20/12/19 Round the Cape & down a bit

  Continuing our stay near Busselton , we did a bit of travelling down the coast a bit - not far in the scheme of things , but we did visit some places 2 or 3 times . Travelling various roads leading through some lovely countryside and also through a lot of vineyards - this is Margaret River Wine Region after all . 

   We arrived at Yallingup Beach and had a bit of a look where it was a bit sheltered from the wind .

    Heading south we found the next road to the coast . Grass trees grow here in abundance , and at this time of year , christmas trees appear  - that would be the orange flowering ones , which look stunning .

  . It took us to Smiths Beach and Canal Rocks . This is Smiths Beach looking north towards Yallingup & Cape Naturaliste .

  Further round was another rocky outcrop and we found a lot of these flowers .

  Grass tree spikes are now out in flower also .

 Typical australian sense of humour & fun - a santa truck that's lit up at night - not to mention the cow poo & eggs for sale as well hahaha .

  Down to Canal Rocks and quite a view down .

 To our surprise , there's a walkway from the carpark that leads out to a channel in the rocks . Thinking this was the canal in Canal Rocks ,we headed down to the carpark .

  Parking and going for a rockhop we ended up with this view of another canal . The walkway is behind the rocks on the right . These rocks are at 90 degrees to the swell of the ocean , so are protecting this channel from the western swells . However , the swell does crash into the rocks and flow through and over other sections creating quite a wash of white water . 

 This is looking the other way .

  The walkway leads around and over another channel to the rocks . Locals will jump off this bridge into the water and when the swell is coming through from the ocean it can create quite a current , so they jump in and can be swept out into the bay where they can swim back to the rocks and climb out to do it all again . 

 Back inland and south to find the next road out to the coast , this one led to Injinup Natural Spa . The spa is created by the waves coming over the rocks into a rock pool . These would be those rocks and the pool below them .

 It's an extremely popular spot for tourists , with lots of people coming down to enjoy them when the tide is right .

 And here are some of them , there were another 30 or so coming down behind me !!

         This is a section of Injinup Beach , popular with surfers ( in the right swell of course ) and    beach goers .

 Another day we came back out to Yallingup and went for a walk along a section of the Cape to Cape Track . These are some of our views along the way .

 We spotted a chair on a high point on a previous visit , and we found it after a bit of a walk down a narrow track , great views back down toward Yallingup .

                                 And here we are , just to show we were there hahaha .

  We investigated around Dunsborough a bit as well . It's beaches face northeast - a bit of a rare thing on this side of the continent , and as a result can be quite sheltered making them quite good for families and swimming .

 There's also a great network of bike tracks that link Dunsborough to Busselton - about 23klms away . We only rode about 7klms of it though , views like this made us decide to ditch the bikes and go for a swim - being 34degrees also helped that decision .

 This sculpture is beside a roundabout near the beach , carved out of local limestone , it looks good .

 More great views to the west toward the boat ramp and a large netted swimming area .

  
 And here it is , boat ramp on the left and swimming area to the right , and it was lovely .

 The bird even went for a fly , showing how clear the water here is . The dark band is seagrass .



 You can see the outlines of the swimming enclosure below .

 We hadn't spent a lot of time in Busselton , so headed that way for a change . Being another hot day , we headed out for a walk then a swim to cool off . The jetty goes out about 1klm to the underwater observatory at the end . There's a train that you can ride out on , otherwise it's a bit off a walk , which you also have to pay for $4 an adult just to go for a walk on the jetty ( or fish or swim etc ).

 We had a look around and given the heat again , it was in for a swim . They do scuba classes off the jetty as well .

  We left Busselton after an enjoyable stay , and went to our friends place at Waroona for a few days , having a lovely time . We went out crabbing on the Estuary near Mandurah one day , lunch at Lake Clifton Tavern on another , and lazing around the pool as well .
  Back up to Emma's for us to have Christmas together , so to all our avid readers , we hope you have a wonderful Christmas and get to spread a bit of love around .
  Don't over indulge or drink too much ( just enough haha ) . Cheers from us , catch you in 2020 .
Here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=1VSVK_RWFT6ssbS9Oj2qXcIyZgrFpPWw8&usp=sharing

14/12/19 Beach break

    Here we are again after an attempted repair on the van , we are back moving again . While we've been grounded , we've been checking out Mandurah and the estuary , getting out on the bikes and enjoying the plentiful bike tracks around the waterways .

 This is looking across the estuary to the canal homes 

 I did manage a couple of games of golf , Lyn even came around with me at Secret Harbour , taking a few photos on the way - yep sank the putt as well !!

  While the van was out of action we spent time with Emma , assisting her where we could . After the van was back in our hands again , we headed off to Bunbury for a couple of weeks , catching up with Mick & Sue - friends we met on the way to Cape York in 2017 . We were also thinking one night we hadn't seen John & Julie , who we met in Karratha and again in Exmouth . Funnily enough next day we were in Kmart at Eaton Fair and who should be bump into , yep John & Julie . We organised to meet them for a coffee - we had tea - the next day and then for some afternoon drinks .
 Here's some shots from Bunbury - The Rose Hotel

  This is from The Cut at Turkey Point looking back into Koombana Bay .

