The next morning we took the van to a garage to have a look at a spot underneath the windows on either side of the van - the hi-top part. The last two days we'd had a lot of rain and the van had decided to let some of it in so we rang the rental company who sent us to two garages where we found out it would be a four hour job. The rental company told us to drive to Perth where we found out there were no replacement vehicles and all they did was put sealant on the window! Then we drove down to Pemberton having wasted six hours on the road and lots of petrol for something the mechanic in Margaret River could have done.
By the time we reached Pemberton we were ready for bed after a chat with Dave & Jane and lots of complaining. In the morning we saw that the caravan park was in a really nice spot as it was surrounded by a thick, green forest with trees reaching pretty decent heights.
Afterwe'd been to the visitors centre I (Rich) drove in the wrong direction, luckily though we spotted a sign that said 'Gloucester Tree' which I'd read about in the Frommers guide so I diverted us down a residential street and finally to a small national parks car park.
The Gloucester Tree is actually a 60 metre tall fire lookout tree and to reach the lookout they've put pieces of metal into the tree that spiral around it all the way to a ladder at the top! I thought thus was great and duly climbed all the way for some satisfactory photos and moments of peace high up in the forest. (most of the photos were just of trees though!). Gem did make it about a fifth of the way and then decided that if wouldn't be a good idea to continue incase she panicked further up! The great thing was that there were no supervisors and nothing safe about it - well, no harnesses etc. If you fell, you fell... I'd like to see the same thing in England some day - Health & Safety would go mental. All you had to do was climb up each step like a ladder set at a safe angle with some steep points.
Later on in the day we visted a small waterfall and had a walk around a short nature trail and then departed for Walpole and Denmark. The highlight of the journey to Denmark was the walk in the Valley of the Giants as sponsored by AFL's and the Docker's own giant, Andy Sandilands (he's pretty tall). It's a really good as it reaches about the same height (40 metres) as some of the trees in the area and maintains this height for a while as you walk on a metal platform. It lasts for 600 metres and is a great way to see all the trees in a different way.
By the time we reached Denmark it was going dark and so we parked up and began to prepare for tea. During the time we spent in the camp kitchen, numerous kangaroos descended on the campgrounds and for the rest of the night our van was surrounded by about ten kangaroos all having their evening meal while we watched them. It was a great sight especially as they were all 'wild'.
Saturday, 25 September 2010
Monday, 13 September 2010
South to Margaret River
We left Fremantle after the prison tour and headed for Bunbury. After an overnight stop; a morning coffee and a walk through the town in the damp weather we left for Margaret River via Busselton and Simmo's Ice Cream.
We arrived in Busselton around lunchtime and ate looking out to sea and the longest wooden pier in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations and the weather was pretty windy anyway so we didn't venture down it.
On our way to Simmo's (recommended by Frommers 2010 guide) the wind picked up even more and when we parked up sizeable branches were being blown off the trees into the car park and narrowly missed us! The Ice Cream parlour was worth the visit - they had so many flavours to choose from, it took us a while to order. In the end I opted for a waffle with Ferrero Rocher ice cream and Rich went for a waffle with Malteaser ice cream. These were throughly enjoyed but as the power kept cutting out and the doors kept being blown open we decided it was probably best to head to the campsite asap!
The journey down to Margaret River was fun avoiding all the falling branches and fighting the wind as it buffeted the van. We arrived at a lovely campsite but due to the weather we weren't able to walk into town so we spent the evening in the camp kitchen and van. That night we met a nice couple from Halifax who took all our $1 coins for the dryer and then plied us with freebies in the morning as they were flying home that night.
The following day the weather had settled down and the sun even made an appearance from time to time. We went on a day tour which was discounted through the campsite. We went to four wineries, a venison farm, a chocolate factory, a cheese shop and finished up at a brewery. We met a couple from Ireland on the tour who were also staying at the campsite. Earlier that morning we also met a couple from the USA who were travelling. As it turned out it would not be the last time that we would see either couple as they were heading in the same direction as us.
We arrived in Busselton around lunchtime and ate looking out to sea and the longest wooden pier in the Southern Hemisphere. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations and the weather was pretty windy anyway so we didn't venture down it.
