Part 3 —Western Australia- Ningaloo Reef, Margaret River Valley & Perth

I’m writing this on board our charter flight to Exmouth, having left our cruise ship in Broome. From the looks of it, we aren’t missing anything flying out from Broome first thing in the morning. Our ship docked at 7am and we were off by 8am. We are on a luxury flight this morning since all six of us are on one plane and we have two pilots. We fly for two hours, make a pit stop to refuel and then another hour to Exmouth, a 600 mile journey south. We landed on an airstrip in Exmouth, and as we descended we could see whales breaching in the ocean. Exmouth has a population of about 2400 today but once was a major US naval base and wasn’t returned to Australia until 1999. Even today we are told there is some secret stuff going on with the US, and we do see major radar and satellite installations as we drive out.

Sal Salis

We headed to Sal Salis ( salt of the sea) another “glamping” experience in Cape Range national park. We rode along a broad treeless plain with bushes and grasses between the ocean and the foothills, dotted with termite towers, to get here. There are 16 tents (exactly like the tents we had in Kenya with zippered openings) , a shower we are supposed to use for only 3 minutes a day (water is trucked in), and a toilet that empties into a compostable pit that gets emptied twice a day. Electricity is at a minimum so no hair dryer for Betsey. On the other hand we are right on the beach virtually on top of the Ningaloo reef that is a major attraction in this area and a World Heritage site. You can walk out less than 20 feet or so and be at the edge of the reef. Even Betsey, Esta, and dare I say, Jay, should be tempted to do some walking-out snorkeling.

We settled in and had a walk on the beach and met some of the other travelers. Seem to be all Australians. All through this trip it’s been mostly Australians from the east coast (Sydney, Melbourne area) who’ve been our fellow travelers. At the communal dinner we got somewhat into US politics and were relieved to hear the Australians we were talking to are as anti-Trump as we are and were appalled by January 6. Dinner (rack of lamb) was very good, and the appetizer, cerviche of Kingfish even I liked.

Next morning after an ample breakfast we headed out to Yardie Creek for a kayak excursion. It was great fun on a creek through a sandstone gorge with lots of wildlife. Especially interesting was a colony of fruit bats that were hanging out (literally) in a mangrove cluster. We were also fortunate to see several Rock Wallabies which are endangered. They are barley 18 inches tall and live in rock fissures on the cliffs. And there were Ospreys and Welcome Home Swallows and, of course, sea gulls.

After a lunch of pasta and salad on the deck, it was snorkel time. Jay, Esta, and Betsey girded their loins, got their equipment, and headed to the beach with Lexa, Ian, and me. Ian had already taken a turn and gave instructions. Even though we could practically wade out to the reef, the current was very strong, so we headed up the beach with the intention of drifting down to where we left our towels. Then it got a bit squirrelly.

Betsey, Esta, and Jay got an A for effort and about up to their knees but just couldn’t get comfortable enough to take the plunge. Lexa plunged but gave up the game pretty quickly. Ian and I did the drift, twice for me, and three times for him, and it was well worth it. Although the reef itself, or at least the part we went over, is not nearly as colorful or interestingly shaped as Ashmore, more brown with some blue tips, the fish variety was extraordinary. All color combinations, large and small, reds, and glowing blues, and bright whites, and yellow and black stripes etc etc. Just a great variety plus I spotted a blue starfish and a sea cucumber. The water also was warmer than we expected although the wind chill when we got out could get to you.

We retreated back to our tents, and I chilled in the hammock and enjoyed the sunshine while Betsey took her 3-minute shower. Then it was reading and catching up on the deck, plus Bananagrams with Esta and Betsey beating me to a pulp. Dinner was interesting. The first course was billed as cabbage with miso dressing. Sounded terrible. Tasted delicious to most of us. The main course was beef cheeks. Sounded terrible. Was ok.

Next morning we woke to what the Aussies would say was crisp and which the Americans called cold. A very stiff wind made sitting in the sun chilly. We all put on layers and were glad to head out for a walk after breakfast into Pilgonoman Gorge. The rock formations in this area are limestone, Here again there was a crashing of tectonic plates and the rocks were turned on their ends and completely over so there are many gorges, caves, and eroded hills. There are 600 species of plants in this national park, and they are different from anything we see in the states. We saw several Black-Flanked Rock Wallabies which are endangered. They sit in their private rock fissures and stare out at you. When we got back to Sal Salis, the winds had died down which boded well for afternoon activities.

After a lunch of peeling shrimp and cauliflower salad we had free play. Betsey and Lexa elected to hang out at Sal Salis. Esta, Jay and I tagged along with the snorkel group that was headed to Turquoise Bay, said to be the third best beach in Australia. While Ian found green turtles and many varieties of fish snorkeling, we walked about a mile along the beach which truly was very special. The silkiest, whitest of sand juxtaposed with the turquoise bay and dark blue water over the reef. A highlight was Esta rolling up her shorts and wading into the water and spotting fish. A snorkel-less snorkel!

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Dinner was outside on the deck with a beautiful cloudless night and an opportunity to gaze at an amazing star-filled sky. Dinner itself was fish-oriented and not our favorite.

When we first arrived at Sal Salis, they gave us earplugs to block out sound from the tent flapping during the night. We had ignored them, and it was mostly fine. However, on our last night we were awakened by howling winds and wild flapping of the tent and clanging of metal clasps against the floor. It felt like Hercules had picked up our tent and was trying to shake us out of it. In the morning everyone at breakfast remarked about what a sleepless night it was, and it certainly was. Lexa spent the night wondering if she and Ian could fit under the bed if the tent ripped apart. It was that wild.

Margaret River Valley

Eight and a half hours after we left Sal Salis and 1000 miles south later via plane and van, we arrived after dark at Cape Lodge in the Margaret River wine region. The route from the Perth airport was lined with very large dairy farms, an occasional horse farm and sheep meadows but was relatively nondescript although we finally spotted our first kangaroos on this trip. We were pretty wiped out but managed to enjoy an excellent dinner when we finally settled in. And then nirvana. A long hot shower, real plaster walls, and a good night’s sleep.

Next morning when I opened the shades I was shocked by the beauty of this place. Our room looks out on a small pond (they call it a lake) from our balcony with towering trees and flowering bushes. The whole property which includes a vineyard is beautifully planted and serene.

After a hearty breakfast we set out with Hank our guide for the day. Hank’s parents were Polish Holocaust survivors who immigrated after the war, and Hank was born and grew up in Margaret River. He was terrific, taking us to secret spots and filling us up on anecdotes about the region.

The scenery is unlike anything we’ve seen on this trip. Large stands of tall hardwood trees and Pine, lush fields of green pastures for cattle and sheep and of course vineyards. There are 200 vineyards here and 100 wine cellars. They are everywhere along with the latest trends—micro breweries and boutique distilleries. Hank says this place was founded by alcoholics. When dairy prices tanked in the 90’s many of the dairy farmers sold out to vineyards, and so pasture was turned to producing wine.

Our first stop was to Wooditjup National Park for a walk in the woods to see the third tallest tree species in the world. Karri trees can grow to 900 feet and are hundreds of years old. They shed their bark every year, leaving the trunk a smooth gray tone. We walked a little over a mile, and Hank showed us the local fauna and pointed out birds along the way. He grew up close to here, and we walked on a former rail line, now a rail trail, with foot bridges crossing a big creek with the old wood train trestle supports underneath where Hank hung out as a youth. We are at the tail end of winter here with the rains, and so everything is about to come into bloom. All along the roads are tall Peppermint trees that give off a minty smell.

Here’s a sobering fact. Climate Change. In this region it used to rain nine months of the

year; now it rains two months. Sometimes they get as much rain as they used to, but it comes with such intensity that it can wreck havoc on the environment. Some of the very old Karri trees are in danger of falling as their roots get undermined. Also, as it warms some of these species will die. Here is Climate Change brought to the real world.

From there we went to see the actual Margaret River which isn’t that big—only 35 miles long but we stopped to see some small waterfalls and rapids and spotted several kangaroos along the way.

It was coffee break time, and we went to Yardbyrd, a small outdoor cafe with the specialty of savory muffins made with spinach and feta cheese. They were delicious. At a brief stop we met an Italian bricklayer who has built a real estate empire and is converting an old country store into a restaurant and music venue. He’s collected all manner of old stuff (eg old seats and desks from a parliamentary chamber, curved church steps, etc) and when it opens, it should be a hit.

The highlight of the day, and sure to win “ best fauna” was what Hank called Jurassic Park or Bonsai Forrest. In a large valley caused by a big sunken cave area were hundreds, maybe thousands of Grass Trees. These look like palm trees with very spiky “leaves” and they grow only three feet every hundred years. There are some trees here that are more than 600 years old. This species is only found in Australia, and Hank has tried to keep the valley a relative secret. He thinks only 5% of Margaret River Valley residents know about it, because the forest service is trying to protect it. A wild fire went through the valley about six months ago and the barks of the trees are blackened, but all the green spikes we see are new growth so the Forrest is safe.

Now if you’ve ever heard of Margaret River Valley, it’s probably about the wine. But here’s a shocker, it’s very close to the Indian Ocean (the river empties into it), and it’s also the site of Surfers Point, one of the world surfing championship tour sites. We went and had a look, and Hank said it was a pretty calm day. The waves actually looked pretty frightening.

Of course we hadn’t eaten in a couple of hours, so we headed to Olio Bello. An American came out here a while ago and rather than get into vineyards he started an olive grove and has a very good restaurant. We ate and shopped a bit. We’ve been starved for shopping, so did a little damage. But wait. There’s more. We’re in wine country so of course we had to do some tasting. Hank took us first to a tasting at Cape Grace, a very small boutique winery. OK. Not great. We drove through a very beautiful corporate vineyard but didn’t stop. Our last winery was Montague Estate which won best new winery of the year last year. We really enjoyed this tasting, and we and the Feinsod’s bought some wine to bring home to Americans.

Fully sated after a wonderful day of experiences and senses, we headed back to hot showers and some rest. Dinner at the Lodge was interminable—3 hours which included four courses, an amuse bouche, and an intermezzo. We later learned that there is a shortage of help here. Where have all the workers of the world gone?

Our last day in Margaret River started with a leisurely morning. Late breakfast and a 2 1/2 mile walk on the property and on the road. I was on a search for Kangaroos, trying to get a video to send to the grandkids. No luck this morning. At noon we were picked up to go out to lunch in “town” (we never saw an actual town) at Studio Bistro, and art gallery and restaurant nearby. The gallery had some very nice work from Western Australian artists, and Betsey and I bought a pottery piece that will go very well in Los Angeles. Lunch was rather exotic small plates, but everyone enjoyed.

Our afternoon excursion was to Ngilgi cave. There are more than 300 known caves in this valley region, and this one was discovered in 1899. We descended, and it was impressive.

Afterwards, it was back to Cape Lodge for some tea and then a walk to the vineyard with Guido, the young Italian sommelier. Guido is only 26 but extremely knowledgeable not only about wine but also about Cape Lodge. It seems the lodge was sold last year to a company owned by Andrew “Twiggy” Forest, Australia’s second wealthiest billionaire (A$32billion), and there are plans to improve what is already a very nice place to stay. Anyway, Guido took us to the vineyard with glasses of wine and talked about cultivating the grapes in Margaret River Valley. But a surprise was brewing. Our travel agents had arranged for a birthday cake to be delivered to Lexa, whose birthday (I won’t say how old, but she’s younger than we are) was today. A great celebration among the vines ensued with wine and an eight-layer chocolate cake with chocolate and salted caramel icing. Lexa and I had lamented that this entire trip no one offered chocolate dessert, so this cake was very welcome and eaten with gusto. As you will note in the photos below, the weather has turned rather chilly here, but we’ve been very lucky not to have more than a smattering of rain.

Our last dinner at Cape Lodge moved along at a quicker pace (we had mentioned last night that we’d really like to accelerate the pace of dinner) and the service was very attentive. We had established a rapport with James who is with the parent company but is on loan here because of the difficulty getting staff. He is English but has been here 10 years. He lives in Perth so he critiqued our restaurant choices for our next stop and quickly changed our plans.

