Denmark

Denmark is about 4 hours or so from Perth and is as far south and east as we will go before Xmas. When we leave Perth on the 8th January we will drive straight down to Albany (about 50km east from Denmark) then start heading east again towards home (noooooo!). Denmark is situated on a river mouth and has some beautiful ocean beaches and is surrounded by wineries, chocolate and cheese factories. So needless to say one day was spent checking out some of these. We started at the Denmark chocolate factory which was good but much smaller than the Margaret River one and not so much free chocolate! Next we went to a cheese factory/winery which also made really yummy sorbet and fudge. Good combination. We then found a berry farm and picked a variety of berries.







It was lunchtime then and we checked out the Boston Brewery which was on the Albany side of Denmark. The food was excellent and they had a play area for the kids which was great. After lunch Michael wanted to go for a surf so we went to Ocean Beach at the river mouth.






As you can see the water is still really clear and a beautiful colour. The waves weren't much good unfortunately. Jack managed to stand up a few times.

That night we were included in the McCloskeys adoption day party they have for 2 of their girls to celebrate the day they brought them home. Plenty of party food by the river.

The next day it was time to start heading back towards Perth. We stopped at Green's Pool on the way out of Denmark which is rated one of the best beaches in WA. Easy to see why!







We then drove to Manjinup, stopping for lunch at the Diamond Tree, another enormous climbing tree, and checked out the Timber Museum. Then drove through Bridgetown which is a very pretty town. We stopped for the night at Barragup beside the creek and got to have another fire. Next morning we had a stop at Donnybrook which as well as being the Granny Smith capital is also the home of WA's biggest playground. Spent a couple of hours there.




We then said goodbye to the McCloskeys again unfortunately. They are staying with friends in Perth but hopefully we will see them after Xmas. We have really enjoyed travelling with them again, they are a lovely family. From Donnybrook it was a couple of hours into Perth. Amazing what a difference fine weather can have on the impressions of a place. When we drove through previously on our way to the farm at Pinjarra it was raining so hard we couldn't see more than a few metres ahead of the car. This time, on a lovely sunny day, Perth looked really great. Looking forward to spending some time here.. We drove through Perth city and about 10 minutes north to stay at the Karrinyup Waters Resort. Great park with another jumping pillow and 2 families we originally met in Broome but have bumped into plenty of times on the way south, the Wall family who have 2 boys the same age as Jack and Tom and the Yewens, a younger couple with no kids. They are good value so we are looking forward to some good times here!

Southern Forests and the Valley of the Giants

We continued west from Alexandra Bridge to get to Pemberton. This is the area known as the Southern Forests, for obvious reasons. The trees around here are enormous and very beautiful. Our first stop in the area was Beedelup Falls. They were a little disappointing as there wasn't much water flowing but we walked to the "walkthrough tree" instead which was about 2.4 km return. Charlie cracked it and had to be dragged the whole way screaming at the top of his lungs so it wasn't a very peaceful walk. He refused to be in the family photo.







We then stopped in Pemberton to have a look at one of the trees originally used by fire spotters. You can still climb it but only Tom was brave enough to go a little way up. The tree is about 75 metres tall and there is a lookout at 60 metres but none of us made it up that high!













We then decided to pull over on the side of the road for the night, about halfway between Walpole and Denmark. As usual the boys had a great time as we had another fire and Dion made them all bows and arrows.







The next morning we went to see the Valley of the Giants which is a tree top walk amongst the giant Tingle Trees. This is the only place in the world that these trees grow. They can get to over 400 years old and are usually hollow. The first walk we did was called the Ancient Empire Walk. This was the view of the trees from ground level.



















Once we had done that walk we did the tree top walk.







You can see the walkway in the photo above. It is about 40 metres up at it's highest point. The whole walkway moves around a lot so it is a bit scary! I haven't been to the one in the Otways so am not sure how it compares but it was good to have another perspective.

We then headed towards the coast and Denmark.

Augusta and Alexandra Bridge

We drove from Margaret River to Hamelin Bay, a little bit further south. We are enjoying all these short distances again. Much like driving around Victoria. Even the scenery is very similar, lots of beautiful trees and very green. At Hamelin Bay we were lucky enough to see lots of enormous stingrays and eagle rays swimming in the shadows. They were so close that the kids could pat them.







Next stop was Augusta, which is where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean, at Cape Leeuwin. There his a lighthouse there, one of the tallest in the southern hemisphere. We had plank Ed to climb it but it was going to cost over $70 for the family so we decided to walk around the grounds instead. Like the last lighthouse, the kids were most interested in the resident ghosts. There are apparently a few around including a lady who died after a fall and one of the old lighthouse keepers. None of us saw them much to Jack's disappointment.






We then drove a bit further south to the Alexandra Bridge campground on the Blackwood River. This was a great place to stop. We had planned on just an overnight stop but ended up staying 2 nights and could have stayed a lot longer if we had more time. We could have a fire so the boys finally got to light a fire with the flints they got for their birthdays.




It was a peaceful bush setting with good facilities and only $20 a night. Well it was peaceful until we arrived anyway! There were even dolphins swimming in the river every morning.



A bit hard to see in the photo but those are the 2 dolphin's fins you can see on the other side of the river.

The boys drove into Augusta for a couple of hours to try fishing again but still nothing. Luckily we had bought some fresh fish from Augusta on the way through! As usual the kids weren't happy about leaving. We find they enjoys themselves so much more when we are bush camping than when we stay at caravan parks. But we needed to keep moving in order to see the southern forests and then get back to Perth for Christmas.

Margaret River

Trying to catch up before Christmas. This is from last week.

From Busselton we drove south and stopped at Prevelly Beach which is where the Margaret River surf beach is. Unfortunately they had some major bush fires only a couple of weeks ago so the area looked very black and treeless. We drove into the town of Margaret River and checked into the caravan park. We spent the afternoon checking out the shops (there are 5 surf shops in Margaret River!). The next day Charlie and I went with Sue, Lily and Jorja to have a look at the Berry Farm just out of Margaret River while the boys went back to Prevelly and the Margaret River mouth to try fishing. The drive to the Berry Farm was so pretty. Lots of rolling green hills covered in vines and black and white cows everywhere. The Berry Farm itself was really lovely. It had a shed used for tasting all their produce including jams, chutneys, wines and liqueurs. The sparkling strawberry will get a run on Christmas morning for sure! They had tea rooms in a little cottage set in a very pretty garden where we had some enormous scones. Almost as good as my mum's but not quite! There were lots of little birds around eating all the sugar.









The kids tried very hard to feed the birds but they wouldn't go anywhere near them. They felt it was safer to eat sugar from adults!

We got back to find that the boys had no luck but instead ended up booking in for a surf lesson the next day.
They got up very early and headed to Redgate Beach and spent a couple of hours with an instructor who they said was very good. The water was crystal clear, the waves were perfect and they even saw fish jumping out of the water. So a very good morning.

Busselton

Having Internet speed issues again. This is from last week.

The kids were very unhappy about leaving the farm but we cheered them up by turning up to Busselton and checking in to the Mandalay Resort caravan park which had heated pools, a playground, a games room and a big jumping pillow. The other bonus was that we parked right next to the McCloskeys. It was really great to see them again. They have been hanging out in Perth for the last couple of weeks. Busselton is very pretty and a lot busier than I expected. Our first tourist activity was to check out the jetty which is one of the longest in the southern hemisphere. It is so long they have put a little train on it that will take you out to the end. Unfortunately it was booked out so we decided to come back the next day. Instead we drove out to Dunsborough then on to Eagle Point and Meelup Beach. We stopped at Simmo's Icecream place on the way thanks to a recommendation we got when we were in Derby a really long time ago. We had lunch at Meelup which was a lovely spot.



We then drove out to Cape Naturaliste to check out the lighthouse. The kids were more interested in hearing the ghost stories but we managed to get them all to the top. The tour guide gave them all rags to polish the original brass railing on the way up!



The view from the top was great but very windy.






It was really great for the kids to finally see inside a lighthouse and learn a bit about how they work. We have seen a lot from a distance.

The next day we returned to the jetty to take the train out to the underwater observatory. Beautiful view from the start of the jetty.



Check out the water, crystal clear again.



The train ride took a while but the kids loved it.




Charlie has a strange expression on his face but he did enjoy it! That's a fly next to his eye. The flies have been the only bad thing about coming south. They are dreadful. Almost time to get out the fly nets if they didn't make you look a bit odd!


The underwater observatory was amazing. You go down lots of steps with huge windows all the way down to the bottom of the ocean. There are plenty of fish swimmimg around but the most impressive thing are the piles which are covered with various forms of sea life.






Had no idea that there was so much to see under a jetty!

Our final tourist activity in Busselton was to take the kids out to the wineries south of town towards Margaret River. We went to a couple of wineries, Coweramup Brewery for lunch and then via a cheese factory to a chocolate factory. So not a good day for my growing weight problems but I will worry about that when I get home!

We really loved Busselton. The caravan park was exceptional and the town was really great. Lots of shops that we haven't seen for a while and it really feels like we are back in civilization. On to Margaret River next.

