A Rooney in Singapore: Western Australia-- Day 2

We decided to take a day and do a canoe trip up the Margaret River with friends of ours from Singapore. We booked for Monday, and when Monday came, it came cool and misty with rain as we made our way to the start. It managed to stop by the time we met Kevin and Melina, but we all had our jackets on and had a good laugh. Great day for a canoe outing, eh?

The Margaret River is a smaller river with crystal clear water. Here is the mouth of the river where it joins the Indian Ocean:

Our guide told us that in the winter months, there is more water flowing and no sand dunes to play on at that time. The totem poles are leftovers from a River festival that ended last week.

We walked a bit up the mouth of the river to our starting point. Here we are getting ready to go!:

Here are the happy travelers:

By this time, the sun was coming out and it sure warmed us up! Great day for a trip, eh?!

After a short time paddling, we made our first stop in a grove of trees called Melaleuca trees, or "paper bark". This area is called the place of sorrows. This type of tree likes to have its feet wet all the time and grows in swampy, wet areas. The Aboriginal peoples would come here to release their sorrows, believing the trees absorbed the sorrow and set it free. Interestingly, it would be a great place to hang out on Halloween given the creepy look!

The boys were allowed to have climb time here:

John and his buddy, Davis.

Looking out across the river from the Place of Sorrows, you can see the Wallcliffe. Supposedly, you should be able to make out 7 faces out of the caves/holes in wallcliffe. On top of this cliff runs Wallcliffe road that we drove along to get to the mouth of the river. Didn't know we were on a cliff! The views were blocked well by bush land.

More tree climbers:

We set off again in the canoes and made another stop on the Wallcliffe side for lunch. At this point, Jim and the boys climbed up the cliff a bit and took this shot back at Margaret River:

Here's our Bush Tucker (lunch!):

I am surprised I could remember the name of the Melaleuca tree. I wish I could remember the names of everything we tried for lunch. No luck! I do know we were served Kangaroo, Emu, and Venison sandwiches. I also think we had Acacia seeds of some sort, and several other neat Australian Bush fruits/seeds. Luckily he also served some cheese and crackers or the kids would have starved!

After we ate, he called for brave volunteers to try Witchetty Grub. You may remember Witchetty Grub from Survivor. Here is a lovely, plump, steamed version:

Here are two of the brave volunteers: Kevin and Jim! Yuck! And yes, they did eat it!:

Tastes like chicken, right?

Our last stop was a small cave along the Margaret River. It was damp and dirty and just okay. The bee hives out in front of the cave we more interesting.

At that point, we raced back to the start. Literally. The winning canoe won a bottle of wine and though we put in a valiant effort, we lost.

Post race, we sat at the mouth of the Margaret River while our kids played in the sand. Good times!