The South-West corner

(Magyar összefoglaló a végén)

Saturday, 11 Aug, Busselton - On Friday afternoon we picked up Marty after he finished work at CSIRO, and went to a close-by restaurant where we met Agnes (Gedeon), his colleague and we had a good long chat over drinks and dinner, mixed in Hungarian and English. It was a nice evening.

The Busselton Jetty

Saturday morning I finished and uploaded the next blog, then we packed up the van and left Perth. We drove South on the freeway, and by lunchtime we were at Bunbury. We drove around the town and stopped for lunch at the West coast. Then we continued down to Busselton, only 60 km further South-West, passing through a beautiful tuart forest. We set up in a caravan park, and drove in the town to look around. Busselton's main attraction is the jetty, almost 2 km long, with an underwater observatory at the outer end. Unfortunately the observatory was not open due to the murky water caused by strong winds on the previous days. We walked out to the end of the jetty and back, passing many fishermen. The sky was covered with thick clouds but the air was mild in the dead calm. Rain is coming by tomorrow.

Cape Naturaliste

Sunday, 12 Aug, Busselton - It was raining all night and morning, but the forecast predicted a dry gap after 10 am. So around 10 we jumped in the car and went to Cape Naturaliste at the West end of Geographe Bay. It was still raining on the way but it stopped when we got to Meellup Beach where we also stopped to look around. Then went up to the lighthouse at the cape and walked down to the Whales lookout, the point where whales can often be seen from September to November - unfortunately not the right time for us. We did not see whales, but the coastal vegetation, a few big kangaroos and the wind-swept see were worth the visit. 

Where are the whales?...

Unfortunately on our way back it started to rain heavily again and by the time we got back to the car, all our clothes and shoes were dripping wet. So we came back to the camp and spent the afternoon relaxing and trying to dry our clothes in the van. The forecast is showing more rain and very strong winds for this South-West corner of the state, it seems we are at the wrong place at the wrong time...

Lake Cave

Monday, 13 Aug, Augusta - The weather was much better today, partly cloudy but mostly sunny, cool but not much wind and only a few short showers. We packed up the van and came down South along the Caves Road with a detour to the beach at Gracetown. We passed many wineries but it was too early for tasting. We stopped at Lake Cave for a tour of the cave, an amazing place. 

Stalactites in Lake Cave

Voyager Estate

After the tour we had lunch, then turned back towards Margaret River looking for wineries. We visited 3 of those, Redgate, Voyager and Leeuwin Estates, tasted some wines and bought a few bottles. Redgate looked like a small family business, Voyager on the other hand is a high class affair, manicured gardens like in a French castle. 

Leeuwin Estate

Leeuwin is closer to our liking, more an English-style garden but also beautiful vegatation. We passed through the town of Margaret River and stopped to check out the river, then drove down to Augusta at the Southern end of the region.  

Whale watching

Tuesday, 14 Aug, Augusta - This morning finally, after a few unsuccessful attempts earlier, we went whale watching, a birthday present for the two of us from Marty! A 2.5 hour boat tour in Flinders Bay, South of Augusta, where whales used to stop and rest on their migration to their breeding ground up North along the Kimberley coast. 

There she is! (Marty's photo)

August is the very end of the Northbound migration, so there were not that many as before, but we still saw several whales, as much as can be seen from them, mostly the air blows, and a bit from their back. There was a mother and calf that we followed for a while they were very close to the boat. Also, there was one breeching behind the boat that many people saw, including Marty but both Kate and I missed it. It is very hard to get a glimpse of these movements, the whales usually stay on the surface for no more than 2-3 seconds. It is even harder to take photos or videos of them, for the same reason. 

Whale breaching (Marty's photo)

The ones included here for illustration are courtesy of Marty, who has better equipment and reflexes or maybe he is simply a better photographer than we are... The weather was not ideal but bearable, there were a few heavy showers and strong wind all the time, but in between there was a bit of sunshine as well. We saw a few birds too, ganets and albatroses, and seals on the rocks, we enjoyed the tour very much, thanks Marty!

Seals

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse

In the afternoon we went to Cape Leeuwin, the South-West corner of the continent, where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. We visited the old lighthouse from 1895, still operating, one of the tallest in Australia at 35 m, and walked around the various lookout points with beautiful views of the windswept oceans and information displays about the lighthouse, shipwrecks and marine life. 

