We're in Gracetown! Yippee!! I love Gracetown (which is really the size of a village but GraceVillage sounds dumb). It's a small community in a dead end cove facing the Indian Ocean. Our house is high up on the hill, overlooking the town and the bay with a direct view of the sun as it sets over the ocean. You fully expect there to be steam and the sound of boiling water as it sinks away. It's an amazing sight and one we didn't see the night before due to bad weather. Sulk. Never mind. Today we were off playing tourists again and going to see some of the sights. Some had been seen before (by Rach and I), but some would be new to us all. No matter, the thing was to get out and see them despite the weather and lurking rain clouds.
Our first stop was unplanned (bearing in mind that we never really plan anything). As we drove even further Southwards (we wanted to know if it was possible to fall off the edge), the trees soared up into the sky. Amazing. So we stopped and took some pictures. The trees are amazing. They go up and up and up and up, thrusting their way into the sky with a complete disregard for gravity. It's one of those things that you really do have to experience and it leaves you speechless (novelty for me!). Nature really is magnificent. After the trees we headed down to Augusta which is a pretty little town with not much going on (tourist season was over) but it does have, nearby, a lighthouse. Not just any lighthouse, either - would I bring you to a normal lighthouse? p-lease! - This is the lighthouse that stands on the rocks at the point where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. They say hello, sometimes they mingle, sometimes they fight, sometimes they gang up on passing ships or hassle the migrating whales. And all the time they try and batter the land into submission (which i think is something to do with what someone's dad said about someone's mum quite a long time ago but they never really explain, even if you ask nicely).
It's a very elemental place. We drove out along the coast, paid our fee to get in to the compound in a nice new building that hadn't been there two years before, and then got blown away by the wind. There's not a lot between you and the Antarctic and the wind is kinda bored by the time it hits land, so having some humans to play with makes it very excited and enthusiastic.
The girlies posed by the sign and then we went down to play with the waves. Ok, I went to take photo's, you should know me well enough by now. You can climb down from the lighthouse on to the rocks below and walk right up to the Ocean's edge. The waves crash into the rocks, flinging spray high into the air before it splatters down all around you. There's something about waves hurling themselves against rocks that I find fascinating. Very relaxing and contemplative. Unfortunately for me it was cold and not really the right weather to be hanging about on the rocks for hours on end, nor
were the waves that good to photo - far too grey. Instead Inga gazed wistfully in the direction of Antartica doing an excellent penguin impression (I think she thought it was Africa she was staring towards while she was trying to have warm thoughts). We took photo's of us by the ocean and in front of the lighthouse (purely as evidence in case someone tried to frame us later on for a bank job or something)
and left the windswept promontory. Just down the road was an old water wheel which, over the years, had become fossilised. It looked really weird and quite pretty in its own way, but I'd hate to think what sort of state the people who used to drink the water ended up in! Having played with air and water, we decided that the next stop should be a close encounter with earth (actually, we went to the Tourist Information and then I did my "I'm hungry and going to die" act in order to get some food and then we decided what to do next but those are trivial details...). This area of SW Australia has some amazing cave systems and we went to see one (earth, geddit?) called Jewel Cave. Inga had high hopes for a matching set of ear-rings, necklace and bracelet but it turns out not to be that sort of Jewels. It was a big hole in the ground and, when the time came, down we went. And down. And down. And down. Until we met our guide. then we went down some more. Jewel cave is spectacular. There is no other word for it. Massive stalactites and stalagmites hanging down and pointing up ('tites go down btw. Just a hint for the ladies...after which the men mite go up... hee hee, even in cave I can lower the tone)
I will say that it is hard to do decent low light photography with a normal digital camera. This is one of those occasions that I wish I'd had my trusty film SLR, but I did my best. Jewel cave is famous for a formation called "the table". This is a huge stalactite that 'hovers' above the water. It weighs a couple of tons. And there it is, just hanging in the air, like it belongs there! I'm telling you, that bit of rock sold someone's soul to the devil so that gravity wouldn't take an interest!
We went on our tour and were careful not to touch anything - they take years and years to form and seconds to break off. Some had black spots which was where they had been touched by people; the oils on our skin causing irreparable damage. Bloody tourists. And one small one had been snapped off earlier that day. VANDALS!!! We emerged into the daylight and climbed our weary way up to the top. There were alot of stairs to climb
and we were greeted by lovely blue skies. We trundled home in good spirits via a chocolate factory (which made my spirits even better, especially after I'd bought some chocolates) anticipating sitting on the balcony watching the sun set - this was to be the fire of our elemental day. Then it got dark, gloomy and the sun skulked off unseen leaving a cold night behind. Oh well, 3 out of 4 wasn't bad (2 out of 3 would have put us in Meatloaf territory, which was to be avoided). Wedding tomorrow. Little bro' is finally getting hitched and we all get to dress up and pass for normal people. Could be interesting..
