Cape Leeuwin to Perth

Cape Leeuwin to Perth

After spending a night at Hamelin Bay Caravan Park we headed off early to Cape Leeuwin, built in 1895. At first the “Eastern States” rejected the requests from the Swan Colony to fund a lighthouse, but after several shipwrecks in the area, the lighthouse was eventually built. This is also where the two oceans meet – the great southern ocean and the Indian ocean. It would have been very remote in its early days but not so far now that the town of Augusta 14 km away has been established.

From there we headed up the coast to the Margaret River region. It is another beautiful part of the world, first of all driving through very tall trees and then into the wine and pastoral area. As we were on the way to Busselton and had both visited the Margaret River previously, we limited ourselves to visiting two wineries, firstly Voyager where we had lunch and then Leeuwin Estate. Voyager is also famous for its rose gardens and also a new parterre garden. These are truly beautiful.

We then drove north, resisting the urge to visit the many attractions that the Margaret River has to offer, like chocolate factories & iceream factories, but couldn’t go past the cheese factory!

We arrived at our overnight accommodation on Geographe Bay, Busselton late afternoon, just in time to take a short walk along the foreshore.

Then on to Perth where we had arranged to spend some days with friends who are great campers and love the West Australian national parks. This gave us the opportunity to settle down and get some valuable advice about our forthcoming trip up north. Also took the opportunity to get the car and the car frig serviced.

The next day we headed off to Perth and Kings Park, a beautiful park overlooking the city of Perth. Everything is so green as Perth has had a record rainfall for April. Then headed out to Cottesloe Beach for lunch. Perth has such a relaxed lifestyle!! We loved it.

The next day, after taking the car to be serviced, we were dropped off in Fremantle.
Weather was a bit showery but we managed to get around quite well, using the information from the Visitor’s Centre and the Fremantle Cat (a free bus service around the city). We walked the suggested route around the city, visiting the historical buildings, the harbour areas and then the Shipwreck Museum and Maritime Museum. Both museums were very interesting for different reasons. The Shipwreck Museum has a lot of artifacts and historical information of the dutch ships which visited the WA shores in the 1600’s, e.g some remains from the “Batavia” which was shipwrecked in the Abrolhos Islands. Other stories included the Broadhurst family (the wife was 7 months pregnant and they had several other children), who arrived and settled in Nickol Bay, Dampier in 1871, in a modified paddlewheel steamer from Scotland. I thought I was a”pioneer” when I went to live up there in the mid 1970’s!

The Maritime Museum housed a great history of sailing boats from dug-out canoes, pearling luggers, fishing boats, small sailing boats e.g. VJ’s and Moths, to “Australia 11”, the first boat ever to take the America’s Cup away from the Americans.

While Heinz went back to Sydney for the weekend to catch up with family and daughter Geraldine’s Charity Princess dinner, Jean visited her niece and the family. It was great to be with the family, being a spectator at an under 13’s AFL match and then in the afternoon being a guest in a box at the Subiaco Oval to see the Fremantle Dockers v. Western Bulldogs. Unfortunately the Freemantle Dockers lost in the last quarter, (it seems to be a pattern for them at the moment).

Another day in Perth visiting this lovely city, riding in the FREE buses, (Sydney could learn a lot from Perth Transport Systems), having lunch on the Swan River and taking part in a chime at the Swan Bell Tower, where they have the bells from St. Martins in the Field which were donated for the Bi-Centenary.

Jean had another day in Fremantle and visited an old friend from Dampier before picking up Heinz from the airport. Packed up the car again for the trip north and left mid-morning to spend a day in the Swan Valley, a very historical area north of Perth and home to many wineries, before heading off next day up the Western Australian Coast.

Esperance to Cape Leeuwin

Esperance to Cape Leeuwin

Esperance is a delightful little port and one of our aims was to go on the MacKenzie Wildlife Boat cruise. Don MacKenzie (now 92 and still going strong) had a lot to do with the development of Esperance and the preservation of the 105 islands in the archipaeligo Only 5 are able to be visited and one – Woody Island – has eco camping facilities. The weather was ideal so we joined a group on the catamaran. One of the TV stations was filming a commercial for the cruise so we became “stars for a day”, being filmed boarding the boat and then the photographer went up in the helicopter to film the trip. The catamaran was able to nose in very close to the islands and we saw colonies of sea lions, NZ fur seals, a herd of goats, and many different birds, including some sea eagles which came out to the boat to receive the daily feed of fish. A couple of minutes out of Esperance we saw pod of dolphins close to one of the beaches. We were a little early to see the whales which come into the bay from June to October. Landed on Woody Island for morning tea and Heinz went off in the glass bottomed boat while I went on a short bush walk up to the top of the island. Topped off the day with a scenic drive around the headland, which passed by the large wind farm and to see many more bays from scenic lookouts.

