July 2024August 2024 September 2024

08/31 - South From Injidup - Some More Stuff

There was a lot to see on our Injidup Beach hike, so here are some more pictures, some artier than others.

Bush and shrub country

That jetty again, presumably man-made

Cape Clairault

Beachcombing finds








A cuttlefish blade?


The twisted ghost-like forest



Keywords: australia

08/30 - South From Injidup on the Cape to Cape Track

We woke up to a clearing sky and bit of a rainbow far out to sea. We decided to take a walk right out of our hotel rather than driving to a distant trailhead. We headed west and then joined the Cape to Cape Track and headed south.

It was scrubby country with bushes and shrubs and views of the waves crashing on the shore below. We made our way to a crescent of a sandy beach. The trail tracked above it, so we had a good walking surface. Walking on sand can be exhausting.

We made it to the end of Injidup Beach, but we weren't up to hiking out on Cape Clairault. We know our limits. We considered backtracking, but we headed up and inland and walked back along Cape Clairault Road to our hotel.


Good morning!



The track





Injidup Beach and Cape Clairault

A jetty





Climbing out towards Cape Clairault Road


The twisted forest






Keywords: australia

08/29 - Lake Cave

Like many wine producing areas, the Margaret River area has a lot of limestone underground. This means caves, and we love to explore caves. We aren't spelunkers, so we aren't going to crawl around in narrow passages. We go for the tourist caves with safe walkways, handrails as needed and electric lighting. We loved the Naracoote Caves near Koonawara, so we had to see a cave on this visit.

Lake Cave was one of many, but our guide the other day, among others, recommended Lake Cave. We bought our tickets online and at the appointed time began our descent into a big hole in the ground. We walked down staircase after staircase, supposedly about 380 steps. We could look up and see the forest above, but we could also see stalactites along the edge of the hole.

We got our briefing, then we went down yet another set of stairs into darkness. There was an underground lake in the cave. There was a walkway with handrails, so we made our way along the edge of the lake. There were stalactites and stalagmites in fantastic forms all around us. We stopped to admire and let our cave guide explain things for us. Then we went further into the cave. There was a moment of darkness and then a light show with colored lights.

Having seen our fill, we returned to the surface climbing step after step from deep underground to forest level. There are at least six caves in the region, but we only had time for one. Next time.

Looking into the hole

Forest and eroded limestone

Stalactites




Looking up

In the cave




The lake reflecting light

The lake again

Colored lights




Back along the walkway

Then up the stairs




Keywords: australia

08/28 - Plantagenet

Our first two dinners in the Margaret River were at Lamont's, a restaurant not far from the Injidup Spa Resort where we were staying. The food was excellent. We had sea scallops and slow cooked lamb, whiting tempura and brussels sprouts, and we enjoyed every bite. The real treat was the Plantagenet. The restaurant had purchased a close out lot of Plantagenet wine. This included some older wines like the 1997 cabernet sauvignon we ordered. The prices were sane, so we tried one. We can't say enough good things about it. It was an excellent wine in excellent shape, and there is no way we will ever find another bottle of it. We had two bottles, one at each dinner, and that will have to be enough.



Keywords: australia

08/27 - Plan B: Canto Campground

Our guide's plan B was an inland hike near the Canto campground. The hike started in brush country and followed a track through a valley and then up and further inland into a forested area. The vegetation was both familiar and unfamiliar. Were those spiky plants palmettos or something else entirely? There was a purple wisteria like vine growing on various bushes and tangles of trees and branches. The trail was easy going with its ups and downs.

As we made our way inland, we climbed a bit, then the heavens opened. Rain poured. The pattern we observed in West Australia was for very intense rain starting suddenly then slowly tapering off and and ending. We had a very wet five or ten minutes. Luckily, we had our raincoats. We trudged on through the rain. The ground grew wet and puddles formed. Then the rain lightened and turned into a drizzle before stopping completely.


A piece of the trail


Inside one of those palmetto-like plants

The forest

Those palmetto-like plants

Tangled branches

More forest

More trail

A wisteria-like vine

Uphill on the trail

Through forest now






Further inland

Eucalyptus berrries

Wet trail

A mushroom

One of the few birds we managed to spot

More signs of rain

More forest

Keywords: australia

08/26 - Redgate Beach

From Perth, we drove to Yallingup in the Margaret River region. It's noted as wine country, but there's a long coastal hiking track that runs from Cape Leeuwin to Cape Naturaliste that we hoped to explore. Unlike some wine areas, the wineries are spread out, and there are other farms with cattle, deer, sheep, hops and the like.

Our first hike on our first day started at Redgate, a wild sandy beach south of where we were staying. The scenery was spectacular, but we only got so far. There had been recent rains, so the little stream that ran over the beach and met the tides was in full flow and too deep for us to wade. We backtracked, and our guide turned to plan B.


The wild beach





Old stone

Redgate Beach

A man of war jellyfish

An oystercatcher

Signs of erosion


Signs of life

That's a cuttlefish blade.


