Stirling Ranges NP

On our way to the Stirling Ranges
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A short ride today to The Lily close to the Stirling Ranges NP. The weather is beautiful, sunshine all over. The closer we get to the Stirling Ranges the flatter the landscape becomes. It is such a short ride, that it could also be planned as a day trip from Albany.

Finally we have a sign with a skippy on it
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We stop at an information stand and get access to Bluff Knoll by putting money in an envelop and post the envelop in a box. You drive up the mountain through a winding road and arrive at a visitors lookout point which has opened since August 2003. There are some nice bush walks here which could take up to 3-4 hours. But... let's keep it a bit of a holiday, so we walk for 1,5 hour. It was a really difficult route. You have to have a good condition!! Pfff we are happy to be back at the car and sit for a while to enjoy the view. Afterwards we drive on to The Lily.

Windmill the Lily
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It is very strange to sea a windmill in the middle of the landscape. We are greeted by Sue and she takes us to the winery. Our stay for the night. It looks very nice, with a lot of Delft blue (yep they are from Dutch origin), wooden shoes, vases and farmers. Books from Holland (Anton Piek). The bedding is with Delft blue little flowers. They have a very friendly large dog, 2 cats, 2 horses. The owners Pleun and Hennie build it themselves. One minor thing we did not calculate: you can not have diner around here. We did not know that and when the owners here it, they bring us cauliflower soup and Dutch applepie! It all tastes delicious. At night we do not sleep much. There is a lot of wind and since you are in the middle of nowhere you hear all kinds of strange sounds. Also a bug that is jumping around the room had to be removed by Eric. We also receive a large breakfast basket with eggs, bred, jam, muesli, cornflakes, etc. When we check out we give our present: a Delft blue mill with Haagse hopjes and 2 packs of stroopwafels. She loves it so much we get kisses and a big hug. The next day when we check out we get kisses and a big hug and a CD with music from her husband Pleun! They are so friendly, they must be Dutch.