After a wonderful stay in Perth we were both ready to get out of the city and back into some wide-open spaces. In the South West corner of WA little towns follow on from one another and there is plenty to see and do. This is a stark contrast to the road North of Perth.  We took our time to leisurely stop and see what was on offer.

One of our first stops was the well know Busselton Jetty. Unfortunately, fire destroyed most of the Jetty and it has been rebuilt of concrete, which detracts significantly from its charm. However the jetty, almost two kilometres long was worth the walk.

 

Our adventures continued to Cape Naturalist. Nestled in national park, the walk around the cape provided the chance to spot some pretty wild flowers. From cape Naturaliste, the South West of WA continues down to Cape Leeuwin that we visited a few days later.

On out way to Cape Leeuwin we passed through the Margaret River region known to locals as ‘Margs’. Known for its vineyards and gourmet food we couldn’t drive through without tasting some of the local delicacies. We decided upon the Margaret River Chocolate Factory which had unlimited self-helpings of chocolate drops. Yum! We also treated ourselves to just a few chocolate specialties, which we enjoyed immensely in the tent later that night.

One of the highlights of the Margaret River region is its lush forests. They offered beautiful camping spots amongst the greenery. The forests were scattered with wild lilies which were just beautiful!

Another feature of the region is its immense systems of caves. The area is made from limestone which equals cave country and we took a tour of one of the many caves called ‘Lake Cave’.

Once upon a time the water in Lake Cave was waste deep. Today, water actually has to be pumped into the cave to keep it slowly flowing. Only a few centimetres trickle through the cave today and scientists are still trying to figure out why it has changed.

No tripods were allowed to be taken into the cave, which made photography in the low light extremely difficult. Rob managed to snap these amazing images.

From the forest to the sea, we had arrived at Cape Leeuwin. Cape Leeuwin is the most South Westerly point on the Australian mainland and boasts the tallest lighthouse on the Australian mainland standing at 39m high. It is a place of significance to the Australian maritime industry as the rough seas and rocky shore make for an extremely dangerous coast line. The Cape and lighthouse also boasts significance to Rob and I as we sailed around the cape in the middle of a dark night on our voyage upon the Young Endeavour. Cape Leeuwin however is most famous for being the point at which the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet.