Rain, a jumping pillow and a big birthday bash for sash

We discovered that the following weekend was a public holiday in WA. This is always disarming news for travelers who appreciate peace and solitude. So we bustled off to Bussleton and checked in at a fancy caravan park with a jumping pillow (cross between a trampoline and jumping castle for those not in the know) and heated floors in the family bathrooms and bunkered down to wait out the long weekend. Happily for us, our friends Hannah and Michael came and set up right next to us. This was particularly happy as Sash's birthday was upon us and he was thrilled to invite his new and very beloved friends to his 'party'.

Next day it began to pour with rain so we hid in the kitchen area of the campground and just dashed out to the toilets when necessary. Bill and Sash drove through the rain to Bunbury to pick up some exciting birthday packages sent from grandparents in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Kate and Zara wrapped and baked in preparation for the following day's celebrations. Once the rain had died down a bit, Hannah and Kate took the kids to the local pool to burn off some energy before dinner. Sash was in a fever of excitement by this stage - having been counting down the days till his birthday for months, it was actually finally nearly here...

First thing Sash said sleepily to Kate the next morning was 'happy birthday'. Then he got up to a tent decorated with balloons and streamers and an enormous pile of presents from parents, grandparents and even Hannah and Michael! During the frenzy of unwrapping, we were surprised by a visit by a large Malaysian family who were also staying at the campground - they had heard it was sasha's birthday and sang him 'happy birthday', took photos and gave him $5 (spent later in the day on a funky shark ring)! Sasha skyped with his grandparents, Aunty Nina and buddies Liz, Ada and baby Henry. Then to top off all the excitment we had pancakes and birthday cake for breakfast... Sash had dreamed up his birthday cake months before - he wanted a man sitting on a log in the bush with a Tasmanian tiger in the background. A later addition was that the man and the tiger were to be having a staring competition and that there was to be lots of flowers around the log... fortunately he was thrilled by our attempt - a lumpy chocolate cake with a gingerbread man and a plastic tiger squashed onto it, some leaves scattered and and icing flowers dug in. Phew!

We were all buzzing with sugar and excitement by this stage, so Hannah and Michael went to run it off while we headed to the Busselton Jetty to catch the train down to the underwater observatory. The sun was finally shining in a weak sort of way so the train ride was fun. The observatory was also kind of cool - watching the fish in their natural environment and chatting to the very knowledgable young guide. Back on land we let Sash choose what to have for lunch so of course had fish and chips. Next, we cruised out to a town called Donnybrook to enjoy a fabulous free public park playground - supposedly the biggest free playground in the country/hemisphere/world... After Hours of fun we scampered back to the campsite for a quick squid dinner (thanks to Bill and Michael's efforts in the rain on the jetty the precious evening!) before heading off again to watch 'the lorax' and eat choc tops at the drive-in cinema. What a day! Zara pronounced it 'the best birthday ever' - a big call considering it wasn't even hers!

By the time we'd started taking down the streamers the long weekend was upon us and the caravan park had started to fill up... By midday on Saturday it was jam packed with families from Perth. The kids were happy to bounce the day away on the jumping pillow with other kids, but for the adults it was pretty grim. Despite the fact that most people were thee with kids, there was still lots of partying and loud music - even a couple screaming at each other in a seriously nasty way in the middle of the night. In order to get away from the caravan park we dragged the kids off the jumping pillow and drove to the yalingup maze - a very cool multi layered wooden maze with secret doors and all sorts of exciting things. Team BillZara blitzed it but team KateSasha got stumped early on despite their cockiness and may have broken the record form longest time ever taken to complete the Yalingup maze... Hours of fun. But definitely time to move on. So we packed up all of Sasha's presents and headed for Perth.

Camping heaven and conveyor belts in Conto

From Augusta we drove North on the Caves Road towards Margaret River and stopped at a lovely camping spot called Conto River. The site is deservedly popular with locals and tourists alike but it is wonderfully spacious with massive extra areas the rangers open up should it get too busy. Interestingly there are signs announcing a ban on alcohol in the campground - just when Bill was thinking he would have to smuggle beers out of the fridge and guzzle them behind the tent, the ranger told us to relax because the ban is simply a disincentive to groups of 'young people' who want to party and disturb other campers. Seemed to work because it was pretty quiet the whole time.

