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Walpole Pemberton area

October - November 2021
A 16-day adventure by Awesomes Read more
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  • TravelerWalpole Pemberton area
    Day 15

    All Good Things Must Come To An End

    November 5, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C

    "All good things must come to an end" is what we say after every hike. And this extremely good holiday amongst the tall trees has come to an end.

    It rained hard last night and early this morning. We were stuck in our tent till a break in the rain around 7.30am. Pleased to confirm that the tent is water tight, and we stayed dry in the tent. We packed up camp as quickly as we could, and put our breakfast of soggy muesli into Tupperwares to eat later. The rain held till we got into the car when it did a quick dump, but cleared up enough for us to decide on a last short hike. Our last tramp amongst the tall trees, in Boranup Forest. This 6.5km hike was fairyland, as there was an abundance of pink fairy orchids. We spotted a trio of donkey orchids and a couple (2) forest mantis spider orchids.

    Plan was to spend a few hours after lunch in Margaret River township, looking at the shops and galleries. After 2 weeks on hikes virtually to ourselves, campsites isolated from other campers, and small quiet towns of Walpole and Pemberton, glitzy Margaret River was a sensory overload too much to bear. We left after 15 minutes and decided to drive straight home.    Read more

  • TravelerWalpole Pemberton area
    Day 14

    Conto to Redgate on the Cape to Cape

    November 4, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

    The Conto to Redgate stretch of the Cape to Cape walk is very picturesque and interesting because it incorporates bush, beach and clambering over boulders in it's 7 km undulating track.
    At the beginning of the walk we met a paraglider who was taking off from landing nearby. He said he preferred landing back on the landing or on the beach because there are snakes in the scrub and his gear might get entangled.
    It was coincidentally that Ruby managed to photograph the paraglider and a wedge tail eagle flying close together.
    At about the 4km mark, a cave appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Sadly there were no orchids on this walk. We were rewarded with Ruby's yummy lunch at the end of the walk, perched on a flatrock about 50m above the beach.
    We enjoyed a cup of tea at the White Elephant Cafe at Gnarabup.
    On the way back to the campsite we stopped at the Calgardup Cave to ask the guide if there were any orchids nearby. She was very helpful and suggested Bob Hollow which was a 4WD track opposite the carpark. We were amazed at how many orchids were found in a mere kilometre stretch of the track. There were spider orchids, pink enamel orchid, cowslips, sun orchids and the highly rare leopard orchid.
    We made another impromptu stop at a carpark at the Boranup Forest. It was magical to walk under the tall karri trees with an added bonus of finding pink lady orchids and donkey orchids.
    It was a wonderful way to wrap up a memorable holiday.    Read more

  • TravelerWalpole Pemberton area
    Day 13

    Orchid hunting day

    November 3, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    We set off bright and early to pickup honey from Pemberton Honey, then to Beedalup Falls for the first hunt. We found a few heading towards the swing bridge but not many. We saw pink lady, white spider orchid and a pink spider orchid. Then we went to Sue's Bridge Campgrounds to check out the campsite, we saw the highest concentration of cowslip orchids ever and Ruby even spotted a ( green hood orchid)
    We then headed to Boranup campsite to reserve a spot. A strategy told to us by Sue camphost at Warren River Campground.
    After the tent was pitched, we left for Augusta, hunt number 3. On the way, we stopped off at a gallery and that was most opportune. We met a fellow customer and whist exchanging pleasantries, the topic of orchid hunting came up. The lady drew us a map to Donavan Bushland and told us specifically where a path would be to take us to Flat Rock, nicknamed, Augusta's Kings Park where there would be an abundance of orchids.
    It truly was orchid paradise. We lost count as to the number of orchids we encountered.
    We saw lots of different spider orchids, enamel orchid, clown orchid, green hood orchid, donkey orchid and forest mantis orchid The highlight for Ruby was finding the Leopard Orchid. It took us 2.05 hours to complete that 2.5km track. It was an extremely windy afternoon, so photos of the nodding waving orchids posed an enormous challenge.    Read more