Red rock



Ice plant




Looking north

Keywords: australia

08/25 - Flight to Learmouth

The shuttle bus dropped us off at the little landing strip near Exmouth. While we waited for our plane to arrive, a lone hiker strolled along the runway. Our plane arrived a few minutes later and we took off for our connection in Learmouth. We did a bit of whale spotting. There's a symbiosis. The whale watch tours rely on small plane pilots to report whales. In return, pilots can spot whales on scenic flights by watching for whale watch boat activity.

We spotted a whale or two and circled about for better views. Then we headed south and then east across the peninsula to the big airport, the one with amenities like a terminal building and drinking water.


Cleared for takeoff

A whale being watched


Another whale



Probably North Mandu

Ningaloo Reef


Sal Salis, where we stayed

Dry landscape

Chaparral


A seasonal river

Red land

Keywords: australia

08/24 - Goodbye to Ningaloo Reef

We woke up with the sun on our last morning at Ningaloo Reef. We had a few visitors. There was a cockatoo with big blue eyes and a whale breaching right off shore. We hadn't gone out on a whale watch, so it was nice that a whale had decided to make a house call. Walking to the lodge for our pickup, we solved a mystery. Often, while walking back from the lodge to our tent after dinner, we noticed little glints of light in the sands. It was dark, so we had no idea of what we were seeing. Were they sand crystals, some creature or something even more mysterious. On our last morning, we saw a few glints. There were pale spiders, almost white, in the sands. It's just as well we stayed on the boardwalk.

Morning sky

Sunrise

Morning glow

The tents around dawn

Mystery solved - spiders!

Another spider

Goodbye to the reef

A morning visitor

Another morning visitor

More of the show



Waving goodbye

Keywords: australia

08/23 - Mandu Mandu

We took an unguided hike right from our tent. We headed north past the lodge to the parking area at South Mandu then out and along the road. We crossed a dry wash and near North Mandu we took a turn east away from the sea. This why dry chaparral with tough looking plants spaced apart and dotting the dry soil. There were signs of running water, most likely episodic.

We've seen drier country. There were leaves on the plants and even a few trees taller than the lower plants around them. There were birds and flowers as one might expect in early spring. We made it to the Mandu Mandu parking area and started along the trail a bit. According to the maps, the trail would soon descend, and we were not keen on descending. We were getting tired, and descending meant that we would have to climb back out.

We took the easy version of the walk. Those more adventurous might have headed up the river at Mandu Mandu, but were were more than satsified.


The scene

Some birds

More birds

Some flowers

Chaparral

Signs of erosion

That's the dry wash, dry now but a river during the rainy season.

River canyon wall

Even some trees

Even more flowers

More of the scene

More of the canyon wall

Tribbles

A bush tribble

Springtime

Yet another bird

A lizard?

Dry country

Another flower

Surprisingly lush for a place so dry

More of the scene

Almost lush

A flowering shrub

Keywords: australia

08/22 - Moonset and Sunrise at Ningaloo Reef

Activities at Ningaloo Reef often start early. The reef is near the equator, so for much of the year the days are hot and vigorous activity is best done early in the morning. We've been getting up early, sometimes before the sun, so we got to watch the moon set.

Descending moon from our tent

Lower yet

Even lower

Low enough to show red

Passing down through the clouds

A perfect Halloween moon if a bit early

The moon set, then the sun rose.

Keywords: australia

08/21 - Snorkeling at Ningaloo Reef

We hadn't snorkeled in ages, but we had come all this way to Ningaloo Reef to see the reef. We were out of practice. We put our wet suits on backwards and worried about the bad fit. Luckily, one of the guides caught this. We put on our masks and flippers. We headed out into the water and were pleased to discover that we still understood the basics of how to swim. Flippers compensate for a lot.

The reef was beautiful. It wasn't as dramatic as the Great Coral Reef we had explored decades ago, but there were all sorts corals and fish. We even saw a couple of sea turtles. We sloshed around enthusiastically. The underwater camera that had been a birthday gift years ago was pressed into service and performed well.












Pike like fish

One of the sea turtles

Another sea turtle

Another look

Sand as we returned to shore

On land

On land again

Keywords: australia

08/20 - Ningaloo Reef Sunset

Here are some photos of a cloudy sunset.





Keywords: australia

08/19 - Moonrise at Ningaloo Reef

We watched the sun set and the moon rise. We may be confused. Our camera software didn't really handle the dateline crossing well. Presumably, the moon has better software.

Lines in the sand

Lines on the beach




Our tent

Relaxing

Sunset glow

Moonrise






Keywords: australia

08/18 - Afternoon at Ningaloo Reef

The winds continued. We napped in our tent. We relaxed on our deck. We took a short walk along the beach right outside.

Coral

A view of the sea

A ray

The beach



We made it this far south.




A tiny crab


It had rained the night before, so our tent roof flaps were full of water. Here is one of the hotel staffers doing what she can to empty our tent roof flap.

