The bottom left hand corner

There’s a place called Cape Leeuwin in far south west Australia.  It’s as far down in the bottom left hand corner as it’s possible to be, sports an impressive lighthouse and is where the Indian and Southern oceans meet.  There’s a helpful sign pointing out which ocean is which and it’s even possible to see the sea swell approaching from two different directions. 

However, before making it to the corner we dropped in at a few other places.   First stop was Busselton, or as we renamed it ‘Ripoff-on-Sea’.  We were warned about the excessive prices charged by seafront restaurants so avoided them.  However, when the tourist office booked our camp site on the seafront we were quoted $37 which we somewhat reluctantly accepted.  That’s a high figure for a patch of dirt and the use of the facilities.  Upon arrival at said camp they upped the charge to $46 on the grounds that it was a “long weekend”.  And the showers were terrible.  So small that it was impossible to avoid clothes and shoes becoming wet.  So a tip from Vin Rouge – avoid Busselton sea front unless you want to be ripped off.  OK, rant over.

But the walk along the second longest pier in the world (good old Southend-on-Sea is the longest) was bracing as piers should be.   And we found a pretty good fish and chip shop so it wasn’t all bad!

As luck would have it, we’d been recommended the Big Valley Campsite near Margaret River, the very well known wine growing area.  Well, what a difference.  Upon arrival we were treated as though we were old and welcome friends, found a site that suited our needs and checked on about an hour later to make sure that everything was good and we were comfortable.  The camp was busy with lots of families camping and caravanning.  Kids played ball until dark, fed the sheep, chooks and a pig rejoicing in the name of Henry.  It was impossible not to smile at everything that was going on.  And – wait for it – the showers were amazing.  Hot enough for par-boiling and with sufficient pressure to blast away the aches and pains of a day’s travel.  We stayed two nights!   Now we don’t usually do this, but we’re including a link to their website.  If you’re in the area, don’t miss it and do allow a couple of days.  You won’t be disappointed.  http://bigvalleymargaretriver.com.au/

This corner of Australia has a lot to offer and we did partake of some of the delights.  Visiting a lavender farm, watching the stingrays right by the beach at Hamlin Bay, being awed by the enormous Karri trees in the Boranup Forest, watching surfers on the giant rollers at Rivermouth, visiting a venison farm, chocolate factory and cheese dairy and of course checking out the Margaret River wines. 

But it gets cold at night in these latitudes so we’ve resorted to the Vin Rouge central heating system – a hot water bottle.  We’re ready to snug down for the night so we’ll finish here.  Bye for now.