Just because it is so weird... Gnomeville is a place in the middle of nowhere on the Australian courtyside where people put their old and "retired" garden gnomes (well not only, but that is how it started). Just so wonderfully kitsch!
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Australia. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Gnomeville, Australia
Just because it is so weird... Gnomeville is a place in the middle of nowhere on the Australian courtyside where people put their old and "retired" garden gnomes (well not only, but that is how it started). Just so wonderfully kitsch!
The green side of Australia (part 2)
After having been to Margaret River in South Western Australia, we continued our trip down south only the six of us; Cisela, me, her parents, aunt and uncle, heading to Walpole and further to Denmark (not the country, but the Aussie town...)
Our first stop on the road was the Shannon National Park which is located south east of Manjimup. In the park we drove on the Great Forest Drive, a scenic drive that gives you the opportunity to drive through big Karri forests. Karries grow up to 90 metres of height, making it one of the tallest species in the world beside the famous Redwoods on the U.S. West Coast. It is truly stunning to stand under such a tree !!
After that, we headed straight to Walpole, to our little house right at the Walpole inlet. Very beautiful but a bit chilly, especially at nighttime when Cisela and I placed an electric heating unit next to our beds to keep warm.
I took the chance to do some fishing in the evening, but as it happens sometimes, I wasn't lucky enough to catch one (or my experience with salt water fishing is too little...). However, it was a very nice place to bathe the bait anyway.
The next day we went on a daytrip to Denmark, not because of the town but because of the beauty of its surroundings. The landscape is just great, green hills and big trees as far as you can see!
And if we thought that the Karri trees are big, it gets even bigger! The Valley of the Giants!
It's a forest of gigantic Tingle trees that can measure up to 24 metres round at the base and grow to the same height as the Karries and live for up to 400 years.
And when we say that the Tingles are big trees, we mean it! It is even possible to stand IN them and still have plenty of space! How great!
In the Valley of the Giants we took an amazing walk through the forest canopy on the Tree Top Walk, a spectacular lightweight bridge (nothing for persons who are afraid of heights) that ascends into the tree tops 40 metres above ground! What a view, what an experience!
On our way back to Walpole we stopped at Elephant Rock, a rock formation at the seaside that resembles a flock of elephants. And we had great weather too, storm and rain. ;-) Cold, but the scenery was amazing. See for yourself:
Just a great day!
On our last day down in the South we visited the Gloucester Tree. It is a giant Karri tree in the Gloucester National Park of Western Australia. At 72 metres in height, it is the world's tallest fire-lookout tree, and Cisela's mom took the chance to climb up to the first platform half the way. But still very high!
In the meantime, the rest of us took the chance to talk to a lady who undertakes the task of looking after joeys (baby kangaroos) when their mothers have been killed by cars. She had seven little ones in the back of her car and had stopped to feed them. Cisela and her parents could not resist to hold some of them! Just cute! She has already posted the photos in the post Australian wildlife encounters.
Finally, we made our way back to Perth, where we arrived some hours later with a short stopover in Gnomeville... Not really my thing, so Cisela will write about that shortly.
To put it in a nutshell, South-West Australia is definitely worth a trip! So if you plan to go there one day, have fun and enjoy!!!
Our first stop on the road was the Shannon National Park which is located south east of Manjimup. In the park we drove on the Great Forest Drive, a scenic drive that gives you the opportunity to drive through big Karri forests. Karries grow up to 90 metres of height, making it one of the tallest species in the world beside the famous Redwoods on the U.S. West Coast. It is truly stunning to stand under such a tree !!
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| Karri tree |
After that, we headed straight to Walpole, to our little house right at the Walpole inlet. Very beautiful but a bit chilly, especially at nighttime when Cisela and I placed an electric heating unit next to our beds to keep warm.
I took the chance to do some fishing in the evening, but as it happens sometimes, I wasn't lucky enough to catch one (or my experience with salt water fishing is too little...). However, it was a very nice place to bathe the bait anyway.
The next day we went on a daytrip to Denmark, not because of the town but because of the beauty of its surroundings. The landscape is just great, green hills and big trees as far as you can see!
And if we thought that the Karri trees are big, it gets even bigger! The Valley of the Giants!
It's a forest of gigantic Tingle trees that can measure up to 24 metres round at the base and grow to the same height as the Karries and live for up to 400 years.
And when we say that the Tingles are big trees, we mean it! It is even possible to stand IN them and still have plenty of space! How great!
 |
| Giant tingle tree |
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| Tree Top Walk |
On our way back to Walpole we stopped at Elephant Rock, a rock formation at the seaside that resembles a flock of elephants. And we had great weather too, storm and rain. ;-) Cold, but the scenery was amazing. See for yourself:
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| A bit windy... |
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| Elephant rocks |
Just a great day!
On our last day down in the South we visited the Gloucester Tree. It is a giant Karri tree in the Gloucester National Park of Western Australia. At 72 metres in height, it is the world's tallest fire-lookout tree, and Cisela's mom took the chance to climb up to the first platform half the way. But still very high!