Keywords: australia

08/17 - Yardie Creek at Dawn

Having avoided an early morning flight the previous day, we went on a dawn hike at Yardie Creek to compensate. The winds howled all night keeping us nice and cool in our tent. We woke before dawn and joined our guides at the main lodge for the shuttle ride to Yardie Creek. A lot of the pictures we took were blurred by low light and long exposure times. There was no way we were lugging a tripod. While our biological clocks were drifting towards local time, our computer clocks were horribly confused.

As the twilight brightened we headed out along the canyon. The rocks were once coral, part of the reef, so we had to watch our footing. We were promised rock wallabies, and we got rock wallabies. They are early risers. We saw bats resting in trees and a variety of hard to photograph birds. We clambered up and down clumsily, but thanks to our guides avoided injury, though we now know what it sounds like when a wallaby suppresses a laugh.


Early light

The sand bar at the mouth of Yardie Creek

A deep canyon

Bats

Rising light



Still early

Across the creek

The canyon wall


A cave?

A cave with somebody home


Rock wallabies







Seen flying

Keywords: australia

08/16 - Ningaloo Reef Arrival

We flew from the Learmouth airport to Ningaloo Reef. There are flights to and from Perth daily but the times vary. We chose carefully to avoid having another predawn wakeup. Ningaloo Reef is accessible by road, but it is a long hard drive. The flights serve tourists, locals and people working for the mining industry. In fact, a lot of Western Australia seems to be about the mining industry with offshore oil and gas platforms and a variety of minerals. There were advertisements for heavy mining loaders in the Perth airport which were hard to miss.

We took a small plane from the airport to our hotel. The scenery was green, eroded and cut with channels. We cut across the peninsula and headed north a bit. We could see the reef with its protected waters, paler blue between the reef and the shore. There were rocky stream beds and fascinating vegetation. Our pilot circled a bit to look for whales or whale sharks, but we mainly saw wind sharks, white patches of water raised by the stiff breeze.

We landed on a dirt landing strip near Exmouth. It was a bit outside of town, but our pilot was reassuring. He said that once he got the plane turned around which involved some heavy hauling, he'd wait with us for our ride to the hotel. There didn't seem to be any cell phone coverage. Aside from the runway itself, there was also a windsock, but that was about it.

Our ride came and took us to our tented paradise. We had a big tent at the end of a boardwalk. There was a deck facing the sea and a comfortable bed with the same view, two small LED lamps and two USB plugs. The toilet was outside on a side deck along with the sink and shower. We had 20 liters of water each daily. To put a positive spin on it, the toilet was conveniently no-flush. The sink had a small switch to turn the water on and off. The shower had hot and cold water valves, and one could hear the gas water heater when the hot water was switched on. There was no air conditioning. Cool was provided by the stiff breeze mentioned earlier.

Meals were served at the main lodge in an area nicely sheltered from the wind. The food was excellent.

It was great.


A view from the window

A river bed

The reef follows the white line.

Possibly Yardie Creek


Chaparral?

Munga Munga

Another view of the reef


Evening light

Flowers among many

A visitor

Landscape

Rainbow

Evening light


Sunset




Venus just barely visible on the upper right


Venus, almost dark

Keywords: australia

08/15 - Royal Botanic Garden in Perth

We had never been as far west in Australia as Perth, so we were eager to explore the Royal Botanic Garden. We were going to take a taxi, but our hotel valet told us to go across the street and take the next bus. It was free and very convenient. The garden has plants from all over Western Australia, birds attracted by those plants and a sky walkway for canopy viewing.

We saw all kinds of amazing plants, pods and birds. Then we explored an upmarket neighborhood and bought some amazing Ethiopian coffee, so we aren't just bird and bush fanatics.























Keywords: australia, birds

08/14 - Leaving Sydney

One of the things about jet lag is that one wakes up at ridiculous times. We had a morning flight to Perth, so we were nice and early.

Early AM in Sydney

Dawn approaching

A rainy day

Daylight, though

The view from where we got our taxi to the airport

Keywords: australia

08/13 - Sydney Botanic Garden

We explored the Botanic Garden on a gray day. It didn't quite rain, but it clearly wanted to.











Keywords: australia

08/12 - Taronga Zoo

Our flight to Sydney arrived early in the morning. Our hotel room wasn't ready. We decided to check our bags and take a ferry to the Taronga Zoo across the way. We always like the Taronga Zoo. It's an excellent zoo, and there is nothing like a bunch of kangaroos, wallabies, bush turkeys and emus to say welcome to Australia.

The sky from our flight as dawn broke

A view from the ferry









Taking a break from posing for the Australian national seal




The ferry back to our hotel

Keywords: australia

08/11 - Stanley Park in Vancouver

Our flight to Australia left late at night, so we had the day to explore. We headed to Stanley Park, one of Vancouver's gems. We took the tour along the water, so we had a good view of the heaps of sulfur across the way and the Lion's Gate Bridge. We made it almost all the way around. Then, we had dinner. The setting sun found us at Vancouver Airport waiting for our flight to board.

Sulfur

A hawk

That hawk from a distance

The coastal walk

More along the walk

The Lion's Gate Bridge

Low tide

A little seastack

The airport sunset

Keywords: australia, vancouver

July 2024August 2024 September 2024