Monday 21 – Friday 25 October 2019

 It seems that south of Perth, everything ends in UP.  Yallingup, Cowaramup, Miamup, Wilyabrup, Quininup, Kudardup, Muradup, Kojonup, Gnowangerup, Tambellup, Woogenellup…..  Don’t get me started up.

But before we can leave Perth we had to wash our shoes, in an attempt to get rid of some of the Cape Leveque red sand.

Whether they will ever actually be truly clean again is a toss up.

Graham has kindly lent us his car to drive to Margaret River.  We are staying in a delightful little studio in….wait for it…..

A gorgeous beach, next to  Prevelly which is the site of the famous Margaret River Pro Surfing Carnival, for which hundreds turn up every year.

That’s our local breakfast café in the distance, where the food is good enough to eat up.  Coffee is good too.

At breakfast, we watch two men loading a jet ski into the sea

And then load up a surfboard onto said ski.  Off they go, way out to sea.  To chase up the Bombie.  Anyone who has read Tim Winton’s Breath will know that the Bombie is an awe inspiring wave out in the open ocean which moves like a freight train at full speed.  We assume the men take themselves out on the jet ski and transfer to the board to ride the bombie.  We lost sight of them, they went so far out but hopefully they got up on the big wave.

Look at this beach.

Look at those waves.  Aren’t they swell?

Cherrie never gets fed up watching the surf

Surf’s up

As well as getting worked up about the beautiful beaches, we hit the road in search of other Margaret River sites.  Which includes my favourite winery, Vasse Felix. A Holmes a Court venture

We decide not to eat there but to drive up the road to Cullen Wines.  Vanya Cullen recently won Winemaker of the Year and as well as great wines, we are brushed up on what a nice restaurant is there.

Which is booked up for a private function.

So, we move onward and upward to Hay Shed Hill.  Where we wait an hour.  But we don’t beat ourselves up about it because a late lunch means no dinner.

We drive south.  Past an intriguing house

Clearly that architect got quite worked up

We also brush up on some public art, which frankly didn’t moove us

We reach Cape Leeuwin, the southern most part of mainland Australia.

Cape to Cape.  Leveque to Leeuwin.

Cape Leeuwin is where two oceans meet

Rough seas and lots of rocks no doubt contributed to the many shipwrecks prior to the lighthouse going up

A gale has blown up

And the seas are up

Clearly this is not an uncommon event, as life buoys are strewn around, in the most inaccessible and impractical of places

I think they lost him

Cherrie is in need of no assistance

To provide water to the original inhabitants of the  lighthouse and associated buildings, a waterwheel was built

And amazingly the waterwheel has completely calcified up

Clearly water is now delivered using more modern means.  Until Angus Taylor hears about it.

We watch the sun go down at Prevelly Beach

As opposed to up

And we marvel at the wildflowers which pop up in the coastal heath

And the cock ups

Which fly up

On Thursday we meet up again with Garry and Di, who we haven’t seen since Sunday.  They have been staying with Garry’s brother near Dunsborough and last night were with Ian Parmenter, the noted food, wine and travel writer who presented the ABC TV series Consuming Passions for many years.  We all show up for breakfast, after which Ian has arranged for us to have a tour of the recently opened Margaret River Cultural Centre.

Nice centre but not a lot happening

Looks like Tranby College Cadets could do with a bit of support too

From the lookout high over Gnarabup beach we watch a new surf sport called “foiling”.  A sort of hybrid of surfing and hydrofoil technology.  A long fin, blade really, on bottom of the board with wings at its base means the foil surfers literally glide above the water surface.

After a while he got fed up

We drove down to the beach and spoke to the surfer, sorry foiler.  He explained that the difference between surfing and foiling is that to surf one moves from side to side and to foil one moves from front to back.  He needs to brush up on his skills when he mounts each board.  Amazing to watch foiling because they can actually foil out to sea as well as into the shore, by moving back and forward on the board (or foil).

Early tomorrow, Friday, we drive back to Perth and board the plane for the flight home.  The holiday, the birthday celebrations (Garry says they are the longest 70^th birthday celebrations he’s ever known) are over.  Time to ease up.

Until next time…..Bottoms up!