Pemberton to Busselton

30th April to 22 May
During our camping in the south west corner of WA we managed 16 days with solar panels only, no powered sites, and considering we had mostly overcast days we're pretty pleased with the result.

climbing the Gloucester tree

We spent a week in Pemberton, forest hiking the trails, climbing Karri Trees and wine tasting.

The area has several fire lookout trees: Gloucester tree (53m), Diamond tree (49m) and Dave Evans Bicentennial tree (65m), all have metal spikes up their massive trucks as makeshift ladders.

The Karri are a Eucalyptus growing up to 90m tall producing little white flowers, so there were plenty of lorikeets and 28 parrots about.

Conto in Cape Leewin National Park, out of Boranup, was a great base for Margaret River and Augusta. The Cape to Cape coastal walk runs from Augusta to Cape Naturaliste and we did various parts of it during our stay. 

Margaret river surf beach

We toured the lighthouse at Augusta and peered over the cliff to where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. In the right weather conditions you can see the two currents merge... our day was too choppy.

The coast is limestone and there are a series of caves in the area, we toured the Jewel Cave which is the largest in the area with it's lofty natural cathedral. Being the last to be discovered its probably also the most pristine. 

coastline walking

Next stop was Canebrake pool, northeast of Margaret River which allowed a change of camping scenery but still access to the wineries,... Vasse Felix, Cape Mentelle , Leeuwin Estate and Voyager just to name a few.

Finishing off a pretty good stay in this part of state we are having a relaxing and recharging week in the Busselton Sebel... for some serious clothes washing, hot tub soaking and 'tourist town' sightseeing.

Next up we head north for the warmer weather!

Kevin campfire cooking