We’ve had a very good visit to Margaret River Valley. We are glad Doug Easton, our travel agent, pushed us to extend our trip to come here. It’s been very enjoyable to see a very different face of Western Australia, and now we leave tomorrow for Perth, which according to James is the most boring city on earth. It’s also about as far from the US as any place in the world.

Perth

At the risk of jinxing it I can say that we have had extraordinary weather this entire trip. Last week there were torrential rains in Margaret River Valley and Perth. Our first day in Perth was really fine. Everyone here says it’s one of their best days. On the road here I got a call from Nico who was to be our guide for the time in Perth. I got Nico from Tours by Locals and we had been in frequent touch to plan our day and a half here. Nico was calling to say he was sick. Not Covid he said, but just a cold. Nevertheless we agreed to cancel and Nico arranged for a replacement driver. Tim wasn’t a guide; he’s actually mostly a stunt car driver for the movies, but was a friend of Nico’s and had some free time. Tim met us at the Como Hotel, the Treasury. Our most expansive room yet. Quite modern and beautiful in this old building that was once the state’s Treasury building.

First impressions of Perth. Nicer than we expected given the previews from James and Doug. Situated on a river that empties into the Indian Ocean, it’s a city of modern skyscrapers and yet preserved early 1900’s mostly retail structures, old churches, and a smattering of state buildings. Many new buildings under construction.

We had arranged for a picnic lunch which we did in King’s Park, the botanical gardens that overlook the city. The hotel packed us a very ample lunch that met our dietary foibles and included egg salad, chicken salad, lox and bagels, brownies, cookies, and fruit salad—all done up in fancy baskets with several plaid blankets to sit on. We sat in the sun overlooking the city, and it was good fun and a change of pace for us. Tim joined us as well.

After lunch we spent time in the botanical gardens. Ian and Lexa elected to walk there from the picnic and we didn’t see them again until dinner. The rest of us ambled through the gardens which (because this is the end of winter) are just beginning to come alive. There was a unique feature that paid tribute to women in Australia. It consisted of a large pool with fountains and a feminine sculpture and then a walk with 57 brass plates at intervals that honored 57 women’s organizations in Australia, including the National Council of Jewish Women. Betsey kvelled.

Tim took the Selkowitz’s and Feinsod’s back to town and we spend the rest of the afternoon exploring the downtown area. They’ve done a good job of keeping some of the more noteworthy older buildings, including building skyscrapers over them. Perth really came into prominence during the Western Australia gold rush days in the early 1900’s and a notable piece of architecture from those days is His Majesty’s Theater which has been and continues to be restored and is a great example of Edwardian Baroque architecture. Racing into the 21st century, we stopped in an Apple store and treated ourselves to Apple Air Tags to put in our luggage on the way home. Not that our dirty laundry is likely to be stolen. All told we clocked nearly four miles of walking before dinner.

Dinner at Fraser’s, back up by the Botanical Gardens was good. Our first dinner in weeks without a set menu. Somehow I always seem to be talking about food. In fact, we’ve eaten too well on this trip. All of us are complaining about having gained weight and needing to get back to our exercise regimens and a diet. But isn’t that what vacations are all about?

Our last day of sightseeing in Western Australia was a very full one. Tim picked us up and off we went to Fremantle. We had a quick stop at the war memorial at the top of the town which commemorates so many Australian military encounters with many, many plaques. Then it was down to the ferry to Rottnest Island.

For months we had heard from Lexa that we had to go to Rottnest Island because it was the only place on earth where there were Quokkas. What’s a Quokka? It is a vegetarian marsupial that looks like a pretty small wallaby and hops like one too. They stand about 15” tall and there are supposed to be about 12,000 of them on the island.However, when we first got there, we saw just one. We had hired an eight passenger golf cart to take us around the island which is 3800 acres in size, and for the first hour of our ride we didn’t see a single other Quokka. We did learn that there are 12 salt water lakes on the island, that it once was part of the Fremantle peninsula until centuries ago the ocean was rising and made it an island. The ocean waters around the island are pretty stunning with turquoise and dark blue contrasts.

