Last week my husband and I luckily managed to go on another little getaway by ourselves (read: no kids! *claps and celebratorily dances in a circle*) because although we have been overseas and we've been interstate, we have never been to me outside of Perth and ventured into the other grand regions of Western Australia. We loaded up the 4WD with an esky of water, orange juice and three of the eight sandwiches I made the night before for our three hour road trip (someone got to them in the middle of the night which royally pissed me off but then we did a Macca's run so all was set right in the world again).
The drive down to Margaret River was peaceful and reminiscent of my growing up in the country. It has been a long time since I saw paddocks, sheep and cows and I forgot how truly beautiful the dryness of Australia is. It's so easy to get caught up in a world where you are surrounded by looming buildings and concrete floors. I even saw kangaroos (although all three were dead by the side of the road so it may not count as wildlife viewing).
The place we stayed at was The Margaret River Resort - a quaint little country hotel that gave us a room above the pub downstairs which meant we got to listen to drunks singing karaoke all night. At times it was annoying, at times it was hilariously bad. At least the song selection was good.
The best part of the trip was definitely getting a few nature based activities done. I seemed to have married a man who only likes to go shopping, smoke, drink coffee and eat. I hate shopping, I don't smoke, coffee is a drink not an activity and eating... well I'm definitely down with eating but you can't do that all day. Margaret River, being Margaret River meant that the place is full of fun experiences set in the tranquil Australian bush so he basically had no choice but to go along with being coaxed into doing a few things more up my alley than his.
First off, the maze. We didn't even make it all the way to the centre which is the whole goal of the activity. My husband whinged about spending $50 to essentially get lost (he wasn't wrong) and I spent the time laughing at him because I knew from the start his more than predictable response. In the end I got sick of getting lost while walking down dead ends so we double backed, left the towering maze and spent the remainder of the time walking through the gorgeous gardens. It was either that or arson our way out of the greenery in a straight line with a lighter. I had to hold that thought when I remembered that fresh green leaves don't burn and instead we walked/got lost again as we made our exit.
Oh you know... just casually leaning on a rock. My hubby told me to get on it for photo-sake but I declined knowing that I would either split my pants open on the ascent or die a horrible death on the way down. Heights are a serious thing for me.
It was hilarious walking up to this fountain. I had to laugh hearing a grown man exclaim "Ew, she's peeing!" before his wife shot him down with a "Women don't piss out of vases, Steve..."
Is this picturesque or what?!
The maze from above. Kids made it to the centre. I could not. Shame on my puzzle skills.
In the afternoon we stopped by the river, I took pictures of ducks, admired the scenery, killed a few mosquitos and then headed off on the road again to the cliffside covered coast after stopping by Dome for some seafood lunch. It was windy as hell so there was no way I was actually going to go into the water. Besides, it looked like the choppy sea would've killed you in an instant it was that rough. That or the sharks... it seems to be a thing here.
Fish burger for me. Squid salad for him.
I was really looking forward to exploring one of the many tourist caves that are jotted down the coast. I hadn't been into a cave since my childhood so I was more than excited to drag my husband down to one knowing without asking that there was no way he would have had that experience before.
Turns out it wasn't such a good idea because the stuffy, hot cave air brought on my asthma and I had a massive attack on exiting the cave. My throat just immediately closed up within a few seconds. I remember looking up to the three hundred steps ahead of me that I needed to climb to get out of the cave and knowing I wouldn't make it up five of them let alone all of them. It was so damn scary. Thank God the tour guide had an emergency asthma puffer on her otherwise I would have been screwed. Lesson learned - ALWAYS carry your medicine with you.
Besides nearly dying in massive dark hole, the rest of the experience was cool. Lake Cave was beautiful once inside and quite other worldly. It was discovered over a hundred years ago by this young lass below. I don't remember her name but I thought she was beautiful and her elaborate hairstyle struck me as interesting. We tend to think of the past (especially the 1800's) as a time of blandness style-wise but she proved me wrong.
Her photo tells a story, don't you think?
I left my flash in the car thinking they wouldn't let you use it inside the cave. I was wrong and suffered with not being able to properly focus while producing dim, very blurry photos. Such a shame because this place with its natural reflecting pool was made for epic photographic opportunities.
My cave walking shoes. Pink, of course.
I had such a good two days away! I actually enjoyed it a lot more than my last proper holiday in Malaysia mainly because we were well away from shopping centres and large crowds. It's so good to get away!
Where do you like to sneak off to when you have the chance?
Where do you like to sneak off to when you have the chance?