We found a spot which seemed too good to be true - a private, flat, grassy area surrounded by trees and moss and ferns. We even had a big campfire area with logs strategically placed around it. Then we found a tap with fresh water and a big pile of pre-prepared firewood! Camping heaven. So with the promise of lovely walks, good fishing and all the gastronomic pleasures of Margaret River close by, we decided to stay a while...

While checking out the beaches we bumped into old friends Gary and Sue who gave us the lowdown on the area and them came over after dinner for drinks around the campfire. They were great company and inspiring with their interest in sustainable living. Although we meet many people during our travels, the interaction often doesn't go very deep - hence it's easy to become a bit insular as a family. It was wonderful to have a night of talking and sharing stories with Sue and Gary - although we felt completely exhausted afterwards! Interesting also to watch the kids enjoying the different energy of new friends - we laughed as Sash edged gradually towards Gary then eventually onto his lap. Meanwhile Zara talked books and Europe with Sue!

It was a good thing we were socially warmed up because next day, Bill and Zara discovered Hannah and Michael from Brunswick (who we had bumped into numerous times during the South West adventures) and invited them to eat dinner at our campfire. We had an excellent couple of nights hanging out with those guys - the beginning of a special friendship! Bill was thrilled to be able to cook a roast in the camp oven and have someone to share it with. And Kate was thrilled to discover that Hannah is also a pescatarian social worker who enjoys pepitas on her breakfast. And the kids were just thrilled to find new friends who laughed at their antics and read them books.

Zara and Kate drove into Margaret River to spend another small fortune at the second-hand bookshop and to do some secret shopping in preparation for Sasha's upcoming birthday. And while balloons and party hats were being chosen, the soon-to-be-birthday boy himself was feeding baby animals at a local farm and then completing a hedge maze with Bill. We met up later to hit the local pool (which was freezing so we didn't stay in long). 

Considering we were near Margaret River, we decided to spoil ourselves with lunch at a winery and chose Cullen Estate because one of Bill's friends had recommended it. We ate lovely sumptuous food and drank beautiful wine outside in the sunshine while the kids ran in and out of the grapevines. Discovered the friendly couple at the next table live right near us in Yarraville! Lovely wines but we didn't buy a bottle. We did go to the chocolate 'factory' though. And the cheese 'factory'. But we stopped there because although the produce is generally nice, they are shops not factories. The chocolate 'factory' is a massive shop piled high with stuff to buy. You can peep through a little window at the back and of you are lucky you might see someone in a white coat flicking a switch to turn off a chocolate-turning machine, but it's hardly Willy Wonka's! We started to feel that we were on the tourist conveyor belt, so we purchased an enormous bag of chocolate and cheese, then hopped off!

Conto was lovely. In between vineyard lunches and chocolate tastings we simply enjoyed being back in the bush - we fished, hiked, played on the beach, made friends with a gang of wild bike riding kids, socialised and explored the numerous cool caves in the area. We would have liked to stay longer but Bill wasn't catching squid there and had been promised success on the Busselton Jetty - so off we went!

The good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful in sunny Augusta

It was time for a wash, so we packed up and headed for a town called Augusta. We booked into the caravan park and managed to get a spot right on the foreshore next to a lovely little playground. The place was picture-perfect - ducks and pelicans gliding through smooth water, manicured lawns, big trees and lush green bush. We were slightly put out by some rather threatening signs around the caravan park warning parents to take responsibility for their kids by ensuring that they don't vandalise or play in the amenities... We thought that playing and vandalising were slightly different past-times, but perhaps those who don't like children don't see much difference. The signs seemed inconsistent with the friendly European managers so we decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and assume the threats were issued by previous owners. Still it was a peaceful place and we loved the bike path which ran all along the foreshore and through the town. Walking in the morning, Kate admired some lovely little wooden jetties until it became apparent that they were private property - someone had even installed great iron gates with locks and threatening signs! Couldn't believe it. The perfection of Augusta is apparently keenly defended by its residents...