Anyway, fortunately as we came more into the developed part of the island (there are only 80 permanent residents but thousands do visit and you can stay on the island), we suddenly started seeing Quokkas. And then we were inundated with the critters who are happy to sidle up to people and get photographed. We stopped for lunch and a couple of Quokkas just wandered into the restaurant and walked around in perfect equanimity. Unfortunately, they do poop, so you have to be careful where you walk.

It was a bright sunny day but a strong wind on the island made the wind chill very uncomfortable. Indeed, we were freezing while the locals walked around in shorts and tee shirts. Admittedly, many of them were biking or hiking (no cars on the island), but still. We definitely didn’t pack properly for the cold we’ve encountered. On the other hand the weather for this entire trip has been pure sunshine.

After Rottnest, we had an appointment for a tour of the Rottnest prison, a World Heritage site. It was built in the 1800’s by the British with convict labor and served as a maximum security prison until 1991.

We got to see pretty much everything, including the hanging room, cells with prisoner art on the walls, and the various function rooms, and exercise yards. It was a very foreboding place to be sure.

The guide told us a very chilling fact. Originally the British colonizers had cataloged aboriginals as “flora and fauna” and not people. It wasn’t until 1962 that Australia declared aboriginals people and gave them the vote. Since our last extensive visit to Australia in 2000, the country has become much more conscious of the sins committed against the aboriginal people. They almost protest too much. Every guide and naturalist we encountered went out of his or her way to pay deference to the “original” people and concede their ownership of the land even if it was confiscated and aboriginals get no benefit from its use. Many places we visited use both English and original aboriginal names. It’s progress, yet the sins against these original people continued on many levels into the 1970’s, so there’s a lot of atonement to still happen. On the other hand, can we in the United States point fingers. Consider where we are today with not only our own indigenous people but with our African American population.

We didn’t have enough time to explore Fremantle proper. It’s a major port (we saw hundreds of Teslas on the wharf having come off the ships), and on our ferry to Rottnest we saw many empty container ships waiting to dock which we speculated meant labor shortages and supply chain issues brought to life. We drove through the town and it’s very well preserved from the gold rush days with a lot of period buildings and homes. We could have used a few more hours in Fremantle.

After a long day we returned to our hotel and had a farewell dinner at Wildflower, atop the hotel which was very haut cuisine and very good. Of course, “bests & worsts” were discussed. From the roof top you could see several buildings lit up with colored lights that were very attractive. I have to say that Perth got a bum rap from the folks who panned it. From our vantage point it’s a very attractive city with an interesting skyline, a lot of major outdoor sculptural works, clean streets, nice parks and a vibrant waterfront. They’ve managed to do a good job of preserving some of the older architecture and having it complement the new. I can’t say anything about living here, but we enjoyed the city. We bid farewell to Lexa and Ian who are flying home on a different route and got to bed.

Sydney

We had an early start on our way home and flew from Perth to Sydney, arriving at 5pm local time. We are staying at the Langham on the Rocks which is where Sydney got started and is close to Circular Quay where the Sydney Opera House sits. We needed exercise so walked down to the Quay for dinner and paid tribute to Sydney with a classic photo. We chose a Chinese restaurant. It was cuisine we hadn’t had the whole trip and was fast and fine.

For many years Betsey had expressed a keen interest in seeing the Outback. That was the genesis for this trip, and more than three years ago serious planning began. Covid postponed us twice, but finally we achieved Betsey’s wish. The trip turned out to be extraordinary and so we pay tribute to Betsey who conceived the concept and to Doug Easton, John Ziegler and the whole team at Celestielle who executed the concept with precision.

When we talked to Australians along the way about our trip, there was universal acclaim among them for our itinerary. They said it was perfect, and indeed it was as perfect as it could be. The six of us learned a great deal, experienced things we never would have imagined we’d do, and saw nature—in wildlife, geology, and fauna—that was simply awesome. So, thank you Betsey and thank you Celestielle for enriching our lives and reinforcing for all of us how rewarding travel can be,