The next day we drove out into the Cape Le Grand National Park which houses many beautiful bays, the main one being Lucky Bay, so named by Matthew Flinders on his voyage around Australia in the “Investigator” after he sheltered there after a severe storm. Nearby Thistle Cove was also named after one of his officers. We were able to drive onto the beach at Lucky Bay and set up a picnic. The sand is so white and the water is turquoise. Perfect weather and at one stage there were only the two of us on the beach having lunch watching two seagulls squabble . A young couple came by and said “it must be great to be retired”! They also told us that a stay in Bremer Bay was a “must” so we took their advice and headed off to Bremer Bay the next day on our way to Albany.

Bremer Bay and adjoining bays were very special and we visited some of the bays on the west in the afternoon. Decided it would be a good place to have a glass of wine and watch the sun go down, but it happened so quickly we almost missed it! Still enjoyed the glass of wine just as the sun set. The bays on the east were best in the morning so went down to the boat harbour after we checked out of our chalet. The water was so clear that you could see dozens of yellow tail and some other fish at the jetty. Many salmon had been caught the day before but we didn’t see any that morning. There is also a huge abalone operation out of Bremer Bay. We were able to take the car onto the beach at Bremer Bay and set up our awning (attached to the roof rack) for the first time. It is so peaceful having a picnic on the beach with no one in sight! Weather was around 22 deg C and fine.

From Bremer Bay we travelled to Albany, calling in to Cheynes Beach on the way, and arriving at our Big 4 cabin just in time to have a walk on the beach. Next day we went down to Frenchman Bay to visit the former Cheynes Beach Whaling Station. The former station is a museum showing just how the operation worked, from the former whaling boat Cheynes IV, the flensing deck , pump houses and the giant whale oil tanks and other buildings housing exhibits. The staff worked under very tough and dangerous conditions, particularly on the flensing deck, and no insurance company would cover them for workers’ compensation.

While there we noticed the Russian sailing ship “Ajibie Hapyca” sailed by Fedor Konyukhov an adventurer, who had just completed the inaugural solo circumnavigation of the Antarctic, heading for Albany port. The “Antarctic Cup” will be a yearly event. Later that day we headed for the wharf and to our surprise we were able to go on board. The yacht is 35 metres long and made of titanium. It was very well fitted out but very sparse for racing conditions. The Skipper, (who when we saw him interviewed on TV) just looked like Rasputin) is a real adventurer, having climbed Everest , skied solo to both north and south poles, rowed solo across the Atlantic, and sailed another boat solo twice around the world non stop. He left Albany on Australia Day and had been at sea for 102 days on two hour watches.

From Albany we pushed on to Coalmine Beach, which is very close to the giant tree walk near Walpole. The walk amongst the giant trees is some 40 metres above the ground at the peak and quite awesome. Certainly worth a visit, even if it was a bit drizzly. Our hosts put on a free fish bbq in the evening and it was attended by some 30 or so people. Everyone you talk to has some interesting advice on what to see and do if you wish to take the suggestions on board. Had an easy day the next day just visiting Mandalay Beach, so named after a Norwegian ship “The Mandalay” beached itself in a severe storm in 1911. The crew managed to get quite a lot off the ship before it broke up, but were five days before they were rescued after a couple of the crew went inland and were found by a pastoralist at Tinglewood.

While at Coalmine Beach we heard of the surfer who was attacked by a shark at Middleton Beach in Albany. We had stayed at the tourist park there so glad we didn’t venture in for a swim? Latest news was the beach was still closed with sharks in the area.

It was a bit drizzly as we headed for Hammelin Bay via Pemberton where we visited the giant “Gloucester Tree”. You can climb the tree to the lookout some 60 metres above the ground, but with drizzly weather and just rods stuck into the side we decided to leave it to the younger generation! Had our heaviest rain while lunching at Pemberton and then drove on through some very pretty forests to our overnight stay at Hammelin Bay, which is just north of Cape Leeuwin, which we visited the next day – and so we arrived at the Indian Ocean, having travelled over 5000 km since we left Sydney.

Streaky Bay to Esperance

Streaky Bay to Esperance

We departed from Streaky Bay after a night of very heavy rain and wind. Again glad we were not in a tent! About 80 km along the Eyre Highway we called into Smoky Bay, a small township with a large oyster industry, and of course, facilities for fishing. Also called into Ceduna. We had been told there were a lot of problems with the local aborigines, but the town looked very clean and quite pretty along the foreshore with pines planted along the parks. We think the fact that these areas are now “alcohol free zones” has had a lot to do with the cleanliness.

