Padma and I are hoping that many of our friends and family will visit us in our new home in Western Australia. We’re still discovering the State and trying to figure out where to take our guests. Our friend, Annie Tomalin, is helping us get some practice as tour guides. Annie and Padma were colleagues at the Colegio Colombo Britanico in Cali, Colombia a few decades ago … so we’ve also had a chance to catch up and reminisce about living in Colombia during a tumultuous era.
Margaret River is a must for our visitors. It’s a three-hour drive from Perth, so we made it an overnight trip. The area attracts tourists for its wine, surfing, caves, karri forests and wild beaches. Lots to do in two days.
August is still winter, so we had to time our activities in between rain showers. We started on the leeward side of the Cape Naturaliste and found the calm and quiet Castle Rock beach. From there we drove to Injidup Natural Spa on the windward side of the Cape. What a difference a few kilometres make! The wind was howling, and the surf was high. We were able to scramble on the rocks for a few minutes before we had to take shelter in the car from the rain. We found a place to sleep in Margaret River and a cozy restaurant with a log fire to warm us up.
The weather forecast looked more promising on our second day. We drove to the mouth of Margaret River and then onward to our favourite camping site at Conto Springs. A bushfire swept through the area in December of last year just a couple of months after we had camped there. We passed by the campsite and discovered it was an island of green amongst a sea of burnt trees. The fire crews had bulldozed fire breaks to save the campsite. We drove a few kilometers further to the Conto Springs. Last October we travelled to the same place and as we turned a corner both Padma and I said ‘WOW!!’ in unison. This time it was only a ‘wow’ … still spectacular but not quite as awesome as we remembered. Seascapes are always changing as the seasons, weather and tide change.
We travelled down Caves Road, which bears its name for a reason. The area is littered with caves. We toured Mammoth Cave. It was here in December 2021 that the bushfire was deliberately lit. The signs of the fire were plentiful, but the forest was regenerating quickly.
Our next stop was the Boranup forest where karri trees measuring up to 60 metres dwarfed us. The fire had ripped through this forest as well but with the abundant rains of winter, there were plenty of signs of regeneration.
Margaret River is famous for its wineries and is the big drawcard for tourists. Sure, I like wine but with beaches and caves and karri forests, who has time to sit around at a winery and sip wine?
Finally, as we drove home we had to show Annie the longest timber piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. The Busselton Jetty is 1.8 kilometres long. Work commenced on it in the 1860s given a need for transporting crops, livestock and timber from the region and also providing an unloading spot for whaling ships.
