South West Australia experiences a Mediterranean climate with cool, wet winters and hot, dry summers. On our last visit to Margaret River some years back, it was miserable - wet, windy and cold. Even then, we marvelled at the richness of the south-west corner of the continent. This visit we have been blessed by fantastic winter weather. Clear blue skies, no wind and warm, at least once the sun gets up!
The small towns of the Avon Valley between Perth and Margaret River (via the inland route) are some of the oldest in the state. Northam and York are the stand-outs. This is the wheat belt, a continuation of a farming zone stretching from the Darling Downs in Queensland through central New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. The towns here show the effects of the ups and downs of an agricultural existence. Their grandest buildings were constructed in the early part of the 20th century or earlier. Most of the more important of these have been restored, but other parts of the towns have all the signs of decay that the whims of the agricultural markets have delivered.
Around Margaret River, it is wheat-wool (as well as wine), territory. This time of the year, the wheat has broken through, painting the hills bright green. Sheep graze on equally green pasture. We could easily be travelling through the South Island of New Zealand or even Ireland. Tuart forests form closed arches over country roads and the early blooming shrubs and low heath near the coast mix yellows, purple and white with the many shades of green and silver foliage. The variety of flora in the South West is astounding!
Even on this mid-winter weekend, the surf beaches of Geographe Bay were crowded. The water was surprisingly warm, but we weren’t crazy enough to go in! Instead we had a foodie day, collecting chocolate, fudge, cheese, venison and wine for a caravan cooking fest.
Since we hit Perth, we have been back in ‘civilization’ for the first time in many weeks. It hits you slowly, but the realization that much of the north of Australia is still a little frontier-like is inescapable. Towns here are 60-80 kms apart. Not 600 kms apart! We have to remind ourselves that we don’t have to fill up at every petrol station we see, or buy vegetables now, because there is a supermarket in this town. There are radio stations, mobile phone coverage and even television reception. Civilization will peter out soon enough though as we head east onto the Nullarbor in a few days.
Another big change in the past week or so has been the sudden fall off in the number of caravans on the road. We seem to be the only ones heading south and east? Perhaps we are a bit early for the southern migration? No matter, dealing with a bit of cold is no challenge for us and it’s nice not to have to rush to get to favoured camping spots by 2:00pm to beat the crowds.
2 August - Windy Harbour
Giant Jarrah, Karri, and Marri trees lined the highway for much of our trip south from Margaret River. Emerald green fields heavily stocked with cattle and sheep broke out from the forest from time to time. Again the south-west amazes. The weather sure helps as well. Clear blue skies again today.
The little hamlet of Windy Harbour is nestled on the southern edge of D’Entrecasteaux National Park. This is about as far south as we’ll go. Cape Leeuwin is actually the southernmost point of WA, but we’ve been there before. There is no electricity in this little township that started off as a beach squatters camp. The rather flash beach huts are on leased land. Solar panels and wind generators provide the power, there are no made roads, but the village is so neat it could easily win a tidy towns competition. One of the locals took pity on us when he saw us going off fishing and pulled up and gave us a fist full of garfish just off the trawler. We didn’t have the heart to tell him that we use them for bait at home. We will eat them though, not out of desperation, but because we know they are good eating, having eaten them as kids.
We did a 6km walk through the heath and dunes to Point D’Entrecasteaux this afternoon. Luckily, the wind that by repute blows 24/7 here was having an off day. The views were spectacular. We had the whole beach, coast line and the walks to ourselves. Not a soul in sight.
3 August - Near Denmark
Trees, trees and more trees. Fantastic as they are, we are ready for something different.
Chancing the gravel tracks through the Shannon National Park, we dragged our van around the 22 km Great Forest Trees Drive. The road wasn’t too bad and we saw some incredible stands of Jarrah and Karri. Again we had the whole place to ourselves. Even on the 5 km walk to Lane-Poole Falls in D’Entrecasteaux NP, we only ran into one other couple. There were a lot of trees though!
Just to be sure we’d covered all the local species, we went on the tree top walk through the Tingle Forest of The Valley of the Giants. The Tingle is an interesting tree. Older trees hollow out at the base as a result of fire and fungal attack, creating some interesting shapes.
Gluttons for punishment that we are, we are camped in a forest rest area for the night.
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