The cape was named by the English navigator Matthew Flinders, when he circumnavigated the continent of New Holland (as it was then called) which he subsequently named Terra Australis (southern land). He named the cape for the first known (Dutch) ship to have visited the area. By the way, Leeuwin is a Dutch word for Lioness.
This is the point where the Indian Ocean and Southern Ocean meet. Right here:
As with much of coastal Australia, there are always opportunities to capture water “fireworks”!
There is a documentary series that we started watching before we came called Wild Coast Australia. It is a great series, but it is so much more remarkable to see it in person. The reason for the wild waters is twofold. The tide of course. But the winds here can be quite brisk. We had a lovely day, but the winds can really get up there. The highest recorded winds (not in a cyclone) were 150 km/h at the site of the weather station, which is 5 metres above the ground. However, at the top of the lighthouse, it was estimated to be 170 km/h.
The Cape Leeuwin lighthouse was completed in 1895 and commissioned by the then Premier of the colony John Forrest (remember him from the pipeline story).
It is the tallest lighthouse on the continent, standing at 39 metres, and requiring a climb of 176 steps to get to the lookout level. The tower is built with 3 rows of blocks at the base, narrowing to two rows in the middle and a single row at the top, which gives the tower its beautiful tapered appearance. However, the inside diameter of the tower is a consistent 3 metres from top to bottom.
Until 1982, the lighthouse was lit by 32 litres of kerosene per day which had to be hauled up those stairs, every day! The light's rotating mechanism was controlled by a chain on a lead weight that had to be cranked every two hours. To get a sense of the mechanism, think of a grandfather clock, and you will get the idea. It was finally converted to electric power in 1982.
As we continued up the road, we stopped to look for some wildflowers, hiding among some of the great stands of trees.
If you look in the far left of this panoramic picture, you will see a man standing not far from a car, to give you a bit of perspective as to the size of the tree stand. (Clicking on the picture should give you a larger view of this picture.)
Our next stop was the Xanadu Winery in Margaret River. They started producing wine in 1977, making them one of the early starters in the area. As this is spring down here, the grapes have just started.
The wider Margaret River area (from Cape Leeuwin to Busselton) is home to more than 215 wine producers, with production ranging from 200 cases of wine to over 600,000 cases. While not as well-known as the Barossa Valley or Coonawarra regions in more eastern parts of Australia, the area boasts of producing almost 20% of Australia’s wines – wow! I will be looking for some Margaret River wines when we get back home!
Next it was on to Busselton, home of the longest jetty in Australia.
It measures 1.7 kilometres in length, and when you reach the end of it,
you find that you are 1.841 kilometres out to sea. For reference, you are also 18,874 kilometres from New York City!
Our final destination was this lovely hotel in the Port of Fremantle, the deep-water port of Perth.
The next morning, we were giving our guide Chappy a hand with loading luggage. Before the beginning of the trip, Sonya was grousing (just a wee bit) about the strict luggage restrictions on tour. Here is why:
Chappy sometimes had to rework the luggage puzzle to get all the pieces in these tight quarters. Keep in mind that this little space had to house luggage for 26 people. No more grousing!
After a walk through the wonderful Western Australia Maritime Museum, we were off for a cruise on the Swan River from Fremantle to downtown Perth. One of our travel mates pointed out this livestock hauler that transports live sheep and / or cattle to Asian or Middle Eastern ports.
As you can see the quarters are somewhat less comfortable than your regular passenger cruise boat! The animals are shipped live because the final destinations apparently do not have the refrigeration requirements to receive processed and frozen meat from Australia. What happens to the animals that die on board – you guessed it – shark food! Live animal shipping remains a controversial issue in Australia.
Off to another Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) site, the Karakamia Wildlife Sanctuary, for dinner and a nocturnal walk with the wildlife. As you walk into the main facility you are greeted by this fine feline – just to set the tone.
This is a feral cat. They are not native to Australia and are a result of the introduction of the species by Europeans. These creatures cause major havoc with the native Australia wildlife. These primal hunters can each kill up to seven animals per night while on the prowl. It is well documented that they kill for pleasure, not just for food. Estimates for the numbers of feral cats in Australia range from 10 to 50 Million. Doing the math, every night anywhere from 70 to 350 Million native animals are killed by these guys. AWC have erected electrified fences around a number of their sanctuaries to keep these guys out. Maybe they need to consult Mia, my mother-in-law, for her neighbourhood cat cleanup efforts!
On our walk, we ran across a number of nocturnal creatures, including this Tammar Wallaby.
Sorry for the odd colouring of the picture, but our guide uses a torch (flashlight) with a red filter to prevent loss of night vision, both for the animals and for the humans on the walk!
The Conservancy leaves all the dead underbrush and trees as homes for tiny creatures. Now Sonya is wondering exactly what might be lurking under there – snakes, perhaps?
On Monday morning, we were off to the Kalbarri National Park. Our first stop en route was in fact one of the pinnacles of our tour at – The Pinnacles!
