27TH APRIL 2013, AUGUSTA/MARGARET RIVER, SOUTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA

After a wonderful evening in the forest, awoke to a miserable morning. A little rain had fallen overnight & still misty drizzle when we left. Drove as far as the little town of Nannup & spotted another market, so a good chance to get some more homemade marmalade & jam. We so hate the stuff from the supermarkets. This is a big vegetable cropping area so also able to buy beautiful fresh cauli & broccoli really cheaply. Nannup is a gorgeous little old village full of character but it was raining quite hard by then so we didn’t linger. Temperature only 16deg. We are heading back down to the coast again to Augusta & it is a shock to discover that though not a large town it is like peak hour in the city. There is no parking for us with the van (not RV friendly), & all the caravan parks were overflowing. Of course it was school holidays & Anzac weekend as well so not a good time to arrive. Luckily we had been told about a nice park on a sheepfarm not too far away, so promptly rang & booked ourselves in. Feeling secure that we had somewhere to park for the night we set off with caravan in tow to visit the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse which is on the extreme south west point of Australia, just out of Augusta. It was built in 1896 & still features the original lens in the light, now electric. It has the intensity of one million candlepower & a range of 25 nautical miles. Nearby is an old stone waterwheel. Originally made of wood, it has petrified into stone through the passage of time & the elements. The wooden trough which brings the water down from the hills is still there & carrying water though I’m sure it must have been restored at some point. In total contrast there is a huge project in progress building a marina with rock walls –no shortage of those here!

Our farm caravan park ‘Big Valley’ turned out to be a real haven. A really beautiful farm with green, green paddocks & healthy sheep. It was also a lot cheaper than all the other parks & very friendly. They even allow dogs if kept on a leash. Quite a number of people took advantage of that so there were all varieties being walked several times a day. We were fortunate to get the last powered site – only because we phoned earlier. Lovely site looking over their valley, with lots of trees surrounding the property. The ablution blocks & camp kitchens etc are all built of corrugated iron like big farm sheds, all very clean & nice. On the first night they had an aussie movie in one of the camp kitchens which was quite amusing, & we all gave a gold coin donation to the flying doctor service. On Friday nights they do pizzas but we weren’t there for that even though we ended up staying for 4 nights. It was a good central spot to visit all of the Margaret River region only about 6kms from the town of that name. During our 4 days here we must have visited just about every beach on the coast, all lovely, some surfy, some sheltered & good for families. We found it fascinating to watch the surfies – the waves are just great for those guys. At Hamelin Bay we hoped to see stingrays as they are common along this particular beach, but although we got glimpses of them in the waves were unable to get photos. On very still days it is sometimes possible to see them in numbers.

The Lake Cave

 

The Lake Cave

This area is covered in caves, 100+ in all, many of which are self guided. We chose one which had a guided tour, - thought we’d be ‘real’ tourists for a change & chose the ‘Lake Cave’. After walking down 300 steps into this monstrous hole in the ground we stepped into a wonderland. This particular cave has pools of water in it so you walk through it on boardwalks. Because of the water there are beautiful reflections of the stalagmites & staligtites & ‘straws’ which are the very fine ones which eventually grow into staligtites. The lighting of course makes it quite stunning & a most unusual feature in this cave was a suspended ‘table’ & pillar over the water with no support underneath. It is all so sculptural & amazing. Of course we had to climb the 300 steps up again.

28km ride to Cowaramup

All this driving round by car is all very well, but in between we thought we needed more exercise, so did a walk around 10 mile Brook Dam – (got lost for a while), cycled 28kms on a rail trail, & climbed over rocks & rocks & rocks which I do love. There are so many different formations of them in this country. Today it was the Canal Rocks & the Sugarloaf, both on the coast. We also spent time watching the surfies catching waves at one of the beaches. It’s quite breathtaking.

One of many cow statues in Cowaramup

 

On our rail trail jaunt we discovered the most gorgeous little village called Cowaramup (or cowtown for short). And cow town it was, with wonderful life-like statues of cows throughout the village & in the park. We think Paparoa could well do with a theme like that, after all, we are a dairy farming area. These statues were all sponsored or donated by locals & each had a large eartag with the sponsor’s name on it. Many of the shops were old style & painted in cream & brown for that heritage look. We thought it was great & obviously so did a lot of other people as it was quite busy.

Surfers at Prevelly Beach

Sugar Loaf rock Cape Naturaliste