To round off mum's trip to Australia we decided to pack the car up and drive south to
Margaret River. Margs (don't you just love aussie nicknames for stuff?!) is the place to go if you live in Perth and have a few days off, I've already blogged about it twice because I love it that much. So we bundled into the car and set off on the 4 hour drive to Denmark, we wanted to show mum as much as possible so planned a jam packed itenary of some of our favourite things...
On the way we were shocked by the size of the bushfire on the high way, for around 30km the trees were charred as far as the eye could see, it's absolutely devastating to think about how much damage the fires do out here, not only impacting on the flora and fauna but also the wildlife and ultimately humans too- yet for some stupid reason a
lot are started by humans.
We head straight to Greens Pool and Elephant rocks, but also decided to drive a little further down the dusty track (you'll probably want a 4WD for it) and checked out waterfall beach, the water fall was a bit of an anti-climax but the rest of the beach was beautiful. The weather was a lot better when we did the trip in 2013 with Jack and Gem.
From there we drove to the valley of the giants for the tree top walk, we were hoping this would be the highlight of mums trip. The trees in the valley of the giants are just that, giant, and the tree top walk which goes up 40m into the canopy offers amazing views. There's also an ancient giants walk which takes you around some of the oldest Karri trees in the area.
It was early evening by the time we were finished and it was starting to get really miserable, so we head into Pemberton and found a campsite for us and checked mum into her hotel. We went to the Pemberton hotel for dinner and it was the most average pub food (and service) ever, so no photos.
That morning I woke up shivering, my nose felt like an icicle and rain was hammering on the out side of our tent, oh so glam. I debated sac-racing my sleeping back to the showers to warm up but realised if I got it wet I'd be screwed so I peeled myself out and sprinted across the site. Feeling a little bit de-frosted and slightly more human we head to pick up mum.
We grabbed brekky in a local bakery and bought some giant custard and apple doughnuts for the road. Luckily our first stop wasn't far...The Gloucester tree is only a few kilometres from Pemberton town, this huge Karri tree was an old fire look out and visitors to the national park are welcome to climb it. My photos don't do it justice, it's 53metres high and there is absolutely no safety system. I'd psyched myself up to climb all the way to the top (last time I wore a dress and flip flops- not really a climbing outfit!), but I chickened out at the first turn and head down. Dan however charged to the top just before it begun to rain again.
From there we drove to Cape Leeuwin lighthouse to show mum where the two oceans meet, and then stopped in Augusta for a bit of lunch before heading on to Jewel Cave.
We then were going to head to a winery when I suggested we swung into Hamelin Bay instead. We were so glad we did, I'd heard about the sting rays which live in Hamelin Bay before but didn't expect to see them up quite so close! We spent ages sat on the beach watching them, and a pod of dolphins which swam by too (I'll never tire of seeing dolphins).
From there we head to our next campsite, which was heaps better than the last (hence not naming names!!), we had a much snugger nights sleep and mum preferred her Margaret River hotel too. The next morning we were up bright and early so Dan and I head to Woolies to buy snacks for the journey home. We grabbed mum and head to the Margaret River bakery, but despite waiting 15 minutes there was no room for us :( So we head back to Woolies grabbed some food on the go and set off home.
Margaret River beaches are incredible, I wrote a whole post about them, and I could write five more. When it's sunny they're gorgeous with calm warm seas and sparkling white sand, a tropical paradise. But when the weather bad and the swells right they're some of the best surf beaches in the world, in fact the Margaret River Pro is on from April 15th and as I post this there's been consistent 15ft + waves.
As the weather was a bit naff we made a B line for the goose in Busselton and opted against a walk along the jetty thanks to the weather. Last time we were in
Busselton the weather was heaps nicer and we sat outside sipping on our drinks watching the learner paddle boarders.
And as always from Busselton it was back on the freeway and back up to Perth, till next time Margs!
xo
