West Cape Howe N.P

A DAY DRIVE TO WEST CAPE HOWE N.P.

From Denmark we did a day drive, we were wanting to touch the most Southern Point of W.A. but in the end we had to be happy with seeing part of it from a distance. The point is called Torbay Heads, it is a 4WD sand track down to it then a 3 km walk. The walk would have been easy but unfortunately the track to get to the walk was going to cause us some issues, going down would have been interesting but do-able, it was the climbing out that would have caused us some issues! A long sandy hill climb that had quite a few deep holes, steps, rocks, car tyres and posts used by previous people to get themselves back out, those of you who have cars with diff locks would have had fun!

Instead we made it to West Cape Howe and were not disappointed with the views over the enormous cliffs.



Standing at the edge of West Cape Howe, the most
Southern PointTorbay Heads is around another
 point to the left!




Huge cliffs like the Aussie Bite



This shot was from the same point but looking to the West along
the coast line, such a dramatic change in the rocks.




This is the car park area you get to at West Cape Howe after you have gone down a good 4wd track!
We had a laugh that they can bother doing this yet they wont clean up the track that gets you here.
 The track has ripped up conveyor mats all in piles that you have to drive over and pine log poles people
have pulled out to use as traction to get themselves up some of the hills, yet they have this huge car parking area!



The closest we got to seeing the most Southern Point.
The sand on the left is Shelly Beach a windy spot which
you can only camp at if you have a tent!  

Well we didn't touch it this time so we figure it will give us something to come back and do! 

DENMARK

DENMARK  7^th – 9^th March

Our original plan was to stay in a N.P. nearer the cost but when we got there it  looked like a caravan park and had no room available for a camper trailer so we had no choice but to go to Denmark.

Denmark is like a mini Daylesford with about 50 plus wineries in and around it. As we drove in, there on the banks of the lovely Denmark River was a group of people all dressed in black pants and white t-shirts all swaying together to bring inner peace to themselves, ha.

If you come to Denmark you must go to a winery called Matilda’s and then you must go for lunch at Pepper and Salt which is at the winery. Pepper and Salt is run by Byron’s sister Ange and her husband Silas who is the chef. The menu is small but the food amazing. All the food is made by Silas and his second Chef and he loves using 7 spices in particular which create the most amazing flavours. We cannot speak highly enough of the food or the simple fact that Silas comes out and chats to the clients about his food with such a passion it is hard not to get wrapped up in it all. I must admit the wine we were drinking made by Matilda also helped to create a very memorable lunch. So many thanks Byron for the recommendation, it is your turn now to visit!

Another place which is also a must see in Denmark, and costs nothing is Greens Pool.



This is early morning before the sun had
broken through the clouds looking
out to sea.



Same time as the photo on the left
but looking back to shore.

Below is the same day but with the sun out and the right temperature to swim/ snorkel.

Beautiful!



All the boys having a snorkel.
Check out the posing seagull!




Looking from the other end back towards the "pool".



 It’s a beautiful peaceful bay with these amazing rocks just scattered about and then you look up and out to sea and you have the ocean breaking over the reef looking rough and rugged.

Just around the corner from here is a bay called Elephant Rocks, can you see why?



It is hard to see but the middle big rock does resemble an
elephant, well this is the first thing you see as you walk towards
the bay.



Then you have to go down some stairs.
(Ignore the fact the boys are going up, we took these on
the way back!)



Then you have go through these....




And this is what you come to!


The rocks are so much taller at Elephant Beach and it is literally around the corner, a 10 minute walk from Greens Pool.

On the same road just a bit further around was the below bay called Madfish Bay. We were told it was a good place to try fishing, so we pulled out the rods and had a go. Pete did see a big whiting but he had no luck catching it. It was very hard to take sitting there looking out at the view watching the waves crash out on the reef! Actually we did find it very interesting watching how fast ans strong the tide ran in and out of the small inlet we were fishing in.



This is looking into the small inlet where
the boys were trying to fish, then below is from the same spot
just looking back out to the sea past the reef.





We couldn't catch fish so we had a go at the crabs,
they took the bait but were to fast to catch!






Then again on the same road and around another bay was Waterfall Beach, and you wouldn’t believe it if you hadn’t gone down to see it but there was an actual Waterfall running out of the cliff onto the beach, quite unique we thought.




Yep it's a waterfall on the beach!




Looking from the waterfall back out to sea.



