Cape to Cape Explorer Tours flagship one day tour, the Jewel of the Capes, provided a number of wildlife encounters and other highlights for six lucky participants during a recent mid-week custom tour.
‘September in Margaret River has been exceptionally wet this year and it’s fantastic to see the surrounding bushland and coastal heath looking so healthy”, said Senior Tour Guide and Cape to Cape Explorer Tours Director Gene Hardy.
“The Jewel of the Cape tour visits possibly the most scenic stretch of the Cape to Cape Track, as well as traversing the regions most exciting cave.”
A number of wildlife encounters occurred, beginning when a very brave Bearded Dragon decided to stand his ground and show the group an impressive set of sharp teeth.
The Bearded Dragon is from the Dragon or Agamidae family. About 73 different Adamidae species occur in Australia, with 66 found in Western Australia alone. They have a unique set of posterior teeth, fused to the outer rim of their jaw, which can be clearly seen in the above photo. These teeth are permanent and are not replaced. However they also have a second set of interior teeth and are continually replaced throughout their life.
“Looking at the amount of teeth still left on this feisty little fellows outer jaw, I’d say that he is still reasonably young”, laughed Gene “Possibly a puffed up teenager!”
The other wildlife encounter to note was a large male emu and his little brood of four chicks. At up to 55kg the Emu is the second largest bird in the world, just behind the Ostrich.
“The interesting thing about Emus is that the fathers do all the childrearing”, says Gene.
“And it’s not just looking after the chicks either, he will sit on the eggs without eating for between 40 and 60 days”
After the brief encounter, the father Emu decided he’d seen enough of our group and ran off, down the Track, with his little chicks powering along behind him.
Another highlight of the day were the golden flowers of the Acacia littoria or Shark Tooth Wattle dominating the wild sea cliffs.
The final highlight of the day was the enormous caverns of the adventure cave, where the group took on the challenge of a game of stealth in the Ballroom with vigour.
After the expanse of the Ball Room Chamber, the ladder section was a lot of fun and gave everyone a chance to marvel at the amount of wind whistling through the chamber, some 70metres below the surface!
With the cave behind us and a bottle of cold Ballingup Apple cider on the surface the day had come to an end…everyone will sleep well tonight!
The ‘Jewel of the Capes’ tour runs every Saturday and enquiries can be made to have a tour run any day of the week for a custom group of 4 participants or more.
Please call Cape to Cape Explorer Tours on 0459 452 038 to book or for further information.