Margaret River

I so looked forward to going back to the Margaret River, sadly the most generous thing I could say about it now is that it's unremarkable. 20 years ago it was a few overpriced wineries with a sleepy main street featuring a gorgeous old pub and maybe a dozen shops. Now, the pub is still there, almost smothered by a sea of shops. I almost walked past it. however it no longer dominates the main drag. It is just another retail storefront who along with all the other businesses is fighting for your attention. The town had a real sense of urgency to it, and not in a good way. People's traffic manners were awful and it felt like the tourists were almost resented by those locals not involved in the industry. I got the impression it was full of tree changers who weren't happy with the choice they've made. One local renamed the town Manic Creek and that just about hits the nail on the head.

The big news in town is the appointment of a new Tourism Manager. The town recently suffered some significant bush fires and has been experiencing as bit of a tourist slump from what I can gather. I'm not surprised about the tourism slump, the other name used by the locals to describe the place, with only a hint of irony, is Mark Up River. Everything seemed to have a pretty steep premium to it. In dollar terms that meant that even a $3.50 coffee sold for more than $5.00. The upshot of which is that anyone travelling there on a budget (and who isn't?) probably will miss out on doing things as the prices are almost prohibitive.  

Souther Ocean

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

Indian Ocean

Having said all that I still enjoyed myself. I got to drive though a number of the stunning Karri forests. I saw the point at which the Indian and the Southern oceans meet plus I got to go down three caves. Now I won't bore you with my pathetic attempts to describe the caves natural beauty (I believe I may have done all that in previous posting). Suffice it to say the Jewel, Lake and Mammoth Caves all had something special going on.

Jewel Cave

Jewel Cave

Jewel Cave

Jewel Cave

Lake Cave

Lake Cave

Lake Cave

The central feature in the Lake Cave pic is a suspended flowstone. Its hard to see but its actually sitting 40 centimetres above the water line like its hovering in mid air, vary impressive. Apparently there is only one other like it in the world and that's in some inaccessible cave somewhere in France. You can see it reflecting off the water below.

Mammoth Cave

Mammoth Cave

It's on the Perth next, I believe that's where we all go now to visit our nations wealth, then up around the top - I'm excited.