2012 Around Australia: Day 108 - 112 31st May

Day 108 Thursday 31^st May 2012

Well after a long deliberation Vania and I decided that we have seen enough of the sights in South WA. The inclement weather over night plus the long term forecast helped in making our decision easier.

It had been raining very heavily overnight. Around 9.00AM the rain eased up to showers so Vania and I started packing up our little home. I have to admit it is not much fun packing up wet camping gear. However, we have been very fortunate in that this was probably our 3^rd or 4^th day of rain since we started this adventure. Besides, it is another experience. .

We decided to head back to Annie and Lester’s place instead of towing the caravan to Busselton and trying to store it some place whilst we stayed in a chalet.

So; today was really a day on the road travelling. I am still amazed at the number of towns / villages whose name finishes in “up”. I have been told that it is an indigenous term meaning near a place of water (need to google that).

Day 109 Friday 1^st June 2012.

It was lovely to stay at Annie and Lester’s place overnight. Lester was kind enough to park the caravan on his front yard. Vania and I had to do a quick shop for Lester’s birthday (big 50 – sorry Lester) before we headed of towards our chalet in Busselton.

The “Siesta Resort” we were staying was approximately 2.5 hours away. We arrived around 1.30PM. We all did our duties before settling in for some serious drinking. Each of the chalets has a BBQ facility which we stocked up. It was a great evening to be sitting around near a warm fire with great drinks and great company. Cannot recall if I mentioned that we had purchased a Cobb oven. Well tonight we really put it to the test. Roast beef and roast pork plus vegetables wrapped in foil. The Cobb did a fantastic job. Very similar to a Weber. Looking forward to a lot more meals using the Cobb.

After copious amounts of wine tasting we headed inside and played cards. Vania at one stage excused herself and said she needed to visit the ladies and that was the last we saw of Vania. Us boys gave up playing cards and headed to head to bed after we noticed Annie was cheating (not really) at cards.

Fungus on side of a tree.

Great fire, great friends, plenty to drink. What else should one have?

Mmmm! Roast Pork and beef with vegatables underneath. Yum.

Lester, Vania ans Annie. Love your hat Annie!

Priming ourselves for a long night.

Day 110 Saturday 2^nd June 2012.

Morning arose and there were a few “sore” heads. Lester has a breathalyser and it was very interesting to take our readings. Lester managed to score the highest whilst Vania and I did not register. Found that rather amazing. Lester and I did a quick walk of shame (carrying the empties) to the wheelie bin. Lester very carefully and quietly placed the empties in the bin as he did not want anybody to pay any attention.

We had all decided that today was going to be a serious fishing day. Lester and Vania love their fishing. After buying plenty of bait we headed off to Canal Rock. It was a fantastic spot. Obviously popular with fishing enthusiasts as well as divers. We managed to find a safe spot to do our rock fishing. The water that we were casting into was like a washing machine. Very turbulent and you had to be aware of the occasional rogue wave.

Vania managed to catch the first fish. It was a Herring. Not to small, not too big just right. Lester was next to catch a Herring as well. Lester’s was marginally bigger than Vania’s (sorry Vania). In the meantime yours truly was getting snagged and loosing tackle amongst the rocks as if there was no tomorrow.

Totally frustrated at this it was time for some “serious” fishing. I managed to catch an “Angel” fish which got thrown back after the compulsory kiss. Vania also caught a larger Angel as well this also got thrown back. Lester managed to hook an eel. Ugly looking thing and it too was thrown back. Not sure if Lester gave it a kiss or not. When you least expect it I managed to hook a “monster”. Took me ages to pull it in. Fantastic fighting fish. Lester seems to think it may have been a Taylor. Vania and Lester were determined to catch something bigger so they could have the bragging rights. Annie had thrown the towel in after not getting a bight after 21.65 seconds. Vania managed to catch one more fish which we believe was a Leather jacket. It was getting late, cold and we decided to head back to our chalet to clean our huge catch.

