NEW HOMES AND MOBILE SAND DUNES

Apologies for the glitch in blog posts - our house didn't have wifi, there was no mobile signal in town to create our own (which had worked great all trip so far) so we were reliant on great Community Centre with large IT centre - really helpful people - as are so many we have met down here.  A big lesson to all UK services in tourist areas - from petrol pump attendants giving a full weather forecast for the next week to the guy in the bottle shop recommending the best places to go to.

WALPOLE 

Onwards from Pemberton and the garden paradise Airbnb - this time a thoroughly modern typical Australian house - seen all over the South West coastal area, eating into the bush as more and more people buy holiday homes down this way.  The views from the balcony looked over the Walpole Inlet, where we did a great eco cruise last year.  Posh living for us and a step up from camping and YHA's.

SAND DUNES

Our eco tour this year down in the D'Entrecasteaux National Park, was a 4WD adventure through the bush and over the largest landlocked sand dune system in the Southern Hemisphere.  The dunes are moving all the time and just swallowing up the bush - great driving up and over the dunes and through the forest - although we have seen plenty of bush, bush and more bush along the way.

HISTORY

Also along the way we learn about the history of the area - mainly white man's incursions into the bush for logging and clearance for growing crops - the crops being somewhat difficult to grow eg tobacco, and resulting in towns developing for a few years, only to fall by the wayside as crops failed.   The families that were encouraged to come over from the UK with promises of cleared land and future prosperity, having to relocate to Perth and other areas when it all went pear shaped.  An incredibly tough life starting off in tents and having to build your own cabin from scratch.  Amazing women to cope with it all.

This Pioneer Museum chronicled their lives and some of the photos show the goods and trinkets they brought with them in the early 1920's from the UK - the one specific pot reminds me of a virtually similar patterned bathroom mug and holder at home, fresh from Ikea!

Great washing machine!