Cape Leeuwin

The Bicentennial Karri Tree

Wednesday, 15 Aug, Pemberton - We drove directly to Pemberton in the morning and set up the van in a caravan park, packed some food for lunch then went to discover the adjacent Warren National Park. It is home to a huge karri forest along the valley of the Warren River. 
The karri is a type of eucalyptus that grows up to 90 m high, the tallest tree in Australia. 

Marty going up

A few of these giants have been pegged and people can climb up to their top. Originally these were used as fire lookouts, now they are open to the public. The tallest of these is the Dave Evans Bicentannial Tree, with a top lookout height of 75 m. 

Marty at the top

We visited this tree and Marty climbed up to the top, we only watched from below. 

In the karri forest

We did a short walk in the karri forest from the tree to a lookout to see the Warren river valley and back. We had our picnic lunch at the tree, and later went to see Beedelup Falls. 

A tingle tree

Thursday, 16 Aug, Walpole - This morning we travelled another 120 kms South-East, and by 11 am we were set up in a caravan park at the beach near Walpole. Then we went on a tour of the attractions in this region, which is famous for its giant trees, this time tingle trees, which only grow in this area. They are huge trees, not as high as the karris, but their trunk is more voluminous, the girth at ground level may be more than 20 m. 

"The Giant" Tingle

We went up to a Hilltop lookout above the town, then we stopped at "the Giant Tingle Tree", said to be the largest of them all, with a girth of 24 m. 

Tree-top walk

We had our lunch and coffee in this picnic area, then drove further to the "Valley of the Giants", a national park with a tingle forest, where we did the tree-top walk, a 600 m long elevated walkway at 40 m above ground, among these magnificent trees. The vegetation below, around and above us was very pretty indeed and the steel structure of the walkway was also interesting, nicely done. Unfortunately the weather was far from perfect, very gray thick cloud cover, but at least it was not raining (just a little...). 

On the way home we went on a scenic drive around the region, beautiful green pastures, lots of cattle and sheep, vineyards, a bit like in the Southern Alps in Europe.

Denmark river

Denmark

Friday, 17 Aug, Denmark - Not to be confused with the European country, Denmark is a very pretty small town, named after the river of the same name, which, in turn, was named by one of the early settlers in the area in 1829. We came here this morning and had a similar program as yesterday: set up camp, then go on a discovery tour of the region. 

Marty testing the water in Greens Pool

We saw some beautiful beaches, Greens Pool, a secluded little bay with crystal clear calm water, Elephant Rocks, Waterfall Beach where we had our picnic lunch and coffee. 

Elephant rocks

The hillside behind Denmark

In the afternoon we drove around the hillsides behind the town, more green fields and cattle and sheep, nice views of the Wilson Inlet and the ocean, and some wineries. 

Ocean Beach

On the way home we stopped at Ocean Beach, at the mouth of Wilson Inlet for another pretty view of the coastal scenery. In the evening at home we celebrated my birthday with a bottle of sparkling red.

Wilson Inlet, Denmark

Saturday, 18 Aug, Denmark - After a very cold night (6 degrees in the van) we woke up to a clear sunny day. Marty went back to Perth by bus and train, tomorrow he will fly back to Hobart. It was good to travel with him for a week. We came back to the camp and decided to stay here for today, to have a rest and enjoy a sunny day. 

Our itinerary can be seen at the following Google Map:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8 
(Note that to see the route after Bowen, you need to move down to the bottom of the left panel, and select the following pages!)