  • TravelerWalpole Pemberton area
    Day 12

    Rest day at Rosebank Cottage

    November 2, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    Today we decided or rather the weather decided for us to have a rest day. It rained consistently all day, with occasional steady torrential downpour. We thought we'd give our umbrellas a rest.
    We planned only to go to a fine wood gallery and an art gallery. We got to the fine wood gallery and it was shut leaving only one more to visit. We decided to do a cook's tour of Pemberton before the Gold and Grape art gallery and chanced upon a studio of Peter Kovacsy. Not sure if it was open though a sign hanging on the door said open. As I stepped out of the car, an old man in flannelette shirt and beany strolled up and when asked if the studio was open, he replied if the door says it is, well it must be. He turns out to be Peter Kovacsy and he does some great work in glass, wood and combinations of the two. We spent an hour and a half at the studio with Peter explaining his work showing us how his work interacts with light and texture. Very spectacular pieces, he was very open with the revelation of his life story and his inspirations. The Gold and Grape gallery paled in comparison.
    For the rest of the time it was rest and relax at Rosebank Cottage, and it's wonderful claw foot bath.

    Note: Photos of Peter's works and gallery are taken from the internet as we were too busy chatting to remember to take photos.    Read more

  • TravelerWalpole Pemberton area
    Day 11

    Quinninup

    November 1, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    Ruby made yummy pancakes for breakfast and with full bellies we headed to Quinninup.
    We were planning to do orchid hunting on a designated Orchid Trail (4 km), the King Karri Trail (4.5km) and Karri Lake Trail (4km).
    As we drove into Quinninup, we encountered the trailhead for King Karri walk first so we started there, walking under the tall trees. Very pleasant relaxing walk. Saw many huge trees, but did not know which one was The King. The walk was beautiful nonetheless. Today was a very windy day, and we had to negotiate over many fallen branches. The rustling of the leaves was rather loud at times, as the tall trees waved at us.

    We quickly had a light snack because we thought the Orchid Trail shouldn't take us long and we could then have a proper lunch after. After walking 4km, we realised that the walk we did, didn't match the map at all so we had to cutout onto the main road and walk back to the start to see where we went wrong. We realised we had turned on the track too soon so we restarted the walk again. Finally completing the walk with 10km on the clock.
    It was worth redoing as there were lots of variety of orchids and wildflowers to be found. We were so exhausted after that walk, and the rain set in so we gave the Karri Lake Trail a miss.    Read more

  • TravelerWalpole Pemberton area
    Day 10

    Rosebank Cottage Pemberton

    October 31, 2021 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    A leisurely breakfast and decamped from the beautiful Drafty's Campsite in Warren River National Park to check into our booked accommodation in Pemberton township. Had a lovely chat with our camp host Sue, from Sydney, New South Wales. Both her and husband sold up, bought a camper trailer and are now traveling around Australia. They are the most hard-working host we've come across. She rakes up each campsite once it's vacated, checking for any rubbish left behind. She rakes all the empty campsites everyday to clear it of gumnuts and twigs in case someone is pitching a tent there that day. Husband oiled, stained and treated all the wood fixtures around, and fixes anything that needs maintenance. He even helps the rangers in their jobs around. What lovely people. We had a look at the other campsite in the Park, Warren River Campsite. That is a smaller campsite, with no hosts, so it looked wilder with gumnuts and twigs all over, everywhere. We concluded that our campsite, number 11 of Drafty's was about the best, elevated and with water views. Location, location, location.

    We called in at the Visitor's Information in town, and were greeted by a cheery, smiley jolly young lady. She exuded warmth and enthusiasm, and had so much information.She even helped us plan our next campsite after Pemberton. It'll be in Boranup Forest, and if that's full, Alexandria Bridge. Unfortunately, I did not get her name, but she was here last year when we came to Pemberton, just as kind and jolly. She's just what every Visitor Information person should be.

    Lunch was at Hidden River Estate Vineyard. Generous serves, and very delicious food, Australian fare with a touch of the Middle East. Dessert was a giant lavender scone at the Lavender and Berry Farm as it will be shut for the next few days the we're here.

    Rosebank Cottage is luxurious after camping for 3 nights. Priority was washing, clothes and ourselves. The cottage even had a claw foot bath which we luxuriated in.

    Many restaurants and cafes in Pemberton shut from Monday to Wednesday. So dinner tonight will be at Treehouse Tapas which we had a great meal at last year, and yes, is only open from Thursday to Sunday.    Read more

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