Karen Hechinger

I woke up feeling better today and was determined to get back in the game after 2 days of mostly rest, so, after grabbing a massive breakfast at the local diner, we drove north to Granite Skywalk to check it out.

The Granite Skywalk is a suspended walkway perched atop Castle Rock in Western Australia's Porongurup National Park. Referred to as an engineering marvel, it offers two lookout platforms with panoramic views stretching across forests & farmland, all the way to Albany coastline 25 miles away. The hike there was a short but steep 3 km trail through the forest, that turned into a trek over & through a set of boulders before reaching the ladder that takes you to the summit.En savoir plus

We picked up our rental car the next day and drove the 3+ hours down to Margaret River, stopping at the small towns of Bunbury & Busselton, neither of which offered much in the way of attractions. In Bunbury we tracked down and hiked up the Rotary Lookout tower, and in Busselton we drove out the "iconic" jetty (their description, definitely not mine).

We arrived in the cute little town of Margaret River, known for it local wineries, where we looked forward to our "Discover Margaret River Tour", which would combine canoeing, hiking, and wine tasting with a lunch. To make a long story short, after unsuccessfully trying to locate a reminder email from the tour company, I called them to confirm, only to find out they had no record of our booking. This very popular tour was sold out, so we were out of luck. Big disappointment.

If there is any silver lining at all, the head cold that I'd been fighting off for over a week had finally taken hold of me. Our alternate plan of driving down to Augusta, the southwestern tip of Australia, allowed me to nap in the car a bit (when I wasn't coughing). This was followed the next day by the beginning of our southwest road trip, through which I slept in the car the majority of the drive time, and crashed in the hotel after a hot shower at about 4PM. Huge thanks to Mike for grabbing food & bringing it back to the hotel for me, and for being such a good guy about me kind of bailing on him for 2 days.

We did stop on our way to Albany to explore the Tree Top Walk, which was advertised as a walkway bridge suspended 120 feet above the ground, allowing you to explore the area without affecting the eco system itself. We also strolled through the ground trail which took us through a tingle tree forest. Tingle trees apparently have a root system that allows them to keep growing despite being hollowed out by fire & fungus.

The trails were thankfully short, and I was happy to get back in the car & close my eyes again until we reached Albany.En savoir plus