Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park

CAPE LEEUWIN LIGHTHOUSE south of Augusta, more rugged coastline and this is where the Southern Ocean meets the Indian Ocean. We had a day out and about yesterday from our base at Gracetown by Margaret River, a lovely spot but alas no phone or internet coverage, so down at the local library catching up on things. The park was busy over the long weekend and really thinned out yesterday. COSY CORNER The colours of the rocks remind me of a zebra.
REDGATE BEACH Some great waves rolled in crashing into the rocks. Further south where the Margaret River is renowned for surfing, we expected the river mouth to be spectacular but the river petered out and didn't even go into the ocean.

PREVELLY PARK The Margaret River area also has lot's of cows on display like we saw back in Shepparton, Victoria. There are some very creative artists.

ROCKS AND SHELLS on the beach by Cape Leeuwin.

D'Entrecasteaux National Park

CATHEDRAL ROCK We are now at Pemberton which is a lovely town surrounded by Karri forest. This National Park is just 45 minutes south of here and has more lovely beaches, bays and great cliffs and of course a few people fishing. THE WINDOW at Point D'Entrecasteaux, the different colours in the rocks and cliff face was quite impressive.
SALMON BEACH presume that salmon is caught here at various times of the year.

UNDERSTORY sculptures in the Southern Forest at Northcliffe, a lovely 1.2km walk with audio, so it was interesting to hear what inspired the different artists.

Valley of the Giants

GIANT TINGLE WOOD TREE Yes this is only a replica of the tree that used to live nearby, unfortunately it died with all the visitors tramping around the base of it. The gap in the base was that large that as you can see cars could be parked in it, unbelievable how they can grow so tall with the base like this.

TREE TOP WALK in the Valley of the Giants, a great experience as you do the 600 metre walk through the trees, with some of the tingle trees up to 400 years old. At the top of the walk you are 40 metres above the ground.All in a days work for this guy carrying out the six monthly maintenance check on the walk structure.

THE GAP, Peaceful Bay we went down a four wheel drive sand track and out onto the rocks, fortunately we didn't have to pass anyone along the way as there was no where to pass. This was the roughest bit of coastline we have come across in our time in Western Australia.

Further West

ART IN THE FOREST Yesterday we drove through to Walpole and are staying at a lovely caravan park at Coalmine beach which is on the Nornalup Inlet where we have caught up with friends which has been lovely. This wall is in tribute to the saving of the forest in the area. MOUNT FRANKLAND A great drive up to here and then a paved path before you walk up a lot of steps and then ladders to the summit, a great cardiac workout.

Yes, More of the Same

LITTLE BEACH in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve. Had a morning pottering and then this afternoon went out tiki touring as there are some lovely drives from Albany. Albany used to be a base for whale hunting and they have Whaleworld which is a great museum. FISHERMAN at South Point in the same area.
BANDICOOT fossicking for food at the side of the road.

Torndirrup National Park

ISTHMUS BAY Just one of the lovely bays in the national park. I can see that we are going to be very spoilt for the next few months with this fabulous scenery. Looking forward to when the water will be warm enough to swim in, the Southern Ocean is a bit chilly.
ALBANY WIND FARM Set on the coast in the National Park, it wouldn't be many days when it is not working well, with a gentle breeze of 7km's per hour the tip of the blades are doing 130km's per hour.

LIZARDS not sure what type they are but there were a few of them on the walk up to the War Memorial at Mt Melville. Always good when you see legs on things with tails.

Let's Hang Ten

WAVE ROCK Sorry, but I couldn't resist that heading. The granite rock at Hyden is very impressive, the concrete wall you see at the top is to catch water off the rock that is above the wave and to divert it to the dam, the dam was was looking a bit dismal.
HIPPO'S YAWN Still in the same area, us standing in there gives you bit of an idea of the size of the rock. The whole area has huge solid granite rocks and out crops. We left Esperance on Tuesday and stopped at Ravensthorpe as from there it was only a two hour drive to Hyden.
Ravensthorpe is another mining town, this time nickel, a big mine was set up by BHP nearby at a cost of $3billion when nickel was selling at $56million a tonne, then the price dropped to $7million a tonne and their break even cost was $11million a tonne, so the mine has been sold off to an Canadian nickel mining company for $330million and they will sit on it until the price increases - bargain! 1400 workers lost their jobs and the town of Hopetoun benefited as they ended up with infrastucture to cater for this number of people. HOPETOUN BEACH looking across to Fitzgerald River National Park, a quiet little town that can only be accessed from Ravensthorpe. It will take off again and be home to the mining workers and their families in the future. As you can see a storm rolled in and was dumping rain in the distance, some great lightning flashes.
UPDATE We have heard on the radio that the guy walking with the Canadian flag was actually walking the Nullarbor Golf Course, 1403.7kms, the longest golf course in the world and it took him and his wife 27 days. The course starts at Ceduna and finishes at Kalgoorlie and he raised money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service.