Cape Arid – Margaret River

Wow - where have all the days gone?!  I’ve left my part of the writing of this blog for so long it’s going to take some time to get my thoughts together and drag out the map to figure out where we’ve been and what we’ve done.

Alan’s gone over a few days very briefly, so I’ll continue on, including some places he’s already mentioned.

After Cape Arid we continued west and spent a night in the Stirling Range National Park where we had our first meeting with a Park ‘Camp Host’.   As we pulled in he was hot on our tail to make sure we paid for our camping spot and had a bit of a chat, filling us on what their job is around the parks.  They’re generally retired couples who stay free at the national park of their choice, for any time length they want, keeping an eye on things, light maintenance work, cleaning the amenities etc.  What a great way to enjoy your retirement and a pity we don’t have the same in NSW.  We could spend a few months each year wandering around all our great national parks without any trouble at all!

Some friends have mentioned that we seem to be rushing our trip:  A major portion of our kilometres so far was between South Australia and WA, and although the Nullarbor is a very special area, there is a limit to what you can do there and the amount of time you can spend in a ‘treeless plain.’  Time spent is mostly determined by the weather – and we had a mixed bag - in particular plenty of wind and also quite cool in parts.  So rather than hang around, we prefer to move on to somewhere we can really settle into.

We also realised some time ago that we can’t just sit for days or weeks on end in a caravan park and vegetate.  We’ve met plenty of people who do, but we love to get out and see the area, ride our bikes, go for walks, drive on the beaches etc.  We still sit around, just not for as long as other people.  Besides that, there’s an adventure around every corner!

When we left INA 6 years ago we’d hitched up the van and taken off around Australia, but it was a very quick trip, with a cloud over our heads the whole way, worrying about lawyers and expenses, and being unemployed, so this time we were determined to slow down.   I was really keen to spend as much time as possible in the South West of WA, a beautiful area of with majestic forests, beaches and lovely little towns.

So - continuing on from Cape Arid:

On our way to Bridgetown from Cape Arid, we stopped to buy some hot cross buns in Katanning for morning tea.  I’m sure Katanning is famous for something, but we thought it was a worthwhile visit for other reasons – firstly to see the hordes of people waiting outside the local courthouse for their time with the judge, and secondly – they had the best playground ever!  We toasted our hot cross buns slathered with butter, then spent ages playing on the giant slides, see-saws and other stuff, before driving on to Bridgetown.

We don’t go out much for dinner on holidays as cooking is fun when you have time to plan and enjoy, but we were tempted by the sound of the ‘award winning’ steak sandwiches advertised at the Bridgetown pub.  It was worthy of its award - absolutely delicious and we had a great night out.

 We spent a day driving through the forests and exploring possible camping options for when we returned after our flying visit to Sydney and also spent time wandering around the riverbank into Bridgetown visiting some lovely speciality grocers and shops. 

We only spent 5 days at home – most of this time catching up with our kids and the mothers and running around between doctor, hospital, hand therapist, and x-rays for the newly repaired thumb. Saturday night was a big one with everyone turning up at our place for a BBQ and then before we knew it we were back on the plane to Perth.

Walpole was our next destination, and part of the Great Southern Forests.  Although we stayed at a caravan park on the beach, we were surrounded by peppermint eucalyptus trees with very much a national park feel to it; in fact we’re pretty sure it used to be a NP sometime in its life.  After overnight rain the trees smelt lovely.  We spent our days sightseeing (and further visits to physiotherapists and hospitals for dressing changes, and after 10 days, the removal of stitches on the thumb).  We know all the local hospitals in the area and can recommend all of them for exceptional service!

Besides being famous for its trees, this area is the only place in Australia where Marron is found (except Kangaroo Island where it’s just been introduced).  It’s a cross between a lobster and yabby and tastes like a mixture of all crustaceans mixed together -and chicken of course J.  Marron season is only 3-4 weeks per year and there are very strict rules on catching them in the wild and the allowable size.   Many farmers have dams on their properties to breed Marron so it’s pretty easy to eat them all year now.  They love cold clean water, so the environment here is perfect for them.  We went to a winery on the outskirts of Denmark for a $25 marron and glass of wine for lunch, and although we agreed it was nice, we’d opt for either lobster or Balmain bugs any time instead. 

The area is full of Karri trees which grow straight up (some up to 75 metres tall), giant Tingle trees you can park your car inside, Blackwood and Jarrah.  There are forest drives everywhere – sometimes narrow dirt roads, sometimes highways, sometimes bike tracks, but always the same sensation of being surrounded by magnificent trees.   We couldn’t get enough so were always out and about amongst these giants.  Thank goodness way back in the 1920’s and 1930’s they started to protect them so it’s still possible to see virgin forest with some trees up to 400 years old, and also revegetated areas where they’re still pretty bloody big anyway!  Imagine all this and the option of returning during Spring to see world famous wildflowers.  There’s always something different to experience and an excuse for another holiday.

Because we’ve slowed right down, we only drove 50 kms to our next stop in Shannon National Park, where the camp hosts were well into their 70’s, possibly 80’s but they had a great time chatting with the campers (or letting off some steam depending on what’s going on) and generally being useful around the place.  We were spoilt there with a huge camping site, flushing toilets and hot showers.

We were determined to stay as long as we could in the Southern Forests, but with Easter fast approaching we planned to drive to Margaret River to bunker down in the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park before the hordes of holidaymakers arrived from Perth.  The park is in a great location, just outside Margaret River Township and all the wineries, beaches and caves.  We’re in exactly the same camp spot as 6 years ago and plan on spending our days visiting the wineries and breweries, doing a few drives up and down the coast and maybe lunch in a pub or two. 

We arrived at the park on Tuesday, and pretty much had the pick of the camp spots, although not too many choices for caravans.  It’s filling up fast and by Good Friday there’ll be 300+ people here.