Ayr Sailene to Windy Harbour 12th - 19th March 2013

Ayr Sailean 12th - 13th March

As we are driving along Patrice notices that the door of the caravan is open. We try to pull over but there is nowhere to stop. We drove for nearly 5 kilometres before the road has a big enough shoulder to pull over. Somehow the catch on the screen has let go, bit of maintenance to be down when we get to the camp ground.

The sheep property has a boutique caravan park and cabins. It is very tidy and has immaculate amenities. Sheep are wandering around, Trice and I have a walk around to see what is here. Sheep, a beautiful Border Collie and even a couple of Alpaccas.

The Waeco broken down again, looks like the control board this time. We drove to Conspicuous Cliffs, the work they have done on the paths and decking is fantastic, I would love to have this at home.

The park has very little atmosphere as there is only one other person here besides us. It is a woman in one of the units, she is a bit weird and runs away anytime we come out of our van.

We thought we may have been able to herd her when she was out walking her dog but she spun around and took off in the opposite direction, I suppose Trice can look quite scary some times.

We only stay 1 night before going back to a National Park. The walks are normally very relaxing. The sheep even great us when we are leaving.

 

Shannon National Park 13th-15th March

Our plan was to see the Giant Tingle Tree and the Circular Pools but you can’t get into there with a caravan. We decided that we can house ourselves at Shannon National Park and do some drives from there.

We drive in and decide to check out the sites, I slipped over on the newly laid gravel and ripped a tendon in my knee, did nothing for rest of day.

Day 2 I watched movies and laid on my back on day - bloody knee. Trice is off finding some beautiful sites. Met a young German girl who is stunned by how friendly and helpful Australians are. She also mentions that she has been warned off Queensland.

Day 3 feeling a lot better, knee still sore but I am starting to get around so we go for The Great Forrest Trees Drive, 48 klms of magnificent Karri, Jarrah, Marri and a few other smaller varieties.

The giant Karri trees are 300 years old weighing around 150 tonnes. These trees are the 3rd tallest trees in the world. The smells are refreshing and vibrant. Shannon was once a thriving township in the 50’s it was a logging town.

They were given very strict areas that they could harvest and when these ran out the town died. Many of the towns building can still be found in neighbouring towns. 

Came back to camp packed up and headed through Northcliffe to Windy Harbour.

 

 

 

 

Windy Harbour 15th - 19th March

We know why it is called Windy, because it is bloody windy and it is raining. Told we should be able to catch Salmon and King George Whiting, will give it a go tomorrow.

Got the satellite going and got to see the Broncos kick Dragons backside.

The next day is worse than yesterday. The caretaker has a wind turbine for generation power, it is on a tall pole with numerous stay wires. The wind is pushing so hard that the pole is bending just under the wind turbine.

We have a great site away from the wind with plenty of grass and beautiful little blue finches.

Went for a walk today to try and loosen up my knee, it is starting to seize after the walking around yesterday. Met this lovely fellow working under his house just up the road. 85 years of age and despite two buggered knees, open heart surgery earlier this year was cheerful and positive about everything, he was great just talking to him. I asked him about fishing from the beach, no good really, you are better off standing on the beach with a bucket and waiting for someone to give you a fish, which happens quite regularly he said proudly. The beach is covered in weed and apparently the flies come in and lay their eggs. When the maggots emerge so do the herring. You will get a few maggots in their guts but they are good eating. I left him and he starting singing to Tom Jones, what a lovely guy.

We wandered down to the beach but it is still blowing. Some brave individuals were attempting to fish but between wind and weed they were having no luck.

We went back to Northcliffe to have a look around town and visit the Understory Sculpture Walk.
This was recommended to us by Jim Rosie at Parry Beach whose son had built one of the sculptures.

The local council decided to build a sculpture walk to promote the forest of the area. They invited artists from around Australia and Overseas to submit ideas for their sculptures.
You are given a headset which conducts a tour of the walk.

It was interesting to hear the thoughts and processes that the artists had gone through before they had even made their submissions. One fascinating sculpture was 5 fingers made from old annual reports from large companies.

It was the artist’s interpretation of the grip the large companies have over the natural resources. He had carved the individual fingers from sheets of paper on a threaded rod concreted into the ground.

We then found Jim and Rosie’s son’s piece, this huge bronze heart representing the heart of the forest, amazing.

Some displays were using aboriginal themes and many others with quite interesting themes.

If I had time I would have done the display a second time.

Next door was a small museum based on the timber industry, now these guys were serious about their timber felling. Many examples of chainsaws as we know them and the biggest chainsaw I have ever seen.


The most insane piece of machinery was a circular saw attached to a motor, this was famous for cutting people in 2.

We ventured out for another walk to free up the knee so off we go to Cape D'Entrecasteau, if we weren’t hanging on I am sure we would have be blown away. The cliffs are limestone and wear fairly quickly when compared to other types of rock.

It leaves all jaged shapes and large chunks broken off in the ocean.

We have been trying to get a photo of a sunset on the water so off we go on our last night just before sunset. The clouds come streaming in and hide the sun.

Trice met Jack and his wife who have 2 pet Kangaroos, they have a little holiday hut. The 2 kangaroos are named  Munchkins and Stanley, guess which one was called Munchkins.

We now need a bit of time with internet service to do a few chores so we have decided to head to Manjimup. We will use this as a base and do a few day trips to see the sites.