We decided to go and see the famous lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin. Sash was beside himself with excitement at the idea of climbing right to the top of the lighthouse. We knew that kids were supposed to be 4 or over to do the climb but we assumed Sash would get away with it considering it was only a few days until his 4th birthday. However we did not coordinate our approach very well and Bill said Sash was 3 at the same time Kate announced that he was 4 - not a great look and clearly not very convincing for lighthouse dude. No amount of pleading could change his mind: rules are rules, insurance, risk blah blah blah. Not even Sash's disappointed little face could budge his rule-obsessed heart... Kate's inner tiger-mother rose fiercely in her heart and much to her discredit she really gave the lighthouse dude a piece of her mind. Bit disconcerting then to find the same guy was our 'friendly' tour guide when Zara and Kate rolled up to climb the lighthouse. We all tried to be nice to each other but I think Zara was the only one who really enjoyed the tour! Hot chocolates served by scowling staff at the overpriced lighthouse cafe went some way to improving our mood...

Next day we decided to take a boat out to try and spot some whales. We knew it was a risk being so early in the season, but the friendly girl at the information centre convinced a skeptical Bill with an assurance of our money back if no whales were spotted. It was a beautiful sunny day out on the water and we were delighted to see dolphins and seals. But naturally no whales were spotted. And worse still they had run out of biscuits! On our return we were informed that there would be no money given back. So this time Bill had to give the info centre girl a piece of his mind...

Too much giving of our minds during our few days in lovely Augusta. Between that and the gated jetties and threatening caravan park signs we almost drove on with a bad taste in our mouths. Fortunately those lovely beady eyed pelicans, the peaceful waterfront and the fabulous Jewel Cave were enough to make us almost forget the bad stuff. 

Risking life and limb at the Gloucestor Tree, camping in the snottygobbles, and eating head-sized icecream sundaes

Onward ever onwards. We headed for a little forest town called Pemberton which is also renowned for its stunningly tall trees. Indeed, a major tourist attraction is a few super tall Karris that were made into fire lookouts in the 1940s. Basically they stuck big metal pins into the trunks of the trees to make a sort of spiral staircase/ladder up to a little wooden hut at the very top. We were surprised to discover that visitors can still climb the trees - seems strange in this age of cushioned playgrounds and frenzied risk management. Climbers just cling onto the pins, up and up and around and around. No safety nets, no rules and just a notice to say 'climb at your own risk'. The tree we visited was called the Gloucester Tree - a stunning 61m tall. Kate and the kids had a look at the famed tree while Bill made sandwiches and fended off an army of brightly coloured parrots who came to flash their beautiful feathers and convince us to give up our lunch. The moment the kids saw the tree they were jumping up the first few metal pins in a desperate attempt to prove their ability to climb to the top. The tree was clearly too dangerous for little kids to climb and while Kate initially managed to lure them away with the promise of lunch, after sandwiches poor Bill worked hard to hold two very disappointed kids back by their jumpers while Kate tripped up the pins to the spectacular view at the top. Met Sue and Gary (from Pt Ann campground) at the lookout and heard some hair-raising tales from Gary's previous life as a repair man on electricity towers in Queensland - made the fire lookout tree climb pale a bit in comparison! Back on the ground, tried to chat to Sue and Gary whilst continuing to restrain desperate children. Gave up eventually and dragged them back to the car...

Our next campspot was chosen purely for its fabulous name - Snottygobble. Fortunately it was also a beautiful spot set amongst the trees and on a little creek. It was easy to see that May Gibbs must have spent some time there before writing Snugglepot and Cuddlepie because the paths were strewn with gumnut babies, raggedy blossoms and big bad banksia men (indeed we confirmed later that Gibbs did spend some years nearby during her childhood). First thing in the morning, Sash and Kate sat by the creek and stayed as still as statues watching for platypus. Nothing doing (hardly surprising as we learned later that same day that there are no platypus in WA!) but a lovely peaceful way to start the morning. We drove into Pemberton and did a beautiful short walk through the forest to see a somewhat underwhelming waterfall and to jump across a swinging bridge. Next we climbed aboard the ye olde Pemberton tram for a ride through the forest. We were slightly uncertain about what we were getting ourselves into but found that the driver gave a funny and informative commentary on the local plants, animals and logging industry as we clattered over rickety wooden bridges and through lush forest. He was clearly passionate about the local environment and even told us that Snottygobble is a small local tree or shrub used by aboriginal people for food and medicine. Early in the ride Zara went up the front and started chatting to the driver and before we could blink she had been appointed co-driver and was on horn-blowing duty for the rest of the trip - much to her joy and our amusement!

