Linda and Brendan
From Black Point we followed the 4wd track north-west behind the sand dunes. It was a little disappointing, not as challenging as sandy track that morning, but nice enough. We left Linda and Brendan at Karridale feeling a bit guilty about leaving our new friends to camp while we headed up to Margaret River to our little cottage. A holiday from our holiday! The cottage was lovely, and we stayed for 4 nights. Really wonderful spot, just outside the town, we'd highly recommend it – link: http://www.stayz.com.au/18691. We made day trips out to see the surfers at the main break at Margaret River and other breaks which line this coast, pottered around Margaret River itself (nice little town, bit posh for us on our current budget though!), and drove down to Cape Leuwin to see the lighthouse and the views. We cleaned and preened Priscilla inside and out, cooked nice food indoors, watched tv and generally had a very relaxing little break!
Margaret River Main Break (Bit big for me!)
Surfing Cow (Margaret River had a Cow Parade from March – June)
Red Gate Beach
Rainy Day at Cape Leeuwin with the Moorine Marauder
Accidental 4wd trip in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park
Margaret River Cottage
Stowaway cat!
On Friday we left the cottage and headed up the coast, stopping to see the various surf breaks on route (Lefthanders was the busiest surf break I've ever seen!) before staying the night at Yallingup. First night back in the tent for a while, and we promptly fell out about the how level our site was and what the optimum position for Priscilla might be! Once we settled in, we watched the surfers at the nice left-hand break, but I didn't have the nerve to get in. I'm a bit scared of reef breaks, not quite up to that standard yet!
On Saturday we drove up the coast to Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. We took another little random 4wd track down to beach before following the coastal route through Dunsborough (stopping for a while to watch the salmon fishermen at Rocky Point) to Busselton.
Rocky Point
We stopped the night at Busselton, visiting its “famous” pier (the longest in the Southern Hemisphere according to the blurb) only to discover it was closed for refurbishment. Nice pier nonetheless. We went out that evening to watch the premiership, only to find it wasn't on until the next day (doh!) We watched an AFL game instead with a couple of grey nomads who originated (40 odd years ago) from the UK.
On Sunday we attempted to follow the coast road marked out of town, but discovered the road did not exist. We wound up, having gotten ourselves a bit lost, stopping at a new marina which is being built just outside Busselton. We stopped to check out how the other half live (a little house with its own jetty would do me fine...), and found two dolphins feeding in the marina. Its our closest encounter to date with dolphins (other than my swim with them), as they were chasing fish up and down the walls of the marina just where we were standing. After a long while watching them, we set off again on up the coast, hoping to camp in the Yalgorup National Park at Martins Tank Lake. This involved a 3km trip along a fairly corrugated road. Not long after we'd set off down this bumpy track, I noticed Priscilla making some new noises... After some investigation, it became clear her windscreen had become detached, and was simply wobbling around in its rubber casing! We got to the campground a bit shaken up by the whole experience, and decided it was a bit too isolated and eerie - no oone else there. So we chickened out and headed back down the corrugated track and out to Preston Beach (where of course there was no camping), so set carried on up the main road in the dark to the next commercial campground at Lake Clifton. It was one of the worst campgrounds we've been to – lots of people seemed to actually live there. I kept expecting to see Britney Spears tumbling out of one of the trailers...
We survived the night though, and continued into week 15 unscathed...
More soon,
Claire, of Jen and Claire Fame
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