We spent 2 weeks in the southern forests around Pemberton and Manjimup. The forests here consist of massive Karri trees, there’s Kangaroos everywhere, and also Kookaburras, Cockatoos and lots of colourful parrots. We saw a couple of Emus with their babies too.
On a hike to Beedelup Falls, when we stopped on a lookout platform to have a little snack, a cheeky Kookaburra swooped us from behind and snatched a cheese stick out of Ida’s hand.
The area was also great to practice our 4×4 skills a bit, as this is still a new thing for us. We took a trip to Lake Jasper, and the drive was basically 45 minutes through soft sand. The trip was quite wobbly and a bit challenging but manageable, and the kids had heaps of fun in the back of the car.
It was very well worth it, as we arrived at a pretty little beach on a nice lake. There was a little picnic area and someone had moved one of the tables into the shallow water, so that you could sit on a dry table with your legs in the water.
We spent Easter deep in the bush at Shannon National Park. Not much to do here, but it was quite relaxing, having a yarn with fellow campers at the communal camp fire.
After Easter, we had a couple of quiet days at Manjimup, as it was cold and raining most of the time. The town has a swimming pool and 3 museums, so at least we managed to keep the kids busy.
After going off-road
The weather got a bit better soon and our next stop was a small caravan park near Augusta. It’s one of the best places we’ve ever stayed at. It’s very bushy and has a lot of wildlife. Kangaroos, parrots, kookaburras and ducks would visit us on a daily basis. The kangaroos are so friendly, they’d eat from people’s hands and let them pet them. We had a campfire every night and a lot of marshmallows too.
Again, the beaches in the area were incredibly beautiful. We saw a few huge stingrays at Hamelin Bay Beach and went swimming in crystal clear water at Grannys Pool, where we saw a couple of crabs and an octopus. On the foreshore in Augusta, we spotted an elephant seal. We also visited Mammoth cave, one of the more than 100 caves in the region.
We realized a bit too late that there was a solar eclipse in Western Australia, so we quickly built some makeshift sunglasses from a rescue blanket in our first aid kit. The sun was only 70% covered, but it was still impressive to see.
We are now heading to Perth, where we’ll spend a week before heading further north to chase warmer weather.