Alexandra Bridge 13 December 2006

Up early to explore this very distant corner of Australia. We are starting to get used to a Melbourne type climate - four seasons in one day though this day felt like autumn. We saw our first large trees as we approached the coast and loved the feel of the enveloping canopy, but it does increase the sense of a darker season. We spent the morning at Hamelin Bay which was very attractive and calm and the weather quickly changed to a summer’s day. There was no crocodiles, but a sign saying that the big rays are friendly to people! A lady there said that they feed them in the evenings. The beach had the remains of an old wooden jetty used to load the Karri logs onto ships off to England during early 1930s but the whole thing finished because Karri went out of fashion! All that is left is a caravan park run by the National Parks and a very busy big new carpark full of visitors and fishermen. People next to us in the carpark were on a 4 month journey. They were towing a small caravan with two little kids and came from Picton. The kids were making compasses and raving about bearded dragons and what they saw them eating. It’s so easy to see how good this is for them!
We made our way down to the most south westerly point to Augusta and low and behold there was winter with cold and RAIN! Visited the op shop where the lady gave us a Santa in a jar with snow! Real a kitsch! Just right for Xmas day! The area is elevated a little to give lots of views of the bays and rivers. We travelled to the furthest point south at Cape Leeuwin about 10 km away, where a lighthouse is located. Well didn’t the weather give it to us! Wind and rain - we thought of England and the coast of Cornwall on a bleak day! We climbed up inside the lighthouse to the top and found it easy to imagine life here in 1900. Again we saw a beautiful crystal lens in operation and a lighthouse in original condition. Outside we enjoyed the idea that the closest land to the west was Africa and to the south Antarctica and this is where the Southern and the Indian oceans meet. Nearby, where they quarried the stone, is a wooden water wheel that has been calcified by the lime in the water and now looks like stone!
We moved on late (daylight saving makes the evenings so long) and travelled back to near where we started our day, and camped in the bush in a big space near Alexander Bridge. Kangaroo Paw grows more freely in these areas and surrounded our camp site. Another bush night and the only thing we didn’t see today was Spring!