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We left Denmark and drove out of the Southern Forests west towards the Margaret River region, first stop was Augusta at the most south westerly point of Australia. We found a nice campsite right by the beach, unfortunately it had started raining again so we had to put the tent up pretty quickly. Although the Margaret River region is meant to be one of the best places for eating out in WA, Augusta was distinctly lacking in places to eat - by the time we got to the town (3pm) all the cafes had closed, and after speaking to the people at the campsite we were told that there were no decent restaurants to eat at at all, so we had to settle for fish and chips by the river. It was my Gran's 83rd birthday so I gave her a birthday surprise of a phonecall from Australia - it was really great talking to family again! We only had 2 nights in Augusta, so for our only full day we decided to visit Jewel Cave, the largest show cave in WA. We went on a 1 hour guided tour down 42m below ground to see all sorts of stalagmites and stalagtites which were really great to see. Once we had got to the very back of the cave the tour guide even turned off all of the lights, so we were in complete darkness - it was so dark that you had white spots in your eyes which were your eyes remembering the light they had just seen - apparently these eventually disappear if you stay in complete darkness long enough! It was pretty creepy with no lights on, not somewhere I would like to get stuck! Once the lights were back on we started walking back through the cave, seeing where a lake used to be and places where fossils were found - it was a really interesting morning. After that we headed to Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse one the most south westerly tip of Australia. We had lunch in the cafe overlooking the beach, which has just been rated as the 3rd best view in the world by National Geographic - it really deserves it! Then we wandered around the lighthouse grounds, before going on a tour up to the top of the lighthouse, the tallest one in mainland Australia at 37m high. The tour was really interesting, telling us all about the people who used to live and work at the lighthouse, and there were stunning views from the top over the surrounding coastline. We could even see the point where the Southern and Indian Oceans meet! After we'd finished exploring the coast we headed back into town, where luckily some of the cafes were still open. After that we went for a nice walk along the Blackwood River to see some of the wildlife, and there were some really nice views there too.
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