Péntek (aug 10) délután felvettük Marcit, és elmentünk vacsorázni egy étterembe egy itt élo magyar származású kolléganojével. Ágnes (Gedeon) gyerekkora óta küldföldön élt több országban, a mi gyerekeinkhez hasonló múlttal, de elég jól beszél magyarul is. Jól elbeszélgettünk, kellemes este volt.
Szombaton reggel felpakoltunk, és Marcival együtt elindultunk a tengerpart mentén tovább dél felé. Az elmúlt héten végigutaztuk Nyugat Ausztrália dél-nyugati csücskét. Sajnos az ido nem volt a legjobb, sokat esett, szeles, huvös többnyire elég kellemetlen volt, de azért megnéztük amit tudtunk. Busselton-ban végigsétáltunk a majd 2 km hosszú mólón, a kinti végén van egy vízalatti megfigyelo terem ami sajnos zárva volt a rossz ido miatt zavaros volt a víz. Másnap majd egész nap zuhogott, de azért kimentünk a közeli Cape Naturaliste-re, megnéztük a világítótornyot, kisétáltunk a kilátó pontra ahol bálnákat lehetne látni ha éppen arra járnak - most nem jártak. Visszafelé teljesen borig áztunk, úgyhogy hazamentünk szárítkozni, többet ki sem mozdultunk.
Hétfon (aug 13) továbbmentünk Augusta-ba, útközben megnéztük a Lake Cave cseppkobarlangot, nagyon szép volt. A környéken van vagy egy tucat barlang. A másik nevezetssége ennek a vidéknek a bortermelés, a Margaret River (folyó és város is van ezen a néven) az egyik leghíresebb borvidék egész Ausztráliában. Meglátogattunk 3 borpincét, kóstolgattuk a jobbnál-jobb borokat és vettünk is egy pár üveggel, ezt nem lehetett kihagyni. Másnap (kedd, aug 14.) Augusta-ban elmentünk egy félnapos bálna-leso hajótúrára, ezt kaptuk Marcitól ajándékba. Már nagyon régen akartunk ilyenre menni, eddig sosem sikerült. Sajnos most sem volt ideális az ido, hol esett hol nem, eros szél fújt, jól hullámzott a víz, de azért láttunk több bálnát is, persze csak amennyit látni lehet belolük azalatt a 2-3 másodperc alatt amíg feljönnek levegot venni. Egyszer volt egy amelyik ki is ugrott a vízbol, de ezt sajnos mindketten elmulasztottuk, éppen másfelé néztünk, csak Marci látta és sikerült is egy pár képet csinálnia. Azért nagyon érdekes túra volt, sok szépet láttunk. Délután meg elmentünk a Cape Leeuwin-re, az ország leg-délnyugatibb csücskébe, ahol az Indiai és a Déli óceán találkozik, és a földrész legmagasabb világítótornya áll. 
A következo napokban faóriásokat látogattunk. Szerdán Pemberton mellett egy karri erdoben voltunk. A karri egy eukaliptusz fajta, szép egyenes sima törzse 90 m-re megno, ez a legmagasabb fafajta itt. Ebben az erdoben néhány fát körbeszurkáltak vasrudakkal csigalépcso-szeruen, fel lehet mászni a tetejükre. Eredetileg tuzvédelmi figyelés volt a cél a múlt század elején, most már csak turista-látványosság. Marci fel is mászott a legmagasabb tetejére, 75 m magasra, mi csak alulról néztük. 
Csütörtökön továbbmentünk Walpole-ba, itt meg tingle erok vannak, ez is eukaliptusz, ez is hatalmas, nem olyan magas mint a karri, de a törzse sokkal vaskosabb, néha 20 m-nél is több a kerülete a tövénél. A legtöbbnek üreges a törzse lent, mindenféle gombafertozés és tuz miatt, de fölül még élnek, több mint 400 évesek. Meglátogattuk a legnagyobb óriást, 24 m kerülettel, egy tucat ember befér az üregébe. Az "óriások völgyében" építettek egy 600 m hosszú acél hídszerkezetet, ahol fel lehet menni a fák koronája közé kb 40m magasra, végigmentonk, szép látvány volt, a fák és növényzet meg a szerkezet is. 
Pénteken érkeztünk Denmark-ba, ez egy kisváros a Déli óceán partján (pontosabban egy nagy zárt öböl, Wilson Inlet, partján), semmi köze az európai államhoz, egy emberrol nevezték el. Nagyon szép kisváros, és a környéken is sok a látnivaló. Végigjártuk a tengerparti beach-eket, zárt öblöcskéket (Greens Pool), érdekes sziklákat (Elephant rocks), és a partmenti kilátókat. Délután meg a város fölötti domboldalakról néztünk körül, harsogó zöld legelok tele tehenekkel és birkákkal, egész alpesi jellegu táj. Szerencsére addigra az ido is jobbra fordult, még a nap is kisütött néha, így még kellemesebb volt. Errefelé is sok borgazdaság van, meglátogattunk egy pincét, kóstoltunk finom borokat. Este hármasban ünnepeltük a születésnapomat egy üveg pezsgovel.
Ma, szombat reggel Marci elndult visszafelé busszal, holnap repül Perth-bol Hobartba. Mi meg ittmaradtunk Denmark-ban még egy napig, olyan kellemes hely és szép napos ido, jó volt egy kicsit pihenni. Délelott sétáltunk egy kicsit a városban, délután meg az öböl partján. 

Az útvonalunk a következo Google Map-on látható:
http://g.co/maps/wcwv8
(A Bowen utáni szakaszokhoz le kell menni a baloldali panel aljára, és a következo oldalakra kattintani!!)