Margaret River

We wound our way southwards out of Perth, hugging the coastline for the spectacular views of ocean and coastline. It all has the air of a place that has a bit of money at the moment - with new home developments springing up all down the coast. Bunbury and the dome cafe for lunch, then on to our first stop in Busselton. After being worried about the distances, I probably made this first stop too close. A very nice hotel in Busselton - but the rain is back again by nightfall. Busseltons big feature is the longest timber jetty at close to 2 kilometers. They had to keep making it longer to get to water deep enough for the boats. Wes walked out and back and enjoyed the pieces of art along the way. Another unusual feature is the little row of plaques for people who have had their ashes scattered from the jetty. On to Margaret River. There are wineries everywhere. I have unfortunately booked us into a hotel at the beach rather than in the town. And they are further apart than I realized. After our lovely hotel in Busselton, the Margaret river beach resort seems dowdy and poorly planned. And there has unfortunately been a bushfire through - so it is in the middle of a burnt out landscape. Rather than a wine tour, we have focussed on lighthouses and caves. The lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste was a highlight. It is only a little lighthouse - and the tour takes you right to the top and out onto the walkway around the light. It is a proper working lighthouse as well - so interesting to see how it all works. It is in the middle of a national park. The wildflowers must be spectacular here in the right season. It dislike walking through the natives section of a nursery. No wonder the plants don't do well in the cold, clayey Canberra soil when they are used to sand and the coast. Today we went to mammoth cave and lake cave. Spectacular limestone formations. Mammoth cave was self guided, with a nifty hand held device to provide commentary. The lake cave has a stunning feature where the calcification forms a flat structure from the base of a column. The floor has eroded away from under it - leaving the flat table suspended over the top of the lake. A floating 5 ton structure. We visited the obligatory winery for lunch and decided that it is not real your thing. We would just as soon have a $10 bottle of red. This afternoon the weather closed in again. Howling winds and squalls of rain made us retreat to our little hotel room.