On our way to Simmo's (recommended by Frommers 2010 guide) the wind picked up even more and when we parked up sizeable branches were being blown off the trees into the car park and narrowly missed us! The Ice Cream parlour was worth the visit - they had so many flavours to choose from, it took us a while to order. In the end I opted for a waffle with Ferrero Rocher ice cream and Rich went for a waffle with Malteaser ice cream. These were throughly enjoyed but as the power kept cutting out and the doors kept being blown open we decided it was probably best to head to the campsite asap!
The journey down to Margaret River was fun avoiding all the falling branches and fighting the wind as it buffeted the van. We arrived at a lovely campsite but due to the weather we weren't able to walk into town so we spent the evening in the camp kitchen and van. That night we met a nice couple from Halifax who took all our $1 coins for the dryer and then plied us with freebies in the morning as they were flying home that night.
The following day the weather had settled down and the sun even made an appearance from time to time. We went on a day tour which was discounted through the campsite. We went to four wineries, a venison farm, a chocolate factory, a cheese shop and finished up at a brewery. We met a couple from Ireland on the tour who were also staying at the campsite. Earlier that morning we also met a couple from the USA who were travelling. As it turned out it would not be the last time that we would see either couple as they were heading in the same direction as us.
Thursday, 9 September 2010
Onto Perth & Beyond!
Early morning we packed up and made a quick dash to the exit from Leeman and onwards to safety. Well it probably wasn't a bad place but we didn't feel that comfortable and decided to leave at 7am, bound for Perth and the garage.
After been told to drive at 90kph for fuel effiency and less noise, I found myself with numerous road trains (or as we call them, 'Love Trains' as they pass by - sad aren't we?!) tail-gating me with just the grill of their truck in my rear-view mirror. As the road back to Perth, Highway One, is a single-lane for part of the trip with overtaking lanes provided every few kms, I found myself been overtaken by these huge love trains. Then to my dismay I had the luck of trundling along at the advised speed (the limit varies from 100 to 110 on highways and some freeways but often drops down to 50 for towns etc) when I looked in my rear-view mirror to find the grill of a pis*ed off truckie staring at me... After a few minutes of speeding to 100 and looking for a place to stop, I felt that I had created enough distance between the van and the love train behind us to slam the brakes on and pull over.
Now it's not that exciting for you lot I guess but in Western Australia most of the places to pull-in are usually unsealed paths that drop a bit from the main road so it wasn't exactly a comfortable stop but we did it just in time for the road train to fly-by and rock the whole van around for a second or two. Then I gladly pulled back onto the road and made it to Perth and our rental companies garage.
After we told them why we were there, they fixed the problem and we headed off to Freo to a lovely campsite, Fremantle Village, that has probably been the best campsite we've stayed at up to now.
That evening we met up with Gem's mate, had a couple of bevvies at the Sail & Anchor (including Chilli Beer which is very spicy!) and then onwards to San Churros for a coffee and some churros to dip in warm milk chocolate - San Churros is probably my favourite thing about Perth/Fremantle as the coffee is good, the environment is Spanish and the cakes and churros (Spanish doughnuts that are shaped like a twig) are wonderful. If anyone wants to open a franchise in Sheffield, please do.
The next morning we visited Freo Prison for our tunnels tour with our own guide, Matthew, a lovely chap from Adelaide with an eccentric style of humour that suited me well. As we were on a early tour and it's low season in WA, we had Matthew to ourselves and he really made the tour interesting.
We descended about twenty metres or so down a narrow set of ladders before crouching and moving around the tunnels that were dug out to provide clean water to the prison and then for Fremantle town. We were dressed up like Forensics from CSI except for our torchlights strapped to our helmets and I'm glad we had those helmets on as I smacked my head three times on the wooden beams above our heads!
After paddling along the tunnels in a small plastic boat and experiencing how dark it truly is when the lights are off, we realised what it must have been like for convicts and prisoners to work down there. And sometimes they were forced to have weights around their ankles if they'd broken any rules. I'm sorry but I can't provide any more 'interesting' facts or details about our tour as I'm about to do our tea on the Barbie (not the doll).
Goodbye for now, Rich.