Our first stop was unplanned (bearing in mind that we never really plan anything). As we drove even further Southwards (we wanted to know if it was possible to fall off the edge), the trees soared up into the sky. Amazing. So we stopped and took some pictures. The trees are amazing. They go up and up and up and up, thrusting their way into the sky with a complete disregard for gravity. It's one of those things that you really do have to experience and it leaves you speechless (novelty for me!). Nature really is magnificent. After the trees we headed down to Augusta which is a pretty little town with not much going on (tourist season was over) but it does have, nearby, a lighthouse. Not just any lighthouse, either - would I bring you to a normal lighthouse? p-lease! - This is the lighthouse that stands on the rocks at the point where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean meet. They say hello, sometimes they mingle, sometimes they fight, sometimes they gang up on passing ships or hassle the migrating whales. And all the time they try and batter the land into submission (which i think is something to do with what someone's dad said about someone's mum quite a long time ago but they never really explain, even if you ask nicely).
It's a very elemental place. We drove out along the coast, paid our fee to get in to the compound in a nice new building that hadn't been there two years before, and then got blown away by the wind. There's not a lot between you and the Antarctic and the wind is kinda bored by the time it hits land, so having some humans to play with makes it very excited and enthusiastic.
The girlies posed by the sign and then we went down to play with the waves. Ok, I went to take photo's, you should know me well enough by now. You can climb down from the lighthouse on to the rocks below and walk right up to the Ocean's edge. The waves crash into the rocks, flinging spray high into the air before it splatters down all around you. There's something about waves hurling themselves against rocks that I find fascinating. Very relaxing and contemplative. Unfortunately for me it was cold and not really the right weather to be hanging about on the rocks for hours on end, nor 
were the waves that good to photo - far too grey. Instead Inga gazed wistfully in the direction of Antartica doing an excellent penguin impression (I think she thought it was Africa she was staring towards while she was trying to have warm thoughts). We took photo's of us by the ocean and in front of the lighthouse (purely as evidence in case someone tried to frame us later on for a bank job or something)
and left the windswept promontory. Just down the road was an old water wheel which, over the years, had become fossilised. It looked really weird and quite pretty in its own way, but I'd hate to think what sort of state the people who used to drink the water ended up in! Having played with air and water, we decided that the next stop should be a close encounter with earth (actually, we went to the Tourist Information and then I did my "I'm hungry and going to die" act in order to get some food and then we decided what to do next but those are trivial details...). This area of SW Australia has some amazing cave systems and we went to see one (earth, geddit?) called Jewel Cave. Inga had high hopes for a matching set of ear-rings, necklace and bracelet but it turns out not to be that sort of Jewels. It was a big hole in the ground and, when the time came, down we went. And down. And down. And down. Until we met our guide. then we went down some more. Jewel cave is spectacular. There is no other word for it. Massive stalactites and stalagmites hanging down and pointing up ('tites go down btw. Just a hint for the ladies...after which the men mite go up... hee hee, even in cave I can lower the tone)
I will say that it is hard to do decent low light photography with a normal digital camera. This is one of those occasions that I wish I'd had my trusty film SLR, but I did my best. Jewel cave is famous for a formation called "the table". This is a huge stalactite that 'hovers' above the water. It weighs a couple of tons. And there it is, just hanging in the air, like it belongs there! I'm telling you, that bit of rock sold someone's soul to the devil so that gravity wouldn't take an interest!
We went on our tour and were careful not to touch anything - they take years and years to form and seconds to break off. Some had black spots which was where they had been touched by people; the oils on our skin causing irreparable damage. Bloody tourists. And one small one had been snapped off earlier that day. VANDALS!!! We emerged into the daylight and climbed our weary way up to the top. There were alot of stairs to climb 
and we were greeted by lovely blue skies. We trundled home in good spirits via a chocolate factory (which made my spirits even better, especially after I'd bought some chocolates) anticipating sitting on the balcony watching the sun set - this was to be the fire of our elemental day. Then it got dark, gloomy and the sun skulked off unseen leaving a cold night behind. Oh well, 3 out of 4 wasn't bad (2 out of 3 would have put us in Meatloaf territory, which was to be avoided). Wedding tomorrow. Little bro' is finally getting hitched and we all get to dress up and pass for normal people. Could be interesting..
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