Drinking Margaret River dry.

We left our friends Grant & Kelly in Narrogin and headed off to stay at a lovely farm in the Margaret River region called Big Valley Farmstay for a week.

On the way (just before Busselton) we called into the ‘South West Museum’ (which really isn’t anything more than an elderly ladies big garage), but it was full of display tables of all different types of gems and minerals her and her late husband had collected over the years.  Alex was in his element, and came away with a bag full of different coloured polished gemstones.

Alex's nirvana

When we got to Big Valley we ran into a couple of families we’d met along the way; Paul & Linda and Mark & Megan and had a catch up with them and swapped stories of the places we’d all visited.

Big Valley is a ‘working’ farm and the kids enjoyed feeding the sheep and holding the cute baby goat.  The camping area was a little cramped given it’s a 600acre farm, but the camp kitchen was well equipped nonetheless and had a fireplace that was the evening meeting place. 

The view from our camp

Do you like Alex's marshmallow 'stick'

Alex, Josh & Zac

Amongst the many campers there were 3 Italians, and they made for interesting conversations with their flailing arms and ‘their-a talking-a like-a that-a’. One of the guys (who is apparently a Michelin chef back home), came out of the showers one morning parading through the camp ground in his saggy undies, telling (shouting) anyone who would listen ‘there’s-a no-a hot-a water’.  Quite a funny spectacle. (Sorry no photos!)

There’s plenty to see and do in Margaret River and surrounds, and our guide map got a good working over.  We visited some beautiful wineries in the area up and down the infamous ‘Caves rd’.  It would’ve been rude of us to visit the area and not partake in their wines, so we enjoyed plenty of wine tasting and meals while the kids played on their playgrounds and gardens.  Killerby wines/Cheeky Monkey brewery was definitely one of our favourites.

Killerby/Cheeky Monkey

Laurance Winery



Table for 1...

When we didn’t have a wine glass in our hand, we did some sight-seeing around the area.  Down near Augusta at the south end is Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse, where we did the lighthouse tour with Mark & Megan and their two boys.  It is situated where the Indian Ocean and the Southern Ocean crash together.  We all enjoyed the history and stories of the lighthouse and being able to go up to the top with its views.

Cape Leeuwin lighthouse

Right hand side - Indian Ocean, left hand side - Southern ocean, front - Boofhead

Ben the 'cow whisperer'

We also went to Calgardup Cave which was a fantastic experience.  It’s one of many along this coast as it has something to do with the limestone and erosion.  We headed underground down the ladders with hard hats on and torches at the ready to enjoy the wonders of the caves.  There were thousands of stalactites hanging from the roof and a bit of water around, usually a lot more during the wetter months.  At one end point we tried turning the torches off and sitting in silence to hear only dripping water.  That lasted only 5 seconds before one of the kids starting giggling.  Mission impossible...!

Calgardup Cave

Mission Impossible (both for silence and camera focus)

Up at the northern end, near Dunsborough at Cape Naturaliste we also visited the beaches which were very pretty (but had a lot of flies at one of them; Bunker Bay) and spent a day at Yallingup maze.

Bunker Bay

Yallingup Maze

Canal Rocks

Canal Rocks

After nearly a week and all the nougat tasting, cheese tasting and more wine tasting we thought it was best to move on before we drank the place dry... lots more places to see along the South Coast of WA.  Our next destination is Walpole and the Big Hair Shop!!

Time for another Adventure

Once again we met up with our friends Anne and Ron just south of Fremantle at one of the caravan parks in Munster (which thinks it’s ok to charge $75 a night but that’s another story).  We’d left Sandy Cape that morning and made our way down the picturesque Indian Ocean Drive all the way into Perth.  There was a lot of excitement building up from the kids as we were all heading to Adventure World theme park the next day.

So the big day arrived with the weather forecast to be a sunny day.  It was the usual chaos as we entered with the kids wanting to go on every ride within the five minutes.  It’s a cross between Luna Park and Wet n Wild, and was great fun had by all.  Alex had his eyes set on all of the scary rides.  Unfortunately he wasn’t tall enough for all of them, but for the one he was allowed on, Ron put his hand up to go on with him.  Kaz & Lee were off the hook and gave a big sigh of relief (not being big fans of the stomach churning rides).  They did however manage to survive the ‘Freefall’ drop ride.

The water rides were fantastic fun also, which we surely got our money’s worth on.  Surprisingly the queues weren’t that bad even for a Saturday.

Back at ‘camp’, as payback for taking Alex on the ‘spew’ ride, we brought the Weber out and treated them to yet another perfect roast.  We never took a photo of the roast, but here’s one I prepared earlier...