This natural wonder is thousands of limestone pillars rising out of shifting yellow sand like aliens! When the Dutch explorers first spotted The Pinnacles, they thought that they had found the ruins of a long-deserted city! They are believed to have been created about 30,000 years ago by rain leaching into the sand dunes, leaving the hard rock exposed, revealing weird and wonderful shapes.
We made good time on the roads and arrived in good spirits, but our troupe was glad to be off the bus after almost 7 hours of driving – a long driving day, with plenty of impromptu stops for wildflower sightings! Check out the Old/Smelly Socks flower! Yup, just like Sonya’s socks! (She says mine!)
The next morning, we were off to Nature’s Window, an arch in a rock above a river valley carved deep into the rock.
We tried to beat the hordes to this beautiful attraction but were unsuccessful. Two other buses were already there. Our guide Katie was super, as she politely requested a pause in the queue for all the tourists that wanted to sit in the window frame and have their individual pictures taken, so that our group could get a picture without distractions. Thanks, Katie!
This is the river that runs past Nature’s Window.
After a few other stops and lunch, we were off to another view of Australia’s rugged coastline. Here are a few examples.
And a short video of the power of the tides.
This was a relatively good day for winds, not too strong. I was testing the wind to see if I could go for a short sail!
It was these winds, in conjunction with the strong tidal flow that cause many shipwrecks on this coast. 17th and 18th century sailors found that they could navigate to the East Indies, Spice Islands and Australasia if they sailed in the “Roaring Forties”. These are strong westerly winds in the southern hemisphere between 40 and 50 degrees south latitude. The trouble is that some (many?) of the ships using these trade winds failed to turn north for the Indies at the correct time, leading to their ultimate demise along the Australian west coast!
From the sign posted at the top of the hill where we stood are these words:
“Extending from here are the Zuytdorp cliffs, the site of one of our most famous shipwrecks, that of the Dutch ship the Zuytdorp in 1712. On its way to the East Indies, the Zuytdorp was wrecked against the cliffs with close to 200 people on board. We know from artefacts found atop the cliffs that people survived the wreck, but for how long? Did they integrate with the local Aborigines? As there is no written record of the event, we will never know.”
These survivors, although undocumented, could well have been the first European inhabitants of the continent. Score another one for the Dutch, perhaps?
On Wednesday, we were off to Monkey Mia (that is pronounced My-ah, not Me-ah we are told!). However, as we were headed down the road, Chappy (our driver) noticed something not quite right, in his words. He had us off the bus so that he could pop the cab and get a closer look.
A thick rubber glove, electrical tape, and a bit of duct tape and we were back on the road. Regrettably not for very long. Duct tape is a wonderful thing, but the pressure from the exhaust manifold soon proved to be too much for the roadside fix, so back to Kalbarri bound for a longer-term fix, … better duct tape, some tin and a few hose clamps. Great fix to get us to our next destination!
Outback was quick on the spot and a replacement part is being flown out to tomorrow’s destination – catching us on the rebound. While the repairs were underway, Katie, was hot on re-organizing the days adventures with nothing missed! Awesome job – but, it was safety first.
Lest, dear reader, you think that I was goofing off while the repairs were under way, here I am working on this very blog. Sonya and I work tirelessly to bring these pages to you!!! (Not really.)
After lunch we headed to our next stop. Come on, hurry up and follow along would you!
This is on the way to a place called Hamelin Pool. No, not just an ordinary pool. This is the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. Big deal, you say. Well, actually it is. Hamelin Pool is one of a very few places in the world where stromatolites can be seen.
What do these eat in winter and why should I care, you ask. Well, these are formed by cyanobacteria building up layer by layer. These cyanobacteria (and the stromatolites) are the building blocks of all that exists today, including you and me. The cyanobacteria are the first organisms that converted water and carbon dioxide to oxygen. Billions of years ago there was not enough oxygen for any of us to live. Thank these little guys for creating the oxygen that we now breath. Sonya found spots in the water where these guys are still bubbling and breathing. Enough of the the science lesson!
We arrived at Monkey Mia a little late because of the vehicle challenges, so our dolphin sight seeing tour was postponed until the next morning. Monkey Mia is a go to tourist destination run by the Royal Automobile Club (think AAA in USA or CAA in Canada). Wild dolphins come close to shore to be fed by hand.
This came about when local fishermen started tossing fish scraps overboard to following dolphins – by 1964, they were coming in to be hand-fed, and this continues today. Sonya caught this picture while the rangers entered the water to feed these guys. They roll on their side to get a peak at you. They can see all around them in the water, but not what is above, hence the roll to give you the eye, as it were!
This was the catamaran that we jumped on to go sight seeing and animal seeking on Shark Bay.
As we were returning to the dock, Sonya caught a picture of the sky merging with the sea. Can you see where the two meet?
After our boat cruise, we were off back south towards Geraldton. On the way we stopped at Shell Beach.
Have a closer look at the colour of the sand that I am walking on. Now have a closer look at the picture below.
It is not sand at all, but seashells and cockles. Yes, the entire beach is made up of this stuff. This 60 kilometre stretch of beach is covered with these shells to a depth of 7 - 10 metres, believe it or not! Needless to say, I did not walk barefoot on the beach here, although there were people on the beach and in the water doing so!
