Esperance was amazingly beautiful. A rugged, rough coastline with many islands, broken by secluded little sandy bays. We drove to a lookout and made an elaborate brunch overlooking a bit of everything.
I was surprised by the distance at this point, and the rest of the day was spent getting to Albany. From Albany we headed into the SW forests. We did a treetop walk in a place aptly called the Valley of the Giants. Huge tingle wood trees, most of whom are hollowed out, but still alive. Fascinating.
That night saw us bush camping under a nearly full moon in the blackwood forests. It was absolutely silent. Can't say I've ever experienced such silence.
Yesterday we travelled through the Karri forests on Cave Rd. These trees are even taller and the forest is not as dense.
Underneath these forests are many limestone caves. Although I wimped out, the others went down into Lake Cave. I enjoyed the climb down to the entrance and some more forest time.
We succumbed to the call of the wineries next and severely bruised the credit cards, visiting Voyager Estate (huge, opulent, super classy) and Juniper Wines (smaller and very friendly). We also found a chocolate factory, just to complete our over-indulged day.
Today we awoke in Busselton to a sunny blustery day. We took the train out along the famous jetty - 1.8 km long!! Tonight we'll be at brother John's in Perth.
There is a swim around the Bussleton Jetty, that Bas does every year.
ReplyDeleteHappy memories of Voyager estate with Mum.
Say Hi to John for us!
Will do. Wouldn't have wanted to swim around the pier when we were there! Too cold and rough!
ReplyDelete