Shark Bay to Margaret River
Milligan’s Island
After leaving Shark Bay we drove to a camping spot at Milligan’s Island, south of Geraldton. It was hot and windy, not very pleasant, and that was before the arrival of the bees! We enjoyed a long walk on the beach, beautiful shades of colour in the water, white sand, the cry of seabirds and, on our second evening, a magic sunset framed in a gap on Milligan’s Island.
Then inland with a short stopover to do the three bay coastal walk at Greenhead. The sea just keeps on being stunning. Sea grass creates dark patches that contrast with the lighter aquamarine over sand then the scalloped edge of the white sand.
Leseur National Park
After almost three weeks on the coast we decided to go inland. Lesueur NP offered the prospect of more wildflowers. Karda Campground is next to the national park and was a real treat; gum trees and shady sites, open grass with grazing kangaroos and emus and only a few other campers. The down side: flies and heat (38 degrees by early afternoon). We stayed three nights with a day trip into Lesueur NP and an easy but hot walk up Mt Lesueur. Lots of wildflowers on the driving loop and then the walk with a single sighting of the rare black kangaroo paw.
The Pinnacles
On another day we got up early (not hard to do when it’s light at 5.30 am) and drove south to The Pinnacles. By being early we beat the influx of tourist buses and had an unimpeded desert wander amongst these amazing rock extrusions.
The Wheel Incident
A swim at Jurien Bay was an after desert treat before heading back to our campground and sweltering through a hot afternoon. Then disaster! The wheel came off our van at 100 kph near the coastal town of Lancelin, 100 kms north of Perth. The van stayed upright and Chris managed to slow down and pull over into a side turning lane. People stopped but our main saviour was a young man, Kim, living nearby who had heard the brake drum grinding on the road. Chris managed to drive the van around the corner onto his house block. We left it there overnight and drove to Perth, picked up a new brake drum and returned to Kim’s place in the morning. Apart from issues with the wheel nuts, we managed to get a wheel back on and the spare tyre – the original wheel was lost in the bush – and drive to Freemantle. We bought two new tyres from a mobile tyre service who came to our campsite in Freemantle and replaced the dodgy spare and fitted a new tyre on our replacement rim. Phew! Not a nice experience but it could have been worse.
Rottnest Island (Wadjemup)
We had time to enjoy other attractions of Perth and Freemantle with time spent amongst the flowers in the Perth botanical gardens and an amazing day cycling – on hired bikes – around Rottnest Island (Wadjemup). The weather was perfect and the road around the island and in and out to the bays along the way, was easily managed. No cars either, just an occasional tour bus. There was so much more to Wadjemup than we had thought, not just a beach or two and quokkas! We were lucky enough to see a whale breeching out to sea and a colony of seals on the rocks at the end of the island.The bikes we’d hired were good and we finished the circuit with a beer before returning to the mainland on the ferry.
Margaret River
With our wheel disaster behind us, new tyres on the van and the memory of the enjoyable experience of Wadjemup and cycling, we drove to Gracetown near Margaret River to be in place for the Cape to Cape Track. Our walking experience has been given, a separate post so no more on that here. The Margaret River area, however, had other attractions being a wine and gourmet dining region. Over a hundred wineries, many of them with restaurants made it difficult to decide what to taste and where to taste it, but we managed, and with some beautiful string music provided at one of the wineries as a bonus. By the time we left, our car now had a modest cellar in the canopy for future drinking.
A PS to this post to showcase some of the beautiful natives in the Perth Botanical Gardens.
Onwards to the karri forest, cycling, kayaking and coastal walking.
Beverley Lello 