This past weekend we decided to take a trip to the south to one of the finest wine producing regions in Australia - Margaret's River. They produce about 45% of the premium wines for the country.
We took the bus down after class on Friday, and it took about five hours to get there. Along the way there was a terrible movie, but at least we got to lay back and stretch out our legs. By then it was night and we found our hostel and hung out before heading to bed.
Saturday we got up early and our rental car was delivered to the hostel. We had to drive to drop the guy off, and when we reached his house he asked us if we liked kangaroos. He had about 40 wild kangaroos in his yard-- he said they just came there because they would eat food around his property. The car was a 91 Mazda that was barely big enough for the four of us. All decisions were quickly made about who was going to drive when because we found out that it was a stick shift and I was the only one who could drive a stick (thanks Grandpa for teaching me that one). We could have been in real trouble.
We started our trip by heading north about an hour to Bussleton. It is the home of the longest jetty in the southern hemisphere at over 2km long. We grabbed some brekky (breakfast) and went west to Cape Naturaliste. There is a lighthouse on a bluff overlooking the ocean, and the hill had a wildfire relatively recently. The cape is pretty bare with the exception of the lighthouse, but it has great views of the ocean.
Our next stop was the nearby Ngili Cave. We decided just to see the information centre and museum and keep going because there are many caves in the area. As we continued to head south, we stopped at a couple of wineries. The two notable names were Clairault and Moss Brothers. Clairault was a giant estate and very very nice. They had a nice tasting area and some quality wines. Moss Brothers was much smaller and not as nice, but the wine was great and they were very friendly. They had nicer white wines than Clairault did.
We continued south to Mamouth Cave. We decided to go through it on a tour. It is very large and the formations and colours inside are very impressive. It was a great tour to go on. Not much farther down the road was Cave Works which was a museum about caves with interactive displays, as well as another cave -- Lake Cave. We went up and explored the mouth of the cave and the entrance, but decided not to take the tour in order to allow ourselves enough time to make it to our next destination.
At the southernmost portion of that part of the continent is Cape Leeuwin, just past Augusta. It is home to the tallest lighthouse on the mainland of Australia. We took a tour of it, and the views around the coast and the point were some of the best of my entire time here. The lighthouse is the dividing point between the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean (which apparently is now one of the oceans of the world, although I do not remember learning of this one when I was in elementary school). There were other lookouts and sites around the area.
We went to Hamelin Bay Beach to watch the sunset, and the colours were very nice and relaxing. As we headed back towards Margaret's River, we were taking a road through some of the impressive and large forests, when one of the most scary moments of my life took place. Standing in the middle of the road as I came around a corner was the biggest kangaroo I have seen yet. This is very common, much like deer back at home, but this roo was enourmous. It would have totaled our little car at best. Luckily, and with a little help from above, I was able to pick up what I was seeing in the dark quick enough to make a quick evasive move and miss it. As we went along it, it jumped toward the car in panic, but we just made it away with no contact. I feel very lucky that I was driving, as someone who has driven with the idea that deer could be in the road since I got my liscence, and that I was paying attention and picked up the depth in the dusk that quickly. It adds adventure to the story but it took me a little while to calm back down after it happened.
I found driving to be fun after it has been so long since I have been behind the wheel. I didnt find it hard at all to adjust to the other side of the road or the car (with the exception that the turning signal is on the wrong side and the wipers as well - they are flipped). I am glad that I can say that I drove on the left side of the road.
We got back to MR and had a nice dinner before getting a treat and heading back to the room. We had a little bit of a party and bonding time before calling it a night.
The next day we turned the car in and wandered around MR for the day. We went in all of the shops and went to a nice cafe for awhile. We spent some time in the Visitors Centre/ Vineyard Museum, and relaxed enjoying a weekend market. We chilled in the park before catching our bus back to Perth. It was a great weekend and I am glad that we did it the way we did because it was at our own pace and we got to see what we wanted to see.
See photos by clicking on the two albums below:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020498&id=1260810014&l=1316723e7c
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020499&id=1260810014&l=9eb97644f1
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
sooo what your saying is that if there were a certain maternal figure that we both know and love very much driving, or actually, just in the back seat, you could have died. also, we drove on the left in St Croix, congrats on being the last in the family to do so. and finally, do u have to have a certain permit or license down there to drive or is it just, ehhh what the hey they have money lets let them drive.
ReplyDelete