Around Oz with the Munchkins: 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.