Australia’s South Coast – Sparkling Beaches, Stinging Jelly Fish, Caves and Giant Trees (post and photos by mary)

Perth‘s Skyline – a modern, rich city.

Perth looking out from the grand Botanical Gardens over the two rivers.


A pair of beady eyed crows sitting on a park bench.


Once again, Matt getting his head stuck in the jaws of some Australian Killer!

Our visit in Perth meant we were to begin our last leg of the journey.  Time was now limited, deadlines loomed and plans had to be tightened and decisions made on our exit.  Spreadsheets, maps, calendars, cheap flight research and a destination schedule were poured over for hours.  Our visa expires on 19 March, Rocky must be sold along with our camping gear, flights booked and a sense of how much time we have left to explore the bottom south west coast.  A plan was made and we said farewell to Perth and drove further south.

Ah the beautiful beaches, golden light, turquoise waters and inviting sandy shores!

The coast from Yallingup to Albany is a very beautiful area.  Wild beaches world reknown for surfing, quaint villages and  giant Karri (eucalyptus) tree forests held our interest.  Never in our travels have we experienced being so cramped up in our camping parks – tents, buses, cars packed all around us.  A very popular coast – only hours from Perth.

Despite the cooler waters of the Southern Ocean, children played well into the sunset.

Golden clouds to end the day.

We did find ourselves alone on one beach at Prevally, which had beautiful seaweed gardens on the flat shoals.  Snorkeling was crystal clear finding sandy pools with giant sea snail shells – treasures from the sea.  Our second day at the beach gave us a bit of a surprise.  Matt and I just got into the water with our snorkel gear and headed to the shoals when suddenly Matt is indicating to me to retreat as he swam backwards full speed to shore.  Turns out he had been stung by a jelly fish right on the mouth and cheek!  Burned like crazy and swelled up instantly.  Our young scientist friend who we met in Ningaloo had an earlier experience with a sting and comforted Matt with knowledge that the jelly fish here were not poisonous.  He just needed to cool it down and wait it out.  Poor Matt had to go back to camp and have an ice cream.  After a few hours lounging on the beach, he plucked up the courage to go back into the water and we all went snorkeling without any further incidents.

The fearless spelunkers ready to go deep underground.

The gaping mouth of the cavern wall that collapsed.

Matt is the tiny blue speck at the bottom of this collapsed wall of the cave entrance.

Stalactites suspended from the cavernous roof twenty feet above the floor.


The collapsed cavern wall is a favourite for local absailers.

Double checking the gear  – making sure the carabineers are secure.

The coast line is also known for its series of caves, most of which are accessible to explore (for a nominal fee).  Matt and I headed for the Giant Cave which did not require a guided tour, nor did it have fancy spot lights lighting the whole thing up.  The Giant Cave was a one kilometre series of descents, caverns, narrow tunnels, steep ladders and pitch darkness.  Armed with helmets, torches and our cameras and tripods, we descended into this cave alone and spent two hours wandering in awe of its size, stillness and the crystallized calcite growths seeping out of the cavernous ceilings.  It was a great experience ending in a pleasant walk back up through the woods.  I was able to get permission to photograph a group of absailers who were descending into the cavern from the top of a collapsed wall.

Beautiful Matt amongst the Karri trees.

What is it that makes people who are experiencing nature, want to carve their immortality into a beautiful tree?

It was so lovely to be in a tall treed forest.  And the aroma of these eucalyptus cousins!  Sweet!

From the caves we drove further and came into the Great Karri Forest.  Giant trees, many of them old growth.  They have lovely smooth bark similar to an Arbutus tree, and grow up to 75 or 80 metres tall.  And the smell!  The air is perfumed with eucalyptus oil.  This forest was vast over many miles and we camped amongst those tall trees all alone in one end of the Warren River National Park.  A very pretty place on the river.  All to ourselves!  We hiked up to the Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree and lo and behold, you could climb it.  All the way to its 75 metre top!  Matt and I looked at each other and said, “Let’s do it!”  Up and up we climbed on two foot long steel rods that had been drilled into the trunk.  The top had a series of platforms and a roof!  We were above the forest canopy and it was incredibly high above the park buildings below.  It was like being Bilbo Baggins when he climbed up to the tree canopy in the Mirkwood Forest to see if the Dwarves and he were getting close to the end of the dreary gloom.   We were very pleased with our adventurous selves for going right up to the top and back! (especially pleased about the getting back bit!)  From the top we could see a forest fire in the distance, which we later drove through its thick smoke.

Like Bilbo, sent to the top of the tree canopy in the dark Mirkwood Forest! 75 metres up!  That is  246 feet high!

Happy to be making the descent!

Trusting the hold those iron rods had into the tree trunk.

The smoke from the forest fire we spotted from the tree top.  Roads were closed and hundreds of acres of beautiful forest were affected by this fire.  Visibility was extremely limited.

Such adventures.  The long drive to Esperence has been without adventurous excitement, but filled our eyes with rolling hills, tall forests and an unusual terrain of “heath”, low lying scrub that filled the hills to the sea for miles and miles.  We stayed put in Esperence for a few days, stocking up, powering up and getting ready for our next most spectacular 4WD adventure.  A new blog story for that one.

OK, what is it?  A whale?  A sea monster’s eye?

The golden sun on well worn granite hills sliding into the turquoise sea.