South to Margaret River and back!

Having hired a car we set off for another long journey (280k)south down the coast - this time the west coast to Margaret River.

Having gone slightly wrong (yes it was my fault of course!!!!) we happened upon Rockingham! If Perth was a corner of heaven, this was heaven itself!!!! There were beatiful houses overlooking a wonderful beach with a sand bank out to Penguin Island which you could walk on and another nearby island which was home to a seal colony. We abandoned the journey for a while to enjoy a walk over to see the penguins - the Little Penguins are the smallest of the species and very cute too!!

We got back on track and continued down to Margaret River, arriving before the kangaroos come out to play (they appear at dusk to play on the roads!!!) and booked into a lovely townhouse apartment complete with double spa bath (!!!), balcony and barbecue.

The next morning we were up early (well early for Jan!!) and headed off to the limestone caves nearby. The first cave we stopped at was a self guided cave which required hard hats, torches, ropes and a lot of wriggling through narrow tunnels, so we decided to pass on this one!! We then visited three other more manageable caves, although each one had hundreds of steps down (and back again obviously!!!). Each was very different but all were magnificent and our tour guides were amused us with their interpretation of the many rocks and features there, giving them names etc. Below is our picture of the "camel"!!

Following the caves were the wineries (yes, we sampled their produce of course!!) and then on to watch some expert surfing on a nearby beach. As we drove back into the town it was kangaroo time and we stopped to watch a group in the fields by the roadside. We then had the pleasure of cooking our own meal on the barbecue of local prawns, lamb and steak - delicious! This was washed down with a bottle of local wine and followed by a spa bath - but that's all the details you're getting!!!!

We have now come back to Perth and are settled into Miss Maud's Swedish Hotel - our home for the next 7 days.

Yesterday evening we spent a relaxing day on nearby Cottesloe Beach and in the evening we went to the WACA for a 20/20 match between former Australian and English Test cricketers. This was very entertaining especially as England won!!!!!

Unfortunately the real thing starts tomorrow, so back to reality for us!!!!