Introducing.....Bonnie

Almost a year to the day when we welcomed baby Henry into our midst (that'll be tomorrow folks!), we welcome another baby into our family.  This time of the furry variety.

Welcome to our new puppy, Bonnie.  Isn't she just so cute?!  She is a kelpie so I'm sure she will be so much better behaved than Rex (saying that as a long term kelpie owner!)

 

She is the most placid puppy I have ever come across and already has won the heart and mind over of even the most stringent of judges (Bella).  I'm sure she is going to fit perfectly into our family.

Naracoorte & our FINAL day (day 30)

Well, here it is.  Our last day of our super holiday.  This final day is always a bit sad, because we don't get to do a trip like this very often, and unlike most of you reading this, we don't get weekends, public holidays or school holidays off as a family either.  From now, the best we can manage is a day here or there, but usually not a run of days.

Fleur with the kids and me

But today, we packed up from Fleur and Scott's (thankyou very much guys!) and took the kids to the Naracoorte caves before heading home.

Naracoorte caves is richly endowed with fossils of megafauna from a minimum of 50,000 years ago.  Giant kangaroos, koalas, snakes, diprotodons (like giant wombats) all lived and died here.  Because of the limestone caves, a lot of fossils have been conserved and recovered.

A model of a lifesized Diprotodon

A giant flat faced kangaroo that lived around here 50,000 years ago 

Go, go, go baby!

In the interactive area - the fossil centre

On the tour of Alexandra caves

Checking out a stalagmite

Structures called 'straws' (hollow stalagtites) 

The "Wedding Cake"

All too soon, we crossed the border and of course, dragged some of the kids out of the car for a final border photo!

And home!

Admittedly, I took these photos the next morning because we actually pulled into home in the dark.  But what greeted us at the front gate, was our yukka plant in full flower.  I didn't even know that these plants flowered!  I bought this particular yukka with me to the farm 13 years ago (almost to the day) and it was just a single stem with a spike at the top.  Look what it has become.

Mark's mum and dad are leaving to go to Mudgee for a National Rally, so they are packed up and ready to go.  We are sort of tag teaming!!

So, the highlights of the trip (in no particular order):

• Swimming with the Tuna (Port Lincoln)
• Driving on beaches at Lucky Bay and Cape Le Grande (Esperance)
• Adventure World (Perth)
• Wave Rock (Hyden)
• Boat trips (Bunbury and Port Lincoln)
• Spending time as a family
• Visiting places that we never have gone to if we didn't run into issues with accom over Easter (Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun)
• Catching up with family and friends that we haven't seen in years (Perth and Australind)
• Rottnest Island

Kms travelled today: 386

Final kms travelled for our whole holiday: 8,873

Clare (Day 29)

What a lovely place Clare is!  Well, what's not to like, with all the wineries around?!  However, like Margaret River, we are fairly restricted in the amount of wineries we could visit and the amount of time spent at each one because of the kids.  We chose one - McGuigan winery - because it had a cafe and a large grass area that the kids could run around on.

throwing coins in the wishing well

playing quoits

exploring the grecian statues throughout the garden

We enjoyed lunch here (super yummy) and a glass of wine.  Very relaxed and welcomed after being in the car for a while over the past few days.

Tonight, we spent the night at friends of ours, Scott and Fleur Harlock.  Scott and Fleur have recently left their dairy farm near Warrnambool for a grazing enterprise near Naracoorte in SA.  The house they live in (Shepherd's Way) is huge and the kids couldn't help but tear around all the space that was suddenly around them (sorry Fleur!).  It was great to have a catch up and I definitely think that a scrappy retreat is in order later in the year!

Total kms today: 449
Total kms travelled so far: 8,487

Headed for Clare (day 28)

Well, the holiday is fast running out and we are definitely leaving the barren plains behind us and heading into populated areas.  Today we left Port Lincoln and headed for McLaren Vale.  We never actually reached there though - only making it as far as Clare - but we passed through some interesting landscapes.

Large iron ore mine at Whyalla

Definitely within reach of home

Mt Remarkable, SA

We also completed our big loop, going past the turnoff to Iron Knob which was were we were about 26 days ago headed for the Nullarbor Plain.  It really hit us that we were really headed home at this point.

Today was a long day spent mostly in the car.

Total kms today: 557
Total kms travelled so far: 8,038

Port Lincoln (Day 27)

Yesterday was a day of bumming around, doing some washing, sitting in the sun, watching the kids play and doing not a lot.  Was good for the soul.  We did nick out to Coffin Bay though and grabbed some oysters.  I bought 2 dozen for $16 and got a lesson in shucking oysters thrown in. I have never shucked an oyster before, so it was a big deal when we got back to the caravan, because these babies were part of our dinner.  I am pleased to say that I succeeded and I only stuffed up (by that I mean mutilated!), three of them.  The rest were pretty much perfect.  I will not, however, make a living from shucking oysters.  It took me about 1/2hr to do 12.  But I did come away unscathed so I didn't put the shucking knife through my hands or anything silly like that!

