Whilst we were aware of the weather forecast containing the words wind and rain for the day, our visit to the visitor information centre yesterday had made up our mind that a trip to Cape Leeuwin (the furthest south westerly point on the mainland) would be a trip to take irrespective of the weather.
It was actually dry when we woke up and after watching some of the Olympic Games telecast, we were ready to leave just after 9:00am.
With our friends in the back of the car, we headed to Dunsborough, some 19k’s to the west of Busselton. We then travelled north west into the Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park and stopped at the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse. Electing not to spend an hour visiting the inside of the lighthouse, we made a donation which allowed us access to the outside of the lighthouse.
Leaving the lighthouse, we headed back to Dunsborough for fuel and then took the coast road south to Augusta. We stopped to view the massive trees in the Karri Forest at Boranup, a sight to been seen.
Arriving in Augusta at 12.00pm, we decided to head to Cape Leeuwin rather than stop for lunch. That decision proved to be very wise.
Our friends informed us that when they visited Cape Leeuwin several years ago, you were able to freely walk past the lighthouse and sit on rocks close to the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. That is no longer the case as a fence has been erected and a fee ($20) applied to enter the lighthouse precinct. It is disgusting that we have now reached a point where we need to charge people a fee to see parts of their own country. What is going on??
We decided not to pay the fee but were still able to take some pictures. The wind was terrible and to the point where you were almost blown off your feet. The wind was causing a wild swell with the spray from the ocean reaching the car park. We were actually glad to get back into the car.
We stopped at the bakery in Augusta for lunch and shortly after sitting down, a torrential downpour took place. Those at Cape Leeuwin would have been drenched. The pies we had for lunch are up there with the best pies we have had since we started travelling in Australia.
After lunch we headed up the main northern Highway (Bussell Highway) and stopped in Cowaramup (The Candy Cow) and then at the Margaret River Chocolate Co. Whilst they offered a great variety of chocolates, the prices were expensive.
We returned to Busselton and stopped at the jetty. Due to the weather the tram was not running and the aquarium at the end of the jetty was closed. We took pictures of the angry sea and just managed to get back to the car before another extreme downpour of rain.
We purchased frozen pizza from Coles for our evening meal and then returned to the caravan park. Just before we reached the turn off for the caravan park, we experienced the heaviest rain of the day. The rain was so intense that visibility virtually became zero. We were about to stop but as quick as the rain started, it stopped. We then did witness one of the most vivid rainbows we have ever.
Knowing that the forecast is for the rain to continue tomorrow, when we returned to our camp site, in between further rain showers, “He” hooked up the car and caravan. “He” also packed the car with items not required during the night.
With our friends we enjoyed our evening meal in the camp kitchen. Whilst enjoying our meal it became very apparent that the wind intensity had increased and a check of the updated forecast from the weather bureau revealed a severe weather warning for our location with damaging winds of up to 100kph forecast.
Between showers, we returned to our caravan and spent the remainder of the evening watching the Olympic Games.
We were also waiting for the wind to increase further.