In the meantime, the rest of us took the chance to talk to a lady who undertakes the task of looking after joeys (baby kangaroos) when their mothers have been killed by cars. She had seven little ones in the back of her car and had stopped to feed them. Cisela and her parents could not resist to hold some of them! Just cute! She has already posted the photos in the post Australian wildlife encounters.
Finally, we made our way back to Perth, where we arrived some hours later with a short stopover in Gnomeville... Not really my thing, so Cisela will write about that shortly.
To put it in a nutshell, South-West Australia is definitely worth a trip! So if you plan to go there one day, have fun and enjoy!!!
Monday, November 28, 2011
The green side of Australia (part 1)
When you think about Australia, and especially about Western Australia, most of what comes into your mind is bushland, red sand, rocks and brutal heat.
But...there is an alternative almost nobody in Europe knows of: South-Western Australia. Thanks to a relatively cold climate because of chilly winds form Antarctica, it welcomes you with lush green hills, beautiful rivers and creeks and big forests. The landscape is almost comparable to the hillsides of the Ardennes or the English countryside!
So we decided to visit this beatiful area once again as we did last year and given the fact that the trip was planned around the birthday of Cisela's aunt Gunnel, we were a rather big group of eleven people to go there. We rented a very nice lakeside chalet in Margaret River, a town not far from the sea and wordwide especially known for its delicious wine and surfing.
Surf is pretty big there due to the roaring 40s, special winds from the Antarctica, that give a great left hand surf and attracts surfers from all over the world. But as nobody of our group is a surfer, we just went for a stroll at the beaches after arrival to enjoy the views and even tip a toe into the icy waters. We even had the opportunity to spot some wales very close to shore! A great experience! Last but definetly not least we had a very good BBQ (including Käsekrainer made by a German butcher in Perth!) in the evening accompained with local wines. That really rounded up a great day!
The following was Gunnel's birthday! It was a rather busy day given the fact that we went to a berry farm (including tasting and buying liqueur and port wine), an 'icecream-farm' ( including some icecream of course), a brewery (including beer tasting), and finally to a winery for wine tasting. After happily getting home to our chalet exausted and tired, we all had dinner completed with icecream topped with hazelnut liqueur (except for Cisela who is allergic to hazelnuts...)! Two really great days came to an end. We really enjoyed them and lucky as we are we continued our trip further down south the next day. Stay tuned as the story continues...
But...there is an alternative almost nobody in Europe knows of: South-Western Australia. Thanks to a relatively cold climate because of chilly winds form Antarctica, it welcomes you with lush green hills, beautiful rivers and creeks and big forests. The landscape is almost comparable to the hillsides of the Ardennes or the English countryside!
So we decided to visit this beatiful area once again as we did last year and given the fact that the trip was planned around the birthday of Cisela's aunt Gunnel, we were a rather big group of eleven people to go there. We rented a very nice lakeside chalet in Margaret River, a town not far from the sea and wordwide especially known for its delicious wine and surfing.
Surf is pretty big there due to the roaring 40s, special winds from the Antarctica, that give a great left hand surf and attracts surfers from all over the world. But as nobody of our group is a surfer, we just went for a stroll at the beaches after arrival to enjoy the views and even tip a toe into the icy waters. We even had the opportunity to spot some wales very close to shore! A great experience! Last but definetly not least we had a very good BBQ (including Käsekrainer made by a German butcher in Perth!) in the evening accompained with local wines. That really rounded up a great day!
The following was Gunnel's birthday! It was a rather busy day given the fact that we went to a berry farm (including tasting and buying liqueur and port wine), an 'icecream-farm' ( including some icecream of course), a brewery (including beer tasting), and finally to a winery for wine tasting. After happily getting home to our chalet exausted and tired, we all had dinner completed with icecream topped with hazelnut liqueur (except for Cisela who is allergic to hazelnuts...)! Two really great days came to an end. We really enjoyed them and lucky as we are we continued our trip further down south the next day. Stay tuned as the story continues...
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| BBQ |
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| Our chalet in Margaret River |
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| Beer cow & me |
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| Watershed Winery, Margaret River |
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Australian wildlife encounters
During
our month down under, we did a lot of wildlife spotting. Matthias is just the
best wildlife scout you can imagine. Where mum, dad and me didn't see anything
but meadows and trees, Matthias saw kangaroos and emus, or whales when we went
to the beach.
Here are some of the animals we saw in and around Perth, as well as on our trip down south:
Here are some of the animals we saw in and around Perth, as well as on our trip down south:
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| Pelican, Woodman's Point |
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| Sea gull action, Penguin Island |
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| Our pet goose in Margaret River |
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| Emu mother with babies |
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| Killer ant? |
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| Kangaroo eating kangaroo paw (an Australian flower) |
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| Pelicans in Walpole |
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| More pelicans |
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| This lady took care of motherless joeys (kangaroo babies). This one was 10 months old |
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| Pappa with another of the seven joeys |
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| Mamma with joey |
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