South West Cape Shenanigans

Waking to the sound of rain on the tin roof was not unexpected (due to accurate forecasting) and did put a literal dampener on the day. Rain does that. Makes things damp. Things like clothes, roads, beaches, vistas, etc. However, it was not going to get to our mood (leave that one to wayward kangaroos).

Our communal breakfast in the ex House Of Nuns (unfortunately, when the owners stopped wearing those habits they also stopped adhering to their habits) was another superb experience – this time the feature was truffle scrambled eggs and the advise as to what to do with day was spot on. We were going caving anyway, their advice simply helped our decision making. And so, in the driving rain we headed off down the Bussell, picked a joiner to get to Cave road on the map and subsequently got it really wrong. The intention was to drive on clean bitumen and thus look after the car and not give the company any more reasons to suck more cash away from the accounts. Woops. The road started off looking OK, bitumen going west (in the right direction), then turned to gravel, then to mud, then to winding bush tracks and (when it was too late to physically turn around) into a soft sand, deep wheel rut ridden 4WD challenge. Make a choice…. 1. Stop (and get stuck in the middle of nowhere, in the driving rain with possibly no recourse) or 2. Go for it rally style….. When we got to Cave Road to turn left it took one more sideways twisting flip of the vehicle to jump the gully and land on the road at speed…two bends away we arrived at Mammoth Cave. Stress levels understandably high were not diluted by the consistent driving rain, a reception area/gift shop full of slow people seemingly in no hurry to do naught but purchase a plethora of tea towels. One by one they were discussed, selected, folded, discussed some more and solemnly packed whilst we were standing there drippingly bedraggled in our expectations of purchasing a ticket.

Once we finally got a ticket, we were told to leave our umbrella behind! even with the solemn promise of not to raise it in the cave it was confiscated because “if we let you take yours in – we’d need to let everyone do so”. Lucky we weren’t chewing gum. And so by the time we reached the cave entrance we were totally damped and in we went.

Stalactites and stalagmites adorn. It’s a pretty big space – with the same acoustics of a public transport carriage – in that the voices of youngsters (that have not yet learnt the ability to speak quietly) get amplified off the walls in the reassuring feedback that yes, they do exist as an individual. Required for every word expressed (this blogger knows – used to be one myself). After a fair amount of balancing the need to press the required combination of buttons on the self-guided tour device aligned to the signposted spots in the dim light vs. trying to get a reasonable distance away from the young family amidst very narrow steel walkways was a good challenge, made the whole caving experience one worthwhile. Getting to the far end and emerging in the daylight revealed that the heavens were still bucketing down and so we had to return all the way back through the cave instead of overland … as they had confiscated the umbrella.

They have a lot of caves along Caves Road. Not one called Nick (which is a lost opportunity). Deciding that one was enough to tick that off the list we headed back up the road to Surfers Heaven – Gnarabup Beach at the cafe’ for latte’s whilst the rain tried to clear off. It was pretty quiet and thus peaceful hanging around here for a bit, had a look at the beach which under sunny warm skies you get the feeling that this is where it all happens. Surfers surf, beachcombers wander and sunbathers bathe all whilst the ocean throws fabulous waves at the shoreline, as the sharks beneath conspire which one to select next.  

Heading inland and then back up the Nickless road we had the fabulous (?) experience of a kangaroo jumping out in front of us. Heart stopping is probably a better description. This time there was enough time to slow down and then “lo and behold” another one, and then whole mob of them decided now was the time to follow the leader. Geebers… that’s all we needed … a reminder that the beasts are out there – just waiting for white hire car to come along and ruin everyone’s day. All good this time though – slow and steady and on the watch is now the norm for us. Just up the road we went to Vasse Felix vineyard (apologies for the previous post - now corrected) which is the original vineyard in the area. History abounds and they let you know about it. They have also made and subsequently spent a lot of money around here. They even have their own art gallery, perfectly manicured lawns and guests to match. With vines in the yard dripping with rich purple fruit and a cellar door full of similarly adorned tasters we quickly ticked that off (photos to prove we were there) in preference for more salubrious surroundings. Deep Woods was our recommended next stop and that was thoroughly enjoyable. Hardly any people here, so we had the attention of a fabulous staff member who loves what she does, loves the place she lives in and is willing to while away the hours telling us all about it in lieu of actually doing any real work on her totally ignored PC. So we signed up, grabbed a couple of bottles for the next couple of nights and then popped over to Aravina Estate for a relaxing cheeseboard and vino lunch.

Didn’t need it at all but … you know … when in Rome… yadda.. yadda…(thanks Jerry). Actually afterwards we realised that it was the right thing to do – it is a very well appointed place – they can (and obviously do) host a truck load of people here (weddings, parties… anything), however this afternoon it was quiet, serene and a great picturesque location to just … be in. The whole area is simply awesome, very picturesque, full of very happy/passionate people doing interesting stuff, extremely enjoyable (assuming one can afford it) and very much worthwhile visiting. One can see why lots of people choose to make their homes here … which also makes sense as to why there was about 50 busses hanging around the local high school at pick up time. It is however time for us to move on – only so much wine can be tasted at a consistent frequency and so after selecting the incorrect vehicle to get into (they really are all white and all do look the same – even between manufactures) we headed back to the nunnery to see if we could be naughtier than the original occupants. Not so – times have changed (alas! no smoking anymore).

After the inevitable post tasting snooze we headed up to a fab eatery for dinner where the highlights were the food (seafood pumpkin gnocchi) and the question from the couple on the table next to us …”are you on holidays or recently retired?”

Never really considered until now how a stranger can be a mirror – maybe this is why we travel….(and why we don’t carry guns).