He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. Psalms 72:8

Following the mountaineering day, we decided to take it easy. We were walking with considerable pain; my thighs were quite sore and Andrew's calves took a beating. We left early and headed for Albany, a port city and the oldest permanently settled town in WA. One observation we had while travelling in this region was that many place names ended in "up" or "ing" and I was curious as to why. I later found out these endings were added to place names and means "place of" in the Noongar language.

Stirling Range Retreat - a lovely spot nestled at the foot of the mountain range. The rammed earth cabins where we stayed certainly needed a cosmetic upgrade. I didn't appreciate the inch long crawly things on the floor (we spent some time stomping these) and I still don't know what they were. But I guess that was part of the eco-retreat experience.

The entrance to our rammed earth cabin. This was one of the few attractive features of our accommodation. 

Did we mention it was fly season?? They look for moisture wherever they can find it and Andrew was a little sweaty after our trek. They go for the eyes and nose and we have both spat them out of our mouths.

A windy perch in Albany overlooking the King George Sound, part of the Southern Ocean. Not feeling  like climbing up many stairs, we drove up and parked in the handicapped spot. 

Albany War Memorial. 

The Lone Pine Memorial; a pine grown from seeds brought back by returning soldiers from a solitary pine in Gallipoli at the site of the famous WWI battle. 

This lizard was basking in the sun in the garden at the memorial. It was about 35 cm long. We saw some monitor lizards in the Stirling Range, the largest being about a metre long. Yikes!

Albany is the oldest town in WA. This is a replica of the brig Amity. The Amity arrived carrying a military party and convicts on Christmas day in 1826 to establish the first colony in Western Australia. Quite young compared to NS.  The Minang people had been there for thousands of years. 

Leaving Albany, we drove west and stopped at an absolutely stunning beach called Green's Pool and Elephant Rocks. 

Our pictures don't really capture the colour and beauty of this place. 

The water was cool but definitely swimmable.

Andrew enjoying a walk in the Southern Ocean - the weather was beautiful.

The colours here were indescribable - I really didn't want to leave this place. Looking south towards Antarctica about 3500 km away.

Elephant rocks; can you see them?

A slow and painful walk down the stairs to the beach by the "elephants".

The narrow approach to the beach. Don't go at high tide!

Another view of the "elephants".

Some tourists waiting for the swell to come though the rocks. A perfect place to swim. Surely sharks wouldn't swim in here.

Wild cineraria (Senecio elegans) was one of the dune flowers in full bloom. Turns out it is a garden escapee (i.e. weed), native to South Africa.

We then drove to the Nornalup National Park near Walpole to enjoy the Ancient Empire Trail, home to giant tingle trees. Can you spot Andrew looking way up??

This tree is known as 'Grandma Tingle' who looks after the forest around her. She measures 12 m in circumference and they estimate her to be around 400 years old.

In a tingle tree - they were pretty impressive.

The trail goes right through this red tingle tree.

It's amazing these trees are still living with these large gaping holes in the trunks.

After surviving many fires, this tree continues to grow. Amazing durability and resilience.

After a beautiful day of exploring the south coast we headed to the Tinglewood Cabins for the night, looking forward to a good night's sleep and resting our weary bones.

"Getting to the top is optional. Getting down is mandatory." - Ed Viesturs (author)

Sunday, day 2 of our amazing Aussie road trip, dawned sunny and cool, a perfect morning to start our next hike. They were predicting rain for later in the day, so we got an early start and set off with a light lunch and 3 l of water. I have to say I was pretty nervous as we approached the base of the trail. My legs were still a bit sore from Saturday's climb and this hike was rated at a level 4 predicting a 3-4 hour return time. But with some true Canadian grit and spirit we set off at a slower pace than the day before, determined to complete this hike. We hit the halfway mark and met a couple descending already. They felt the weather was about to change for the worse and felt they had seen enough view. Andrew and I looked at each other and figured we had come all this way and were committed to finishing. The views were becoming more stunning and magnificent the higher we walked and I just felt that this was Sunday worship at it's finest. A song by Robin Mark came to mind and if you wish, you can listen here. Watching eagles soar and soaking in the beauty of creation was breathtaking. We reached the 3/4 mark and I wasn't sure I was going to be able to summit. Andrew graciously took my pack, hoping to encourage me to continue. Well, because of some Nickerson genes and sheer determination to finish, I carried on and we proudly reached the top - 1095 metres (or 3592 feet)! It seemed we were sitting on top of the world, marvelling at the stunning vistas in every direction. After eating a little lunch the reality hit that we had to start our descent. It was hard - one of the most challenging but satisfying hikes so far. I'm pretty sure level 4 is my top level and I will leave the level 5 hikes for the younger generation. By the time we reached the carpark, the legs were feeling pretty rubbery and I was hobbling back to the car, only wanting to lay down and not move for at least an hour.

