Margaret River
Finally, an eventful Christmas! I got the opportunity to head down to the south of Perth and into the famed Margaret River region. Being about a 3 hour drive, the weather was significantly cooler which is why it's a great fresh produce area.Along the way, there lies the southern hemisphere's longest wooden jetty - Busselton Jetty. It's about 2k long with a train track running all along it. All along the jetty there are heaps of people fishing - we saw whiting and squid being caught. Squid make weird noises when they're dying upon the jetty....The place where I stayed had some lovely sunflowers, as well as a tea house and restaurant/winery attached. So very nice!
And the tea house specialised in lavender products (their lavender ice cream was a let down though), and had this cute little grasshopper dancing away on the window:
The restaurant was pretty good - they were closed on Xmas Day and Boxing Day so lunch/dinner were out of the question, however they served some tasty tea for breakfast!
There were wineries everywhere, I stopped at one called Cape Naturaliste vineyards, and their shiraz was actually quite tasty. I wish I could drink alcohol, though. One winery was enough for me, so that's about it for what people usually come here for.The Margaret River town centre was also a quaint little street. There were a few hipster cafes and restaurants which I enjoyed, but nothing that stood out in particular, except some coffee kombucha from a cafe that used their La Marzocco container as a table - that was cute!Instead, the highlight of the trip was Yallingup beach, which was about 45 minutes north of the Margaret River. Here's some lovely beach spam!
And a hipster cafe :D
Caversham Wildlife Park
I'm being kind of touristy, but it's kind of fun. Managed to take a trip to a wildlife park, with a huge walk-in kangaroo enclosure as well as some other hands on attractions.I ran around mainly with my 60mm lens, which is awesome for taking pictures of everything that isn't food! It also has the added advantage of being able to shoot through fences, to an extent.
There were some cute white kangaroos here as well as the usual brown variety. The poop... the poop was everywhere and everyone was walking on/through poop! You could feed them too. There was a hefty entrance fee to the park of $27 but there was free kangaroo feed in the exhibit.
The emus were kept in their enclosures of course - they were funny looking and I bet they didn't like the look of my face! There were some tourists here who asked what they were, so I explained they were like ostriches, but native to Australia. So then one of them proceeded to tell their kid it was an Australian ostrich! That kid later brushed his hand on some stinging nettle and they had to call one of the staff over to check he was ok. Australia, where everything is trying to kill you!
And then of course the pretty birds! There was also a walk-in bird enclosure, which is where I took the picture of the egret. The tern (stork? couldn't remember) and kingfisher were inside cages.
Reptile enclosure!!!
An entire walk-in petting zoo! The goats are so cute and hilarious.
And of course all the sleeping animals!
I took lil' Gilg for a walk again, but he didn't quite like it. But then I found a tiny patch of grass and flowers that was so fitting.Angove Street Festival
Wow, I'm posting more than I thought! I'm surprised I have time - I still have so much exploration to do, but I'm glad I'm pacing it out. This weekend was a trip to the Angove Street Festival, and I was testing out my 60mm lens again. It was odd having people stop while I was taking pictures; I'm used to taking them with people just walking through the shot. I think I only like this lens for taking pictures of animals, but it's also certainly handy for getting past a crowd for some pretty cool people shots too.My weakness is always taking pictures of animals, so when there was a petting zoo, photospamming ensued:
There was certainly lots to do with an entire street blocked off - vintage stalls, terrariums everywhere, food stalls, an oyster bar... as well as live music and some pretty amazing performances.
Trapeze acts are amazing!
And one more picture of birds, because I love birds.