Not a great one of Bella!

Today, we did the 'Swim with the Tuna' and what an experience.  These babies are BIG and FAST.  All of us except baby H got in the water with the tuna and the other fish.  I was really proud of the kids because even though they are all quite decent swimmers (well, Bella needs help), this was something WELL out of their comfort zones.  To not really see the bottom and to have these whopping fish darting around, and to wear a snorkle and mask and to try and breath under water....it was all a huge learning experience for them.

A couple of dolphins that came out to the pontoon with us

The two older kids stood out at the front of the boat for almost the entire trip 

Tying up Bella's feet!

You are provided with wetsuits, booties, gloves and snorkles.  You have to wear booties and gloves because the tuna can't tell the difference between pilchards which you hand feed to them and your digits.  They didn't have boots small enough for Bella, so there was a big operation to tie off the ends of her legs on her wetsuit with rubber bands so her toes didn't poke out!

Shelly with baby H

The staff were such great sports.  Because we were all in the water (and you only get about 1.5 hours and it really flies), baby H was all by himself in the pram for the whole session.  But Shelly - one of the crew - took it on board to look after him and she took him out of the pram and walked around with him.  She even gave him a 'swim with the tuna hat'.  So many people were besotted with him.  I reckon if I had of turned my back for too long, someone would have stolen him!!

the tank of smaller fish

The tank of tuna

Feeding frenzy of tuna

Tom feeding the fish...with fish!

And Biddy!

The guys helping us in the water were great too.  At one point, I couldn't work out why the tuna were going nuts around me and darting really close.  I thought they were trying to freak me out or something.  Turns out, the guy up on deck was throwing the pilchards really close to me and the tuna were eating them.  They all thought it was a great joke.  They must have heard me squealing because they made me get back int he water and hand feed them, but singled me out by calling me the 'Screamer"!!  LOL.  But these big fish can weigh up to 270kg, although I doubt any of these were quite that big.  But I would day that there were a lot over the 150kg mark.  Easy.

Me feeding the smaller fish

Mark having a great time

The other tank that you got into was chocka block full of smaller fish and Port Jackson sharks and other  types of fish that I never found out the names of.  This was a funny experience, because there were just so many fish in here, you could not help but touch them all the time.  They banged into you and swam all over you.

All too soon it was over, but on the way home, the captain took us past the Port and explained all the boats and their capacities.  It was very interesting.

The kids found some other kids had arrived at the caravan park whilst we were away and they had bubbles, os they all had a ball chasing these around for an hour or so.

Later in the arvo, I caught up with a friend of mine, fellow Stampin' Up! demonstrator Alisa Tilsner.  We had a great catch up while our kids screamed around the playground.   I will be able to see Alisa again at the end of May when we attend the Stampin' Up! convention in Brisbane.

Too tired to cook dinner, we took the kids out to a pub for dinner.  It happened to be one on the wharf where we caught the boat earlier in the day.  An obliging waitress snapped us on the deck.

Total kms travelled yesterday and today: 126
Total kms travelled for trip so far: 7,481

to Port Lincoln (day 25)

Today was a funny driving day.  It was only a few hours from Venus Bay to Port Lincoln, but it seemed to taker FOREVER.  Granted, we did stop to check out some sea caves, but we still didn't pull into PL until quite a lot later than we had planned.  Still...all good.  We're on holidays aren't we?!

The kids were intrigued by the pelicans (maybe their size?) at the caravan park.  The fishermen cleaning their catches, feed them, so they frequent the park.

They really are big buggers

A turnoff to Talia Caves had us intrigued, so we took the road.  I have no idea where Talia Caves were, but we did come across Woolshed cave which we stopped and had a gander at.  What a sight.  Truly spectacular.  Mother Nature at some of her best.

the inside of Woolshed Cave

the channel of water that has eroded the limestone to form the cave.  I can tell you, the speed of the water in this baby was FAST flowing.  And DEEP.

There were steps down the cliff face, but once on the rocks at the bottom, you were at the mercy of God not to fall off and into the swell.  Have I mentioned that we are calling Biddy "Tanglefoot" of late?  She can fall over a crack in the pavement.  So to have her near the edge here had my palms sweating and  stomach churning.....much like the sea that was below her.  However, you can't install fear into kids when they don't have it, so whilst we told her to be careful, we didn't overly restrict her either.  I think her own sense of preservation kicked in.  She was careful.

Monument

Spectacular scenery

A little roadside stop further up the road was Colton's Bakery.  The loaves of bread were placed in a window and you helped yourself and used the honesty system to pay for them.  Yummo.

Total kms travelled today: geez...will have to get back

Total kms tavelled all up: and have to get back on this as well.