The drive up to the burbs was uneventful and we checked in to our rather ‘cosy’ spot in Coogee Beach mid afternoon after stopping for lunch in Bunbury en route.
The CP was in a great location and we explored the nearby marina and then watched the fisherman down on the jetty as the sun set over the ocean.
At 0830 the next morning we dropped the Moho off at The Caravan Shed and continued on to Fremantle to kill time and wait for what we hoped would be a positive outcome on the slideout problem.
The wharf area in Freo was just starting to wake up on this week day and we had to search for a coffee but ultimately found one at Cicerellos where we watched the local parasailing and jetboat rides set up for the day.
We wandered around the quirky little streets of Freo’s shopping precinct, I got a pedicure and we were just ordering lunch when we got a text message to say our vehicle was ready to collect! Not sure if this was good news or very bad we set off back to the industrial area where Jason told us that some wires had come loose from the motor and it was all now fully functional. I gave the guys a box of chocolates, so thankful that they had been able to fit us in, we paid the fairly modest bill and we were hooked up and on our way south again by about 3pm and looking forward to a fully stretched out sleep tonight 😂
We overnighted on an oval reserve in Capel and the next morning drove the short distance to Busselton to visit the iconic jetty again and check out the underwater observatory at the end of it.
Wow! Hadn’t Busselton changed since we were last here! Many more commercial businesses near the foreshore including a very swish looking brewery and a multi storey hotel under construction. It was bustling with tourists all wearing eye protection of course as this was THE day the total eclipse was occurring some 1500kms north of us in Exmouth.
Busselton experienced a partial eclipse at around 1130 when we were on the jetty but it was hardly noticeable and the acrobatics of a local dolphin were far more interesting. The short visit to the underwater observatory was reasonably good and by the time we completed the 3.6km round trip back to shore we felt we had earned our bakery lunch.
Back on the road again we continued south toward Augusta on the south coast where we were allocated a top spot in Turner’s Caravan Park, no sea view but no kids either 😉- the lower area was crowded with families cramming in the last weekend of the school holidays in sublime weather so we were all happy.
We spent our first evening strolling the shore, talking to local fisherman and enjoying more dolphin activity as they chased the SUPs under a beautiful sunset before relaxing at home with a G&T.
What a beautiful little town Augusta turned out to be, (I actually checked out the real estate,) we ended up extending our time here as the warm weather continued to hold and there was so much to see. Over the next couple of days we visited some great attractions including historic Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, ‘turned on’ in 1896 and although now fully automated, is still using the original Fresnel lens. It is also the spot where two oceans officially meet, the Indian and the Southern.
One night, watching the news, we saw that an international surfing contest was taking place at Prevelly Beach and decided we should get involved. We could only drive as far as a dirt paddock about 5 kms away and then caught a shuttle bus to a headland heaving with archetypical surfies. It was warm, with no shade and lengthy queues for the few food trucks but a great atmosphere nonetheless and we found a vantage point to watch world class surfing for a few hours, not on our original radar but great fun and I even bought the T shirt 😉
Not surprisingly we also managed to fit in a few wineries in Margaret River, some great locales and some nice wines as well, our fave probably Glenarty Road. We visited during the ‘golden hour,’ sampling a lovely rosé, chardonnay and a fumé blanc and had a wander around the beautiful grounds.
As well as notable wine, Margaret River also has some pretty remarkable caves and we had saved an afternoon to visit one of them – Lake Cave – turned out to be a pretty decent workout after our afternoon ice cream and well worth the climb.
Nearby Hamelin Bay was also pretty but a little too rough to view the rays that the area is famous for, we had seen more in Augusta than here.
Augusta however had perhaps saved it’s best until our last afternoon, we stopped a little pull over because there seemed to be an unusual amount of action there and we were rewarded with the funniest sight. A full grown elephant seal was sunning himself in the seaweed much to the delight of the locals and tourists alike – National Parks staff had erected a “do not disturb the wildlife” type sign and he didn’t have a care in the world. Elephant seals are not commonly seen in this part of the world, nearest colonies are known to exist much closer to Tasmania and New Zealand (Macquarie Island for example) so he quickly gained celebrity status and was still in situ when we went back on our final morning. Males can weigh as much as 5,000 kg, swim as fast as 8km/hr but have a face only a mother could love 😂😂
We felt very privileged to have enjoyed sunny skies and the diverse scenery and wildlife that this part of the world offers but after five days it was time to resume our journey northwards to check out the Cape Naturaliste area and perhaps a few more wineries 😉