The start of our big trip to Walpole in the southern part of Western Australia began yesterday.
Australia is so huge, one constantly forgets just how far away everything is. Towns, which appear quite good sized on a map are in fact just a roadhouse with a petrol station. Our trip down south lead through some of the dairy farm, wine and fruit farming regions.
Having left early in the morning we rang ahead to the Walpole Visitor Centre to arrange for accomodation for the night. A lady called Margareth made a huge effort to set us up with one of the two motels in town and even rang back to inform us that a cheaper option was available. Customer services is awesome down here.
The motel itself was ok, great, however was to listen to a full record by the Bee Gees for the first time. Australians are sometimes stuck in a different decade when it comes to music in restaurants and hotels which leads to very awful songs become stuck in my head and I have to sing them out loud while I drive - much to the dismay of my family.
Walpole had one street, an internet cafe open from 10-12 and nothing more.
Our main intention was to see the Tree Top Walk in the Nornalup National Park. To protect the very rare Tingle Tree (red eucalyptus) as its roots stayed on the surface and were killed by people walking over them, the Australians built a Tree Top Walk which enables the visitor to walk through the canopees of the trees about 40 meters above the ground and enjoy the whole forest from a new perspective.
A very informative guided tour through an ancient empire walk showed traditional plants used by Aboriginals for hunting and nutrition.
The way back led past Mandalay Beach,a very beautiful beach (all beaches are stunning here) and then to Margaret River, the wine region of Western Australia where we made my dad eat a vegetarian dinner. He survived! And thanks dad for putting up with us.
The night was spent in a villa in Busselton built in 1831 with original furniture and which is the oldest house in Western Australia.
The next day led to an excursion on the Busselton Jetty, apparently the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere with 2km in lenght. A small hike on Cape Naturaliste had us nicely dehydrated and longing for cool fluids as half of the natural park had just been victim to a bush fire and ash was still abundand in the air. Temperatures were rocketing as well but good for wildlife spotting - bobtail and other lizards.
The evening was concluded at the Holiday Inn in Perth - most comfortable bed of the journey so far.
song stuck in my head for most of the trip: All I have to do is Dream
Australia is so huge, one constantly forgets just how far away everything is. Towns, which appear quite good sized on a map are in fact just a roadhouse with a petrol station. Our trip down south lead through some of the dairy farm, wine and fruit farming regions.
Having left early in the morning we rang ahead to the Walpole Visitor Centre to arrange for accomodation for the night. A lady called Margareth made a huge effort to set us up with one of the two motels in town and even rang back to inform us that a cheaper option was available. Customer services is awesome down here.
The motel itself was ok, great, however was to listen to a full record by the Bee Gees for the first time. Australians are sometimes stuck in a different decade when it comes to music in restaurants and hotels which leads to very awful songs become stuck in my head and I have to sing them out loud while I drive - much to the dismay of my family.
Walpole had one street, an internet cafe open from 10-12 and nothing more.
Our main intention was to see the Tree Top Walk in the Nornalup National Park. To protect the very rare Tingle Tree (red eucalyptus) as its roots stayed on the surface and were killed by people walking over them, the Australians built a Tree Top Walk which enables the visitor to walk through the canopees of the trees about 40 meters above the ground and enjoy the whole forest from a new perspective.
A very informative guided tour through an ancient empire walk showed traditional plants used by Aboriginals for hunting and nutrition.
The way back led past Mandalay Beach,a very beautiful beach (all beaches are stunning here) and then to Margaret River, the wine region of Western Australia where we made my dad eat a vegetarian dinner. He survived! And thanks dad for putting up with us.
The night was spent in a villa in Busselton built in 1831 with original furniture and which is the oldest house in Western Australia.
The next day led to an excursion on the Busselton Jetty, apparently the longest jetty in the Southern Hemisphere with 2km in lenght. A small hike on Cape Naturaliste had us nicely dehydrated and longing for cool fluids as half of the natural park had just been victim to a bush fire and ash was still abundand in the air. Temperatures were rocketing as well but good for wildlife spotting - bobtail and other lizards.
The evening was concluded at the Holiday Inn in Perth - most comfortable bed of the journey so far.
song stuck in my head for most of the trip: All I have to do is Dream
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