On Monday, we visited a bird of prey sanctuary where we saw close up the majestic wedge tailed eagle as well as getting a chance to hold a black kite. We then went on a visit to Lake Cave - one of several underground cave systems in the area - before driving on to Augusta, at the south end of the Capes Region, which is very close to Cape Leeuwin where the Southern Ocean and Indian Ocean meet.
We spent Tuesday out on Cape Leeuwin and climbed up the lighthouse there for some impressive views of the south west tip of Australia. We also saw an old waterwheel which, through some bizarre ageing process, has been turned into stone! That evening we had some world class fish and chips for dinner, and I nearly blinded myself by walking into the car aerial - an unfortunate incident which left the aerial hanging on by the narrowest of threads. We spent the next week hoping it wouldn't fall off completely before we returned the hire car!
For photos from Cape Leeuwin click HERE.
On Wednesday we set off towards Albany, stopping for a couple of days in the forests of SW Australia. There is some very pretty scenery in this area as well as a couple of places to visit which are not really designed for people who are scared of heights!!!
The first one was the Gloucester Tree, just outside a small town called Pemberton. This is a 60metre high tree with a lookout at the top which used to used for spotting forest fires. You can climb to the top of the tree up a series of spikes embedded in the trunk, which form a spiral staircase to the top. I made it to the top, but Melanie stopped after about 5 steps. Probably a wise decision as the climb was a little nerve wracking. Thankfully it wasn't very windy that day, as apparently the top of the tree can sway around a lot if the weather is bad!
The second vertigo inducing site was a treetop walk at the Valley of the Giants, This is a spectacular series of walkways suspended amongst some of the towering karri trees. The highest point was aroud 40m above the ground - so probably best not to look down!
After surviving these treetop explorations, we made our way onto the former whaling port of Albany on Friday, were we spent a couple of days exploring the spectacular granite coastline of the Tondarrup National Park and planning the trip from Perth to Darwin. We came up with a plan, with the help of the hostel managed who was very helpful and convinced us that we had to visit a region called the Kimberley - more about this later....
For photos of the forests and Albany, click HERE.