Emboldened by Zara's new train horn blowing adventures, we decided to unhitch our bikes and hit the Pemberton mountain bike trails. We humbly chose the beginners track but realised by the first hill that we are less than beginners... So Kate and Sash spent the next hour cycling around the carpark and up and down some local dirt roads, while Bill and Zara pushed valiantly on through the 'beginners' trail arriving back much humbled but (surprisingly) with all their limbs intact. To restore our spirits we hit the pub for dinner, finishing up with chocolate sundaes that were literally bigger than the kids' heads. Back to snottygobble to roll into our sleeping bags!

Haloumi wraps, giant tingle trees and dinosaurs

Somewhat reluctantly we packed up and left Shelley Beach. We drove to Denmark where we popped into a cool cafe and ate Haloumi wraps and Pad Thai for lunch. In the cafe, we bumped into Hannah and Michael, a couple from Melbourne with whom Bill had chatted at Shelley Beach and who were to feature prominently in our future travels (but more about that later...). After lunch, Zara and Kate did school in the park next to the river - observed closely by gangs of fat ducks. Later at the second-hand bookshop we spent too much money but got us all stocked up on reading material to last us the next few weeks (or days in Zara's case).

We were tempted to check out the Crystal Springs campground nearby because it sounded so... well... nice. But we resisted the lure of the pretty name (having been caught out by that before) and travelled on to a more isolated (and caravan free) spot called Banksia Campground. We set up quickly and ran down to check out the beach which was wild, beautiful but frightening. Huge boulders along the shore seemed to be actually holding back the crashing ocean. Although we climbed around a bit, both rockhopping and fishing threatened to be potentially fatal activities so we took the tamer option of returning to the tent to make vegetable soup. We had some wild young neighbours who looked like potential trouble but apart from some burning around in their 4WDs in the middle of the night and pumping up the Stevie Nicks on our last morning, they were really quite considerate!

Next day we backtracked a bit to check out Walpole and its surrounding attractions. It was a warm and sunny day - very welcome after many days of rain and drizzle. We were deep in the heart of the incredible South West forests by now - including the giant Tingle trees (so massive that tourists used to drive their cars into cracks in their trunks and take pics (doing this would be very unacceptable now - bit like climbing Uluru). So we left the car in the carpark and walked to some Tingle trees and stood inside their trunks. But while we were of course amazed by the impressive girths of the trees, we really just enjoyed wandering through the forest - so lush and wonderful. Next we did the Treetop Walk - wandering along a walkway suspended over the forest. It is kind of cool to see the trees from a different perspective, but we're still not entirely sure whether it is worth all the hype. I'm kinda just as happy to admire the trees from the ground. But nonetheless it was a very pleasant way to spend a couple of hours - and no jewellery lost through the cracks this time. Bumped into Hannah and Michael again and started to accuse them of stalking us...

Next, onto the much anticipated highlight of the day's sightseeing - Dinosaur World! Yes indeed, one of the great joys of traveling with kids is the excuse to go to places called Whaleworld and Dinosaur World. It was actually a small reptile and bird park with some dinosaur skeletons in the main room. Highlight: holding the pythons and lizards and having brightly coloured parrots sitting on our shoulders and heads. Lowlight: excitedly offering our little paper bags of kangaroo food to 4 fat overfed kangaroos who didn't even bother to look at us let alone eat our offerings. So instead we decided to cruise back into Walpole and overfeed ourselves instead - fresh scones and hot chocolates all around!

