Well after being cooked at Kunanalling, Warren decided he hadn't had enough of me and wanted to join in the fun of another 6 days away. Being November, going South was the only option. Leo also took the opportunity to get one night in with us and see some bits of the south West he hadn't seen before.
So I decided we would head down to Augusta, then follow the coast east from there. Where we ended up, we ended up. And seeing we had no real plan in place, I thought I may as well get some caching in too. Both Warren and leo hadn't seen what it was all about, so it was a good thing to show them as well.
Meeting at the "Ice Cream Cones" on Forrest highway, I quickly showed the boys what this geocaching thing was about. A tricky little cache, Warren actually found how to open this hide. Not a bad effort for a first timer.
Slowly making our way South, stopping off at some pre saved caches filled in the day quite well. I picked up a couple of trackables and geo coins to be moved on later in the trip
Pretty sad, when we got to Fergus the Bull, he was having an ear replaced. Apparently, some of the lower IQ people in our society think its a great game to steal his horns, break his ears or just otherwise be a dick.
Some more caching whilst heading South and we arrived in Dunsborough. And here I came up with a good thought - Who wants an ice cream at Simmo's?
Well we all do. It was reasonably warm, we had time up our sleeve, so why not. It had been years since I had been there, so I went with the old favourite : A Liquorish ice-cream. Sounds terrible hey, but wait till you taste it:
From there we headed out towards Yallingup. A cache near here sounded interesting and I was hoping it might provide a camp for the night. Unfortunately it didn't. The South west corner here is absolutely magnificent. Brilliant coast, Wineries and breweries galore, a real tourist mecca. The Achilles heal is the lack of camping facilities. There is very little unless you want to spend +$30 per night in some commercial venture.
So out with the maps and we decided to head to Cranebrake Pool. I said it will probably be busy and seeing its a small place, we may not get in. Only one way to find out I guess.
So on the way, we come across more evidence of some of the diminished gene pool in the area. This thing was still smoking and hot. It hadn't been torched much before hand. A great way to find your pride and joy hey.
Upon arrival, as suspected, all sites were taken and it appeared like bogan central. So that was a win. We made our way to the overflow area and found we had it to ourself. Awesome. A pleasant quiet night was had by all.
Day 2 and after breakfast, Leo hit the road for home, Warren and myself headed further south.
More caches along the way took us to some obscure sites, this fire tower, we wouldn't have known about otherwise:
Warren actually found the cache before I had even got out the car. Mind you, it was pretty exposed, but I guess with a days training up his sleeve, he was well on the way to becoming level: Expert in geocaching.
Then slowly meandering our way further South, we stopped in at Margaret River falls. A pretty little place, but the cache here had us stumped. Mind you, the tree cover didn't help with the location accuracy of the GPS.
And eventually we made Augusta. Cape Leeuwin in the background:
Checking out the new marina, and wasting a couple of hours getting some more geocaching tally's we headed for Alexandra bridge. A pretty little place it is too, mind you, I would hate to have to rely on solar here, the tree canopy making an awesome shaded spot to camp.
Just after dinner, glass of red in hand, Warren and myself were sitting under my awning. I hear a noise above and felt wet. Bloody possums: Grrr. It had decided to piss all over my awning and I copped its spray...Grrrr. Lucky, it was only a light shower.
However later on, the furry bag of piss dumped a whole bucket load on my awning. I couldn't believe so much fur could hold so much liquid. Eventually it buggered off in the tree canopy to annoy some other poor hapless bastard. It didn't return for the rest of night, thank goodness.
Out with the nanopresso in the morning, I made myself and a fellow camper a good brew:
And a slow trip in it was, but I'm sure Warren was loving it. Arriving at Black point about 1430, the weather had taken a turn and it wasn't looking great. We hung around Surfers cove for a bit to see what the weather was going to do. A few light showers passed and an hour or so later we drove to the other side: Stepping Stones. There was a cache about 1.5Km's hike up the beach, but the weather still looked very daunting, so I decided to leave this cache for another day
We took a look around both campgrounds: no one was here: And decided on the Seal Cove site. It had some timber left behind from a previous group, so that will come in handy. It also allowed us to have the campfire Olympics:
A nice night ensued around a cosy fire. Unfortunately a couple of hours in, the heavens opened up. We retreated under the awnings until it stopped, then came back out and finished the fire off - with another glass of red no doubt.
Morning dawned nice and sunny. The bad weather now gone:
My coffee clobber seems to grow every trip:
I thought I should take Warren to lake jasper seeing as we are passing by. But first I conned him down to jasper beach:
Getting down and on the beach wasn't a problem, but warren started to worry when I couldn't get off the beach. A bit more adjustment of tyre pressures and I was up on the second attempt. Warren took 2 goes too.
From there we headed out to lone karri beach. Stuffed if I know where the karri is:
And now having no plan on where we are to both travel and stay, we ventured into lake Jasper. There is bugger all camp spots here now, due to all the anti-social behaviour of previous years, Dpaw in their wisdom have made it low key, low volume.
It was only about 1300, a bit early to camp. So we had some lunch and pushed on. Some time later, bac on the blacktop, we ventured into a nice little place: Snottygobble campground. Now well later in the afternoon, timing was just right to make this out camp for the evening. A nice little fire in the fire ring topped it off.
For our last day on the ground, we just went exploring. No plans had been laid, we would just see where we ended up. First stop being Beedelup Falls where I managed to pick up another 2 caches:
From there we headed out to Lake Yeagerup and another cache I could not find:
And seeing we were in Yeagerup, it was time to hit the dunes and head for Yeagerup beach:
On the way out we took a back road for yet another cache:
It was a killer. In open shoes, peeling back vegetation in true tiger snake country. I almost quit 20m from the cache, it got that bad. But I couldn't let it go and soon enough, determination paid off with another find:
From there we headed to Drafty's camp. There was no sites available that was suitable for our set ups. I just don't get Dpaw. Lots these days have camper trailers and most Dpaw sites you go to are for tent based camping - they are either very small or you have to walk your gear in. No room for either camper trailers or a vehicle with an awning. Of course, when we arrived at Drafty's, the only couple of spots out of all the sites in the place suitable for us were taken.
So we ventured further on to Warren campsite. Again all the sites too small and no room for us. However, the carpark for river access had the room. With no "no camping" signage, we took the opportunity and set up or the night.
Here we met Verena, a German cycling across the world. Telling us her tales of cycling the Gibb River Road, she earnt our respect. What a champion. Warren and myself had another awesome little campfire to sit by tonight.
Trip Stats:
5 nights under canvas
1153km travelled
144L fuel used
for an average of 12.5 L/100Km
cost of fuel $195
camp fees $42
The running tally of nights under canvas now stands at 41
And the trip vids below:
