Karri Forest - On to the South and World Rugby Final

We headed south from Margaret River stopping only briefly to walk in the famous Karri Forest. As it was Sunday we commented that we were in a soaring cathedral of awe-inspiring trees. We then had a pretty boring drive to Pemberton where the lady in the tourist information office expressed disappointment that we only intended to stop for lunch. We could see her point, after our drive this area really did look interesting. She tried to interest in a winery lunch but as we had about 1 1/2 hours more to drive we opted for the Lavender and Berry Farm. We sat under a canopy as the rain poured down, enjoying pumpkin soup and  huge herb scones with fresh creamery butter. Their specialty here is a pancake dessert with berry sauce and a dollop on ice cream, however we saw one and I decided to pack as I am determined not to pack on the pounds on this trip as I did the last time.  It is just so difficult to get them off. I guess Ireally  should have passed up the butter!

We departed in the pouring rain and stopped for groceries in Walpole. When we bought petrol we talked to the proprieter of the Supermarket/Petrol Station explaining that we planned to watch the World Rugby Final when we got to Denmark - New Zealand vs France. He looked at the clock and commented that as it started 5 minutes hence, so he didn't think we'd see the first half but we could listen on ABC AM. So we drove as fast as possible and arrived in Denmark 45 minutes later after trying to make sense of the game (me) on the radio. We found Poppy's Guesthouse and Gemma very kindly switched on a beautiful big TV so that we could watch the remainder of the game. I must say it was certainly easier to understand visually rather than aurally! France did really well but couldn't break the NZ defense. We thought they dominated the second half and horrors if it had gone on much longer the Kiwis might have lost. But time ran out and joyfully the All Blacks got their long awaited victory after 24 years with a score of 8-7. Fox-tel rebroadcast the game immediately so we could see how the All Blacks had dominated the first half. Click below to see location:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Denmark,+Western+Australia,+Australia&hl=en&ll=-34.957995,117.355957&spn=7.43552,14.128418&sll=49.891235,-97.15369&sspn=23.430526,56.513672&vpsrc=6&hnear=Denmark+Western+Australia,+Australia&t=m&z=6

We thought the victorious New Zealanders were fairly restrained compared to how North Americans would have reacted. Remember there were riots in Vancouver when the Canuks failed to win the Stanley Cup. There probably would have been riots if they had won too! It was really touching to see the team receive their gold medals, and my brother-in-law responded to our congratulatory email saying that Monday was declared a national holiday in NZ and that the entire country was celebrating; there would be mighty hangovers in the next few days. He told us that New Zealanders could finally get back to thinking of something else as this game had dominated the collective New Zealand psyche.  The All Blacks were victory-parading in Auckland on Monday. We wish them well.