Cape to Cape drive

Thursday 5 November


It was another interesting day today. We decided to do the Cape to Cape drive – no, not Cape York! It’s Cape Naturaliste to Cape Leeuwin, but we didn’t go right to Cape Naturaliste because we were there yesterday. We went to Dunsborough then turned south towards Augusta, which is on the way to the Cape.

Very good drive, through coastal country that looks a lot like other parts of Australia, except for the karri trees. There are quite a lot on this drive, they’re beautiful trees, very tall and straight.

We had noticed some information about a maze at Yallingup, so called in for a look when we saw it. It’s a maze made of wooden sections that can be moved so people don’t get too used to the one way. Very challenging! We were lucky and found the exit and a reviving cold drink after walking for about 45 minutes.

We stopped at a winery after the maze – we couldn’t be near Margaret River without at least one, could we??

On to Augusta for lunch. This is a little town definitely making the most of tourism, there are a few places for lunch and lots of building going on, mostly apartments for holiday makers, I think.

Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly place on the continent. It was first seen (by Europeans) by a Dutch navigator who named the whole are Leeuwin Land, and the cape was named by Matthew Flinders about 1804. It’s the point where he started mapping the coastline of the continent, and is also the place where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. There’s a picture in the album, you just need to click on the slideshow for the latest pics.

It’s a wild bit of ocean, it’s easy to see why the lighthouse is needed. It was built in 1895 after a bit of delay about money, naturally. It’s still in use today, and like Cape Naturalist has been automated for quite a few years now. We didn’t go to the top of it, because it’s much taller than Naturaliste, in fact it’s the highest on the mainland.

I really enjoyed our visit there, it was great to see such a place, and to have a bit of an idea of the sailing hazards around there. There are a lot of rocks with breaking water that would make things very dangerous for shipping.

We came back through Margaret River, and have organised a wine tour for Saturday. We will be picked up here and brought back afterwards so that means we don’t have to worry about getting home – good plan!