 Our approach to Bluff Knoll trailhead - looks a bit formidable.

 This path doesn't seem so bad.

 Or this one, but you can see in the distance it's starting to go up!

 One of many photographed plants along the way - a gravel bottlebrush. The spring flowers were in abundance.

Ummm, really? - we're going up there??

 The clouds started moving in - should we continue?? Most of the trail books we read warned of quickly changing and potentially dangerous weather conditions.

Stair-master supreme! 

 Andrew photographed beautiful flowers, which gave me a break to bring my heart rate down.

 Nearly halfway up!

 The views were majestic.

 But the trail was still very steep and another 90 minutes of climbing.

 One of the skinks we saw on the trail. Thankfully no snakes!

A Banksia species. Western Australia is noted for its diversity of flowering plants and The Stirling Range alone has over 1500 species.

 And we did it!! Disappointment in the size of the sign, but happy to be at the top!

Level with the clouds - such a gratifying feeling.

 View from the top - the 3 'lakes' that you see are actually salt lakes. About 80% of Aussie salt is produced in WA. Plenty of sun to evaporate the water!!

It was so incredible to see this first hand. It makes you stop and consider the majesty and grandeur of creation.

 And the descent begins - see the car park way, way down and the distant wheat fields? Our lodging was just on the edge of the wheat field.

 Stopping for a closer look at mountain bells on the way down.

 Darwinia leiostyla - commonly called mountain bells. The genus is named after Erasmus Darwin, grandfather of Charles Darwin. Some Darwinias are only found here in the Stirling Range.

And the happy but tired Jamiesons at the end of a very long (4 hour), hard trek. Love this guy that pushes me to accomplish things I don't think I can. 

"Life is either a great adventure or nothing." - Helen Keller

Ahhhh, where to begin?? I have a lot of catching up to do, so hopefully you won't get too bored with my ramblings. Andrew had planned a getaway for us to the Great Southern region of Australia. And yes, he drove, what a guy!! We set off from Atwell bright and early (7:30 am) on Saturday morning - destination Stirling Range. This is a place that Kathryn and Tim recommended and where they both conquered Bluff Knoll, the highest peak in southwestern Australia. We wound our way south, stopping at 'Williams Woolshed' (think major tourist trap on the main road), arriving in Kojonup around noon where we wandered around a rose maze and had a bite to eat. Our first destination was Castle Rock and Granite Skywalk (570 m above sea level) for an afternoon hike, part of the Porongurup Range. We managed to hit the trail by 2:30, quickly finding out the difficulty rating was 4 out of a possible 5. I wasn't too excited about that, but needing to stretch the legs we set off, determined to accomplish this one as a precursor to Sunday's more challenging Bluff Knoll. By the time we got to the top I thought I was going to lose that 'world famous' pastie I ate for lunch. But I was happy we did it and the view from the top was incredible. I was just praying the legs would recoup enough for Sunday's climb.

Ready to set out with a Volvo 850. Sarah, you thought the Accord was old!!!

A beautiful rose maze in Kojunup weaves together the story of 3 women: a Noongar (aboriginal), an Englishwoman, and an Italian. This creatively reflects the history of the town.

If a tree falls in the forest, does anybody hear?

 The Balancing Rock near the top of our hike. Andrew was feeling good; me, not so good. 

 The final section was a vertical ladder leading to the skywalk. I debated on whether to do this final climb.

 And this is how I felt when I got to the top - I recovered fairly quickly and enjoyed the stunning views but then realized the climb down was next!!

 Treetops and granite and beautiful blue sky.

 The happy couple hoping the skywalk holds.

 A different perspective of the massive granite rock.

 These cleats in the rocks were helpful in navigating my way down, probably would have landed face first on the granite if they weren't there.

 A view as we approach the Stirling Range. These mountains are looking rather daunting!!

 And my chef trying to cook a McCains pizza on a gas BBQ because there was no oven in our living space. We finally ended up microwaving it - we were hungry so it didn't taste too bad.

Our rammed earth cabin at the Stirling Range Retreat. The cabin was basically a concrete bunker which did not meet my high expectations. Bluff Knoll, tomorrow's challenge, looms in the background.