Tues, 10th Jan, 2017 Estuary Waters RV stay, Busselton, WA (exploring Cape Naturaliste & west coast)

7am 21 degrees and sunny. Checked on the house insurance for Svendsen Street and it has dropped $650 – that has to be a first. Apparently Comminsure has reassessed its insurance guidelines and recalculated premiums according to the area rather than the whole state. I am very happy about that.

Drove back to Ludlow Tuart Forest to check on a free camp in a pine plantation. It was in the Camps 8 but not on Wikicamps but there are a couple of vans and lots of backpackers there so we might use that for a wash/blog catch-up day.

Just up the road a bit we spotted a man on the phone beside his car with a smashed bonnet then a dead big kangaroo by the roadside. Crossed the Abba River following Tuart Drive (closer to the coast that the highway) – should have had their CD on!! Back past Busselton on the main road (Caves Road) which is back off the coast. All the church groups – there is a lot of them, have campgrounds all along the coast with beach access.

Onto to Dunsborough – another nice beach area. It is also home to the largest accessible dive wreck site in the Southern Hemisphere, the former HMAS Swan, a 120m decommissioned naval destroyer, scuttled in the bay off Meelup Beach. Drove around and around to find a park near the Info Centre. Glad we didn’t have the van on. Found out about the caves bookings and other brochures of the area. Continued on to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.

The beginning of the Cape to Cape walk which hugs the west coast down to Cape Leeuwin.

Forgot to bring our fly nets – they are bad today!! Past the lighthouse keeper’s cottage and other cottages under renovation and up to the lighthouse. Didn’t do the tour so can’t get up the top – we could listen to the tour guide’s commentary from below. Popular spot to look for Southern Right, Humpback and Pygmy Blue whales during Sept and Nov.

Walking back down the hill with a great view over Geographe Bay.

Drove down a National Parks 4WD track to Windmills Lookout – no windmills though. Should be as it is very windy here on the actual west coast.

Behind us we could just spot the top of the lighthouse.

Back to the Geographe Bay side to Point Marchant.

Walked around to overlook Bunker Bay – popular swimming spot. Not hot enough for a swim for us yet.

Crossed over to the west coast again to Sugarloaf Rock Lookout and information about the Red-tailed Tropic Bird.

Can see more of the lighthouse from here.

Back to the Geographe Bay again to Eagle Bay. Chatted with another Nissan Patrol (same as ours – ex Telstra) owner. Young couple from Tas & SA touring WA for a year. He has only had it a short time and it has a slight steering wobble.

Continued along the beach road past lots of lovely beach areas like this one.

Stopped at Gannet Rock for lunch under a big shady tree. Getting hot in the sun but in the shade it is lovely and cool. Looking at Point Piquet first then the little bay and all the rocks.

Down the hill to Meelup Beach – very popular spot.

Not sure what the white is on the rocks.

Up the hill to the lookout over Castle Rock Bay (below where the boat is) and Geographe Bay.

They don’t have enough parking for all these beaches when it is holiday season. We found one though and wandered down to the beach at Castle Rock Bay.

Need to be out to sea to see the ‘castle’.

Across to the west coast again to Ngilgi Cave (used to be Yallingup Cave till 2000). Dad had given me info on this one so we joined a tour. Looks interesting.

An echidna and spider carved out of a log.

National Parks map.

Lots of information inside the office. In 1900 a Caves Board was established in order to properly manage public access to the show caves. Between 1901 and 1914 more than 14 caves in the region were developed for tourism and recreation. The first cave in the south-west to be developed with electric lighting was Ngilgi Cave in 1903 while the caves in the Margaret River area are still being lit with magnesium lamps.

Met our guide at the hut where there is the story of Ngilgi the good spirit and how the cave was formed. The tour is self-guided – the guide gives you the basic information, takes us down the stairs and then we can wander around exploring at our leisure for as long as we like.

A plaque near the entrance of the cave.

Still the same entrance they used many years ago though now there is a lovely jarrah staircase rather than a rope ladder.

Down we go and looking back up at the staircase.

The kids darted straight off to go down the tunnel – a slide through the rocks.

Stalactites hanging down into the Amphitheatre.

Info boards are illuminated. Found the signatures on the wall. Very interesting that they found Tassie Devil bones in here.

Took photos of the illuminated formations as I can’t get the flash to work!!

Up the stairs and into the main chamber which is a large area we just meander through and around till we come back to the main entrance again.

Down some steep steps carved out of the rocks.

Nice formations.