Charlie had a win here at the C.P. He came running back to us from the toilets saying he saw a wallet on the floor so we told him to go and get it. I took him up to the office to hand it in and the lady in the office told him he was very good to hand it in and offered him a chuppa chupp, we actually  asked for two just to cut out the complaints from Tom! The lady in the office gave us the site number of the man who had lost his wallet so we were able to deliver it to him. He didn’t even realise and he and his wife were very grateful for it had everything in it. They gave Charlie $20 for his good deed and praised him highly he was very proud of himself, well so he should beJ.

WHALE WORLD ALBANY

WHALE WORLD MUSEUM

We came back from Porongurup and went to visit the Whale World Museum in Albany, what an interesting place. Apparently I have been there when I was about 3 years old, my sister Julie remembers the awful smell and watching the blubber being put down these huge holes in the deck and mum and dad bought some whales teeth there which are now worth about three times as much…. I don’t remember a thing.

We found it a very interesting place and learn’t a lot about the history of whaling. It was in 1976 that the last whale was processed here and since then they have done a lot of work around the place to keep it open to the public.

You can walk through one of the original ship used for whaling and see how they lived and worked for 6 out 7 days a week.



The Cheyne 1V used for whaling
you could explore this ship.



Inside one of the Mess Rooms



Second Mates room



The spear guns used to kill the whales.

A day for a whaler would start anytime from 4-6am on board the ship and would end 12 maybe 14 hours later depending on the weather. They would go out hunt down a whale, hopefully a cow ( female) because whales mate for life so if they get a cow the bull (male) would hang around they would more then likely get him to. If they caught a bull first the female would flee for her life, smart aren’t they! Once the whale was dead they would pump them full of air so they would float, tag them with a beacon and place a flag in them to show other whaling ships who had killed this whale, then they would let them float free and move on to the next kill. When the end of the day was near they would turn the ship around and start heading home collecting the floating whales as they went, tying them on behind the ship like floating balloons.

\

Where the dead whales were tied up off shore there was a lot of sharks around trying to get a free feed so one of the jobs was to shoot the sharks and keep them away from the whales.

The whales would be pulled up onto the flensing deck with a winch and there they would be sliced to peel off the blubber and the meet sorted out, the only part not used in a whale was the heart, kidney and liver because they may have contained traces of mercury. The rest was used either for the oil or processed down to a powder for fertiliser or feed for cattle.The teeth were pulled because they were pure Ivory and worth a lot on the market. A product which I cannot remember now but starts with an “A” is found in the intestine of the whale and this is used in expensive perfumes, it is what makes the perfume stick to the body!!

Such an interesting place with a lot to see. The old tanks that were used to hold the oil have been turned into mini cinema’s each very different. To see the size of some of the actual bones of whales was also an eye opener. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is interested in what happened not that long ago….



The bones around the door frame are the
jaw bones of a blue whale.




These are the bones from the last Pygmy Whale Caught
here at this plant




The shark cage used to run over the oil pipe line that ran
form the tanks on land  out to sea to the ships which came in to fill up. Men
would swim in this to check the line and make sure there were no
leaks. The jaws behind the boys were from a 3.6 meter
great white shark, considered a small one. 



PORONGURUP N.P.

PORONGURUP    N.P     1^ST – 5^TH  FEBRUARY

In W.A. their long weekend was one week earlier then Victoria’s, thankfully a man at Bremer Bay tipped us off about this and we were able to get in at the one and only small C.P in Porongurup which is 40km North of Albany. When we phoned we were asked if we were coming for the wine festival!

Porongurup is a small N.P. and the C.P. is a small with lovely grassy areas and trees, it is owned by Cheryl and Les, ( actually it is for sale for $800,000!) We thought we might be in for a crowded and possibly a few very noisy nights, but not to be. Les and Cheryl run the park like a well oiled machine and put up with nothing.We had gotten there early Thursday and there was only one other caravan set up,by Friday night it was like a huge party was happening with caravans, tents, Maui and Apollo Campers scattered everywhere, quite a site to see but everything had it’s place and there was no noise after 10pm, Les and Cheryl had their fingers on the pulse. After the mad rush to get in it was a mad rush to leave,Monday morning  63 sites vacated!  

We met a couple Steve and Carol with whom we hit it off with really well. Unfortunately Steve had just broken his ankle on one of the walks around here so he was in plaster from knee to toe. We found out we had lots to talk about with them because they left their home in Townsville QLD in June and were on their way back home. So needless to say we really enjoyed our first "long weekend" in W.A.

