Australia's South West

I feel like this region of the country should have some more interesting, descriptive name than it does, but as far as I can tell, this is it: Australia's South West! Encompassing the Margaret River Wine Valley, some really big trees, and countless idyllic beaches.

 

SR and I were in Perth (that post coming next) for a bunch of doc/dentist appointments to get qualified for Antarctica in October, and then had to go away for the long Easter weekend to allow time for all the tests to come back and paperwork to be completed. So we decided to go away to the South West, a little corner of the country that is both exactly what I imagined Australia is and what I never imagined it is.

 

What I didn't imagine is the trees! We did the "Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk" near Walpole, which is kind of a tourist trap--but also very cool to be 40 meters in the air, with only the upper reaches of the huge Red Tingle eucalypts stretching overhead.



 

And then there are the beaches, which ARE the Australia I was expecting. We were mesmerized watching the body boarders at the beach at Yallingup for the better part of an hour.

And then there was the beach at Peaceful Bay...

...at Conspicuous Cliff...

...and misty, ship-wrecked Mandalay Beach...

...before ducking back into the trees of the towering Karri Forest...

...before more spectacular coastline at Point D'Entrecasteaux.

Forest, beach, forest, beach--it was a beautiful way to spend the long Easter weekend while we waited for all of our paperwork in Perth to get done. And so much of it so refreshingly different from what I expected this country to be like.