Augusta and Margaret River

12 Mar (Day 46): After a night at Adrian's we re-packed the Defender and set off south from Perth. We firstly stopped at The Crooked Carrot near Myalup and, as we were eating in their gardens, there was a wedge-tail eagle flying high above us. I had my camera and managed to get some photos, not brilliant as I didn't have a strong lens but you can still clearly see what it is. One time when I did manage to get a shot of sorts of a creature we came upon unexpectedly.

After lunch we continued south and stopped for stocking up at the Bunbury Farmer's Market. This is an 'ikea' of a farmer's market. You are led through the stacked stalls of fruit, vegetables, cheeses, meats, dairy produce, drinks, nibbles and anything else you may desire. Stacked high, good prices, huge quantities, one way in and one way out once you have passed 'everything'. Just as well we don't live near here! I'd be visiting so often but then, as the week progressed, there were many places where I would have visited very often had we lived in the area. So many great produce estates, farms, shops and whole villages; so, so many as we travelled through the Margaret River area down towards Augusta.

The next stop was at an Ice Creamery, this week was also to be fuelled by ice-cream. Great tubs of wonderful flavours to be had here. We arrived at the house for the week in the early evening again and settled in for the night. Beautifully remote and quiet, wonderful views and a lovely balcony at the front of the property. 

More photos from Sunday 12 March

13 Mar (Day 47): A slow start to the morning after our two days travelling and experiences. Adrian has driven us miles to see the sights and looked after us so well. We started the day with a lovely breakfast in the open air on the balcony, over-looking the fields and trees down to the river in Augusta. So many birdcalls we could hear here. Kookaburras, Australian magpies, parrots and parakeets, tiny wren-like bird with a huge fantail, and others that I haven't a clue about.

After a lazy breakfast we drove down to explore Augusta and later stopped for lunch at a lovely place on the riverside. This place advertises that it is 'the last eating house before the Antarctic'. The front of the restaurant had large open glass windows and as we were sitting there we saw a double kayak go past and then I saw ..................... fins in the water surrounding them! Turns out there is a resident pod of dolphins here and that's what we were seeing. I had the camera with me again this time too! Later on we saw rainbow parakeets in the trees and later in the week there were pink and grey galahs.

In the afternoon we went to one of the most spectacular caves in the area, the Jewel Cave. Stunning stalagmites and stalactites in the limestone cave and an excellent tour of the cave too.

More photos from Monday 13 March

14 Mar (Day 48): Earlier start to the day and down to the beach at Hamelin Bay by 09:00 to see the stingrays feeding right on the shoreline. Beautifully sandy beach but this meant that the water was sandy too as the stingrays fluttered along disturbing the sand for their breakfast. Managed to see a large number of huge fish, most of them over a metre across but it was trickier to get a clear photo of them due to that sand. Large numbers of people there observing the phenomenon too but a another truly incredible experience to add to our astonishing tally of 'things we have done'. Adrian and I did get our shorts wet though, even though we thought we were only ankle-deep in the sea. With the rolling incoming tides and the flapping fish we got wet!

After the stingray adventure we went for brunch at a café in Witchcliffe. They seem to be doing an awful lot of building here and in the areas around. Who could wonder at it though as it is a great area, excellent shops and amenities around, good weather (not quite as hot as further north) and since covid, people are more able to work from home so don't need to be in a big city. 

After brunch we went for a coffee-tasting. Unique experience, never done one of these before. We weren't sufficiently enraptured to purchase anything more than a cup of coffee but still nice to do. We travelled on to a wine estate and did wine-tasting there. Well, Ray and I did. This time it was Adrian as the designated driver rather than Rachel. We did buy a couple of bottles here though! 

From coffee and wine-tasting we went to the Berry Farm. Here we could try jams and preserves, port or wines. We purchased a small truckload of jams, preserves and port and then went for afternoon tea to sample them further. Yum! Again, just as well I don't live near here! As we finished our tea a whole host of small birds descended upon the table and the now empty (to us) plates. The most fascinating were the honeyeaters with their lovely colours and their extremely long tongues. 

Back home for a light dinner of salad, cheese, meats and a nice scotch egg that we bought from the Farmer's Market when we came through Bunbury. 

More photos from Tuesday 14 March

15 Mar (Day 49): Adrian's birthday! The first I have spent with him in many a long year. Nice to be with him on the day itself. 

