Doin' the WAVE (Day 16)

The caravan park at Wave Rock is absolutely chokkas!  It is like a small city.  However, there seems to be a fair turnover of people from one day to the next.  A number of Perth people here too.

This morning we toodled off to a country market where the kids got stuck into the craft table that was supplied.  Free of charge, it was a great concept, as parents (ahem...mums) could wander around and look at things at leisure.  I bought a couple of things (a handmade card of all things!) and a casserole carrier.  I'm pretty sure mum or Judy could knock this off in Stampin Up! fabric!

On our return, we couldn't contain Mark any longer and we took off to look at Wave Rock.  As mentioned previously, it is literally in the caravan grounds, so it took us all of 3 minutes to walk there.

 

Wave Rock is part of a larger structure called Hyden Rocks.  Another photo opportunity is the Hippo's Yawn.

Yawning at the Hippo's Yawn

There is also a rather large salmon gum called the Hyden Tree.  Salmon gums don't tend to grow to lofty heights, so this one is a bit unique.  Again, the setting sun on these trees is just beautiful.

Total kms travelled today: 69

Total kms travelled in total: 4,798

To Hyden (Day 15)

Supervising the pack up

This morning we caught up with my cousin Dario.  I haven't seen him for a number of years.  We calculated that the last time I saw him, Tom was about 18 months old.  So that would have made it about 2007.  Five years is a long time.

After seeing Da and Jodie, and munching on their hot cross buns and then stealing a loaf of bread, we left, headed for Hyden.

On our way, we passed through a number of small nondescript towns, but one caught Mark's eye.  Largely because there was a huge yard of vintage tractors.  Of course, he pulled over to take some pics!

Hyden is famous for pretty much one thing.  Wave Rock.  But we arrived on dark, so we had to put it off until the next day.  However, the caravan park is located right at the bottom of the rock, so it is not something we are going to miss!

the beautiful salmon gums that line the roads.  In the setting sun, they look magnificent

total kms travelled today: 441
total kms travelled all up: 4,729

Off to Harvey (Day 14)

I know that this is ridiculous, but we are pulling up stumps to travel about 40km up the road!  My cousin Dario works in the construction industry and he is on a fly in/fly out rota.  He is flying in tonight and we are going to catch up with him for morning tea (more about that later).

We called in to say goodbye to Darrel, Kellie, Adi and Matt on our way past.  They are headed for Busselton today for the Easter period.

But, we couldn't stay at Bunbury because the caravan park was booked out for Easter, but my cousin's wife, Jodie, was able to get us a site at Harvey.  So off we went and also checked out a few of the local attractions whilst we were there.  Like.....

• Did you know that May Gibbs (of Snugglepot and Cuddlepie fame), lived here and it is said that her inspiration for the popular duo came from her time living here
• Harvey Info Centre is home to the Moo Shoppe....quite an extraordinary amount of cow things here (yep, we bought some!)

• The local cheese factory - HaVe Cheese - has won some state awards and has some of the most creamiest soft blue cheese that i have ever tasted (and nup...still don't like blues!).  There are also camels out the front of the factory

• Harvey is the home of the Big Orange.  I'm sure that there are a few towns that lay claim to this one!

Total kms today: 75
Total kms travelled all up: 4,288

Bunbury (Day 13)

This morning we went to the Dolphin Discovery Centre which fortunately is located right across the road from where we are staying.  The dolphins are wild, but they come right up to the beach into the shallows and interact with people that are allowed to stand in the water.  Apparently, there has only been 2 days since November when the dolphins have NOT come to the beach.  And today was one of them!  Typical.

So we hopped on a Eco Cruise and went out into Koombana Bay to find them.  The cruise has a 98% success rate of seeing the dolphins and this time, we were in luck.  We saw a few different alliances (I thought they called them pods, but obviously not) including one that had a baby dolphins.  The mum has been estimated at about 46yo.  Go mature mums!!!

The weather was really lovely today, but out on the boat, the wind really whipped up and it was quite cool.  Bella suffered the most and made us all suffer too!

Tonight, Darrel called around to the van for another catch up.  This time I grabbed a photo with him.  We have known each other since about 1996 when our schools shared accommodation facilities at a snow camp at Mt Buffalo.  We got chatting, got on really well and the rest is history.  I have visited him every time I've been over here and also came over to his wedding (19 years ago...sheesh).

A quick bath tonight, but with no easy baby bathing facilities at the caravan park, the sink in the van sufficed just perfectly!

Total kms travelled today: none (well, not in the car anyway.  Walked about 5km though)

Total kms travelled in total: same as yesterday

Margaret River (Day 12)

We've packed up camp from Perth and headed south.  Yesterday we arrived in Bunbury which compared to the distances we've done, is only a short hop, step and jump.  My very good friend Darrel lives here (well, Australind to be presice) and we caught up with him and his wife Kellie and their kids Adi and Matt for dinner.  I did get a pic of Kellie but none of Darrel, so I will post pics of them later on when I get one of all of them.

My cousin Dario also lives in Australind but he works in the mines and is currently up in north.  We are  catching up with him and his wife Jodie on Friday for morning tea just before we leave the area.

We have run into a bit of a bother concerning accommodation.  We had forgotten all about Easter looming and because of this, every caravan park right down the west coast is chokka block.  So instead of travelling down to Margaret River and Augusta, we have to leave Bunbury and head inland.  We will travel to Hyden - famous for Wave Rock - and then go south from there.  We might then be at the tail end of the Easter rush, and will be able to get in at Esperance.

So for the meantime, we headed down to Margaret River from here.

