Margaret River, Augusta & Perth

Sunday, September 28. Back on the road we went to check out the sights of Margaret River. After stopping by the visitor's center, we hit a few vineyards (which were beautiful), sampled many glasses of wine and even purchased a couple of bottles of vino. Next stop was Lake Cave. Along the south western coast of Australia there are many limestone caves, some of which you can walk through. We took a tour through Lake Cave, one of the biggest, and it was spectacular. We had to climb down (and back up) roughly 330 steps to get down into the cave but once we were down there, all of the stalagmites and stalactites were incredible. Next stop was Augusta – a small town approximately 40 km south of Margaret River where we would be spending the night. After checking into our hotel (which was nothing fancy but did come with a kitchen and grill), we headed down to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse at the south westerly most point in Australia. It is here that the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean (sadly it wasn't as exciting as we thought it would be). Next we headed back to town to grab some provisions for dinner. Despite having a very small kitchen and a tiny grill, Keith managed to whip us up a delicious dinner of filet mignon, rice, asparagus, corn on the cob, bread and a nice bottle of red wine.

Monday, September 29. Once again we were up bright and early. We went to the beach first thing in the morning in hopes of seeing some humpback whales, but struck out. After checking out of the hotel, we headed back towards Margaret River. There we stopped at the Margaret River Nut and Cereal Company, the Margaret River Chocolate Company (a favorite stop of mine) and the Margaret River Dairy Company where we purchased some nuts, chocolate and cheese, respectively. We also stopped at a few more vineyards and sampled some more wine. Back on the road again we went to head back to Perth. After checking into our hostel for the night, which was in an old Victorian house, we headed to Fremantle – a town approximately 20 -30 minutes from Perth where the America's Cup race ended in the 1980s. Fremantle was a neat town with both new and old architecture. We had a delicious lunch at a place on the main street (South Terrance Road – AKA “cappuccino strip”) and then wandered down towards the waterfront. There we went to a brewery called Little Creatures where they have turned all of the extra space in the brewery into a bar/restaurant. There Keith enjoyed a pint of their ale and enjoyed a middy (or as they say in Melbourne, a pony). We walked around a bit more and then headed back to the hostel to call it an evening....

Tuesday, September 30. Keith returned our rental car after haven driven yet another 1,000 km. It was raining so Keith and I figured it was a good time to work on planning the next stop on our journey – Alice Springs/Ayres Rock (which are smack in the middle of Australia). I hit the local library to take advantage of their free wi-fi (which was great, except for there were so many people on the network it took FOREVER to do any searches) and Keith hit the streets to talk to some travel agents. Unfortunately the school holidays (which are approximately three weeks long and each state or territory goes at a different time), Keith and I had trouble finding any cheap flights. Lucky Keith found a great travel agent who was able to help us find a flight, a car and a hotel in Ayres Rock. We fly out Friday morning. Tuesday afternoon brought a wonderful surprise for us as Keith finally received a call from his friend Alice to say they were back in Perth! We had a home to go to! Chuck and Alice picked us up from the hostel and back we went to the house they are renting. We had many glasses of wine and many laughs before calling it a night – the only downside moment being when we went to pour a few glasses of wine from a bottle we had purchased in Margaret River, we discovered that someone had replaced the wine with water! A reversed miracle!!