After Lester and I gutted the fish, Vania and Annie stuffed some tomato and onions inside the gut cavity and coated the outside with secret herbs and spices. Lester’s fantastically HOT voodoo goodoo (extremely hot relish) was also added to other spices. Fish were wrapped in foil and baked on top of BBQ whilst potatoes wrapped in foil were cooking on the coals. Absolutely fantastic.

We all sat down, opened our foil parcels and hoed into a magnificent banquet. Naturally there was plenty of beverages to wash it all down. Great day shared with lovely people. Who could ask for anything more. A serious game of scrabble was also in order. Vania won the first game and Annie won the second. Lester and I thought we would be “gentlemen” and allow the girls to win. You guys in blog land know what I am talking about.

Back of the "chalat" at Siesta Park, Busselton.

This looks like a good fishin spot!

What a whopper! I have bragging rights.

Lovely coastline at Canal Rocks

This is a "fishin" spot.

We may not have caught too much fish but the scenary is great.

Try fishin here and not get snagged.

Day 111 Sunday 3^rd June 2012

Happy birthday Lester. Now you are really OLD.

We slowly got out and about this morning. I’m sure one of the fish must have been abit “off” as I was not feeling too well. The fact that there was a lot of wine drunk had absolutely nothing to do with the way I felt.

Lester and Annie were kind enough to drive Vania and myself all around the Margaret River region. This really is a beautiful part of the country. Lot of boutique wineries intermingled with paddocks of beef cows and sheep. Beautiful green pastures.

We drove down to Augusta to Cape Leeuwin. This is where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. We went to many beach spots and on some hawk eyes (Lester and Vania) spotted whales breaching. Beautiful to watch in spectacular scenery. Being in this part the world we needed to do a wine tasting. We went to Evans and Tait. I suggested taking our empty bottles and getting them filled up with samples but the others didn’t think was a good idea. Stocked up again and headed to a boutique brewery called Bush Shack. It was absolutely fantastic. We all decided which beers we wanted and each of us ordered 6 different varieties. These were served up in what I would call LARGE shot glasses. They weren’t cheap but it was a great experience.

Headed back to the chalet as it was quickly approaching “wine” o’clock. Additionally Vania wanted to set up a Skype session with her family. It was also a great opportunity for Lester to talk and see his nephews who he hasn’t seen or spoken to for a very, very long time. It also gave him the opportunity to see and talk to his great nephews who he hasn’t seen at all.

Arty Farty again.

There she blows Whale off in the distance breaching

Lester and Annie. Our hosts in WA.

Vania takes great photos of wild birds.

There were approximately 26 all in single line.

Cow with character at Cape Leeuwin, where Indioan and Southern Ocean meet.

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse.

Notice the bee.

Another arty farty.

Part of the different variety of beers at the Bush Shack Brewery in the Margaret River region.

Exotic beers. Third from left is "chocolate" flavoured. Yuk

Hot chillis.

Self explainatory sign at Bush Shack Brewery

Another arty farty

Day 112 Monday 4^th June 2012.

Today was going to be another “fishin” day but this time instead of rock fishing we were going to fish of the longest wooden jetty in Oz in Busselton. The jetty is 1.6K’s long and even has a little train car in the middle to transport those people who don’t want to walk. I found it rather surprising when they charged $2.50 per person simply to have access to the jetty. To ride the train car was an additional charge. The charge goes towards maintaining a underwater observatory at the end of the jetty. Prior to our “fishin” we had to buy more bait and some tackle to replace what we had previously lost.

It wasn’t successful day fishing as the weather was overcast, windy and the fish had decided to go on holidays. Additionally the handle on my rod broke leaving me to revert to my favourite “pink” little rod. Lester managed to catch 2 little stripped fish and I caught a baby pink snapper. Unfortunately all the fish were undersize so being the good citizens we all are we threw them all back. So, instead of eating fish we caught we went to the local fish and chips and had to buy our dinner.

Lester set the fire again and we are about to go and enjoy. We have all financially contributed towards the Margaret River economy and no doubt will give the areas supplies another really big nudge.

This part of our holiday will end tomorrow as Annie has to be back at work on Wednesday and Vania and I need to move further north towards the warmer climate