An enjoyable visit to Western Australia
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On the 1st October I was fortunate to pay a visit to my brother Maurice and sister-in-law Shirley who live in a trailer house estates in Mandurah which is about 70 klms.south of Perth. It was a 5 hour flight from Brisbane, ( about an hour more than flying to N.Z.) and a two hours behind time difference from Queensland.
The temperature was a lot cooler than I have been used to in Mooloolaba but still pleasant and of course it was great to meet up with my family again, the last time I saw Maurice & Shirley was Oct. ’98 when mother sadly passed away and my nephews for mothers 90th birthday in ’96.
After a day of rest Maurice, Shirley and I started on a weeks trip around the South-West of Perth, firstly was a drive into the Darling ranges to view the beautiful Araluen Botanic Park with it’s display of thousands of tulips . We stayed with my nephew Bryan and his partner Gail who live at Mt. Helena where they have a few acres of land , Bryan has a truck and bobcat, Gail grows hundreds of fuchias. Next morning we started our journey south with the first major stop at York , a lovely town with old historical stone and brick buildings, it has a vintage car museum which I had visited on a previous visit, then on through many small towns like Beverly and Brookton , sadly many are nearly deserted. There seem to be a wheat growing area and also the time for bailing hay. The next larger town was Narrogin, still surviving probably because of the wheat . The fields of Canola were just starting to turn a brilliant bright gold, a contrast was the wild smoke trees giving a ghostly addition to the scenery. Soon we were back in cattle and sheep country, Wagin, a small town has a huge statue of Ram, ( definitely not female).
Mid-afternoon brought us to Katanning, another medium size town with a large population of Muslims and Aborigines, this is where my niece Stephanie and her husband Danny and their three boys live, it was many years since I had seen them so there was a lot of talking to do. We stayed the night in the same town with Gail’s folks where was more room, they had a huge flower garden , lots more variety than back in Queensland.
We arrived in Albany with a threat of lots of rain, wind and more rain so before it started we visited the Princess Royal Fortress giving a panorama view of King George Sound, built in 1892 when Albany was the principle port of Western Australia, it was also the gathering place of the Australian and New Zealand battleships and troop ships before heading for war zones around the world., next was the Whale world museum displays relics from days when Whaling was an extremely hazardous occupation, although no longer in operation, the whale station has been fully restored.. Although there was a high wind blowing we also visited the Gap and natural bridge which are two spectacular sites side by side, The Gap has a viewing cage to enable safe observation of the seething mass of crashing surf, foam and spray.
The town of Albany with a population of 40,000 claims to be the oldest settlement of Western Australia, the locals say 18 deg. C is the average winter temperature , I think maybe they are a bit out as I’m sure the penguins were swimming back to the south Pole where it would have been warmer.. A huge granite rock in the shape of a dog’s head dominates the town centre. Apart for the bad weather there was lots to see in this historical town.
Starting our return journey north we passed through the picturesque town of Denmark, surrounded by rolling hills, farmland and towering Karri forests, moving on we passed Walpole and “the valley of the Giants” which has an impressive tree top walk on swing bridges, allowing folk to venture 40 mts. above the forest floor and among the 75 mt. giants. Walpole is a small town, which has craft shops , glass blowing and bead shops. Moving on again we followed the magnificent forests, wild flowers were beginning to appear, there were some good examples of Kangaroo paw, Bacon & Egg, some wild orchids, blue bushes and white clematis. Our next stop was the timber town of Pemberton, it has one of the last mills but probably not for long as most of the forest is now a National Park. We visited the highest fire lookout in the world, there are 153 rungs spiralling up to a viewing platform 60 mts. above. From the top is a panorama of 1000klms of farmland and forest.. there is also a wonderful wood gallery, the tourist centre has museum of the pioneers in this timber town .
Margaret River was our next destination, via the small town of Nannup, more craft shops and lots of great jams, there on to Augustas and the Cape leeuwin Lighthouse, this is where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet, also a freshwater Waterwheel on rocks beside the sea. There are 250 caves in the area but not very keen on going underground I gave them a miss. Now Margaret River is the centre of wineyards, well over 400 to choose from, we did a few sampling their fine product, the very popular Leeuwin vineyard is the setting of many concerts with top artists from around the world, also in the area were many craft shops, glass blowing, chocolate, candy and coffee stops, all letting you try their products, time to move on before the weight problem is obese.
Following the coast north we called into many little quiet beaches, haven to the rich and their huge mansions. Busselton , another coastal town has a very historical jetty, constructed in 1865 for the whaling and timber trade. The jetty had been extended several times over the years right up to 1960 bringing it’s current length to nearly two kilometres, today it is only used for tourism with a small train taking people on the journey to the end of it. Moving up the coastline to Bunbury with it’s white sandy beaches we had passed through the Tuart Forest with many interesting pathways to explore natural species of trees and plants. Bunbury has a deep-water port for tankers to load mostly woodchip.
The last part of our journey was through some lush dairy farming areas, very similar to the Waikato area of N.Z. A stop in a small town called Woroona was to call on a daughter of a cousin of mine, She was just a babe when I last saw her in Waitoa where they lived, now having teen-age children of her own.
Back in Mandurah and getting closer to my return to the Gold Coast there was still time to make a trip to Rottnest Island, just 19 klms from Fremantle, we took a ferry from Perth city for a 90 min. trip firstly cruising down the lovely Swan river passing many marinas, beautiful riverside mansions of the very wealthy, also a wonderful panorama skyline of Perth city nestled next to the river , even more wonderful at night with it’s city lights reflecting in the river. The Island is 11 klms long and 4.5 klms wide, has a sub-Mediterranean style climate and lots of flora and fauna, some fine beaches and bays make it a special venue for snorkelling, scuba diving, surfing and swimming. All of the colonial buildings are built from Limestone which the Island is formed.. The island has been used as an aboriginal penal settlement , an internment camp during both wars, a place for salt gathering and processing plus a World War 11 military installation giving it a great historical significance. Over half a million people visit here every year.
Dutch explorers in the late 1696 named it “Rotte-nest” meaning rat’s nest, mistaking the native marsupials, the quokkas, for huge rats. Actually they are from the kangaroo family, carrying their young in pouches , are nocturnal sleep under low shrubs and eat vegetation . We took a two hour bus tour around the Island which had a full commentary and we soon learned about the unique history , we visited the Wadjemup Lighthouse , the west end where there were Quokkas just awakening, passed some lovely bays with lots of pleasure craft. One of the best ways to view the Island scenery is by hiring cycles, just for the energetic people of course..
Time to head back home, it has been a wonderful break from my busy retired lifestyle so it is back to sunbathing and people watching ( bikinis included), enjoying the lovely climate of the Sunshine Coast, it does get very warm here in mid-summer but heh!! I’m not working anyway..
My brother Maurice and sister-in-law Shirley have sold their home in the Mandurah Garden Estate and plan to go take to the road with their large caravan and four-wheel drive , touring around Australia for at least two years.
Their lifestyle in the complex among very neat modern little homes sounds wonderful but I can understand my brother when he says too many residence are selling up or being carted out in boxes. They are too young to join the club so it is good for them to get out of this “waiting for God” environment .
Many thanks to my western Australian family for making my holiday there so wonderful.
Till my next venture.
Cheers
JIM
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