Australia 2019, pt II

Balingup was our first stop, a small village 2hrs South of Perth. We had a wonderful cottage, Brookvale House, with a great garden and orchard and absolut quiet. Well, except for the birds. :-D We went to the Golden Valley Arboretum to stretch our legs a little after so much sitting on our fat arses, early dinner, early night. Bliss. A lazy morning saw a take-off for the last long stretch of driving to Porungurup NP. ('Long' for my taste, Australians would consider it "just around the corner" ... .) Pit stop in Manjumup, lovely place, great food and coffee at "Southern Roast", the down the Muir Highway, cruise control here we come. Completely alone on the road for most of the drive, quite relaxing. If only autopilots were already around. 

Porungurup NP was our first real stop, 3 nights at the lovely Jilba Cottage. Highly recommended. Spacious, clean, comfortable, wonderful hosts, fantastic location. And: Plenty of Pretty Parrots in Porungurup! Right on our doorstep. :-) Besides parrot-mania (and butterflys and honey eaters), there were some nice little walks to stretch our legs a bit further, the Granite Skywalk, the Nancy Peak circuit and smaller stuff.

Maleeya's Thai Cafe is run by a Swiss-Thai couple and they do fantastic meals. It's a crime to not eat there if you are in the area. Very friendly people, too, and full of good advice and knowledge about the area, especially about trees/forests. Plus they have supercute wool-cows.









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