Jonnymoon SW - Day 3 PM - Kookaburra, burra, burra

The long, cloudy day continued, and we made it to Augusta. We found a campsite and then went to go to one of the nearby caves. Of course, it closed at 3:30. Then we headed off to Cape Leeuwin, the Southwest tip of Australia. The convergence of the Southern and Indian Oceans. Laura and JP weren't quite as impressed as me, so we didn't actually go to the end of the cape.

But I did take a picture of a picture of where we could have stood. It has a sign saying Southern Ocean to left, and Indian Ocean to the Right. So Cool.

As the weather wasn't much fun, nor was Augusta, we spent most of the afternoon watching birds and taking the odd photog. Gulls, Pelicans, some crazy beaked bird, and my favourite, the Kookaburra.

The Award Winning "Standing on One Foot Yawning Pelican" Shot
JP got so excited about that one he had an "accident" and had to hang his boxers up to dry

The Kookaburra has the most personality of any bird I've ever seen (or hit with a Landcruiser). I think it is in their eyes. They have these beautiful puppy dog eyes, and a cute face, and seem to look right into your soul. We named this guy Kookoo. During the Sydney Olympics, one of the mascots was a Kookaburra named Olly. We also started singing a Kookaburra song: You can be my Kookaburra, burra, burra, hey, hey""

Kookoo the Kookaburra

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Coming up tomorrow: In Pursuit of Happiness ("Sunshine")

Jonnymoon SW - Day 2 PM - The Gap

After the most beautiful beach in the world, we trekked back to Albany to have lunch, and then off to The Gap. The Gap is just a big gap in the rock cliffs. Because of the big storm the night before, the seas were very rough and the waves were absolutely pounding inside the gap. I got drenched just walking to the site. Salt + camera lens = Bad. One thing that is great (scary) about Western Australia is that there are no real safety precautions anywhere. There is a nice little recommended lookout for the Gap, but it is very easy to head for a new vantage point and find yourself walking off the cliff. We said that anyone going in The Gap would be going for their last swim. Also there was Natural Bridge.... It was alright.

Laura and JP at the Gap
Water flying up over the cliffs
Natural Bridge

Waves pounding on the rocks
The windshield when we got back to the car ... can you say salt?

After The Gap, we headed to the blowholes. The blowholes blew, literally. In 2 ways: First, a light whistling sound could be heard every minute or so, and secondly, it just wasn't very spectacular. Especially compared to The Gap. It didn't help that it was a kilometre walk to that site. The Gap wins this round.We then headed off to our next destination: Walpole.

Laura took over the driving. Before this trip, I thought Laura had never driven a manual car... She asked me not to comment on her driving.... :) I'm happy to be alive.

JP and I stopped at Matilda's Garden in Denmark to get a bottle of wine. Mmmmmm free wine sampling! Then we found a campground in Walpole.

Matilda's Vineyard

Camping Attitude

JP spots a rare woodchip and has to get a photo

A few visits from neat australian wildlife: Kookaburra's (more to come), blue wrens, bandicoots. One of the old ladies there got JP excited by telling us about a kangaroo that comes up ever morning with it's joey in the pouch to have brekkie. Let's just say, JP went to bed thinking it was Christmas Eve. Would he get to see this amazing moment......

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