17 Feb: Dunsborough (WA) --> Stirling Ranges National Park (WA).

Sunrise over Geographe Bay and Indian Ocean: Looking northeast towards Perth

The day started with me sleeping in a bit and +Marc venturing out to see the sunrise at the beach. He captured some really nice photos. To see one of them, check out his photo of the day album, which has that photo along with some other great shots from our trip.

We were going to do a smallish hike with our friends but then a storm rolled in, which only allowed us to check out the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste and then Sugarloaf Rock from some viewing points which were easily accessible by the carpark. Marc, of course, did some research on how 'sugarloaf' became 'sugarloaf' so I'll let him comment on that.

Our gracious hosts in Western Australia

Anyway we checked out of our place in Dunsborough and headed to the town of Margaret River to taste some wine. We ventured over to Cape Mentelle and their wines were decent. They actually made a zinfandel (red) that wasn't overpowering, which was nice, but nothing wowed us like it did at Moss Wood and Cullen the previous day. Then we headed over to Leeuwin for another tasting, private tour and lunch. Leeuwin is one of the oldest wineries in the region and they have a pretty big reputation. Again Marc and I agreed that the wines were good, but we both enjoyed what we tasted at Moss Wood and Cullen more. I guess that is how it goes. The tour was good timing because our friends got to see some of the winemaking process in action being that grapes are now being harvested here.

Sunset at the Dutch Lily Windmill B&B

After lunch, Marc and I went our separate ways from our hosts. We headed over to Stirling Ranges National Park, where we were going to hike a place called Bluff Knoll. It's listed as one of the top hikes in Australia, and Andrew, our host in Perth, also recommended it. It took about 4.5 hours to get there and we didn't see anyone on the road at all for a large chunk of the drive. We were in the middle of nowhere. We did see some kangaroo packs on the side of the road, but fortunately none of them jumped in our path at dusk as they tend to do.

We finally arrived at the B&B, where they made us dinner (yes, dinner) and took in the view of the starry night. A long but good day.

Thanks again for tuning in to our adventures.