At Geraldton, we had a group dinner. It was a nice venue, so we took the opportunity to take pictures of our travel mates for this tour.
We have really enjoyed to getting to know each and every one of our 'mates'. They were patient with our questions about their country, their customs and, in their opinion, our odd use of the English language! Thanks much, mates!
Now, remember that we are on a wildflower tour. So, as tempting as it may be to pluck some of the beautiful specimens, WA's wildflowers are protected under the Native Flora Protection Act, so no picking allowed. There are, however, increasing numbers of wild flower farms around Australia, particularly WA. Oz now exports millions of dollars worth of wild flowers each year.
Our (most appropriate) stop the next day was the Western Wildflower Farm. Rhonda and her husband run a wheat and sheep farm, as well as this wildflower operation with 17 pickers, exporting internationally including, of all places, Holland. Who knew?
On our way down, Chappy said he wanted to stop to visit an old friend, Wirnda Ngadara, "the leaning tree". As you can see here, in some parts of Australia, it is so windy that the trees literally grow sideways.
This type of tree, called the River Gum, is particularly susceptible to the strong winds, but as you drive down the country roads, you see many trees where all of the growth is pushed to the leeward side of the tree.
As a footnote to this, today it is very windy! As if to underscore this, while we were driving, a gum tree, coincidentally known as the widow maker, (because its limbs fall without warning), decided to give up its branches directly onto the road right in front of us.
Chappy was able to stop the bus in time, with only a few short feet to spare. If the branch had fallen even one second later, we would have hit it. Recall that a vehicle travelling at 60 mph (100 km/h), travels at 88 feet / second. Close call!
But after backing away, a safe distance from the suspect tree, all the men jumped out to give a hand.
Of course, Sonya had to jump out to chronicle the event.
One second later could have resulted in a very different outcome!
Our next stop after the tree incident was, perhaps appropriately, the only monastic town in Australia, New Norcia. This little town was established by the Benedictine Monks in 1846. The town was named New Norcia, in honour of the Italian town of Norcia, where St. Benedict, the founder of the order was born. This fascinating little place, with its blend of Byzantine, Gothic and classical Spanish / Italian architecture stands in stark contrast to the surrounding Australian landscape and wheat fields.
Dom Chris gave us a delightful tour of this town and provided the historical significance of the place and its founder. The purpose of the mission was to convert the Aborigines to Christianity and to teach them European-style agriculture, with the order also providing apprenticeship education to many aboriginal people over the first few decades of the town.
The founder, Dom Salvado, believed that the aboriginal culture needed to be maintained in conjunction with the teaching of Christianity. This would seem to be in stark contrast to the strictness of the Benedictine order. In fact, the aboriginal people of the area refer to Salvado as "a friend of the people", because he documented the significant events in their lives, when they had no tradition of recording such events.
Today, they lease out their 20,000 acres, produce award winning olive oil, operate a boutique Mediterranean lunch spot and conference facilities for school music programs, and the monastery has even been the site for a movie shoot. Business transformations occur even for monasteries!
And, Sonya won a prize as well! There was a contest to guess how many kilometres we had driven from start of the tour to end of the tour. Sonya's guess was the closest - she was within one kilometre! Score one for the Canadians!!!
As we end this blog installment, we have two duties to undertake.
First of all, we encourage all our family and friends to come to Australia. This tourism song by the Scared Weird Little Guys sums it up pretty well!
Click the video to play.
Here are the words, in case you had challenges with the Aussie accent!
Redback, Funnel-Web, Blue-ringed octopus
Taipan, Tigersnake and a Box jellyfish
Stonefish and a poison thing that lives in a shell
That spikes you when you pick it up
Come to Australia,
You might accidentally get killed
Your life's constantly under threat
Have you been bitten yet?
You've only got three minutes left
Before a massive coronary breakdown
Redback, Funnel-Web, Blue-ringed octopus
Tiapan, Tigersnake and a Box jellyfish
Big shark just waiting for you to go swimming
At Bondi Beach
Come to Australia,
You might accidentally get killed
Your blood is bound to be spilled
With fear your pants will be filled
Because you might accidentally get killed!
Lastly and very importantly, we have to thank our guides.
As I believe you know by now, our guides for this tour were Katie and Chappy. You saw one side of Chappy a bit earlier in this installment, so here is Katie.
We're not sure if she was the state winner in 2012 as the sign says, but she was definitely voted Ms. Congeniality on our bus!
And a closer look at our our two great guides and drivers (yes, they both drove the big bus!)
Their delightful disposition, teamwork, knowledge and, not least, their dedication to safety all combine to creating an incredible experience. Thank you both very much, Katie and Chappy!
Oh yes, one last plug for Outback Spirits. On both of our Outback adventures, we were incredibly lucky to have delicious nutritious vegan food 100% of the time. It has been the best vegan food that we have had on any organized tour. Well done, Outback Spirits.
See you on the MS Massdam, as we circumnavigate Australia!
SnP
