On our way towards Perth

We’ve been travelling slow lately, which gave us the opportunity to explore many places in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park in the South West region of Western Australia. It is named after the two locations at either end of the park which have lighthouses, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste.

We found a nice bush camping a short walk away from Conto Beach, a wild undeveloped white sand beach backed by tall green bush covered hills and turquoise waters.

We stayed three days in this area, drove on a few 4WD tracks, spent an afternoon in Margaret River, a little town famous for its wineries and surfing and visited a couple of caves. The Margaret River Region is home to over 100 caves, which have been formed over the last 1 million years by the constant movement of water through limestone. We liked especially Lake Cave with its stunning crystal wonderland and the only cave in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste Ridge with a permanent lake. The cave is renowned for the ‘Suspended Table’ – a five tonne column of calcite that hangs from the ceiling just a few centimetres above the lake.

I would love to do the ‘Cape to Cape walk’ one day, a long-distance track (123 km) along the coast of the whole national park. During our days in the area we crossed the path several times and walked short parts of it (from Wyadup to Canal Rocks and back). The views are stunning, the beaches pristine, the forests amazing.

The region north-east of the Leeuwin-Naturaliste NP towards Perth is densely populated, and the coast is not as accessible. On our way towards Perth we only stopped at Busselton to visit its jetty, the longest wooden pier in the world, stretching almost 2 km out to sea.

Because the shallow waters of Geographe Bay restricted ship movement, a long jetty was required so that cut timber could be transported to ships (between 1853 and the 1960s). We walked out to the end and visited the underwater observatory. We descended 8 metres beneath the water’s surface to Australia’s greatest artificial reef, and were amazed about a “forest” of vividly-coloured tropical and sub-tropical corals, sponges, fish and invertebrates.

At that point we hadn’t quite decided where to spend the following week until my brother would come to Perth. We were talking about Perth’s hinterland and its national parks, and a daytrip to Rottnest Island just 18 km off the coast west of Fremantle. Quite spontaneously we agreed to stay in Perth instead, and I found the most charming little cottage on Airbnb. Amazingly enough it was still available and we booked it.

Before we moved in, we spent two nights on a camping site in Fremantle, and took a daytrip out to Rottnest Island. Due to the long weekend, it was very crowded but we were lucky and managed to rent some bikes to explore the island. Rottnest is perhaps best known for its population of quokkas, a small native marsupial found in very few other locations. The island was given the name “Rotte nest” (meaning “rat nest” in the 17th century Dutch language) by a Dutch captain in 1696, mistaking the quokkas for giant rats. They were very cute and not shy at all!

One morning we strolled through Fremantle which we liked a lot. Its big port is fascinating, and the city’s well-preserved 19th century buildings beautiful. As part of Fremantle Festival, Fremantle’s High Street is the centrepiece of this art event, being applied yellow painted foil to create a mind-bending trick of perspective.

On Sunday we moved into our little house and have been living a quiet life since then, enjoying air condition, our own bathroom, a proper kitchen and beds – all things we easily go without when we are on the road. We have been visiting Perth’s CBD one day, the great Kings Park with its beautiful botanic garden another.

And we drove out to Cottesloe Beach not just for a swim, but also to visit ‘Sculpture by the sea’, another great public art event with about 70 sculptures by artists from all over the world. I just loved the interplay between art and people. People don’t only get there to visit the exhibition, they also go for a swim, sunbathe or find shadow under one of the sculptures. Children play around them and the place is just filled with a wonderful spirit! Have a look at their homepage: http://sculpturebythesea.com/cottesloe/cottesloe-gallery/

 

The remaining days we’ll spend quietly at home and strolling around in the city, our car is getting a service (we’ve been driving our first 10’000 km) and then on Friday we’ll meet my brother and get on the road again together with him.