Kiwikoala: Katanning to Bunbury area

March 8th, 2020

We recently spent 4 nights parked on the edge of Lake Ewlyamartup . It is a salt lake. In the summer when water is abundant you are able to water ski here plus kayakers enjoy it . This area is home to 95 species of birds. John went walking every morning on the edge of the lake . Photos below

Early morning photo of the lake

Evening photo of the lake

John collecting some salt for us to use.

A good bucket of salt for use in cooking etc

We also went for a walk around what is know as the Police Pools Nature reserve . This area was a police outstation from 1863 . Their horses were kept here. It was very dry with no water in the 3 small lakes.

Whilst we were here there was not a lot to do except read and watch dvds. Margaret decided to crochet Maisie a butterfly snuggle for her birthday .

We stopped at the Collie River 14 kms east of collie

Our set up just east of Collie for two weeks a very quiet freedom park

The river where we camped

The local pelican came visiting every morning and evening.

Every morning John would go for a walk before the day got to hot. Occasionally I would go with him . This is the area we walked sometimes usually around 6.30 am

21 st February

John had a busy morning putting the remaining solar panel on the roof of the truck and finishing the diesel heater. It was quite a hot day here so we decided to go to Stockton Dam for a swim . It is a old coal mine that has been turned into a dam suitable for water fun activity’s. It is always this colour blue due to the acid in the coal etc. Yes Margaret went for a swim but John decided to catch up with stuff on WikiCamps whilst we had internet.

We left Collie on 22 nd February and made our way to Bunbury where we freedom parked on Ocean View Rd. There are 3 freedom parks available to caravans and trucks etc. A lovely view of the beach was had during the day and evening. We went for a walk along the foreshore in the evening very pleasant .

Late afternoon looking out to see from Bunbury beach

Sunset Friday evening

23 rd February

It was a good day to go for a drive to Busselton. John has been talking about the jetty there that you can walk out to the end of it. 1.841 km . A hour and fifteen minutes it took us both. Very windy at the end of the jetty. But a great walk anyway.

The cost was $4.00 per person to walk on the jetty. The money went to the maintenance of the jetty.

To take the train out from the shore to the end of the jetty and see the Underwater Observatory with over 300 different marine species in their natural habitat.

Behind John is the end of the jetty where we walked to

The foreground is where we have walked from . This is the half way point of the walk along the jetty.

This is part of the old jetty that was damaged by a cyclone in the 70 s

This is a safe swimming dedicated area to protect swimmers from sharks etc .

We decided to visit a small town called Capel just south of Bunbury. Today was there local market. Interesting to see what the locals produce. A lot of honey and cheeses. We brought two different flavours of cheese for a happy hour when we get to Albany. The cheese was $5.80 a block .

Our beautiful sunset tonight at Bunbury Western Australia

This evening we went out for a walk and started talking to a family that we’re having a bbq. To our surprise there came a knocked at our caravan door and the lady brought us some tea. She said she had brought heaps and would love us to share their bbq with them because we took time to say hi.

25 th February

Today we went to BC52 in WikiCamps near Margaret River.

The camping area is very much a bush camp self containment vehicles only. $15.00 a night or if you stay 2 or more nights $10.00 a night.

We went into Margaret River information centre this afternoon to see what was worth looking at. There are a lot of wineries here. We did not go to any as we don’t drink wine, prefer cider.

Ice cream was brought from here . John had honey flavour and I had ginger bikki both very tasty .

One of our treats for today. $6.00 each . Looking forward to having these over the next few days.

These cows are throughout the township of Cowaramup to welcome visitors

It was a pleasant walk around this town . On both sides of the street are a brick paver path to give it a village feel, which it did .

Our new awning we have just put on the caravan

26 th feb

The weather here today is overcast around 23 degs. We left the caravan parked up and have decided to go on a round trip from

Our first stop Meelup Beach along the coast.

Coffee time after our walk up to the lighthouse

We thought we would try a cider here sadly no tastings for cider today only wine

John and I decided to go on a walk in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park to see the different shrubs that have been planted here . Sadly none where in flower it was the wrong time of the year.

These shrubs grow a meter only in a hundred years .

Ab sailing is very popular here in the summer in the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park

Beautiful tall Karri trees as we drive through the Boranup Karri Forest

Hamlin bay

Marg went paddling to take this photo of the string ray. There is a abundance of them slowly swimming along edge feeding off small plankton. It is known that the local fisherman leave their scraps for them so they become quite tame and used to people.

This is The view of where to two oceans meet

The pink marker pen shows you where we visited in one day. From Roys road bush camping BC52 WikiCamps to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse along the coast road visiting at different areas of interest to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse . Round trip was approximately 200 k .

From BC52 camp we head off to Nannup where we stayed at Karri Valley camp site for two nights. It was beautiful park up amongst the trees, lovely and quiet except late afternoon the March flies decided to come and visit us. The Rid insect repellant came out very quickly .

Our van parked up nestled in a quiet spot. This area is a very popular one for day hikers as there are many tracks for them to take from this point. Whilst we were here we met a lovely couple who used to live in Nz. Carole and Daniel Pitout they are from South Africa . They both said they loved Nz but Daniel found it just a little to cold, but visit Nz often as they have children in Nz .

Beautiful bbq area and table plus the good old long drop behind the tree. Everything was lovely and clean. No rubbish had been left behind which is great to see.

The trees that are growing in this area are called Karri. They can grow up to 90 metres in height and reach that height in around 100 years. They have a white small flower that comes out which the purple crowned lorikeets like to eat. It is a honey to the birds.

We went to have a look at Bridgetown, a small town east of Nannup . It sure has a great selection of shops and coffee shops. I also found a Christmas shop which was so full of very different Christmas decorations etc. I was good as John keeps telling me remember its weight . I was good to not buy anything but there were a couple of Banksia ornament I was tempted to add to my Christmas stash. I may still get them later on .

From here we made out way to Albany where I have work at Bunnings for a few weeks until Easter I believe. We decided to have one more bush camp which was at a gravel pit south of manjimup.

It was another very quiet area to park off the main highway . We were by ourself until around 9 o’clock at night and a back packer pulled in and set the tent up . Photos below.

Whilst travelling I have just completed completed another snuggle doll this time a Raccoon for a friend of ours in Nz. But it is going to Perth . I am enjoying doing these dolls it sure does help pass the evening away crocheting. He is 15 inches long made with double wool.

1st March

We are staying at Paranoma Caravan Park on the coast right next to the sea. We have been told this is a good area for fishing so when I go to work John is going to try and catch a few salmon for tea.

These Christmas decorations are made from the Banksia seeds .

7 th March

The Wagin Woolorama field show was on this weekend. When we stayed at Wagin both John and I thought it would be great to go to it. Plus with john working with sheep for 10 years he would find it interesting to see the difference etc from then to now .

We left at 6.30 am and arrived at Wagin at 9.15 .

Wagin Police Band awesome to listen too.

These little lady’s got a few ribbons on the day when judged

John was very interested in the prices that the cattle were sold for.

We had a great day there and got home around 4.30 pm doing over 550 km . The distance you travel in Australia when you want to see something for a day

We went to the local market on Sunday here in Albany at the Boatshed . Great selection of fish. We brought this for $10.00 it is 5 1/2 kilos salmon. Yes it went in the smoker for that night for tea very tasty with 4 pieces put in the freezer for another day .

Cob loaf and smoked salmon , rice dish and potatoes a shared tea very tasty with Pauline and John Bambalos a lovely couple we have meet whilst traveling and that are staying here at the Panorama Caravan park with us.