Day 95: Margaret River

Today we visited Mammoth Cave, just south of Margaret River on the way to Augusta and Cape Leeuwin.

There are several limestone caves south of Margaret River and they are fantastic with lots of formations. Mammoth Cave is named, not because of fossilised woolly mammoths (there are none) but because it is huge...... there were some huge underground caverns which we walked through. It cost $20 and we received an mp3 player each which we used for a self-guided tour - again, it was excellent. At the end we had to negotiate 140 steps to get out of the cave but we all made it!!!

We then continued south to Hamlin Bay (fishing village with nice caravan park) and then Cape Leeuwin National Park where we stopped for morning tea in a desserted camping ground surrounded by karri trees. We had the place to ourselves because it was probably a bit cold for most people to go camping.

After morning tea, we continued south to pass through the pretty town of Augusta and then on to Cape Leeuwin and the famous lighthouse. On the way we saw a whale - it must have only been 1oo metres off-shore.

The lighthouse is operational and is the tallest mailand lighthouse in Australia - I think it was about 180 metres. We paid the $15 for the guided tour and walked up the 174 steps up to the deck of the lighthouse. There we were greeted with the the view of where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet - and wasn't it rough - there are small submerged islands everywhere and water and currents going in all directions - it was easy to see why the lighthouse, which can be seen from 46km at see, was badly needed - it was built in the 1850s.
After the lighthouse walk, we stopped at the cafe and interpretive centre attached and bought lunch.

We then headed north again and stopped at the Karridale Christmas Shop which sells Christmas decorations, etc from around the world.... Tes, Christmas - they sell them all year around.

It was then on to the Blackwood Meadery where we sampled a variety of wines and liquers based on honey. We ended up buying a bottle of standard mead - it is very similar to sherry but but with a honey flavour.

Lastly, we visited the berry farm/winery which sold wines and liquers based on berries. There was also a big variety of chutneys, jams, etc. We bought a couple of bottles of jam.

All up, a good day. We didn't get home until 5pm.