After been told to drive at 90kph for fuel effiency and less noise, I found myself with numerous road trains (or as we call them, 'Love Trains' as they pass by - sad aren't we?!) tail-gating me with just the grill of their truck in my rear-view mirror. As the road back to Perth, Highway One, is a single-lane for part of the trip with overtaking lanes provided every few kms, I found myself been overtaken by these huge love trains. Then to my dismay I had the luck of trundling along at the advised speed (the limit varies from 100 to 110 on highways and some freeways but often drops down to 50 for towns etc) when I looked in my rear-view mirror to find the grill of a pis*ed off truckie staring at me... After a few minutes of speeding to 100 and looking for a place to stop, I felt that I had created enough distance between the van and the love train behind us to slam the brakes on and pull over.
Now it's not that exciting for you lot I guess but in Western Australia most of the places to pull-in are usually unsealed paths that drop a bit from the main road so it wasn't exactly a comfortable stop but we did it just in time for the road train to fly-by and rock the whole van around for a second or two. Then I gladly pulled back onto the road and made it to Perth and our rental companies garage.
After we told them why we were there, they fixed the problem and we headed off to Freo to a lovely campsite, Fremantle Village, that has probably been the best campsite we've stayed at up to now.
That evening we met up with Gem's mate, had a couple of bevvies at the Sail & Anchor (including Chilli Beer which is very spicy!) and then onwards to San Churros for a coffee and some churros to dip in warm milk chocolate - San Churros is probably my favourite thing about Perth/Fremantle as the coffee is good, the environment is Spanish and the cakes and churros (Spanish doughnuts that are shaped like a twig) are wonderful. If anyone wants to open a franchise in Sheffield, please do.
The next morning we visited Freo Prison for our tunnels tour with our own guide, Matthew, a lovely chap from Adelaide with an eccentric style of humour that suited me well. As we were on a early tour and it's low season in WA, we had Matthew to ourselves and he really made the tour interesting.
We descended about twenty metres or so down a narrow set of ladders before crouching and moving around the tunnels that were dug out to provide clean water to the prison and then for Fremantle town. We were dressed up like Forensics from CSI except for our torchlights strapped to our helmets and I'm glad we had those helmets on as I smacked my head three times on the wooden beams above our heads!
After paddling along the tunnels in a small plastic boat and experiencing how dark it truly is when the lights are off, we realised what it must have been like for convicts and prisoners to work down there. And sometimes they were forced to have weights around their ankles if they'd broken any rules. I'm sorry but I can't provide any more 'interesting' facts or details about our tour as I'm about to do our tea on the Barbie (not the doll).
Goodbye for now, Rich.
Wednesday, 8 September 2010
Kalbarri Adventure Tour & Escape from Leeman
Our last day in Kalbarri involved a four hour trip into Kalbarri National Park and then a quick four and a half hour drive to a place called Leeman.
We were picked up by a friendly Aussie chap going by the name of Dave and taken into the park along with another sixteen people on their travels. As soon as we entered the park, we were glad we'd not tried it with our van as the unsealed road was rock-solid and corrugated in some parts. This meant that part of the drive was like being sat on a jackhammer even in a 4WD.
Our first stop was the West Lookout, appropriately named as it is West of Nature's Window. At the top of the gorge we could see far down into the valley which was made up of oranges, reds and browns and dots of green where trees were growing. We could also see how the Murchison River that cuts through the park actually zigs and zags on its way to the sea. Due to the lack of the rain, the river consisted of patches of water every now and then but Dave said that after a very dry winter they were due some rain in the next week.
After standing at the West Lookout and fighting the wind, we headed over to Nature's Window and had our pictures taken like typical tourists. From Nature's Window we could see that on the East the river came towards us and then made a U turn and headed away. But then we looked to the West and saw the river coming from the North and heading in a partially straight line to the West.
After we made our way back to the car park, we sat down for Morning Tea! We were provided with some lovely homemade chocolate cake, of which Rich had an extra half a piece - I didn't want to seem too greedy, and a cup of coffee each (good old fashioned Nescafe sachets). We had a chat with two lovely couples from Lancashire who had moved to Perth about forty years ago but they still had broad accents.
