20240617 - 20240702 Jurien Bay - Denmark

20240617 – 20240618 Jurien Bay - Fremantle.  Once we had left, we headed to the Pinnacles.  Dave has already seen them before, but it’s something I felt I needed to see since we were co close, and Dave told me I should.  He did warn me that it was quite boring, he didn't even get out of the motorhome, he just sent me on my merry way. Hmmm, think I was gone about 15mins, that included 5 mins to get there and 5 mins to get back.  I took the obligatory photos and then left.  So, I have seen them - tick. Don't think I will be rushing back any time soon.

20240619 - Fremantle.  We woke up bright and early this morning as we needed to be at the wharf by 6:30am to catch our ferry over to Rottnest Island - it was cold and windy.  I was a wee bit excited to see the Quokkas. We had a nice ferry ride over and collected our bikes. It didn't take long after we got off the ferry until I saw the Quokkas.  They were exactly like I expected.  Very cute and very friendly.  

Dave had said that there wouldn't be many hills and that we didn't need to spend the extra money on an electric bike.  WRONG - there were plenty of hills and yes, I did wish I had an electric bike.  I did realise early on in the ride that Dave couldn't get one of his gears - karma I say – the Big Fella had to work extra hard to get up some of the hills.

We did wish at the end of the ride that we had hired a couple of these.

We thoroughly enjoyed our trip over to Rottnest Island – some stunning scenery.

We made a little detour on our bike to see the Pink Lake - mmm you make up your own mind.  I think with all the rain around we might give up trying to see one of these famous Pink Lakes, that everyone talks about.

One bonus, well for me anyway, Dave had previously asked how to play Yahtzee, he had seen a couple playing early on in the trip.  I’ve been keeping an eye out to buy it.  Dave isn’t that keen on playing games – so even a hint of interest in games, gets me excited.  Bingo, I found it – in the general store at Rottnest.  We get on the ferry and he’s wanting to have a game – no need to ask me twice.  After we get through the rules and the basics of the game – it’s on.  The Big Head won the first game and after a win he said let’s play another game – not as good this time Davey, I had a win – well that was it, he packed up the game and that was it for the day.

 

20240622 – Fremantle to Yallingup Beach.  The weather hasn’t been great over the last 2 weeks, it’s been cold, windy and wet.  Certainly not what we were expecting.  It feels like we have gone from laying on the beach sweating, to dressing like the Michelin Man and freezing within one week, when we do get a bit of sunshine we are out and about.  Yallingup Beach is a beautiful little town with great access to some stunning scenery – and it just so happens to be in the Margaret River Region.

 20240623 – 20240624 - Yallingup Beach.  Once again, some stunning scenery and some great walks through Cape Naturalist national park (we did one of the Cape to Cape walks) we really do have a magnificent coastline.  

We also visited another couple of stunning beaches - Bunker Bay, Eagle Bay and Meelup Beach. 

We really are asking ourselves why are we not doing this trip when it's warmer.  Whilst, the scenery is spectacular and even more spectacular when the sun comes out, for us it's just not as much fun if you can't take full advantage of the beach and go for a swim.

20240625 - Yallingup Beach - Today we headed off to see Canal Rocks and the Natural Spa. 

On the way home, I finally get Davey to pull into a recommended winery, that we just happened to be passing (lucky I'm the navigator).  We spent a lovely lunch just chilling having a couple of little vinos (ok that was just me, someone had to drive) and some lunch – Swings and Roundabouts, highly recommend. 

20240625 – 20240629.  Yallingup to Margaret River.  Just a small drive into Margaret River – I did expect to see a lot of wineries but nowhere near as many as what there actually is.  I would so love to come back here with a few friends and do a couple of wineries and lunch every day for 2 months.  The planning has gone out the window at the moment – the weather has been horrible and we don't get sunrise until 7:30am. We have been spending a bit of time inside the motorhome – and just to let everyone know, we haven’t killed each other – yet.   There is a plus side travelling in the direction we are travelling (yes everyone else is heading North - we now know why, its cold, wet and windy) the caravan parks are cheaper and easier to get into.  

We took a small drive out to Surfers Point known for being a part of the professional world surfing circuit 'The World Surf League Margaret River Pro'.

20240628 - Margaret River.  Much to my disappointment I haven't been able to get the big fella back to a winery.  I don't think it is much fun for him, watching me try all the wines.  But I did get him out to go for dinner in the town of Margaret River.  It is run by the same group 'Swings and Roundabouts' Winery that we visited earlier.  There logo is a the old Hills Hoist Clothes Line.  Even in the restaurant they have their lights placed on an upside down Clothes Line - very original and it was really charming.

20240630 - 20240702 - Margaret River to Denmark.   On our way to Denmark we stopped at the Valley of the Giants which is well known for the Tree Top Walk.  The Tree Top Walk, is suspended 40 metres high in the canopy of the ancient tingle forest.  40 metres above ground level is fairly high when you are on a metal see-through walk-way, and yes it does sway (a lot).

We also did a very small hike around the forest to look at some of the trees from the ground level.

I've told Dave that we are staying about 7kms outside of the town of Denmark.  Little did he know it was a Vineyard, I had to get him to a winery somehow.  Staying here also meant that neither of us needed to drive.  After he got over the shock and we were all set-up, I asked him if he wanted to head down to the winery to have a Pizza for lunch (mmm and some wine).  I did pick a great winery, they had 27 wines that you could taste.  The tastings are free.  I know you will find this hard to believe but the Big Fella found a Malbec that he said was pretty good.  Every time I looked over to the Big Fella his glass was full.  We did sit there for a long time, we had some great chats with people that had come and gone and yep we were still sitting there after dark  He was very happy by the time we left and I had to help him get to the motorhome.  I was fine I only had a couple of glasses. I really do like drunk Davey.

20240702 - 20240703 - Margaret River - Albany.  We may have had a couple of little navigation hiccups today, I'm not blaming the navigator, I'm blaming our navigations system (which is not up to date).  First off, we were going to get petrol on our way out of Margaret River, but I said there were a lot of petrol stations on our way into Albany and from the app we have been using they were cheaper.  I had checked on my phone which way we would be going and yes, we would go past these before we hit the caravan park.  But this wasn't the same route our navigation system in the motorhome took (rookie error).  According to the navigation system we were going to pass our caravan park to get to one of the petrol stations.  So that's not too bad so the navigation system says that we have reached our caravan park so I tell Dave it's only another 7 km's down the road to find a service station.  We get our petrol and do a U turn and follow the navigation system back to where our caravan park is supposed to be.  Ooops nope it's not there, so I now decide to check my app and the caravan park is back past the service station another 5 km's.  At this stage Dave is getting dizzy and let’s just say he wasn't smiling.

20240703 - Albany. The sun has come out today and the wind isn't too bad, so we are going to get out and about.  First stop The Gap and the Natural Bridge, another great scenery spot. After yesterday I'm not getting too close to the edge, I fear a hand of the Big Head might give me a little push. 

Next stop the Granite Skywalk. It was a nice little bit of exercise to hike up to the top of the mountain - about 2km's all up hill, with a lot of stairs and a bit of mud.  We have a few wee stops on the way up to catch our breath and finally make it to the Granite skywalk. There was a bit of climbing and manoeuvring up and between the rocks to get to the ladder that takes you up to the granite skywalk and wow - it was so worth it. 

Now onto the National Anzac Centre.  This is where the majority of the Australian and New Zealand service men and women over 41,000, left the shores of Australia in 1914 to fight in the great war. 

 

Albany has been a pleasant little surprise; we have really enjoyed our visit here.