Australia 2016 - In Margaret River

We then arrived in Margaret River at the house the Powelsons have rented before. The Powelsons have come to Margaret River as a family many times during their visits over the years to see Eileen’s family. The house is big enough for 10 of us, a really nice place where we could all sit outside around a big table and enjoy food, wine, and conversation.

 

All of our dinners were cooked in, including a first night (Friday) superb barbecued lamb.

Everyone who was part of the Margaret River event came for dinner. It was great to meet more of Jared’s family and Jared and Claire’s friends. At each wedding event over a little over a week more and more people have joined the festivities!

The banner for Jared and Claire that was put up at each event.

On Saturday Larry and I headed south from Margaret River to see more of this gorgeous area. We drove on Caves Road, so named because below it is a chain of limestone caves. We stopped and toured the Lake Cave - 300 steps down and 300 steps back up! It was an amazingly beautiful place.

From there we continued south towards Augusta. We stopped at Hamelin Bay to see some Manta Rays - supposedly always there! - but they didn’t show up. All the beaches in Western Australia are fabulously beautiful - blue, blue clear water in the Indian Ocean, and a complete coastline of white sand. Amazing.

When we got to Augusta we headed right away to Cape Leewuin, the southernmost point on the Australian continent. When we bought our tickets to enter the lighthouse area, there was a printed sign that said “Lighthouse this way. South Pole, 5435 KM!” The cape is where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. It was a very interesting to visit there and hear about the many stories of survival and loss that are part of its history.

In Augusta we found some spectacular fish and chips in Augusta, and started to make our way north again on the beautiful Caves Road. We stopped to take some pictures of the magnificent Karri forest. These ancient and giant trees are amazing. We had seen them 15 years ago in New Zealand - spelled Kauri there. But the depth of the forests here was particularly lovely.

Before we came here our friend Suzanne Phillips had suggested a book to read - The Voyage of the Catalpa by Peter F. Stevens. It’s a real adventure story about the rescue of six Irish Fenian prisoners from the Fremantle Prison in 1876. (The Historic Fremantle Prison is the location of the wedding reception on Saturday!) Larry read it before we left and I just had about 75 pages left. Just for fun, we’ve been looking for it here, and to that end had stopped in at the Margaret River Bookshop. That turned into a fascinating conversation with the owner whose grandparents had know John Reilly and Father McCabe, two of the people involved in the rescue. He then told us of the rescue of the patrol boat Georgette - one of the British patrol boats which did not catch the Catalpa - and showed us a picture on the shop wall of the house where the rescuers had lived. He told us he had a Catalpa book at his home, and we should stop back. So we put that on our agenda. But, on this day, we went to Red Gate to see if we could find the spot of the Georgette shipwreck. We weren’t successful, but one look at the beach and the bay showed us that it is definitely a likely shipwreck spot!

When we got back to the house Larry and I went on a walk with Wally to see Kangaroos come out in the evening, Very cool! Look closely to see the Joey in its pouch in the second picture.