Bussleton, Margaret River, Augusta... Christmas in Australia

Wishing all our friends and family a merry christmas from Aus

On Christmas Eve, we headed south down the hi-way to Bussleton, where we settled down for two nights of doing not much but relaxing and swatting flies. We tried our best to blend the Australian tradition of BBQ’s on the beach at Christmas with our family traditions at home and we succeeded with moderate success! We hit a few beaches and some of the coast line around Geographie bay. The area has spectacular beaches and great winding roads for taking day trips. The one really disappointing aspect of the area was the amount of flies. Now, if you’re from Canada and have never seen ‘desert face flies’, I am 100% sure that you wouldn’t appreciate them. They swarm for your body cavities. Your nose, mouth, ears, eyes, anywhere that there may be a spec of moisture, they dive for it. They are also far more persistent than you can imagine. It ruined a lot of our experiences on the West coast because we couldn’t spend a minute outside. .

Breaking the Oplatek ... Polish tradition at Christmas

Christmas Eve was spent getting settled into the camp, cooking salmon and prawns on the Barbie and wrapping our presents. We spent the night in the van to avoid the bugs, but we had a great night together thinking of our families back home and enjoying our festive cheer. Christmas day we relaxed on the beach and chatted with family on the phone. At night, we indulged in a grand feast of roasted turkey breast with fried yams and potatoes. It was as close to Canadian as we could get, without actually cooking an entire turkey. As per Polish tradition we had “oplatek” ( blessed wafer, aka bread) before the meal and wished each other wonderful and positive things for the upcoming year. Ewa also made the closest version of Polish potato salad, it wasn’t Grandmas recipe but again, the closest we could get. We ended the meal indulging in an Aussie Chocolate pudding, it was pretty delish, a warm cake with chocolate sauce on top, you can actually buy them ready and heat them in the microwave

Celebrating Christmas with our christmas crowns... tradition started by Cheryl!

Christmas presents in the van!

On Boxing day we headed out around the coast to the Margaret river region. It is surrounded by beautiful coast lines and river valleys that boast amazing vineyards, orchards and various farms. We spent the next two days wandering around. We visited an olive grove and tasted many strange and wonderful olive oils, tapenades, pestos, and olives. The combinations of olive oils were totally new and so delicious! They had mandarin, chilli, lemon etcetera see www.oliobello.com . We visited the Voyager vineyard, a chocolatier, a cereal / nut farm, and a delicatessen with gourmet cheeses. The two days in the region was an indulgence and we loved it!

Olio Bello! These suckers are great, buy online (really expensive though)

White wine at the Voyager estate

After leaving Margaret river, we headed south to Augusta and then East to Pemberton and onward to Esperance. This area is famous for the rugged coast and giant forests. In Augusta we took the long drive out to the lighthouse and can claim to have stood on the most South-West part of Australia. Heading East we stopped at the Bicentennial tree, where you can climb 68 meters to an aerial platform above the surrounding trees. The climb is scary because there are no safety nets or guards. The ladder is made from iron poles drilled into the tree and they are very slippery. The higher you climb the more you lose focus because the height makes you dizzy. It was quite a rush to climb the tree; Ewa even had to climb on the outer edge of the ladder to pass another climber who was coming down the tree! After climbing the Bicentennial tree, we headed further East to the valley of the giants and walked the tree-top walk. It’s a 600 meter walk through the forest canopy at heights of 60 meters. The forest is mainly eucalyptus trees, which is a hard-wood species native to Australia. The wood is naturally fire-resistant and can withstand forest fire. The core of the tree will burn away, but the exterior remains intact. Some species can grow to over 100 meters and live for centuries.

Volcanic sand at Augusta lighthouse (most S.W. point in Aus)

written by

ECRadventure on December 27, 2009 from Augusta, Australia

from the travel blog: ECRadventure's Travel Blog

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