Thursday 22 November 2012

and Nomads Guest House - Mt Barker

and up a mountain (part 1)
Mt Barker

I am exhausted after my weekend. Almost no relaxing was had. Myself, my plus one and two of our friends headed off on Saturday morning to Mt Barker in the South West of Western Australia. Mt Barker is a cute little town around 50km north of Albany and around 370km south east of Perth. We arrived just after lunch and stopped in at a local Cafe for something to eat. It was almost 2 and they were about to close so we took our lunch and sat on the grass across the road.

 Gorgeous Mt Barker day (minutes after we were attacked by a Willy-willy)

After picking up a few supplies we went to our accommodation for the night. I have a thing for finding and staying in alternative types of accommodation. This time I found Yurts. Nomads Guest House is on the edge of Mt Barker but still in walking distance to the centre.

Our Yurt for the night

When wearrived on of the owners showed us around and introduced us to some of their animals. They are kangaroo carers, so myself and another got to feed two of the joeys some milk. We also met their sheep and their gorgeous dog, Siben.

One of the Joeys.

Siben. He didn't like getting his photo taken.

We sat around for a while relaxing (the only time all weekend) and had a look through some of the brochures and started thinking about what we wanted to do for dinner and breakfast the next morning. Just after 6 we piled into one car and headed down to Albany, to The White Star, for dinner. We shared some yummy garlic bread for starters and I enjoyed a cocktail called 'Fruit of the Womb'. I didn't particularly like the name ,but the drink was delicious. I then had a huge and delicious Chicken Parmigiana for dinner and finished with a 'Trio of Chocolate' for desert with a cup of vanilla tea. We then took a short walk over a pedestrian bridge and then back to the car.

My dessert! AMAZING!

We had an early start the next day and went to the Mt Barker Country Bakery for breakfast. I had a chicken and vegetable pie and shared this German sausage thing with my plus one. We then headed out of town towards the Porongurups. We then visited Castle Rock. The hike was around 4.2km return with a short 62m scramble up some rocks and then up a ladder to a brand new skywalk at the top. I have a small memory of visiting Castle Rock and Balancing rock, which is right next to it, when I was around 8. We hadn't actually realised how long the walk was going to be until we set out and saw the first distance marker. For some reason we neglected to check this before we decided to head out. It was a gorgeous walk none the less and the view from the top was sensational.

Balancing Rock and the view from the top of Castle Rock

View from Castle Rock

Beautiful day

We then headed of towards the Stirling Ranges and that is where I will pick up next time!

On the road again...

Love, love Elle.

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