First stop was Bussellton and the famous 2km jetty.  We missed the train ride out to the end by about 3 minutes, so rather than wait another hour, we decided to simply walk as far as we could with the kids.  A 2km jetty is quite along way with a stumbling 5yo and an awkward 2yo.  Dad was quite nervous about them getting too close to the edge, so once the rail finished on one side, about 1km along, he called it quits and we headed back.  Good thing too, because the weather was closing in fast and there was rain in them thar clouds!! (say that with a Yankee drawl!).

These plaques were for people who's ashes had been scattered off the jetty.  Lovely mementos.

Onwards to Margaret River, however, with kids, there is not much chance of doing a winery crawl.  We did managed to nick into one - Sandalford - and we also went to the Cheek Monkey brewery and cidery.  This one had a great playground for the kids, so it was very easy to 'waste' a couple of hours here.  The tasting platters were not bad either!

yep...I drank pretty much all of them on my own because Mark was driving!!  Yay!

The MR Chocolate Factory was a bit of a hit.  I have never been so pleased to be allergic to chocolate.  I'm glad I wasn't the one making a choice of only one or two items.  Whilst I don't like chocolate, I do appreciate it as a product and there was certainly enough on display here.  This place has changed a lot in the years since I was here last.

mountains of chocolate

Choc Mousse

Choc ice-cream

Another stop was the MR Silk Road.  This company is very new in MR (last 12 months) and has a thriving silk worm farm operating.  They send all the cocoons over to Asia where they have rural ladies do the extracting and spinning of the silk.  They have developed some large greenhouses for the mulberry trees, which are the leaves that the worms eat.  They also have a sideline of mulberry jams and sauces too.  The silk is returned in finished product form (dresses, scarves, purses, cushion covers etc).

Watching silk worms do their thing

On the way home, we went through Coweramup (I should check that spelling).  Down the main street there are lifesize cows positioned like they were simply grazing and in the paddock!  Such a great concept and a great tourist drawcard.  Pity that it wouldn't work in Colac.  The bloody vandals would have them destroyed in about 2 seconds flat.

Total kms travelled today: (get back to you...need to check the speedo)

Total kms travelled all up: (also get back to you...but A LOT!)

Adventure World (Day 10)

The WA version of Wet n Wild (Qld) is Adventure World at Bibra Lakes.  A great day out provided that you get good weather.  We watched the weather forecast and chose to go on the hottest day that we would get in Perth....and just our luck it was a Sunday when 10,000 other families went as well.

Tom and Biddy are on the far left hand side on this ride

Like WnW, the lines at Adventure World were long.  To be fair though, they were only really long for the half dozen popular rides that adults were likely to use.  The kids ones turned over quite quickly.  There was an enormous water adventure playground right in the middle (reminded me very much of the one on Darwin we visited) and a smaller one for the littlies.  Pleasingly, there was a whole section that was set up for smaller kids, so Bella was able to have a heap of rides and not miss out.  This is the main reason that we are delaying a trip to Surfers Paradise to the theme parks because of the height of the kids and the fact that potentially three of them won't be able to do very much (plus, mum or dad would have to stand around with them).

Tom is on the right hand side (blue t.shirt).  He amazed me by getting on this by himself on his own volition...he HATES heights and is not fond of roller coasters.  Granted this one was small, but it still went fast and high!

Mark and Tom on the "Tunnel of Terror"...a very long (?) and enclosed water tunnel.  You loose perspective of where you are and it is a bit frightening!

The toddlers water park

The big kids water play area

Bumper boats....just like dodgem cars but on water

The price to get in seems quite steep, but once in everything but food is free.  That's good, because trust me, there is little room in your togs to hold a purse!  Well mine anyway...they are flat out holding ME in!!

Oh.... and a bit of good news that I forgot to mention.  Yesterday when we arrived on Rottnest, Mark received a phone call from the caravan park in Kalgoorlie.  They found our purple swimming bag.  With EVERYTHING still in it!  OMG.....I was so happy.  The gold chain and diamond heart pendant were still in there as well.  Apparently, a washing machine broke down and when they pulled it out to service it, lo and behold, here was the bag.  The lady at the caravan park recognised it immediately from my description when we left the other day and got straight on the phone.  She said she would post it home and not to worry about backtracking to pick it up.  How lovely?  So even though we were robbed and it might not sound like a great place to stay, I can certainly recommend the park based on the owners concern and help.

Total kms travelled today: 97
Total kms travelled in total (TBC)

Rottnest Island (Day 9)

Yesterday we bummed around Fremantle - had some lunch, did some shopping.  Nothing much.  No photos to show.

Us on the ferry

Today the weather was perfect and we were headed to Rotto.  I have been on Rottnest a number of years ago when the weather was dreadful and it doesn't bode well for a good day.  We didn't hire bikes, largely because of Henry.  He isn' big enough to go in one of the baby carriers even that they have for hire, so we just did a short circuit walk out of the main Thomson Bay area.  This walk took us past Longreach Bay where we stopped for the kids to have a swim.  The water was quite cool, but once they were in, they were fine.

The water was crystal clear and so glittery.  Postcard worthy.

On the walk we also spotted some quokkas (or 'crockers' as Biddy called them), but we needn't have worried about not seeing one, as when we were at a playground giving baby H a bit of a crawl around, one hopped up, sniffed him, jumped over him and allowed the kids to pat it.

That night, we caught up with a friend of ours, Paul Beavon, who was Mark's best man at our wedding.  It was simply great to catch up with him, because due to the distance, I think we might have only seen each other in person twice since our wedding 11 years ago.  Thanks Paul for the dinner too!