Geraldton to Pinjarra

We left Kalbarri and drove to Geraldton via Northhampton where we stopped for a pub lunch. We said goodbye to Jill, Kumar and the kids as they were going to stay at Coronation Beach which was just north of Geraldton. We checked into the caravan park and the kids had a swim and jumped on the jumping pillow. We got them Hungry Jack's for dinner and made it home before the rain started. Next morning we packed up and went to the foreshore. It has an excellent playground and water park so the kids were very happy there for a couple of hours. We then checked out the WA Museum which was excellent. It had a great play area for little kids and three really good exhibitions including the HMAS Sydney and a shipwreck section. Michael really enjoyed reading about the Batavia and the kids spent heaps of time filling out a quiz. The museum had an excellent gift shop so I was able to start on the Christmas shopping. You can tell we are heading to more touristy areas as it has been a long time since we have seen a good gift shop attached to an attraction.

From Geraldton we drove to Jurien Bay where we were very pleased to bump into some friends from Broome/Coral Bay. Jurien Bay is a lovely little seaside resort with a great foreshore playground and a jetty and pontoon. The first day we spent there the kids played on the jumping pillow but ended up down at the beach pretty quickly as it was very hot. They really loved jumping off the jetty. Tried fishing the second night but we were interrupted by an enormous thunderstorm. It rained most of the night which is very unusual for us. It is the most rain we have had since we left.

From Jurien Bay we drove towards Perth. For some reason it really feels like we are on the way home now even though we still have 2 months left. We stopped at the Pinnacles and did the drive around in the rain. They were much more interesting than I expected. I didn't realize there were so many rocks.






As we left the heavy rain started to fall and it pretty quickly turned into thunderstorms again. It didn't stop the whole day. Unfortunately it was the day we were driving through Perth so it was very nerve wracking. It is so long since we have been into a big city, probably since we left Melbourne as Darwin isn't that big. As we spotted tall buildings through the rain the kids all yelled out "Wow". We have turned into country folk!

We made it through Perth after being stuck in a traffic jam and found Tania and Brian's place. We met them in Alice Springs a very long time ago and took them up on their offer to park our van in one of their paddocks for a couple of nights. They live just near a town called Pinjarra which is about halfway between Perth and Bunbury. They live on a cattle farm. As we drove up we were greeted by 2 beautiful labradors, one black and one golden called Becky and Balto. Within minutes Charlie had spotted motorbikes, a quad bike, a tractor and a truck so he was very excited. Tania and Brian have 4 kids and the boys were very pleased to catch up with Scott and Kate again and we got to meet Gabby and Andrew who didn't come to Alice. The boys were out on the quad bike very quickly!




We drove into Mandurah which is a beach town nearby and had lunch on the first day. The kids were not pleased as they were enjoying playing with all of Scott's Lego and toy cars. We didn't stay in town long as the rain started again. Once we were back on the farm the boys went horse riding. Charlie has been asking to ride a horse since we left so he was very excited.









After the horse, Tom had a ride on May the cow!



This is Jack with Becky on the back.




The next day Jack went to school with Scott. He goes to St Josephs in Pinjarra and Jack really enjoyed being away from all of us for a day! He did so well that Scott's teacher asked us to enroll him in her grade next year.

Unfortunately the next day it was time to head to Busselton. We really enjoyed staying on the farm and were thoroughly spoilt by Tania including sending us off with an egg and bacon quiche and a huge chocolate cake. Tania is the proud owner of a Thermomix and did her utmost to impress Michael with it so he would consider getting me one for Christmas. Hopefully there is one wrapped up for me under the tree in Perth! We hope one day Tania and Brian and some or all of the kids will come and see us in Melbourne so we can repay some of their hospitality. There is also talk of doing the full Gibb together one day which would be fantastic. We really had a great time and will miss them.

Kalbarri

I am a bit behind on the blog. The internet has been too slow to upload the photos so this is from about a week ago.
From Steep Point we had an overnight by the side of the road then drove into Kalbarri the next morning. Kalbarri is a small town at the mouth of the Murchison River. This is a view towards the town from Red Bluff.




We checked out a place called the Rainbow Jungle which is a parrot zoo. The boys really enjoyed seeing the enormous variety of parrots and especially liked the macaws. My favorite was an old cockatoo that kept calling out "Muuuuuuuuum, Muuuuuuummmm". I was just waiting for it to add "I'm hungry"!




We spent one morning out at Kalbarri National Park. Unfortunately the kids are a bit over national parks as you can tell from this photo.



It was very beautiful and there are 2 short walks you can do to look outs. The first one is called Nature's Window.







The other one is Z Bend. I did this one on my own as it was easier than putting up with the whinging.



Charlie got very excited on the drive and kept calling out "Look, banana trees!" He wasn't pleased when he realized they were flowers!



Even though we are past the official wild flower season there were plenty of flowers around so it was quite a pretty drive.

The boys had a few attempts at fishing. The first night we arrived was the most successful. Michael and Kumar went out after dark to the jetty and came back with 4 fish. That was the high point as repeated attempts from the jetty, the river and the beach were unsuccessful. A couple of undersized ones but no dinner. Jack nearly caught an enormous crab one afternoon. Better luck further south hopefully!