Australia 8/19/2022 - 9/6/2022 |
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Friday 9/2/2022 - Yanchep National Park, King Neptune StatueWe woke up at 9 a.m. and took showers. Sonam Tshering got home from work and we enjoyed a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, baked beans, orange juice, and coffee.Today we would be going to Yanchep National Park. Sonam Tshering had booked a Crystal Cave tour for us. The Sonams packed a picnic lunch. After forgetting the drinking glasses yesterday, Sonam Tshering made a big production out of having them ready to go today. We loaded up the car and left the house at around 11:30 a.m. for the hour-long drive to Yanchep National Park. We parked near the visitor center, being a bit early for our cave tour. While waiting, we hung out on the koala boardwalk, an elevated walkway between gum trees. We saw a couple of koalas sound asleep in the trees. At the appointed time, we drove a short distance to the parking lot for the Crystal Cave, and embarked on a 45 minute hike guided by a ranger named Chanelle. There were about a dozen people in the tour group. There are over 580 limestone caves in the vicinity of the national park. The limestone was deposited as marine sediment 600,000 years ago. The Whadjug Nyoongar people (traditional custodians of the land) knew of these caves but never willingly entered them due to their belief in Jinka (cave spirits). The caves were first explored by white settlers in 1841. The Crystal Cave was discovered by a man named Henry White in 1903. We descended a staircase to enter the cave. There were many delicate stalactites hanging from the ceiling. Tree roots dangled from above. You would assume that they belonged to oone of the trees right near the entrance of the cave. But Chanelle explained that they did DNA testing, and roots did not match those nearby trees. They have yet to identify the tree on the surface to which the roots belong. There were several pools in the cave. The natural water in the cave had dried up, so they needed to add additional water to maintain the humidity within the cave. Some of the rock formations looked crystalline and translucent. The formations were varied and beautiful. Henry White found another amazingly beautiful cave in the area, but, when his land was seized from him, he refused to reveal its location. It is now lost to time. Today's technology (ground penetrating radar) would perhaps aid in its location, but there is no funding available for such research. After our cave experience, we returned to the main area of the national park. The park was beautiful, but, being off-season, there were very few people here. We found a picnic table next to the lake (Loch McNess - really? We kept an eye out for any possible Aussie Nessie sightings, LOL) where we would eat our picnic lunch. The view of the marshy wetlands was quite pretty. After forgetting the drinking glasses yesterday, Sonam Tshering had made a big deal of remembering them today, and yet, they were not in the bag with the rest of the picnic supplies. He went back to the car to check in the trunk, but, alas, he had left them on the kitchen counter at home. We had a lot of laughs about this. He went to the little cafe on premises and bought some sodas and got some paper cups. We ate a nutritious lunch of soft drinks, donuts, cake, chips, and Cheetos. There were lots of birds hanging around in hopes of scoring some food, but we were careful to make sure that they didn't get any. Keep wildlife wild, as the numerous signs implored. We couldn't help but think that we were glad that it was off-season, because this marshy area is probably full of insects at certain times of the year. We went back to the koala boardwalk at 3:15, as we had read that there was a 15-minute koala talk by the staff, availability permitting. However, they apparently didn't have the staff to conduct the talk today, it being off-season and all. But we still enjoyed watching the three koalas that we could see. They yawned and moved a bit, giving us a bit of a better view. As a few other people wandered by looking for koalas, we were able to direct them to the trees where they slept. These koalas had originally come from the Perth Zoo (which we had visited in 2019). Sonam Tshering joked that these particular koalas were too boring for the zoo, so they had been shipped here instead. He joked that they were not "productive citizen koalas." We joked about the way they slept in the trees, with their little hands on either side of their faces. We joked that the koalas would be up and active as soon as we left; like that Gary Larson Far Side cartoon where cows walk on two legs until a car approaches, and then assume traditional cow posture while the car drives by. After determining that they weren't going to fully wake up any time soon, we walked over to a grassy area where the Sonams had seen kangaroos on a previous visit. The kangaroos did not disappoint...we saw 24 of them, many mothers with joeys in their pouches. They hopped around, and one of the males had some stunning dance moves. A family with some little kids came by, and the kids got so excited to see the kangaroos. It was fun to observe their excitement; we feel like little kids when we are so close to wildlife as well. The national park has lots of amenities, including an inn with balconies which overlook the field where we saw the kangaroos. We recognized some of the people from our cave tour group on one of the balconies. There is also a campground onsite. Other activities are available in season, including golf, an Aboriginal cultural experience, and a ropes/ziplining course. There is even a cave which can be rented out for functions. The whole place was pretty empty when we were there, but we can imagine that when it is in season, it is quite a popular destination. We left the national park at around 5:15 p.m. Sonam Tshering asked if we wanted to take a 15 minute drive to Two Rocks to see the King Neptune statue. We weren't sure whether we would be able to get there before the sun set, but agreed that it was worth a try. This ten meter tall limestone statue is all that remains of the 1980's Atlantic Marine Park. It was a bit hard to access as the main entrance was blocked due to nearby construction, but we climbed up to the statue and took pictures standing in the palm of King Neptune's hand. We even recorded a Tik-Tok there for Sonam Choki. We stopped at the IGA supermarket in Two Rocks, where Sonam got us some coffee. Then we drove back to the house, arriving at around 7:20. We had a dinner of pasta, ema datshi, salmon on a salad, beer, and cider. We had a lot of laughs, with Sonam Tshering imitating the koalas and kangaroos we had seen today. We went to bed at around 11 p.m. Yanchep National Park King Neptune Statue |
 Crystal Cave, Yanchep National Park  Crystal Cave  Picnic lunch at Loch McNess  Picnic lunch at Loch McNess  Lazy koala Kangaroo dance moves  King Neptune See all photos from September 2 |
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