Margaret River to Boranup

Slow start yesterday, repacking the panniers & getting Dilys relocated to the caravan park for the night. Her big test comes today as she has to get all her gear to the bus station by herself.

First stop on the ride was a woodturning place. We followed this with Xanadu Winery. All I can say is "Margaret River - land of the long driveways" - this one was 2km long. It was however paved the whole way - sure sign the place was not a small family operation, but owned by one of the big conglomerates (in this case I think it was Norman's). When we eventually did arrive at the 'cellar door', we were not disappointed. Landscaped gardens, bike parking(!), sculptures, gallery, restaurant, and most importantly very nice wines and friendly staff. 3 cases of wine later (1 for Rick & I, 2 for Cathy & Tony) we enjoyed a coffee & bikkies by the fire before heading back out to the bikes. Now the dilemma - how to fit 3 cases of wine onto the bikes....

Just kidding - it included free freight...we did however have 1 bottle to fit in.

Got to keep an eye on those animal!

And us....

Rick and a mate..

A bike ride without bears is just not on!

By this time it was 12:30pm! We decided to forgo any more wineries & head straight to the caves or lunch. At the caves we munched on our sambo's and the did the 2:30pm tour of Lake Cave. Very pretty - lots of straws and a lovely suspended table above the water. It was however a long way down & up (300+ stairs according to the sign - don't recall the exact number.

Entering the Leeuwin Naturaliste National Park

Caves (no, I don't recall which ones)   :-)

Same caves

Ditto

Double ditto

Some cool straws

And spectacular formations

Very clean shawls

And dirty bike riders.

More straws

Suspended columns

Ditto

Looking up and out of the cave entrance.

Some pretty wildflowers that I don't remember the name of.

After the cave we loaded up with water & made our way to Boranup Forest Drive. The road was dirt & a bit slow as the first part was sandy and uphill. At this stage we did wonder if we'd make the campground by dark, but fortunately, the surface improved & we got a downhill, so we made good progress for many km's. The forest was lovely, in some ways like the Blue Gum forest (for those that know it), but with Karri trees and much larger. Progress was again slow as we hit the final uphill to the lookout. On of those hills where you think you're just about at the top and you come around the bend and it keeps going. It did however come to an end eventually however, and as Rick & Tony continued on to the campsite, I raced up to grab a peek at the lookout while waiting for Cathy. Rick is on his way to take a look now while C & T snooze (of course it was all downhill from the lookout to the campground, so it means he has at least 1km of solid uphill to get there).

Boranup Forest

As you can see, a really spectacular place to ride

Ditto

And ditto again!

but all good things come to an end (well for Tony anyway!)  He doesn't seem too upset about his flat.

Rick being spectator for a change.

View from a hill....