Traveling Nancy

Traveling around the world as far as I can go.


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Margaret River – October 11th and 12th

We took our time driving to Margaret River. On the way we stopped at a lovely place in Harvey where we ate in a gazebos near the Harvey Dam.  There was a pretty wedding bush growing near us.

gazebo-and-wedding-bush-at-harvey-dam-collage

After lunch we drove to Busselton and looked at the old courthouse. We walked by the Jetty and then went to get ice-cream cones. The jetty is the longest wooden jetty in the world. It stretches almost 2km out to sea from the town. There is a train that goes out to the end of the jetty. The Norfolk pine growing near the shore reminded me of the one Rose and I saw when walked from Finisterre to Muxia, Spain just about 2 years ago.

busselton-jetty-collage

We plan to come back here to do a tour of the jetty and the underwater under-water observatory on another day.

We arrived at Jan’s very lovely and comfortable home and set up our rooms. There are plants growing all around her home including right outside my bedroom window.

jans-house-collage

In the evening we drove down to the Indian Ocean to see the Sunset, but we arrived a bit too late. So we drove over to a place to watch the surf-boarders.

This morning we took a pleasant walk along a path that was created on the old railroad line along the Margaret River. I stopped to take photos of flowers along the way.

Perhaps the following names are even correct.

flower-collage-margaret-river

The photo on the bottom right shows a combination of the White Clematis, Native Wisteria, and Coral Vine growing together.  It was really beautiful

We had a really a pleasant walk on a quiet, serene path. I loved the trees along the way, the river, the snags in the river, and the cormorant sitting on the snag.

trees-snags-cormorant-on-margaret-river-collage

The top right photo is a very, very young Grass Tree.  Grass Trees are only found in Australia.  I have seen some with trunks (which are black) but have not gotten a photo of one yet. Most species are extremely slow-growing and may increase only 0.8 cm to 6 cm per year. It will take a long time for this one to grow a trunk. In any event, grass trees are often very long-lived. Some are estimated to be 350 to 450 years old.

The Marri tree in the right center photo can grow up to 60 meters high. It is becoming popular to use the Marri wood for making furniture. The tree exudes a dark red gum that Aboriginal People used for medical purposes.

Jan took a photo of one that is beginning to show its trunk.

grass-tree-fro-jan

Jan also took these two photos:  One of me by the river bank and one of Rose, Lyn, and I on the bridge.

collage-at-river-nancy-and-bridge

Sadly, Rose is sadly still feeling sick. She went back to sleep after we took our short hike.

After lunch Jan, Lyn and I drove down to the beach on the Indian Ocean. The coastline is very beautiful.

rock-face

You can see from these photos that I walked into the water up past my waist. Jan actually went swimming, but I got out of the water.

swimming-in-the-indian-ocean

After the swim we went for a walk on the beach.  Coming back up to the road we saw this Lizard which Jan and Lyn identified as a Bob Tail

This is a Bob Tail LizardJan and Rose drove to a cafe and  I walked along the path to meet them for coffees and a smoothie for me.

jan-and-i-at-the-cafe

Jan took Rose to make another doctor appointment and then we all went with her to Cowaramup to see another doctor.

Jan and I walked through the town when she was at the doctor’s office.  Although the name of the town has nothing to do with cows, it is apparently a dairy area.  There are cow sculptures all over town.  Here are a couple of them.

cow-sculptures-collage

We passed this tree with a very unusual trunk. There were several of them.

tree-trunk-unusual

There were several of them along the sidewalk.

tree-of-unusual-trunk

The doctor thinks Rose has a type of flu and she needs more time to get better. So we took her back to the house to rest.

When we arrived back at the house, I saw this adorable little bird in the tree near Jan’s house.

Version 2

When Rose was resting, Jan, Lyn, and I drove back to the beach for another attempt at the sunset.

We stopped first at the local golf course so I could see Kangaroos. Yes, apparently many of them hang out at the golf course. They rest under the trees during the day and come out to eat the grass slightly before the sun sets.  I was lucky to see one that had a Joey in her pocket. There was a man practicing his swing and when the ball went over the heads of the Kangaroos, they didn’t even flinch. Here are just a few of them – hanging out at the green.

kangaroo-collage

The sunset tonight was beautiful.

sunset-collage

We have 4 more nights in Margaret River. I sure hope Rose gets better very soon.  We may tour the jetty tomorrow.