Karri Valley, Aug 2009

 

 

Hi everybody. August the 29th was our second wedding anniversary. So I decided to surprise Gina and booked us in for a couple of nights at the Karri Valley Resort down near Pemberton. We left home a bit on the late side. The previous 2 days I had been in Jurien with my friend Neil and had been fishing, so was still a little tired from that trip. Nevertheless we packed a few things into the car and headed south. A missed turn at Nannup meant we travelled a few kilometres further than we needed to, but that’s all part of the fun, right?

 

I don’t know if many of you have been to Karri Valley Resort so I’ll describe it for you. The resort has a few rooms they called ‘Lakeside’ rooms, and that’s because that is exactly what they are. The room has a small balcony that is built out onto Beedelup Lake. Bring a fishing rod and you could catch a trout. At night the trees on the shore opposite the resort are floodlit. This picture tells a thousand words. This photo has an exposure time of 20 seconds!!!

 

 

The next morning a few birds came to see if we had anything for them.

 

 

We didn’t, so headed off to breakfast in the lakeside restaurant. Again the view over the lake was very impressive.

 

 

I have never taken Gina to the caves near Augusta, so we drove the hundred kilometres and paid for a tour of Lake Cave. 300 steps to reach the cave entrance (and in the back of the mind, 300 to get up again!).

 

 

This is the view looking up before moving into the cave proper..

 

 

Many fascinating structures are in this the smallest of the Augusta caves. These straws, the precursor to stalactites, grow are the rates of just 25mm (1 inch) every 60 years!

 

 

Most of the photos came out better with time exposure rather than flash. This one was 1 second at F2.8.

 

 

 

As this is also wildflower season I was able to take some fantastic flower shots. These are from Nannup, we believe they are tulips, but are willing to be corrected if someone knows different.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning the birds were back, and we were prepared.

 

 

 

When we were driving along Caves Road Gina noticed some flowers along the side of the road and we stopped and photographed them. She knows them as ‘Calls’ in Russia, and they are very expensive and only used on special occasions, like weddings and funerals. In Australia they grow wild along the side of the road!

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we drove back home and started the next year of our life together.

 

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