Yummo

The next day was moving day again.  We made a brief mid morning coffee/latte stop in Mandurah where the Sunday markets were on down on the wharf.  They served Churro’s, which was a first for us. Basically long starfish tentacle shaped donuts that you dip in chocolate and caramel sauce.  Sensational.  Maybe it’s the meagre rations of camping that made it taste that much better.

Anyway after our sugar fix, we then headed further south driving through Bunbury for a quick look and stop at the Visitor Info centre.  We decided to go back inland towards Collie and camp at Wellington National Park.  Here we stayed at Potters gorge and it was a very nice camp spot for just the one night.  We enjoyed going for a quick dip in the dam there and especially enjoyed our first camp fire in a while.  Of course the mandatory marshmallows came out and we spent our last night with Ron and Anne who had to get a move on as they need to be in Melbourne for Xmas.  We on the other hand were heading further inland to see our friends in Narrogin.

Potters Gorge

Alex found a gem collecting friend

Bintang Ben

The 'neighbours'

A neighbour you don't want.

We headed to Narrogin to stay with some close friends Grant & Kelly that we’ve known for about 16 years.  We used to be neighbours way back when we were living in Wantirna.  They had a comfortable granny flat out the back for us to sleep in which the kids called our cabin!  Lucky for us they also have a pool!  Although we had to spend a couple of hours helping clear the glass from it after the wind blew their outdoor table into it and smashed into a bazillion pieces.  Anyway we had a great week of catching up and as usual with them; we ate and drank way too much!

Talent show night

It’s getting cooler.

After packing up from Monkey Mia, we had our sights set on Kalbarri, some 400kms down the road.  Ron & Anne had already been there for a day, so they’d already reserved us a spot at Tudor Lodge caravan park. Jumping pillow and pool got the tick of approval, so they earned their keep for another night. 

"CANNONBALL"

Kalbarri, like most of the coastal towns down the coast is predominantly a fishing/crayfish town. Scenic beaches and coastlines and a few basic shops make them nice spots to stay.

Kalbarri coast

Kalbarri

Kalbarri National park is nearby and one of the bigger parks in WA.  We headed in there for one of the days we stayed at Kalbarri and did a couple of the walks.  The flies were out in abundance once more, and the temp in the gorge walks are a bit higher.

Natures window

It was at Kalbarri that we finally got the kids fishing rods out!  More for entertainment than necessity... which was fortunate as the jetty, as fascinating as it was watching the cray boats, was a tad windy.  The kids grew tired of that quick, so back in their holders they went (the rods not the kids!) and off to the park.

Wind assisted fishing

Fish or park kids?... a no brainer

So onward and upward (or southward), we left Kalbarri, drove through Geraldton (urgh, city!) and reached Dongara/Port Denison. Similar to Kalbarri, just a small town with a handful of caravan parks.  The town had just had its yearly festival for the opening of the cray fishing season.  The town was still busy, accommodation wise, so we could only stay a night unless we wanted to move to a new site... umm no thank you.  Ron & Anne had decided to get a beachfront cabin, so we sat on their balcony having a bbq, planning our next stop.

We all left the next morning: Ron & Anne off to Perth to visit their friends, while we decided to bush camp at Sandy Cape Recreational Park.  It sounds like a theme park being called a Recreational park, but was a perfect bush camp  (number 426 in the Camps 6 book, just north of Jurien Bay in case you were wondering).

We managed to fluke a great spot at the end of the camp ground, amongst the trees, near the beach.  With the new solar panels in full flight, we stayed 4 nights, but could have easily gone longer.

Sandy Cape

We enjoyed this spot greatly.  The bay itself is north facing and sheltered from the wind and waves.  Whether it was climbing the massive sand dunes; swimming with the dolphins!; beach fishing (no luck L); 4wding the tracks; exploring the cave tunnels nearby; visiting the Pinnacles; or just watching life pass by; it was a welcome change from the cramped caravan parks.

Sandy Bay

Climb ya buggers

Fossicking

Limestone cave tunnel

Earth not Mars... The Pinnacles

One night, we walked along the beach to watch the sunset... and watch the forecast storm approaching... (it’s getting cooler).  Without doubt one of the best sunsets we’ve ever seen.  For about 30 minutes, we watched the sky change dramatically.  Hopefully the photos do it justice, because it really was a spectacular memorable moment.

Spec-

-tac-

-ular

From here we leave this wonderful spot to head into Perth, to meet our promise of taking the kids to Adventureworld... in the next blog.