Australia's South West corner a haven of natural beauty
Prapti Widinugraheni, Contributor/Perth, Australia
There was a rush of excitement as passengers shuffled in a hurry to one side of the boat, cameras clicking, necks strained, to get a glimpse of the whale that had approached and given the vessel a couple of nudges.
Suddenly water sprayed from a pair of blowholes the size of fists and a hollow bleating sound came from the big, gentle creature.
Our curious visitor was a 4.5-meter-long, 1.5-ton Southern Right whale calf whose 15 meter, 70-ton mother was waiting patiently a short distance away from the boat. We could see her huge back, slightly jagged where her blowholes were, like a small gray island in the sea.
Our encounter with the whale at such close proximity lasted less than five minutes as the calf's curiosity quickly waned, but it was an extraordinary, once-in-a-lifetime experience for most of us.
Welcome to Flinders Bay, off the shores of Augusta in southwest Australia, where Southern Right whales come to calve in the winter to spring months of August and September, and return to open seas in summer.
Our captain-cum-tour guide agreed it was a good trip. "I consider a trip successful if I get sprayed with whale snot," he said. And sprayed we got.
The boat returned to shore soon after the close encounter (and half a dozen other whale sightings prior to that), although the scheduled tour time of three hours was not up.
"It's as good as it can get," our tour guide assured us. "We don't want to disturb them any more than we already have."
Southern Right whales were extensively hunted in the past, particularly for their oil. They were called "right whales" because they were the right whales to catch, being slow movers and yielding large amounts of valuable products. They are now an endangered species and although their numbers have been steadily increasing, the population off the south Australian coast is only in the hundreds.
"If tourists see these whales in their natural environment, then hopefully, when they return to their countries, they will speak out against whale hunting," our guide said.
We soon learned that keeping nature undisturbed was a crucial part of touring Western Australia's southwest region, the corner of the continent containing hundreds of small towns including Bunbury and Kattaning in the north and Bremer in the east.
Pristine nature was the main tourist attraction "down south" -- as Perth locals call it -- and that was how it was expected to stay.
There had been much talk about the beauty of the region, an easy two to three hour drive from Perth, but we were pleasantly surprised to find it was also extremely geared up for tourists. Information centers were everywhere, displaying glossy brochures offering anything from massages to hayrides, canoeing to fine dining.
With two young children in tow and plenty of driving to do, we were compelled to drop the idea of doing the region's renowned wine tours, tempting as they may be. We opted for family-friendly activities instead and headed for the caves.
Jewel Cave, 10 minutes north of Augusta, was a series of lofty, interconnecting chambers that could be illuminated to reveal an amazing array of stalactites, stalagmites and other varieties of limestone formations.
The formations were ancient and fragile, so we had to resist the urge to touch the delicate structures as we walked along the narrow walkways and hundreds of steps that brought 70 meters below ground level.
Jewel Cave was one of 60 limestone caves within the Leeuwin- Naturaliste National Park which spans 120 km along the southwest coast between Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste. Other caves that were open to the public -- some with daily guided tours -- include Moondyne, Lake and Mammoth caves.
About 20 minutes north of Jewel Cave was Margaret River, the heart of the southwest's tourism industry. A town of rolling meadows, farmland and vineyards typical of the southwest region, Margaret River's hip cafes and neat resorts catered particularly well to honeymooners and city slickers seeking peace.
It had art galleries, craft shops, dairies and wineries. It was close to world-class surf beaches but within reasonable driving distance to dense forests and beautiful countryside.
The options were endless, but nature has its way of choosing for you. Our kids were young and we were traveling in spring, the time of year when daytime temperatures seldom exceeded 16C, rain fell fairly regularly and winds occasionally gusty. So beach bumming and extensive bushwalking were not an option. We drove along the coast instead, taking in the amazing scenery as we went and then headed for the countryside and forests
Small towns, wineries, grazing sheep and lazy cattle dotted the countryside but as we went further southeast, trees became taller, forests denser and we spotted the occasional kangaroo hopping across the road.
We were in "karri country", the area characterized by forests of towering karri trees (Eucalyptus diversicolor), a native species with smooth, straight, light-colored trunks that grew up to 90 meters high, making it the third tallest tree in the world.
The forests were part of various national parks, including Gloucester, Warren and Beedelup, all just minutes from the sleepy town of Pemberton. Popular attractions at these parks were "climbing trees" -- karri that people could climb up with the help of rungs that spiraled around the length of the trunk. Not for the faint-hearted, the steps were originally used to reach fire lookouts, constructed around the 1930s and 1940s to spot forest fires in the distance.
We wanted to explore more of the forests around Pemberton, but with the least amount of time and effort. So we went by tram, meandering slowly into forests of native karri, marri and jarrah trees while we listened to our tram driver cum tour guide tell us about the wildlife and history of Pemberton and its timber industry.
Despite its size, Pemberton had much to offer in terms of accommodation. We chose to stay at a farm cottage. The cottages were surrounded by friendly cows, donkeys, ducks, goats, sheep and chickens. All, except some rowdy ducks and chickens, were fenced in their respective paddocks. The kids were kept busy hand-feeding the animals and going on daily morning hayrides.