October School Holidays

Term 3, a ten week term, finished up September 27. On Sunday I had the good fortune to be invited out on Jenny Jan's boat with her husband Dave and two of their friends. We headed to Malus Island where we met up with two more of their friends and their three children. We had the beach almost all to ourselves (there was one other family quite a ways down from us) and it was a beautiful day. We hiked up the dunes on some very hot sand, avoiding the spinifex, and took in the views from the top. After lunch the three men, Jenny and I headed back out on the boat to go snorkelling. There was some coral and quite a few fish. One of the guys caught two rainbow crayfish, which were beautiful! We had to return to Dampier by mid afternoon as I had a plane to catch to Perth. Thanks Jenny and Dave for kicking my holidays off in style! I love being out on the open water and the islands are beautiful~ hopefully I can get out there at least once more before leaving.

The view from the top of the sand dune. 

Those are turtle tracks on the left of the beach. 

I stayed in Perth to catch up with a couple of friends before heading off on my road trip of the southwest corner, which I had never visited before. Felicity and I took in the Royal Show (like Edmonton's K-Days or the Calgary Stampede) although I avoided the rides (can't handle them anymore since my concussions). The Shire of Roebourne, where I am currently living, was the guest town, which was rather ironic. The exhibit was well done and definitely showcased the region. I picked up a stress ball in the form of a Rio Tinto hardhat, my souvenir of the area. As it's an agricultural show, they also had exhibits from each region in Western Australia. The Pibara (where Karratha is located) and the Kimberley (where Broome and the Bungle Bungles are found) were grouped together. It was a magnificent display of the Kimberley, which is probably my favourite region in WA, and the Pilbara was represented by this table:

It's all about the iron ore and the salt. Comparisons could

 be made to Alberta's oil and gas industry and I think Karratha

 is probably similar to Fort MacMurray, although never having 

been to Fort Mac I could be wrong. 

The next day Katherine, the Scottish exchange teacher who swam with the whale sharks with me, and I went for a walk along the Canning River, which reminded me of Edmonton's beautiful river valley. I miss going for walks or runs along the river and it was good to catch up with Katherine while putting in 10km or so. Her experience had been much different than mine and I wonder what it would have been like for me if I had been based in Perth rather than Karratha. She's had such a positive experience she wants to stay, and I have to admit I'm a little jealous. When I initially came out in January, I thought I would be looking for ways to stay as I fell in love with Australia four years ago. I will be back, as I still do really love this country, and I still have the idea in the back of my mind that I would like to live here one day, but for now I suppose I'm happy enough to head home, at least for awhile. 

On Wednesday Katherine dropped me off at the airport and I hired a car for my solo road trip. I had decided to visit Albany as I hadn't been before and the photos I had seen of the beaches along the south coast were beautiful. After driving 400km, I arrived in Albany around 4pm, checked into my hostel, and headed out to the wind farm, which I had been told had the best sunset views. It was quite windy and cool for someone who was used to Karratha's heat and I was thankful for my hoody and jacket. I did the walk around the wind farm, which had information boards detailing different aspects of Indigenous culture, and then I joined the Bibbulmun Track and went down to the rocky beach to catch the sun setting into the Southern Ocean. I walked back up the 520 steps (it was a long stair case and I counted each step on the way up) to the main path back to the car park. It was time to find dinner and figure out what I was going to do on day 2.

Albany's wind farm.

A long way to the bottom (and, consequently, a long way back up).

The next day had the best weather of my holiday, with the temperature reaching 27 degrees and no rain in the forecast. I was off to climb Bluff Knoll, the second highest peak in Western Australia at 1, 095 metres. It is part of the Stirling Ranges, which are 80 kilometres north of Albany. I enjoyed the climb to the top~ there was lots of spring wildflowers along the way and good viewpoints where I could catch my breath.

 The road to Bluff Knoll.

Road sign on the way to Bluff Knoll.

 Pretty cool, eh?

 On the way up.

 The view from the top.

 The view of Bluff Knoll from the parking lot.

The next day I headed north of Albany again to do the Castle Rock Trail to Balancing Rock in Porongurup National Park. At the end of the trail they have recently built a 38 metre granite skywalk from where you can view the marri, karri and yate forests. On the way up three kangaroos bounded past me (I wasn't quick enough with my camera) and there were lots of wildflowers along the sides of the trail.

 A panorama from the the top.

 The Granite Skywalk~ I was lucky, no one else was on it when I was up there.

Going down the ladder.

Balancing Rock

I then headed south of Albany to Torndirrup National Park. I would have liked to have hiked Bald Head along the Flinders Peninsula, but it's 16 kilometres return and I just didn't have the time. Instead I checked out Misery Beach (a misnomer if there ever was one), Salmon Holes, Frenchman Bay, Jimmy Newhills Harbour and the Blowholes, all of which were beautiful. I had Misery Beach to myself and if it had been warmer I would have loved to have gone for a swim (it was springtime in the Southern (Antarctic) Ocean~ a little too chilly for me). After eating lunch, I headed out to the Gap and Natural Bridge, two natural phenomena that Torndirrup is known for. 

 Frenchman Bay

 Misery Beach

 Misery Beach

 Pretty flowers and Salmon Holes in the background

Natural Bridge

The next day I headed west to check out Denmark, Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks. Unfortunately, the weather had turned and it was drizzly by the time I arrived. I got down to Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks and took some photos, but there was no sunshine and everything looked grey and dreary. Good thing I had to go back this way the next day on my way to Augusta. The difference was amazing and I'm glad I took the time to stop a second time. On the way back to Albany I took a detour into West Cape Howe National Park to visit Shelley Beach, a beautiful crescent shaped beach. The sun had come out by this time and the beach was mostly empty~ gorgeous. 

