After swinging high up in the tree tops of the Karri Forest in Western Australia our tour bus took us to Margaret River. Margaret River is famous for its wines and beaches. We drove to a lookout overlooking where the river enters the sea. It was pretty but the weather turned blustery and rainy so no photos of the famous beaches.
The next day we visited the nearby Jewel Cave. We had a local guide who filled us with information about the caves. They were not explored until 1958 by Bastion and Robinson. We descended via stairs 40m/150ft into the bowels of the earth. We walked through many caverns stretching for a mile.
The Jewel cave is famous for having one of the longest straw stalactites in the world. It is 5.4m long.
There were so many wonderful shapes.
Some looked like a forest of trees.
Some looked like an organ pipes. We had a light show too and then it was time to climb 250 steps to get back to the surface.
After a coffee, it was back in the bus for another attraction. The Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse. You can climb to the top but I didn't, the cave steps were enough for one morning.
It is situated on the the south west corner of Australia where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. The cape sticks out into the path of the "Roaring Forties" wind. It was blowing a gale while we were there.
I could lean back and rest on the wind but I nearly got blown away.
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| The Southern Ocean |
and around the corner is....
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| The Indian Ocean |
We gladly jumped back on the bus for a trip to a winery.
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| Leeuwin Estate winery. |
We had a tour of the winery.
The gardens were beautiful showing off many.....
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| Wildflowers of Western Australia. |
