I don't know why exactly that I am drawn to this place, but I know that whenever I am down in Western Australia's South West, if I am close I have to visit. I especially love to visit when it is close to sunset - to spend the time just sitting and being, watching the sun set over the sea.
But it more than just the setting sun that draws me to this place - it is almost a spiritual connection. The water here is never still, the energy is tangible and yet soothing. To sit and listen to the waves, to immerse yourself in the landscape - for me it is a truly a wonderful thing.
The small bay is rocky with a small area of beach - more often than not covered with flotsam and jetsam from the ocean. If you sit on the beach there is the illusion that the horizon and the oncoming waves are higher than you, that you are nestled between the hills behind and the ocean in front.
And so hubby and I find ourselves here whenever we are visiting the Margaret River Region. We drive to Augusta, we buy fish and chips and we head out to the Water Wheel. We eat, we walk, we sit, we watch the sunset and then we drive away always feeling relaxed, always feeling refreshed, always smiling.
And so, here are a series of photos taken on one visit to my favourite place, maybe one day you will visit too and enjoy it as much as I do.
The Water Wheel is now encrusted with limestone, it was built in the 1800s and was used to supply water to the lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper's cottages. It was also used in the construction of the lighthouse. The water still runs from the natural spring but is only used to keep the wooden and the wheel wet so it doesn't split and splinter. The lighthouse sits on the tip of Cape Leeuwin, where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet, a place where many a ship came to grief on the reefs and rocks.