We started the day with a visit to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. This is right on the utmost southwest corner of Australia, where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. Where the south coast of Australia meets the west coast of Australia. Where it is incredibly remote, very very beautiful and very very windy! The lighthouse keepers buildings are built down below the cliff top and with pyramidal roofs so as to protect themselves from the winds. Nice trip up the lighthouse then a cup of tea and cake before setting off to go to one of Adrian's favourite restaurants about 75 minutes drive north for a birthday lunch. 

Flutes Restaurant at Wilyabrup is set on a lake and overlooks fields of grapevines too. The wildlife on the lake was incredible to watch as we sat on a balcony above the lake on another beautifully warm day. We ate a very indulgent almost 3 hour lunch and celebrated Adrian's birthday in style. He still insisted upon driving but we did manage a bottle of bubbles between us and then enough time passed before we drove off late afternoon. As we left we saw two kookaburra; one in a tree and the other sitting on a bridge. The one on the bridge couldn't have cared less about me creeping up on them and taking loads of photos. Yes, it was real and yes, it was alive. Perhaps it was deaf!

We visited Margaret River Venison on the way back to the house, where Adrian re-stocked his freezer. Placing the purchases in a coolbox with ice-packs to get them back to the house safely. 

More photos from Wednesday 15 March

16 Mar (Day 50): This morning we headed out to Lake Cave, another of the caves but different from the Jewel Cave. This one was very deep down and in places open to the elements where the roof had collapsed due to the number of trees burying their roots down into it many thousands of years ago. Another really good tour and a very pretty cave.

We saw emu in a field on the way to this cave. I asked Adrian to stop so I could take some photos but they were still there when we came back later so I think they were being farmed rather than wild..................oh well, an emu is an emu and I'd missed out on the photo of the two huge black emu in the national park. Saw a flock of pink and grey galah on telegraph wires later. Managed to get a few photos but not a pretty environment. Not my day for photos obviously. 

Remedied the photo situation by booking a river tour out of Augusta. Very enjoyable trip up the river and then back towards the mouth of the river where it enters the ocean. We spotted numerous birds starting with pelicans, egrets, grey heron, black swans, cormorants, osprey, swamp harriers and then eventually the dolphins came to join us. They swam alongside the boat and teased us as they flitted from side-to-side under the boat. A great end to a great trip.

We treated ourselves to a nice home-cooked roast in the evening. Adrian had bought a butterflied lamb joint and we managed to cook both that and a whole raft of roast potatoes without making a mess of the oven (as we honestly didn't want to either leave it dirty or have to clean it). Fried mushrooms and a salad plus a nice bottle (or two) of wine from the winery and we were done! 

More photos from Thursday 16 March  VIDEOS - large files of the dolphins

17 Mar (Day 51): Today we left the house in Augusta. Sorry to leave this one as it was so peaceful and the mornings spent with the various birdcalls in woodland was delightful. Also sorry because we were nearing the end of our time in this wonderful country, mostly spent with our family. We started to make our way north towards Adrian's apartment in Perth.

Our first stop was at a bird sanctuary that deals with injured or stranded wild birds, some of whom cannot be returned to the wild for safety reasons. We looked around the various birds there and then was given a talk by a keeper on an owl she was holding throughout. When she finished the talk she returned the owl to its home and then released three hawks. These hawks were flying totally free and they put on a tremendous display between them, including Kevin who preferred walking to flying and was pretending to be a chicken according to the keeper. One of the hawks very helpfully sat on the fence right in front of me several times. 

We stopped again further north at a place called Cowaramup. Hilariously there are cows everywhere here, both real and not so real. They peep out of hedges and sit outside the post office. They are in fields and on farms. There are dairies and ice-creamery shops, cheese and other dairy produce in abundance. We had a light lunch at a pavement café making the most of the weather again.

Completely following our trend of eating wherever and whenever possible, we stopped at a Miami Bakehouse, a chain of coffee and cake shops, to have a nice cup of team and an exquisite piece of cake. I am quite getting into their Lamington cakes, I find them so lovely and light and very delicious. 

We arrived back to Adrian's late afternoon and decide not to go out for a meal but to graze through the fridge items we had brought back with us that day.

More photos from Friday 17 March