We awoke to a tragedy this morning – ants had gotten into Thomas and Sam’s chocolate from yesterdays visit to the Chocolate Factory so they proceeded to spend the day trying to convince us they needed some kind of restitution Tom even went as low as playing the allergy card for the two of them. My attitude was next time it will teach them to put their chocolate away properly.
It was a good thing we left early this morning – the day started out beautifully and slowly deteriorated until around lunch time when the rain settled in for the afternoon.
We drove south today to Cape Leeuwin – the most southerly lighthouse on mainland Australia – a mere 4500km to Antarctica and it was also where the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet. We were actually able to see where the currents met which was pretty cool. We climbed to the top of Cape Leeuwin lighthouse which was gave us great views to Augusta and out to sea – sadly we didn’t spot any whales. The lighthouse is 38m tall and has 176 steps and the lighthouse keepers used to have to climb them carrying two 16kg containers of kerosene – talk about needing to be fit.
I was very proud of Claire who climbed it despite her fears of heights and enclosed spaces but she made it up and even walked around the outside up the top which was incredibly windy.
Back down the bottom we then went to take a look at the old waterwheel which was built in the late 1800’s to supply water when they were building the lighthouse and later supplied the water for the four lighthouse keepers and their families.
We took a bit of a drive around Flinders Bay which was beautiful even when it was raining I can only imagine how lovely it must be in summer – a good excuse to come back in summer to check it out. While we have had a great time in southern WA you can certainly see it would be a huge tourist destination over summer.
After our little scenic drive it was off to Jewel Cave. There are several caves in the area but sadly when there is six of you they are not cheap to go down so we had to narrow it down to one and Jewel Cave was the winner (I suspect it was because of the name because my vote went to Lake Cave which has an underground lake). We have been to a few caves now Kelly (on Kangaroo Island), Wellington Caves and of course Jenolan Caves but Jewel Cave I think might be the best. 250 steps throughout the tour but there were several viewing platforms along the way and massive caverns so you got a really good view of the stalactites and stalagmites. Claire didn’t think she could handle being in a cave and at first I was really disappointed she didn’t come because it was so open but the further we moved into the caverns the space did become smaller and she would have freaked out when the guide turned the lights out – it was pitch black you literally couldn’t see your hand in front of your face (yes I tried).
Back up the 250 steps and we were back on the surface after having been 42m underground at the lowest point and back to Claire who apparently had a very enjoyable hour by herself playing her iPod.
We arrived back at the cabin in the pouring rain so the kids planted themselves in front of the TV (getting all their viewing in while they can) and I enjoyed a spa bath with a locked bathroom door!
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