Back to the campsite where the night was so cold that we our spinach and fetta parcels (thanks for the cookbook Greta and Cam!) picnic style on the kids sleeping bags. Ahhh happy days. May the year never end.

 This is actually an arty photo of our shadows on the tree top walk - 

not just an unfocused weirdo shot!

New shoes, a fishing frenzy, and whales - dead or alive

Having committed to a June 4 arrival in Perth, we were starting to feel the need for speed. Or at least we finally had a reason to speed up our snails pace. Indeed we have met numerous friendly folk who have covered more ground in 6 weeks than we have in 4 months! We meet them and have a chat then watch them disappear in a cloud of dust as we settle in for another day of fishing, hiking, reading and practicing the alphabet in the dust on the car. And yes it is wonderful to take our time but sometimes a reason to move on is a good thing for us! And so we drove on down to Albany. The kids' toes were hanging out of their sandals so we splashed out on some cool new camping shoes and quickly dropped their old shoes into the bin while they were admiring some pocket knives. We also invested in some MaxTrax - huge plastic that we can stick under the wheels should we get bogged in soft sand. Of course, we will never have to use them (!) but perhaps we will be more bold and tough and cool with them on board!

Albany seemed big with outskirts and an industrial zone and everything. We briefly toyed with the idea of staying at a caravan park in town and having a shower but decided that we could live with the dirt for a bit longer. So we headed away from the town to find a camping spot. First we made our way to a free beachside spot called Cosy Corner. However was a little too cosy - packed to the rafters with grey nomads of the type who flock to free campspots (not that we blame them). We literally couldn't get the trailer in anywhere despite our best efforts, so ignoring the gathering darkness we drove on into the national park in search of beauty and solitude. We found signs pointing us to Shelly Beach campsite and when we arrived down a treacherous winding road we thanked whatever forces had led us there. It was a picturesque little beach surrounded by lush green mountains. The campsite was small and lovely and almost empty! Bill was excited by the fishing potential of the beach - an excitement fuelled by the piles of sparkling fish scales scattered around the carpark...

Early the next day cars starting pulling up and and men got out with rods and eskies and stood silently at intervals along the beach until dusk. Zara, Kate and Sash decided to make themselves scarce for the day to allow Bill to take his place in the fishing line-up. We drove through Albany to Whaleworld, an old whaling station (the last in Australia to be closed - in 1978). We toured through the old flencing decks where they pulled the skin and blubber off the whales and viewed gruesome photos of sweating men decapitating whales and chopping them up. The kids couldn't get enough! We heard about the constant battle with white pointer sharks as they gathered in their hundreds to eat the flesh off the whale carcasses left waiting out at sea to be processed (they could only do one at a time and usually caught 3-5 per day). Then we donned some cardboard glasses to watch a cool 3D movie about whales called 'giants do exist' (title not so cool...). Embarrassingly we even joined in with the folk in the front row who kept putting their hands out in super daggy way to try and touch the 3D whales as they jumped out of the screen towards us! The kids spent a happy time on the whale-themed playground, sliding out of a whale's mouth and riding dolphins and fish. Then after we had finished exploring a real old whaling ship and playing pirates on the deck (Sash always gets to be Captain Hook...) we checked out the Aussie animals at the little zoo - an aspect of whaleworld that is apparently unrelated to whales and whaling history and, I assume, a grab for the attention of visitors who find themselves unmoved by the gruesome whaling past.

Enough whales. Time to head for Albany pool where we discovered an even more impressive whirlpool than the one in Esperence and even a waterslide down which Zara slid grinning at least 30 times (Sash wasn't allowed on it but was cheerful anyway because he has discovered the simple joy of rolling his body into a ball and floating under the water...).

Tired and happy, we drove back to the beautiful Shelley Beach where Bill greeted us with a totally delicious dinner of freshly caught fish and homemade chips. He had fished all day and caught masses of Herring and Salmon. And not only did he see heaps of dophins, he also saw a whale! Damn him!

 Doing school at Shelley Beach

 New shoes!

 Walking in the hills behind Shelley Beach

Tiny black dot on the beach is Bill catching dinner...