it would be packed as still school holidays here. No, it isn't, within sight we have 3 vans and they are off into the distance surrounded by bush. We are right on the edge of the Stirling Ranges National Park on a farm. The camp is set up in the back of the property and very secluded, so secluded there is no internet access at all, nor tv reception. Very peaceful and lovely surrounded by mountains. It was so unusual after the farmland we have had for the past week or so and these are big craggy magnificent mountains. Only problem is the weather but can't do much about that. We set off for a drive to Porongurup, looking like a nice little township on a brochure but it does have a Granite Skywalk on top of Castle Rock. Arrived in carpark took a look at map and I declined my husband's polite 'are you up for this' - heck no and so I sat in carpark for two hours drawing whilst he did his thing up a vertical rock with ladders and hand holds etc. The brochure indicates 1.5 km takes 2.5 hrs and is a level 5. He was a sweaty mess on his return but said it was magnificent. Pictures do not do justice to the height etc. A tiger snake had to move at one point from where he was sunning himself so Wally could carry on. From pictures very pretty but deadly…erchh When online again I will try and get a droned photo of the rock to show the scale of it.

Day 44:

Rained a fair bit during the night and early morning. Buga Batman we have a 2-hour orchid tour scheduled for 9 am with the owner of the property. But it did stop for the duration of that so we had a delightful time finding miniature wild orchids in the scrub. The size of some of these is phenomenal and they survive nibbling kangaroos and various other animal life. Some only 10cm high with the most magnificent shape to the flower petals. Happy that John knew the whereabouts as we could not have spotted them on our own. Unfortunately, the camera man did not have the correct setting and only got a few shots of them. Not that we want hundreds of orchid photos anyway. Great time seeing lots of wildflowers and getting to talk to the owner about the life here.

After our tour we took off to fuel up then went to Bluff Knoll, another rocky mountain outcrop that is climbable, only for the idiots my thoughts are of that (sorry Kim you must have been nuts). It was raining and blowing a gale when we got there and a lot of cars in car park so there must be lots of nuts in this state as it is a 5 hour climb for 4.4 kms, absolutely massive and sinister looking. Read the signs, took some pics and skedaddled out of there. Stopped for lunch in the café 8kms down the road as our picnic lunch was not going to be happening with the weather problem. Then continued on to the Stirling Ranges Drive, 42kms of gravel road - good condition for a change. Follows the mountain ranges with walks up about 5 of them, ranging from 2 -5 hour walks and level 4s and 5s only. Definitely left me out of it as the knee is not good again. Stopped at the Central Lookout and scaled the walkway up the side to see some great wildflowers and bird life. Someone had shorts on and found scaling much further than what we did impossible due to the very spiky bushes that need to survive this climate, my goodness there are some tough ones out here. Spotted another Tiger Snake today on the road, magnificent golden colour and black but still errchhh. Had a lovely drive although still not clear but a fantastic place to stay. The van smells delicious as we have a lamb shank curry slow cooking all day, just the weather for it. There are goannas, kangaroos, and some magnificent bird life surrounding us so very pleasant indeed. Off to Bremer Bay tomorrow not even sure if we can be online there either, oh well will just keep chatting to myself and post when possible, only 10 days till we hit the Nullarbor again.

Love xxx