Porongurup has some amazing walks to do, one walk  in particular which is a must do is the Balancing Rock and Castle Rock walk. The local council has recently put a fair bit of money into the area to try and promote its beauty and what a way to do it with a platform that goes around one of the many huge boulders.

After a good steady walk up hill  you come to Balancing Rock;



Charlie





Tom

 

Here you can have some fun taking  photographs .



Can you see the face, we thought this
was just like those rocks on Easter Island.



Moving on you come to a place where you have to make a choice, go rock climbing or just go to an easy lookout?

ROCK CLIMBING IN STYLE ON CASTLE ROCK



The start of the climb, you can just make out the ladder
in the background





This is what you climb up onto, a platform
where you can literally walk around the rock!





The end of the track.





Check out the view, if you look hard you can see the ocean



Yep, that is what we were walking on!! AWESOME





The other great walk is called the Hayward and Nancy Peak circuit and we also included a track up and back to Devils Slide. The peak walk was lovely walking across the ridge of the mountain with views either side and an awesome look at Devils Slide. The walk, or should I say climb up Devils Slide was very steep but well worth it. 

This was the view on the Nancy Peak walk looking across
to Devils Slide that we walked up.  



This is from the top of Devils Slide looking back across Nancy Peak
where we had just walked across the ridge. Great views!
The sign post says end of trail!




Up with the eagles, a wedge tail checking us out.






We needed a days rest after two days of climbing, so instead we walked down to the local market at the one and only general store in Porongurup. A little market with a bit of local produce but more second hand stuff. Our neighbour in the C.P. was there selling his honey then later that day when he came back to camp we had a great chat to him regarding being a Bee Keeper. We found out why honey is called a particular name for example black wood or red gum. It is because that was the type of tree that was in  flower and the bees were collecting from it.... I know that makes sense now we just didn't think logically about it. The Bee keeper watches to see in which direction the bees are going to collect the honey from and knowing what trees are in which direction they then know what type of honey it will be.He was also telling us that he sells his honey to the big chain supermarkets totally untreated, straight from the hives, then the supermarkets treat it by heating it up which prevents it from crystallising,then they package and label it with whatever and put it on the shelf. We bought some honey from him which has had nothing done to it and the taste is amazing... 

Tom and Charlie for the first time on our holidays actually got to interact with other kids which was great to see. They played cricket and had fun under the sprinklers Les let the kids play under. Pete and I must have this thing with picking the hot days to go inland. It reached 40 c one of the days here the others were high 30's, apparently unusual for this time of year, we sure can pick them!

Monday when everyone was going home we went for a day drive up to Stirling N.P. only 30 minutes up the road. We did the most popular track in this N.P. called the Bluff Knoll. Again another huge walk up hill with what the boys nicknamed "killer stairs", they weren't far from the truth... lot's of them and not the smallest either..
We were again rewarded with amazing views from above, especially this green carpet effect over the range.



Yep, we were off to climb that huge rock behind Charlie.




On the way up still a long way to go
but it shows how steep it is, I was standing
taking this photo!




WE MADE IT! We look buggered because we were!




The carpet effect.




WE MADE IT BACK!



Bremer Bay, Fitzgerald N.P and Albany

Bremer Bay 23rd -25th February

We left Wave Rock heading back to the coast with all intentions to go and camp in the Fitzgerald N.P. We were listening to the ABC news and heard that East of Albany was on extreme fire watch and a storm was on the way and that was where we were heading......We decided to play it safe again and go camp at Bremer Bay in a C.P and do a day visit into the N.P.

This ended up to be a good decision for we were woken up in the middle night by quite a bit of lightning and thunder all happening directly above us. The rain fall wasn't as bad as back at Cape Arid just enough to get everything wet but not leave to many puddles.

Bremer Bay is a very little coastal town with one very expensive small general store! It is mainly made up of holiday homes from the people of Albany. It has some lovely little bays and a very nice Estuary, where the river meets the ocean.



looking out to sea from the Estuary




looking back towards the river
at the mouth of Estuary












Bremer Bay has a good lookout from their one wind turbine that helps the little town run. The below turbine is 44 meters tall and the blades are 22 meters long. This turbine provides the town with about 40% of its power.