 Greens Pool on a rainy day.

 Shelley Beach from the lookout.
One of my favourite spots on my holiday.

Shelley Beach

Pretty wildflowers

The next day I said goodbye to Albany and headed back along the same road I had taken the day before. It was sunny but cool and I made quick stops at Greens Pool and Elephant Rocks to take some better photos. The south coast is a beautiful area and I could have explored some more, but I wanted to revisit some spots in the Margaret River area before returning to Perth. On the way to Augusta I stopped at the Valley of the Giants Treetop Walk near Walpole, Conspicuous Cliffs (where it started to rain again) and Pemberton (where I worked for three weeks in July 2009). The drive through the forests  was lovely, the trees are amazing and the wildflowers were out in full bloom. 

 Greens Pool, much nicer on a sunny day.

Elephant Rocks

 The Treetop Walk. These walkways are 40 metres above ground
and the red tingle trees can tower up to 70 metres.

Some of the biggest trees in the world reside in the southwest corner of WA.

I pulled into Augusta just before 5pm. It wasn't my first choice, but it was a reasonably priced bed in an old manor house and I had stayed further up the coast last time I had visited the Margaret River region. I went for a walk along the river to stretch my legs (while it had rained most of the day, it had cleared up by late afternoon) and then headed back to my room to plan what I was going to do for the next couple of days. When I housesat in Perth four years ago, the woman I was housesitting for, Emma, and some of her friends and I had visited some of the wineries and gone kayaking. This time around I wanted to do some of the Cape to Cape Track and hopefully see some whales in Geographe Bay, as that's where they come from September to December. I headed to Dunsborough the next morning, making a brief stop in Margaret River for breakfast (reminded me a bit of Banff). Dunsborough is where I stayed last time I was here and it was very familiar as soon as I drove up. I went for a windy walk on the beach and then headed up to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse where there are many walking trails, including the start (or finish) of the Cape to Cape Track. I took a trail to a whale watching lookout, but unfortunately did not see any whales frolicking in the ocean. I had booked a whale watching cruise for later that week, but it was cancelled, so I wouldn't be seeing any whales this time around. The track was beautiful though and it was a lovely way to spend a warm afternoon. I also took the Cape to Cape Track to Sugar Loaf Rock and back. Driving back to Dunsborough I stopped at Eagle Bay and Castle Rock, beautiful beaches with great surf.

 Interesting fact!

No whales for me.

 Eek! After snapping its photo, it slithered off into the bush.

 Sugar Loaf Rock

Calla lily!

They were everywhere!

If you look closely, you can see a mob of kangaroos! 

There were around 20 of them, but my camera doesn't 

zoom very far, so this is the best shot I got. It was 

awesome to see this many so close.

The next day was very windy and rainy, but I headed out to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse anyway. Cape Leeuwin is by Augusta, where I was staying, on the south end of the Margaret River region. I had been here before with Emma on a much nicer day, but I wanted to see where the Indian and Southern Oceans met again. I then went to one of the caves found along Caves Road, but as it was rainy it was a very popular excursion for the day and the tours were full up for the morning. I continued on to Dunsborough as I wanted to do another walk, this time from Castle Rock to Eagle Bay. The rain had stopped by lunch and it had warmed up a bit, so the hike was good with views of the ocean most of the way. Unfortunately my camera began acting up and a lot of my shots are too dark or too light. I had to rely on my iPhone for the last few days of my holiday.

I saw a couple of these on my walks around Cape Naturaliste. 

Looks a bit like a blue tongue lizard, but I'm no expert.

The next day was my last day in the southwest. I drove up Caves Road one last time, stopping at Hamelin Bay (beautiful beach) before continuing on to Busselton to see its famous jetty. At 1.8km, it is the longest timber-piled jetty in the Southern Hemisphere. You can even take a train down the jetty to the end and visit the Underwater Observatory, but I chose to walk down the jetty instead. It was pretty windy! 

 Driving along Caves Road. The trees are pretty amazing!

 Looking down the jetty, from about the halfway point. It's that long!

The Interpretive Centre at the Busselton Jetty.

It was time to head back to Perth to catch up with some other exchange teachers. I was staying with Katherine for two more nights, then with Dale, who's from Calgary and on exchange in Perth. Deb and Richard (also from Calgary) were also staying with Dale. They're on exchange in Pemberton, where I had worked four years ago for the winter. We had all met before, at the orientation in Edmonton in October before we left on our big adventures, and it was great to catch up and swap stories. The five of us plus Sandy (who had given me surf lessons in April and had been on exchange to Edmonton in 2011) met at Houghton Winery in the Swan Valley on Friday for lunch. The following day the Canadians went to Fremantle for the markets and then to AQWA, which is the Aquarium of Western Australia. I had never been, but it is really well done and we all enjoyed it. 

 Shark!

 This turtle was huge!

Jellyfish

I met up with Katherine again Sunday morning and we joined a Meet-Up group for a walk along the river. Afterwards we headed to Fremantle to check out a market and have something to eat. It was then time to say goodbye as my flight back to Karratha was shortly after lunch. It had been a great two weeks and now it was time to think about the upcoming ten weeks of my last term, which I was sure would pass quickly. I have two weeks off before starting back at work in Edmonton (everyone here will have their six week summer holiday, boo!). I have only just decided to spend Christmas here in Karratha and then I'm in Perth for a day to meet up with Katherine and hopefully Emma (my exchange partner). Then it's off to Sydney to catch The Lion King (yay!) and New Year's Eve fireworks (double yay!). That's definitely finishing the year off with a bang!