 This is also Koombana Bay from the Rotary Lookout above town .

 Also from the Rotary Lookout is the lighthouse .

  After Bunbury we went all of 60 odd kilometres to Busselton - well about 14klms the western side of town , but stopped on the way and got this one of the iconic Busselton Jetty .

There are some beautiful places around Dunsborough which is 9klm from us , this is Meelup Beach .

 This is Castle Rock .

 One of our favourites is Shelley Cove at Bunker Bay - it never disappoints .

 As you can see the cliffs are limestone , and are well eroded - there are warning signs - for those that read them - to stay away from the cliffs in case of falling rocks .

  Further around on the western side of the Cape Naturaliste NP is Sugarloaf Rock - quite impressive - it's actually much larger than it looks in the photo .

  This is looking toward Cape Naturaliste to the right of Sugarloaf Rock .

  That's it for the moment , more to come as we spend more time in this beautiful area . Here's a map link : - https://drive.google.com/open?id=1gLwgms4-6xAx0-QKIosaDxERY477seiO&usp=sharing

1/11/19 Out in the belt

  Leaving the goldfields behind , we follow the golden pipeline back to the west , we are never far away from it as it deviates and ducks under us and to the opposite side of the road . 

 Back to the Great Western Woodlands that surround Kalgoorlie and west to the wheatbelt , and east to the Nullabor . To give it some perspective , it's the size of England or twice the size of Tasmania !!
  We just drove today and stopped at Merredin for the night at one of our favourite spots - Merredin Rock - only had 2 others there with us , far enough away to not be pests .
 To our surprise there were still thousands of yellow everlastings still flowering .

 There were a few other bushes still in flower , this one beside the channel into the Railway Dam .

 And here's the Railway dam , more water than last year and great reflections .

 The channel that feeds the water into the dam is an engineering masterpiece , all the rock is granite - giant slabs of it , laid and cemented into place and is all straight and capable of delivering a lot of water from Merredin Rock when it rains .

 The Salmon Gums around the dam are great looking trees - maybe they look better after 3 weeks in the goldfields ????

 There were some very tiny flowers on random bushes as well .

 As the sun went down the glow on the trees around us was pretty special , making the copper coloured gums really glow .

 Fortunately the wind had backed off and I was able to fly the drone - gives you an idea how big a town Merredin actually is . The Railway dam is bottom left and the golf course to the right of it , and town behind .



  We are definitely into the Wheat Belt now , with wheat , canola & barley crops disappearing into the distance .



  Next day the weather wasn't really good for travel , so we had a huge drive of 37 kms to Nungarin , where we pulled up stumps for a couple of days . Nungarin Shire has a population of 247 , The Woolshed Hotel is opposite the Shire Office . There's a huge Military Museum ( which we will be back to visit ) and a large Recreation Centre ( where we are staying ) . There's an Afl ground/ cricket ground , bowling green , tennis courts , hockey field , netball court and swimming pool as well as a clubhouse and function room . There's also a Men's Shed and a few other small shops and fuel available .

 Being setup and lunch done , we headed off for a drive toward Muckinbudin in a round about sort of way . More wheat & canola fields dominated the scenery .

  Heading toward Lake Campion Nature Reserve , we travelled many gravel roads that cut tracks through farms and through some magnificent gums .

  The Lake Campion NR , we stumbled across , no signs to be seen anywhere ,  just a track leading off the road . It took us to a salt lake , solid enough to walk on . The salt crystallising and expanding is starting to crack and overlap the top of the surface . Dead trees were also lining parts of the lake .

  Many thousands of yellow daisies made for a great contrast to the white salt lake and orange sand .

 Some bush has gone to seed , and the seed pods are very red .

 This next shot is beside the road  , Mulla Mulla and thousands of yellow daisies .

 This is another nature reserve - Eaglestone Rock - and must be a popular camping spot as well . On the side opposite the rock is Lake Brown , another salt lake - the colours of which would look spectacular from above , but unfortunately it was blowing way to hard for the drone .

  Next day we didn't move from the van - rain and wind kept us inside for the day .
Next morning however was moving day as we headed west toward Wyalkatchem and Goomalling . This is part of Wyalkatchem shops , still the originally buildings and again we were surprised at the size of the towns here in the wheatbelt .

 Stopping for the day at Goomalling , again we headed out for a drive around the countryside - lots more canola this way but also still plenty of wheat . This is the canola - all seedpods - and interestingly , we found out from someone that wind can be the enemy with canola - when the seedpods are ready to be harvested , the wind can dry them quickly and make them open causing the canola seed crop to end up on the ground , which equals loss of crop !!

   Plenty of wheat about as well .

 Here's one of the old buildings in Goomalling .

 Next day we headed to Byford and stayed with friends for the night , a good day & night and morning was had before we headed off  - only about 25 kms away at Bonneys Ski Park again .
 That's it for the moment as the van needs some repairs , so it's off to Emma's for a while .
Back soon , here's a map link :- https://drive.google.com/open?id=10rGdosu_sMdIMj_pDDBoDOxfFa3C1gXX&usp=sharing