We have just
returned from a five day holiday in Margaret River and Albany. We had a relaxing time and enjoyed the beautiful scenery, but then had to return to work and real life.
We headed off on Saturday morning to head towards Margaret river for two nights. We took the whole day to get there, stopping on the way at lots of places.
Our first stop was
Bunbury. Not much to look at, except the gorgeous coastline and a few shops. The second stop was
Busselton. We walked along a jetty almost 2km long, wow! It got colder and windier the further we got from shore. At the end of the jetty is an underwater aquarium.
Unfortunately we didn't get to visit this because it closes during winter due to water clarity.
Our next stop was
Dunsborough, a small town about an hour north of Margaret River. We found an art gallery there with amazing photos of southern WA. I have included one of his photos below. This is a picture of Cape
Naturaliste, situated about 10 minutes from
Dunsborough.
From here, we went to Margaret River where we had dinner and stayed the night. The next day, after a leisurely breakfast, we made our way to one of hundred of wineries. It was hard to know which ones to go to! Scott bought a selection of wines and I even found one that I like. The first winery offered tours of the wine making process. As some of you may know, Scott has just bottled his first home brewed wine, so some of the information on the wine making process during the tour was familiar. Here are the fermentation tanks, they are quite large!
After the first winery, we went to the Margaret River Chocolate factory - more to my liking! (especially the free samples: yum yum) After another two wineries and a leisurely lunch, accompanied by wine, of course, it was time for the Fudge Factory. Although neither of us really like fudge, they also sell chocolate. Now chocolate, is something i can't walk past. So Scott got his wine and I got delicious chocolate, so all in all it was a great day.
Day 3 we drove to Albany. The best part of this day was the Tree Top Walk at
Pemberton. I don't need to say anymore than this because the photos speak for themselves.
These lovely big trees are Red Tingles. Some of them are believed to be 400 years old!
After a three o'clock lunch in Denmark (the town, not the country), we arrived in Albany. We found our hotel, then headed out to Mount Clarence for a spectacular 360 degree view of Albany and the surrounding area. it was a beautiful afternoon, with clear views. The next day, we were glad that we had taken the opportunity to visit the mountain, because we had a very rainy and overcast day (We even saw some sort of reptile/lizards).
The trip to Whale World, was very educational. We went on a tour of the site, which used to be the place where they brought whales to kill and harvest their fat. The place is now set up to teach people about whales and celebrate their uniqueness. We had a photo in front of the skeleton of a Pygmy blue whale. That means it's a small version of the real blue whale, which can be up to 30m long!
We also got out in the rain to look at a place called "The Gap", a deep ravine in rock and also a natural rock bridge formed by the see, but we left the camera in the car and we were not going back to get it!
Day 5 we headed home after having a fantastic trip. Where to next?
After hearing from many people how good the Varekai show was, we decided to book our tickets and head to the circus. While we were waiting for the doors to open, Scott found some animlas to befriend (they weren't the most comfortable seats, but they were fun).
It was an amazing show, with some incredible talents and performances. I loved the kids, they were so cute. The three Asian boys performed very well and they were quite professional! Scott was impressed with the juggling and he's not easy to impress (only joking) - the juggler was quite spectacular. After the show we headed up to King's Park for a fantastic view of the city. A must to do if you ever visit Perth. It is great to see during the day or at night!
The penguins were one of my favourites - they were so cute. It was great seeing them sooo close.
