South West Coast Part 2 – The Fun Part

20^th November 14^th December

Not being the kind of people who miss an opportunity, we made the best of our stay at Glenbrook Campground, our hostess was wonderful and had no problem extending our stay again, and again…Well, you know what happened, and we used our time well, exploring the area.

Mostly for those of you overseas, I’ve supplied three maps. All of the same area but on different scales. As you can see, we’ve still got a lot of ground to cover. 😊

Glenwood is fifty acres of serenity with walkways through the Kari Forest. Just make sure to take a map with you or you will get turned around. I went for a ten minute walk and got home an hour and a half later. 😉 As well as providing campsites and cabins, Glenwood is also a haven for a few hundred kangaroos, some horses, a really cute carrot munching donkey and two pairs of Rainbow Bee Eaters. One of my favs. So, lets go straight to them.

Our hostess showed me where the Rainbow Bee Eaters had dug their burrow, how lucky was that? I didn’t even know they burrowed, did you? So with my chair, hat, a cooler of wine, and my camera kit under my arm I staked my claim near the burrow. It paid off. This first set shows them flying to the burrow with food for their young.

I’ve learned that Rainbow Bee Eaters will dig, and share their burrow with other couples. They share the brooding, incubating and feeding duties. This burrow was home to two pairs, and they were working hard feeding their young. In between feeding, they sit on exposed branches, or cables, and keep an eye out for the next meal.

There were a lot of does with joeys, though to call them Joey’s was a bit of a stretch. It was clear that some of them should have left home already. You have to feel sorry for mum, now these are stretch marks.

Some are just too darn cute.

There were also lots of bunnies and some weird looking guinea fowl. Apparently, there was a bad grasshopper plague in the area some twenty years ago and the Guinea fowl were brought in to help solve the problem. From what our host said, they did a great job and have stayed on for minimal wages to keep an eye on things.

We had a few lovely days down at Chapman pool on the Blackhawk River. That was a beautiful spot for picnicking and for the kayaks. When you get into the water, if you turn and paddle to the right, you can explore the narrow river channel and dodge fallen tree trunks. Turn to the left and you will soon find yourself at a T-intersection, turn left or right and you will find yourself in a wide-open river system. Wonderful!

We also did several day trips including Margaret River, Augusta, Leeuwin Naturaliste, Busselton and most, but not all, of the areas we had originally planned to visit. The south west corner is quite picturesque and it’s easy to see why it’s such a popular holiday destination.

Apart from the the high levels of stress re the brakes (they are still working fine by the way, as is the brake controller), we loved our stay at Glenwood, it is a lovely part of WA and given the time we would happily go back there. But now…we’re off to Perth to meet mum at the airport.

See you out there somewhere

On tow and on the go!