From Perth to Augusta and all the best spots in between

Busselton Jetty - the longest in the southern hemisphere - 1.8 metres



Me and Him at a cafe Busselton Jetty



Alan and Charlie going for a spin along the canals in Busselton

Busselton sunset

Free camped in the Ludlow Tuart forest Busselton

Dunsborough beach

"Unco" Jane - yes he's still heavier than me but only just!!

The bark of the Tuart tree

Stirling cottage - May Gibbs cottage in Harvey

Alan and Margaret having coffee at Stirling Cottage

The river at Stirling Cottage

Heritage Bush totem poles at Waroona

Gracetown beach

Tree of Life sculpture at Laurance Wineries Margaret River

Charlie with (from left) Laura, Isaac and Colleen - we stayed on their property at Yallingup

Margaret River bridge

One of the historical buildings in Margaret River

Charlie having coffee in the quaint quirky bakery in Margaret River (yes it was good coffee thank goodness!!)

Beach at Yallingup

Blackwood River near Augusta where we camped

Fun on the Blackwood River

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse - the tallest in the southern hemisphere

Charlie trying to spot where the 2 oceans meet - the Southern and Indian Oceans

Here 'tis - or so they say!!

The old calcified water wheel at Cape Leeuwin

Charlie outside Jewel Cave at Augusta

The "camel" formation inside the cave

Stalactites or stalagmites - I can never remember

It looked like a winter wonderland

Mmmm Charlie reckons this looks like him - He's got a good memory!!

The "Ghost" in the cave

Lump of crystal

Yummy fish and chips on the foreshore at Augusta

Pelicans waiting to be fed by the fishermen at Augusta

Augusta foreshore

Well as we are coming up to 10 months into this trip I thought it was time to reflect.  Every day has been an adventure and we've done approximately 19,000 ks spending as much as $2.10 a litre for fuel in some of the remote places we've been but there's not been a single bad day or regret.  We are living the great Australian dream of a "trip around the block".  We have seen places we've only read about and have enjoyed and are still enjoying the vastness of this huge contrasting country.  We've travelled huge distances sometimes without even seeing a car, or a bird or any living thing.

The Kimberley reds, the blue west coast water and white sands - our photos don't do it justice.

We have met some wonderful people all doing the same thing on limited budgets but limitless time and hopefully as we say goodbye to the West in a couple of weeks and head to SA, we will meet more friends.  But enough of that I will now describe our latest adventure.

We left Perth and travelled down towards Busselton and decided to go inland a bit travelling through the farmland and orchard country, stopping at some of the lovely little villages.  Harvey was a typical one and we had some lovely coffee and cake at Stirling Cottage which was the home of May Gibbs the creator of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie.  We also stopped at Waroona which have a forest of fascinating heritage bush poles with carvings of all things important to the people of Waroona.

We spent a few days in Busselton with our friends Alan and Margaret and helped them move from their holiday town house to their holiday house on the canals.  A beautiful home with direct canal access and Charlie had some fun fishing off their jetty and also a little spin in the boat.  Busselton is a premier seaside resort located in the beautiful Geographe Bay.  It has the longest timber-piled jetty in the southern hemisphere and you can either jump on a little train to do the return trip or walk it which we did.  Its 1.8 metres so we had a good walk that day.  There is an underwater observatory at the end of the jetty where you can look out on the amazing underwater garden.

We said goodbye to Alan and Margaret as they were getting ready to head off on the Queen Mary II and we were heading south.  We free camped for one night in the Ludlow Tuart forest  which is the only natural stand of tuart trees left in the world so we were pleased we could stay there and walk amongst them.

 We then headed towards Yallingup where we stayed on some people's property who we met in September of last year bobbing around in Zebedee Springs, El Questro in the Northern Territory. They said when we get to this area, to look them up and park on their acreage so that's exactly what we did.  They made us very welcome and it was good.  From their place we explored, Dunsborough, Yallingup, Margaret River and lots of wineries, chocolate factories, cheese factories bakeries, olive farms etc.  I refuse to get on the scales and of course the camera always puts a few kilos on you doesn't it?

Margaret River is a lovely place, very touristy with a lovely quirky bakery where you can sit on the breezy balcony overlooking the Margaret River and have, yes of course, coffee and cake. This is WA's largest premium wine producing area and some of the wineries are magnificant.  We also went and visited Gabriel chocolates, the only bean to chocolate factory in WA.  The chocolate is yummy and they also make chocolate soap for the tragic chocoholic who has everything - I can think of one of those straight away Dilly!!!

We then headed off towards Augusta and stayed at a lovely camp right by the Blackwood River called Alexandra Bridge and from there we did a few days trips.  We visited the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse in the Cape Leeuwin Naturaliste national park.  This is mainland Australia's tallest lighthouse and its also where two oceans meet, the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean.  The lighthouse gaurds one of the world's busiest and most important shipping lanes and remains an important historical and meteorological weather station.  Apparently the flashing warning light can be seen from over 47 km away.The scenery around the lighthouse is spectacular but the coastline is rugged and treacherous.  We also visited the old water wheel which was built in the late 1800's to supply water to the lighthouse cottages.  It is quite fascinating as it was originally built of timber but over the years it has calcified and gives the appearance of being built of stone.

Then we went off to the Jewel Cave which has an abundance of limestone formations and is one of the most decorated caves in Australia.  It was eerie down there, 300 odd steps down (and back of course - I was huffing and puffing) but was well worth it.  Some of the formations looked like a winter wonderland. 

Went and poked around the little town of Augusta which is situated at the south western tip of Australia.  The beautiful Blackwood River and Hardy Inlet meet the Southern Ocean here.  We went for a lovely walk along the foreshore and had some yummy fish and chips sat on the grass.  Saw lots of pelicans hoping to be fed the scraps from the lucky fishermen.

We've had lots of visit to all the naughty places which make you put on weight during this segment of the journey so we will have to be good from now on - but hey why? you only live once.  Scrap that last comment!!  Well Charlie and I after all this time, in our home on wheels, are still talking to each other and still like one another so that has to be a bonus. 

We left Alexandra Bridge camping area and headed off towards Esperance through the great Southern Forests but that will be another blog.  So until then its Adieu from The Wandering 2s.