The SW of WA

w/c 4th November 2013

Moving south of Perth and Fremantle, you encounter a wholly different country to that of the arid coast of mid WA. That area could be refered to as north west Western Australia; this new area is most definitely the south west.
On a map of this huge country, it's an insignificant area, but it is of course quite big. It's over 300km from Freo to Cape Leeuwin, the point at which the Indian and Southern oceans meet. To get there it's a beautiful drive through rolling countryside of bush, woods and vineyards. At this time of year it is most definitely Spring and the weather reflected this. During the next few days the maximum temperature varied between 20 and 16 deg C, which feels very cold when you have been wearing shorts for nearly a month.
The beaches of the south west continue to be stunning and nearly empty of course, but in places there are gneiss outcrops which have created a spectacular coastline.



It did rain a little, but really only right on the coast at Cape Leeuwin and we had a picnic in the car with the wipers on. Just like being in the UK.


We camped at Yallingup, a popular surf centre and the campsite barbie was well positioned...

It's been a great relaxing holiday and by now we are four weeks into it and looking good...( my cooking and a bit of warm sun?).

Expecting to see an ageing rocker with her? Well I'm afraid I'm just aging.

Margaret River is a major service centre of the area and is a lovely town with a few great cafés and coffee shops. We were there on Melbourne Cup day and many people were dressed up for the occasion and attending functions in the pubs and hotels. It's been a bit of a hippie centre over the years too and this just adds to its appeal.
Touring a little inland from there, we happened upon Gnomesville. Now I have never taken much interest in these mysterious beings and I saw enough in The Full Monty. However, they are full of surprises and close to the area of bush containing King Jarrah, the oldest tree of its kind in the area (at over 400 years), we found Gnomesville and there, carefully placed amongst the undergrowth and bushes, is the largest 'gathering' of gnomes that we have ever seen. We are still no clearer understanding how or why they have chosen to gather here.

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After a few few days under canvas, we decided that in the cool of the SW, we should splash out on a nice bit of BnB so we turned up at Nannup and stayed overnight at Holberry House, a beautiful place in a very small village that acts as a local service centre. I'm now remembering my Human Geography and the hexagons of the service centre catchment areas.

As with many here in Australia, the owners had traced their roots to those early 'settlers' from late 19th century and they had an amazing story to tell of their own family and the fortitude with which they approached the challenges of establishing themselves in a new land.

You might call it 'wimping out' but with some very cold nights forecast and more rain, we opted to return to Perth / Freo for the last days of the trip. So we haven't visited the south coast and Albany or Esperance. That will have to wait for a much later time...

Fremantle - it's not south Perth

Saturday 2nd November 2013
I wasn't particularly excited about going to 'Freo'. I hadn't done much reading homework in advance and I just thought it is a fairly busy port. I wasn't expecting the mix of culture and architecture that we found on our first walk around. There are many Victorian and Edwardian buildings, many a legacy of the gold rush. We headed straight for the visitor centre and a nice guy called Alan (ex Pom) gave us the most detailed descriptions of what to do and where to go, that the open air stalls just outside had all packed up whilst we were in there. He did direct us to quite a number of sights and it was nice to wander around in the afternoon sun.
There were of course a fair few distractions along the way...
Coffee is taken on Cappuccino Strip...


...and beer is drunk at Little Creatures, a very cool brewery that forces you to sample seven beers before you are allowed to buy any!


In a corner bar within the market (The Market Tavern), there was a little more beer and we listened to some great music. This is a nice way to spend a late Saturday afternoon and I'm thinking of trying this at home.

(Sorry about snapping the drinker in the foreground - as I said, it's a mix of types in Freo!?)

There are a series of wonderful bronze sculptures fixed around the city. I will name the one below as 'The Unknown Figure', for obvious reasons. It depicts a passenger disembarking at the quay and walking into a new life in Australia.


There are remarkable acknowledgements to those immigrants who came to Australia during the 20th century. There are quotations from some, inscribed on plaques near the quay, describing how they had eventually settled, after leaving loved ones back in the UK and enduring hardships as they established a new life.
A reference book is available, listing all those who arrived, with date and name of ship. I think they were refered to as ten pound poms.


Another shows children, who were sent away on a new life in the 40s, 50s and 60s - an altogether less palatable story.

There are also many tributes in Freo to the convicts whose labour who not only constructed Fremantle prison, in which they were then housed, but also because it was convict labour that created the 19th century infrastructure. It couldn't have been done without them.

The Batavia Coast, Geraldton and the Pinnacles

Geraldton is known as 'sun City' and it's very obvious why. I've never seen such a beautiful sea surrounding a built-up area. Perth and Fremantle clearly get votes, but the beach just south of Geraldton where we stopped for a picnic lunch, really is spectacular. It is several miles of pristine white sand, open to the ocean rollers and with spring temperatures in the mid to high twenties, it was lovely.
The objective was to visit the Pinnacles at Cervantes, to arrive mid afternoon. Most of this coastline is formed of massive sand dunes. They stretch for mile after mile, pushing up from the bush at the side of the road and occasionally forming really high mounds. From a distance they look like a glaciated area of mountain.
The Cervantes Pinnacles are a vast area of limestone pillars that have been exposed from within the sand. Origins are unclear but they are thought to have been formed in the Cater Quaturn Quaternary period which is apparently 1.8 million years ago and if you disregard this as being too young in geological terms, you are a time-snob.
Access is on foot from a visitor centre and also there is a car circuit. We did the walk first and then the car circuit twice and the second time was when the sun was dropping and we were able to stop and soak up the scene.
What can I say?
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There was a fantastic moment at twilight when Dawn spotted four Emus running across the sand about 300m away from us. One was clearly an adult and the rest Emu kids. It was amazing to see, but too far away for our little camera to focus on.

Earlier, in the car park, we had an up-close view of a 'roo with Joey.

After that we headed for Fremantle to arrive on Friday 1st Nov.

The mid-west coast

Sunday 27 October 2013
Continuing south on the North West Coastal Highway we passed east of Kalbarri National Park and just before 28deg south, took a right to go northwest through the park for 65km, to hit the coast at Kalbarri. This is a "popular holiday destination" according to the notes on the map, which conjures-up images of hoards of people all crammed into a seafront strip.
Well this Western Australia and things don't work like that. The photographs say it all really...
 

This is the mouth of the Murchison River, the first we've seen with any visible water. The Indian Ocean is to the left of the left picture and the town is on the south side (to the right) and the river mouth is a lovely place to enjoy the water. There's a great beach, water craft to hire and the pub is just across the road. Pelicans come onto the verge at the edge of the beach for an extra feed each morning.

Intrepid explorers once walked from here to Perth, about 500 km away, after being shipwrecked just off the coast.
We hired a motorboat and went up-river, only to hit a sandbank. As that brought back fairly recent memories of Grasmere and submerged logs, the skipper decided enough was enough and we turned back.


Just inland, a reasonably serious bit of unsealed road, takes you 25km or so into the Murchison river gorges. There are two particular look-outs which are quite dramatic and presumably spectacular after rain in the catchment area. The geology of the area is all about sandstone fractures and intersections, but I'm afraid that our memories are more of the flies, which for the first time in three weeks became unbearable. Thank goodness that we actually had our nets with us, rather than in the car; instant relief.


It's scary in places like this. The temperature was nearly 10 deg higher than at the coast and it's even hotter in the gorges themselves. Not a place to go walking during the main part of the day. It would have been over 40 degrees down there and that doesn't mix well with flies either, so it as back to the hustle and bustle of Kalbarri town.