Last but not least was the Z-Bend Lookout which, after a ten minute walk, opened up into another valley with birds tweeting and a lot more greenery than what we saw at West Lookout. After I spent a few minutes photographing every wildflower we headed back up for a picture of me wearing my Evolution Gym t-shirt in the car park - I forgot during the whole trip to take my hoodie off for some advertising for John's gym.
We then headed for Leeman and the unknown at about two o'clock after Dave dropped us off back at our van. I have to say that Dave was a great tour guide and provided some great information and humour and certainly made the tour worth the money.
The drive to Leeman was uneventful except for two suicidal kangaroos. Driving in Australia is usually ok but everyone you meet and in all the literature you read it states not to drive during dawn or dusk. However, we'd managed to do this twice already and on our way to Leeman I was keeping my eye out for any 'roo that decides to cross the road during the dusk eating time. After getting to the top of a crest we started going back down hill along a straight road when one roo' ran across the road so I slowed down and then I waited for another as I headed towards them. A second later and his mate turned up, stopped and looked at me in the middle of the road and then buggered off. That was our first and only experience with a live 'roo as all the others we've seen have already met the front-end of a vehicle.
To end this long and endless blog post, we arrived in Leeman Caravan Park and pulled up in a spot after spending ten minutes deciding where to park. We then kept ourselves safely in the van for the rest of night after taking a brief look at what seemed to be a less than inviting place with some locals giving us funny looks. There was probably nothing wrong with the place but we weren't keen to find that out and went to sleep pretty early in line for an early start and quick escape in the morning!
We were picked up by a friendly Aussie chap going by the name of Dave and taken into the park along with another sixteen people on their travels. As soon as we entered the park, we were glad we'd not tried it with our van as the unsealed road was rock-solid and corrugated in some parts. This meant that part of the drive was like being sat on a jackhammer even in a 4WD.
Our first stop was the West Lookout, appropriately named as it is West of Nature's Window. At the top of the gorge we could see far down into the valley which was made up of oranges, reds and browns and dots of green where trees were growing. We could also see how the Murchison River that cuts through the park actually zigs and zags on its way to the sea. Due to the lack of the rain, the river consisted of patches of water every now and then but Dave said that after a very dry winter they were due some rain in the next week.
After standing at the West Lookout and fighting the wind, we headed over to Nature's Window and had our pictures taken like typical tourists. From Nature's Window we could see that on the East the river came towards us and then made a U turn and headed away. But then we looked to the West and saw the river coming from the North and heading in a partially straight line to the West.
After we made our way back to the car park, we sat down for Morning Tea! We were provided with some lovely homemade chocolate cake, of which Rich had an extra half a piece - I didn't want to seem too greedy, and a cup of coffee each (good old fashioned Nescafe sachets). We had a chat with two lovely couples from Lancashire who had moved to Perth about forty years ago but they still had broad accents.
Last but not least was the Z-Bend Lookout which, after a ten minute walk, opened up into another valley with birds tweeting and a lot more greenery than what we saw at West Lookout. After I spent a few minutes photographing every wildflower we headed back up for a picture of me wearing my Evolution Gym t-shirt in the car park - I forgot during the whole trip to take my hoodie off for some advertising for John's gym.
We then headed for Leeman and the unknown at about two o'clock after Dave dropped us off back at our van. I have to say that Dave was a great tour guide and provided some great information and humour and certainly made the tour worth the money.
The drive to Leeman was uneventful except for two suicidal kangaroos. Driving in Australia is usually ok but everyone you meet and in all the literature you read it states not to drive during dawn or dusk. However, we'd managed to do this twice already and on our way to Leeman I was keeping my eye out for any 'roo that decides to cross the road during the dusk eating time. After getting to the top of a crest we started going back down hill along a straight road when one roo' ran across the road so I slowed down and then I waited for another as I headed towards them. A second later and his mate turned up, stopped and looked at me in the middle of the road and then buggered off. That was our first and only experience with a live 'roo as all the others we've seen have already met the front-end of a vehicle.
To end this long and endless blog post, we arrived in Leeman Caravan Park and pulled up in a spot after spending ten minutes deciding where to park. We then kept ourselves safely in the van for the rest of night after taking a brief look at what seemed to be a less than inviting place with some locals giving us funny looks. There was probably nothing wrong with the place but we weren't keen to find that out and went to sleep pretty early in line for an early start and quick escape in the morning!
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