Dirk and Elise's Southwest Trip 2001: Days 3 - 4



   The next day we left Albany and headed west with Pemberton as our next night stay. The date was Dec. 25^th and I must warn any of you who decide to travel on that date in the future please make sure to confirm dinner and site-seeing as almost everything will be closed.

   It was one of those sunny cloudy kind of days that start off cool and then get hot and then get cool again. All around it was a nice day. We followed the coast road which went through Denmark and Walpole, two of the more desired holiday locations in this area. After a nice drive through the rolling hills of Denmark, Elise and I had a nice roadside lunch, cheese sandwiches.


Our picnic table side flower
   Before we got to Walpole, we stopped in a few parks and saw some great coastal views. One of the really nice ones was Greens Pool. The water is so green it really does not show on these images, but it is. The area is also a public swimming beach and those that have seen our video will know how nice it was.

   There were rocks that looked like the backs of elephants and one rock that looked like a platypus. Although it was not listed in the guide books I think it should have been, look below and decide for yourself.

Greens Pool Elephant Rocks Cove	Elise at Greens Pool
"Platypus Rock"

   We also saw a big skink here. It was about as long as your forearm. Granted it was not that big, but it was still impressive to see as it was sunning itself. Again, this is a video item so I am sorry for those that did not get to see it.

   The rest of the day was rather disappointing. The town of Walpole was closed as was the Tree Top Walk and the Valley of Giants. I was rather down about that since I was looking forward to seeing them. We did get to "sneak in" and walk around the parking lot and saw some of the impressive Karri and Tingle trees from a distance. As a side benefit from that sneak walk we saw plenty of splendid blue fairy wrens.

   The remainder of the day, several hours!, was the inland drive to Pemberton. The country side was just bush and national parklands. While some of it, the woodlands, was quite beautiful the dry bushlands looked uninviting. We did see two feral pigs (on video) during this leg as well as a meter+ long iguana/monitor lizard. Sadly, the lizard was run over by a speeding car in the opposite lane after we had slowed down to let it pass our lane. I was very upset after that incident and I am still mad at the other driver although I am sure there was nothing he/she could have done differently.

   When we finally did get to Pemberton we got a bit of a rural reality check. We knew that the Gloucester Motel's resaurant was going to be closed for Christmas Day, however, we did not know the office was going to be closed. When we arrived, there were sheets of paper taped to the window with names, room numbers and the message "keys in door" written in black magic marker. Very quaint as were the cats that kept us company while walking to our room.

   The next issue was dinner. When we had come through town everything looked closed. We did see one group of people with a pizza but no pizza shop was to be seen. Looking in the phone book we found a few leads which we decided to follow up. The 1^st one was closed, but the owner and his family approached us in their car as they were leaving wanting to know if we needed help. We mentioned that we were looking for a place to eat and he start to go off on "...it is Christmas Day you know...", "...I'd have to pay my staff triple time..." and "...this is a day one spends with family...". You would have thought that two Americans in a rental car would be enough to say "our families are half a world away". Oh well, he was kind enough to mention a place that may be open and he was right. It was the Karri Valley Resort. This is a rather posh place with lake side chalets and a 5 star restaurant, complete with knife-wielding staff manning a large turkey and ham leg. The colors and shadows created by the setting sun as seen through the large picture windows overlooking Lake Beedalup were beautiful. This is definitely a place to come back to for bird watching.

   The next day, December 26^th, we were on our way to Margaret River via the town of Augusta. This was a diversion we had planned from the start as we had already been to Margaret River. Before we left the Pemberton area we stopped at the Gloucester Tree. This tree is 60 odd meters tall and was (is still???) used as a fire tower. One can climb up it, but I was too chicken and Elise was only partially so. If you look close you can see the iron rods that are used as the ladder. There are several other trees in the area that also have an observation platform like this in the area. One of them is over 75 meters tall!

   Even though Elise and I were too scared to climb the tree we still enjoyed ourselves here. At the base of the tree and around the carpark there were many parrots and turtles doves. These little feathery locals love bird seed and do not mind being hand fed.

The Gloucester Tree	Elise starts to climb
Gloucester Tree Parrots

   On the way out of town we passed Beedalup Falls. These falls feed into Beedalup Lake where we had dinner last night. We did not spend long here as the falls are not that big. I imagine in the spring when this area gets _lots_ of rain the falls must be a lot more impressive.

Beedalup Falls

Elise on Beedalup Falls bridge

   The rest of the trip to Augusta was not very note worthy as there was only forest, bush and farms. Once we got to August things changed. The town definitely reminds me of New England. The general style of houses and layout felt like home. The only thing missing was the lobster traps and bouys in peoples yards. While the town is quaint and lovely it is not the reason why we are here. We are here to see Cape Leeuwin and the lighthouse there. It is also where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet.

   A slight "event" occurred here. As you know I am a big fan of taking nature photos and in general Elise is in favor of it as well. On our way from the carpark to the lighthouse we saw a Dugite. This is one of the more common poisonous snakes of Western Australia. It was just sunning itself and minding its business on the side of the walkway. Considering Dugites are not aggressive I was going to take a picture of it as I was well out of its reach. However, Elise being the ever cautious one stopped me and kept us going towards the lighthouse. I was a little miffed. Oh well, maybe next time...

looking south at Cape Leeuwin

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

   Now it was early afternoon and we were on our way north to Margaret River and our final night down here. There is much to see down here and if one has a four wheel drive there is even more to see. One of the stope we made on the trip north was Jewel Cave. This like the Tree-Top Walk and other natural wonders in WA is one of the "Living Windows" that are maintained by the State so that people can enjoy them without overly disturbing the natural setting.

   Some of the pictures below may be a bit dark or out of focus, but we were underground and the lighting was not as great as one would like. The main cave chamber is quite impressive, but not as grand as some of the more famous caves around the world. Our guide gave us great info on this cave and one of the more spectacular bits of info was about the Karri roots. The one in the image below comes from a tree above the cave that is around 60 or more meters tall. The roots then go through about 10 meters of rock and come out into the cave. They then drop another 10 - 20 meters and carry on below the ground again!! Karris have one the longest root systems of any plant on earth. This is the main reason how a tree of their gigantic size can survive in one of the driest places on earth. Their roots tap right into the groundwater. Having said this one must also take into account that this part of WA gets a bit more rain than most areas in the south.

   They typical limestone cave features are here, stalagtites, stalagmites, "organ pipes", flowstones, "soda straws" and so on. The cave is named for one of these features called the "jewel casket" which looks like a casket made of jewels. I could go into how these are all formed, but you do not want me to bore you with a lesson in geology do you?

Karri roots in Jewel Cave	"organ pipes"
flowstone

   After a stop at a wood work craft shop that we like to frequent while down here we headed to the town of Margaret River for dinner and bed. Once settled in at Margarets Forest Inn we went for a walk along one of the "heritage trails" outside of town for about an hour or so. This was to work up an appetite, however, I was hungry already. We had dinner at "Goodfellas" a most wonderful and nicely priced resaurant. Our choice for the evening was a sweet chili kalamari appetizer, pizza with feta, olives and something else that I cannot remember and a nice bottle of Houghton Late Picked Vedello which we braught with us. Needless to say was slept well that night.

Days 1 and 2 | Day 5