Cape Leeuwin

We have based ourselves in the Margret River area and will travel to see what we want around. We drove down to Cape Leeuwin and did a couple of stops on the way.

We fuelled up at up at Whichcliffe and it seemed that people in the town had a sense of humour as the above featured out the front.

Across the road was Margret River homemade candle factory which we thought would be interesting. Unfortunately for us, it was closed on Tuesday and Wednesdays.

This was one of their window displays.

This was as close as we could go unless we wanted to take a tour which we didn't.

Back to the nearest town chasing Barramundi. We have had a few fish meals but not one had barra, John was keen to try it and yes! the fish and chip place we chose did serve barra! yay!

I wanted to go into the newsagents 

and this was outside.

Pemberton tramway and Massive trees.

The tramway only runs Monday to Saturday and as it goes into the forest thru the Karri and Jarrah trees, I particularly wanted to go on it.

This was the tram that we travelled on, it went out for ten kilometres over several bridges and then went back the other way. The driver gave a commentary on the way out which was very interesting.

The first bridge we went over was a bit nerve wracking as it was just the tracks but then I got used to it.

We stopped at the Casades for fifteen minutes and passengers could go down to the waterfalls.

We passed several wooden homes in the township on the way and then later there were smaller ones only three left now that had been built for the single workers, there had been over a hundred when logging was at its peak. One tree would be used to build two houses.

The park and town was nice and peaceful so we stayed another day and visited a wood gallery.

Beautiful stuff but nothing that I needed.

Then there was THAT tree.

This is Warren and John going up the tree.

and then there was me.

I was able to get close to a native bird

Denmark WA

We drove to Denmark from Albany with the view to see what was there and visit the cheese and chocolate places that we had seen advertised. What a nice place, it did have a bit of a hippy vibe to it and I could imagine people travelling there from Albany on the weekends to shop, browse and have coffee.

S and I went into several dress/clothing stores and in one place I was able to pass on some information regarding the Creswick Woollen mills that we visited way back near Ballarat.

I was able to buy Warren another long sleeved shirt for driving (so that his arm doesn't get sun burnt), I also bought myself a sleeveless vest as the evenings are getting cool. Two more tops made it into the shopping bag at another place, at $10 each I couldnt leave them there could I, plus they were in colours that I wear.

fantastic lunch at a cafe on the street and we sat and watched the world go by and chatted to people as they stopped for their dog to get a drink, there was a drink bowl on the corner, how neat and thoughtful is that?
This was my lunch.

I ordered the vegetable fritter, thinking that was all I was going to have but it came with salad and a nice chutney as well, price $6.50, not too bad and it tasted good, always a bonus.

We went to the cheese factory and we did buy some cheeses but it only had sales of cheese and a cafe. Off we continued to the chocolate place.

The gardens were incredible and dotted around was the story of chocolate.

After we had walked through the garden we went inside and J ordered coffee for us and they gave us samples of their chocolates (above). I bought some fig jam and a port.

Lake Muir Observary

On our way to Pemberton today we came across a sign about Lake Muir and it had the symbol of a camera. We thought we would find out what there was to take a photo of as there didnt appear to be a lookout as such.

There was quite a bit of reading to do and pictures of birds, then a board walk The ground dropped away and at I would think that we were five or six metres above the ground.

This was at the end of a 200 metre walk and then there was another outside area. It was dry and only a few crows around but when it rained I could just imagine the birdlife that would be there. 

National Anzac Memorial Albany

On the way we stopped at a lookout.

Just a few feet in front of us, he was between the barrier and us, was this guy.

We watched him for awhile and he was going to the little yellow daisies and eating the flowers, nothing else.

The Anzac Memorial was fantastic, very state of the art.

The card on the left was my card and he was a Major general, the idea was to put the card on a touch screen around the building and it would give different information about "your" person. The over sized pen was a listening device, the idea is to swipe the tip of the pen over a identity disc and it would then give more information or it may be a person giving a report or telling about a typical day.

Outside the building there were other buildings that can be wandered through such as the kitchens, the guard house and then the gardens dedicated to the women.

This was an embroidered cloth from a small town and all the men's who had joined the services were on the cloth which was then held in a prized position in the town hall.

Sandalwood Factory

As we were checking into the caravan park I spied some small brochures, one was about sandalwood and as S has discovered she likes sandalwood, we had a girls afternoon out and visited.

It was a large show room with lots of product to buy and dotted around was the story of sandalwood. Then they announced that a free tour would be commencing about five minutes and there we leaned much more about the sandalwood trees and its qualities.

There are two types, just known as Australian and Indian, the Indian ones (seeds) were brought here and now grown as they are endangered in their country. The Indian one grows almost twice as fast and produces almost twice the oil as well but the Aussie one has the stronger smell.

I bought a few small products like shampoos and soaps, quite reasonably priced I thought.

Jerramongup Caravan Park

We stayed at this park on our way tp Albany, I think I have the spelling right.

What an awesome little park. We pulled in about 2 pm and there is not a sole around, no campers and no one at the office.

We rang the bell as instructed and in turn that dialed a number like a phone. A guy answered and when he heard that we had a caravan, he told us to select a site and his wife would come and see us later.

It was in a bush setting and they had cabins as well. The township was a soldiers settlement area.

The toilet block which was in keeping with the Aussie bush/

The photo does not do it justice, it was wattle wood (available from Bunnings we learned) and highly lacquered. It was beautiful to touch.

Our van. the motor home of J & S plus one other huge motor home and there was two other vehicles came later and stayed in the cabins.

Camp kitchen and there was a TV to the left in front of the easy chairs. The guys watched a Big Bang, it is getting a little cool to sit outside in the evenings for long now.

The camp kitchen had a couple of visitors in the morning to the area outside. 

It was a very nice place to sit and relax for awhile.