Peelies travels

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...

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), th...

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 ...

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, afte...