We pushed on to Fowlers Bay with overcast skies and frequent showers but it was not raining when we arrived. Settled into a very comfortable 2 bedroom motel apartment and tried to walk out on the jetty, but rain squalls put us inside. Fowlers Bay is a very historical seaside village, and was named by Matthew Flinders when he was on his voyage on the sloop “Investigator” in 1802. It had been previously seen by the Dutch navigator Francois Thyssen in the mid 1600’s but he had obviously not thought it worth settling. In 1840 the explorer John Eyre made his base camp in the sand dunes and set out for Albany, some 1500 km away in 1841. There are monuments both to Matthew Flinders and John Eyre. Once an active port serving as the hub of the Far West Coast, the township of Fowlers Bay fell into decline in the 1960’s and for more than 20 years, and was virtually a ghost town. The population is presently 14, although it did get up to 20. Reg, our host said they were worried if the population doubled, they would have 28!!
The motel is powered by generator and water is either from tanks or hoses from the soak holes.

Fowlers Bay is also a fishermen’s base and today, 28th, we set out along some of the 4WD beach tracks to see Scotts Bay, Mexican Hat Bay, and Wandilla beach, with some helpful local knowledge from Reg. Again the coastline is very dramatic. Heinz was very pleased at the way the car handled the track conditions, some rough, some sandy. At Wandilla there was a lone fisherman out near the rocks. Certainly getting away from it all!

We left Fowlers Bay and started on the track across the Nullarbor, destination Eucla. Yes, it is a long road but we took the opportunity to visit the many lookouts along the way. The Nullarbor roadhouse and petrol station has the most expensive fuel we have experienced so far – $2.02/litre for premium unleaded. The road travels very close to the coast and at each lookout the scenery was very dramatic. The c liff faces in most places are quite dangerous as the escarpment is eroded from the elements, and you can’t tell just by standing on the top. It was showery when we arrived in Eucla, but next morning we were able to go down to see what was left of the Eucla Telegraph Station and a few other places of interest.

We stopped at Mandura for lunch, the only “mountain” on the Nullarbor and then pressed on to Cocklebiddy We had read about the Eyre Bird Observatory and Telegraph Station, and found the turnoff about 16 km from Cocklebiddy. The gravel road to a certain point was a bit rough, but quite manageable, and then we reached a point at the entrance to the Nuytsland Nature Reserve where we had to contact the ranger, who advised us it was okay to come in in the Kluger. We were so pleased we had made the trip as the heritage listed Eyre telegraphic station has been restored by volunteers, and now is the site of the Eyre Bird Observatory, Australia’s first bird observatory. This is still an official weather station reporting three times daily to the Bureau of Meteorology.

We had a very relaxed and informative time there. The observatory is manned by volunteers, who stay for 3 months at a time. They were in the process of handover so we met both couples. We had a very entertaining and comprehensive tour of the station, including the museum. Later we drove down to the beach. A weekly count of shore birds and seabirds on Kanidal Beach is part of the activities. The station hosts guests from time to time who are invited to take part in the studies carried out. Well worth a visit if anyone travels across the Nullarbor.

Whilst there we learned that the track (listed as 4WD only) from Balladonia to Codingup, near Esperance would be quite suitable for our vehicle, so that pleased Heinz and we were able to test the vehicle yet again. We left Cocklebiddy Motor Inn and travelled to Balladonia, which included 146.6 km of straight road. Kept an eye out for the wedgetail eagles and saw a few, including one which flew close to the car. After checking at Balladonia we decided to give the track a go, as it was going to save some 300 km. The first 75 km were a bit corrugated but the car handled it well and then the gravel road improved, with the last 40 km good bitumen. We had a picnic lunch about 110 km down the track and pushed on to arrive mid-afternoon to find our accommodation at Duke of Orleans Bay. We were told about this also by our hosts at the Eyre Bird Observatory. What a find!!!

We had a real treat at Duke of Orleans Bay and were able to discover some of the beaches, driving the car along Wharton Beach, and taking a few of the walks to other beaches. All the beaches have turquoise blue waters and very white sand. We were in a part of the Great Australian Bight coastal area, and the Recherche Archipaeligo, unspoilt beaches with white sand and 105 islands off the coast, only 5 of which are able to be visited, as we found when we arrived in Esperance mid afternoon.

At many places we stopped we found monuments to John Eyre, who apparently arrived at Esperance more dead than alive – apparently he had been close to death many times – and it made us appreciate what he had achieved.