Into Cupid’s Corner. We are now 37 metres below the surface.

Critter info.

Zoomed in on the bottom that might have been a creek area.

Well lit ones. A lady was here to show us the crystals. We used her light to try and fix the flash but no luck.

The flat wavy ones are interesting.

Looks great with the different colours.

This one was clear. Zoomed in on the surface.

Creek bed area with lots of thin ones.

Continued along the boardwalk.

A little cave which has dog-tooth crystals hanging inside. It’s called the Jewell Casket.

Two tonne stalactite.

Last two before we got back to the entrance. It was lovely and peaceful walking around and it actually got quite warm in the middle where the lady was with the crystals. They say 90 percent humidity and of course less oxygen but we didn’t feel faint and I didn’t think it was as humid as home!!

Looking up to the opening and the lovely staircase.

 They even made one of the posts look like a stalactite.

Under this sign 37 metres below is Cupid’s Cave we were just in. We spent 1 and ¼ down there. I like this type of viewing – much nicer than trudging along with other people.

Down the road to a look out over Torpedo Rocks. Looking across to Smith’s Beach where there is a resort nestled into the trees on the left.

Then down the hill overlooking kite surfers catching the big swells rolling onto Yallingup Beach. They have a big surfing classic here in December. The coastline on the other side is in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park and goes down the coast.

Stopped at Slippery Rocks Lookout to watch the kite surfers and a couple of windsurfers.

They were great to watch – this guy was doing well then he flipped and it took a while till he got back to the flat platform rocks to get back to shore again.

Drove through the main car park area with lots of big homes going up the hillside of Yallinup. Into the National Park to a lookout there. Looking back over the beach to Slippery Rocks then along the beach and up to the north.

Back up to Caves Road then turned off to Smith’s Beach. While Steve was making a cuppa I reread my camera booklet and discovered I had to unlock the flash on top of the camera so it could pop up!! Another mystery solved.

Back up to Caves Road again, past a lavender farm and lots of wineries, then down another road to Canal Rocks. I had a note there were rock formations to check out. Info was about the rocks and the nice view over the bay back and across to the National Park area north of Yallingup (the white bits are all the houses on the hillside at Yallingup).

More info about what’s beneath the waves.

Walked around the corner to a wooden boardwalk and bridge over a canal. The huge swell rolls in a one end crashing through the opening and down the canal into the bay. Some people had been swimming in it – luckily no one got hurt as it certainly hurtles the water through.

Walked across the bridge for a better view.

Behind us was another smaller canal.

The waves crash over the rocks making waterfalls too.

Put the camera on continuous shot for these photos.

One huge wave came through making the canal roar. Got a video too.

Walked back around to the carpark then through the rocks for another view.

Drove up the hillside to the lookout. Would be a top spot for a sunset photo or even down on the bridge as the sun would set in line with the canal.

Back up to Caves Road again and then down another road to the coast and around to Wyadup Bay – looking back on Canal Rocks. Along way round for not far on the coast as we had to go around a big grazing property – he has a top spot here. 

Very rocky here then back to sand as the coast head south to Injidup Point on Cape Clairault with a big sand dune area that would be great for sliding down.

Great rock formations here.

Below was another canal though it was sidewards. The water hurtled through one canal, hit the rock wall and sprayed over the edge making a great spa in the canal below. A few people were down there enjoying the bubbles. Got a video of this one too.

Back up to the main road and further down to Moses Rocks Road. Turned left and went along the dirt, very corrugated road (National Parks section) which is also part of the Cape to Cape Walk. Big sand dune on one side and another on the other.

Great view from the top.

Zoomed in on a big rock which I gather is Moses Rock as it looks a bit like the rock Moses stood on to part the sea. I like this continuous shot mode!!

Nice big limestone cave up on the hillside.

Went further north along the dirt road to a lookout and a lot of stairs down to the beach. Obviously a favourite surf spot.

Windswept sand over the sharp rocks.

Walked half way down.

Getting late so we headed back to Caves Road then turned east towards Bussell Highway. Past lots of wineries, one sign caught my eye - Sandalford Wines was established in 1840. Lots of other ones with weird names – House of Card, Swings & Roundabout, Knee Deep Wines.

The maps are great.

Up the highway to Vasse township and bypassing Busselton back to the van. It is fun listening to Steve argue with ‘girlie’ about the speed limits – I should tape him one day!!

Had to cook tea tonight – ran out of leftovers!! Warmer evening. Put the togs away as we didn’t get time for a swim – maybe tomorrow.