view from lookout over the Estuary and bay




the wind turbine at the lookout



view back at the town on the inlet

FITZGERALD NATIONAL PARK  26TH FEB

We did a day drive from Bremer Bay to Gordon Inlet  which is in the Fitzgerald N.P which we really liked so we then decided we would go and stay a night in the park.
We went to Point Anne and camped in the little camping bays along Mary Inlet, only one other camper there, so peaceful. 
After we had set up we went exploring and were surprised when we went to a small BBQ area to find quite a few people there having a picnic or fish. We went on further to look at Trigelow Bay to try and find a fishing spot but instead found a very soft beach! Just when the track started to show signs that it may be fun we came across a sign saying "ROAD CLOSED" , all we could see from the top of the hill leading down to the beach was the black conveyor mats that some places use to protect the track. We could see that a few cars had driven around the sign but we thought we would park at the top and walk down to see..... Look what we found......



just in case you didn't read the first sign !!!




just goes to show how easily the sand can wash away

We went for a walk along the beach a bit and discovered the softest "wet" sand we have stood in. The boys all had quite a bit of fun trying to bury their legs the deepest. They were jumping off the ledge to get the most impact.



That's Pete standing after a jump off the ledge!




Tom's and Charlie's effort. You had to be quick to get out
before the wave came it washed right over the holes and
you could only just see where you had been standing.

It just proved to us how careful you need to be on each beach, the sand can change from bay to bay!

The view from half way up the closed road back along Trigelow beach.


The view from the beach just out side the camp was lovely with the huge mountains in the background, it was just way to windy to fish. Tom tried but he could hardly get the line into the water with the on shore wind.




Pt. Charles Bay, looks beautiful but it was so windy!

The morning we packed up was lovely , not to windy and just starting to heat up. We went and did a small circuit walk out onto Point Anne itself which passed one of the Rabbit Proof Fence's built to try and stop the rabbits getting into W.A., but of course they didn't work. When we got out onto the point we happened to look down over the edge to be greeted by a small pod of dolphins and one seal, just slowly swimming along in search of food. The views to the East were of a very rugged coast line. The walk back to the car along the coast showed again how lovely and stunning this clear water is. 




Remains of the Rabbit Proof Fence



speaks for itself!



Views back at Pt. Charles Bay the beach we camped near.

ALBANY 27^TH – 29^TH FEB

We had not long been on the highway making our way towards Albany when a Ute passed us and threw up a stone that gave us a 50c star just to the left of Pete’s vision, BOTHER!!!

Nothing we could do about it till we got into Albany. We diverted off the highway to look at a lovely little cove called Cheynne Beach. A lovely little fishing spot with two rows of houses, a caravan park and a boat ramp! We sat on a patch of grass right near the beach and had some lunch while watching the fishermen bringing in their boats.

In Albany we stayed at Emu Point, simply because that was where the Top Tourist C.P. was and since we are now members we just stay in these C.P. It was a big park and being a camper trailer you don’t always get stuck with the caravans, which suits us, we had a lovely shady spot. Middleton Beach was just over a small dune, lovely, although  we had no desire to go swimming, to cold for us, but it was a lovely setting. Again the bay was made picturesque by the islands and mountains around.

The main street of Albany is lovely with the outlook being right down to the bay. It is a busy place with everything you need here. We booked the car in to a Novus place to have it repaired thinking we will surely get more chips on this trip .When Pete took the car in to have the "star" fixed he went to have a quiet cuppa at Mc Donald's but unfortunately that didn’t last for long…the star cracked all the way along the window when the man put the glue into it ,so we were up for a new windscreen….$400 later…at least they had one to put in…..

While we were waiting for the new screen to be put in we went for one of our big bike rides again; from our C.P right around the point into Albany. It had great scenery, hills and a head wind!! We ended up at the tourist info. Centre which also happens to be the train station from the huge port here. Not long after getting off our bikes  a train left the station with 52 carriages on it, Tom counted them from a pedestrian bridge that was right above the train.




Looking out across Middleton Beach on our bike ride


The War plays a big part in Albany because it was the last piece of Australian land that allot of our soldiers saw before they went off to war. There is a fort and gun turrets around the point and a huge memorial up on Anzac Hill with spectacular views around Albany.




Hard to see but this looks up to a huge
war memorial







Looking out across Middleton Beach towards Emu Point, you
can also see the war memorial on the right.





From the same lookout looking to the right down at the port.





Unfortunately the weather here was  cloudy, windy and drizzly, with cool nights apparently quite normal for Albany! We took some advice from a man in Bremer Bay and have booked into a C.P inland at Porongurup N.P for the long weekend in W.A which is one week before VIC.