Mmmm The Margaret River.............. my chungry!

We made it to the Margaret River despite hair raising tree climbs and foul weather, just in time to dry out the tent and let it rain again! Not that I'm complaining about the rain as they haven't had a drop here in over 6 months and the land looks parched. Mmmm.......parched.............just how Craig and I felt at the thought of all those great wineries to go around with 3 children in tow! Actually, in the end we chose just 3 to go to and the kids were great. The second winery found great entertainment for  all . Watching Sophie chase Polish bantums through the vineyard chook house and fruit trees till she caught one, much to the delight of the winery girls (who said the chickens couldn't be caught) was very funny. Never under estimate Sophie when there is a chicken involved. Her persistance will stand her well in life!

While the vineyards were great it was a little harder to chase down the produce to go with the wine. When we did find a farm shop and cheese dairy the quality was fantastic, jsut not prolific like in some other wine areas of Australia. The Cobb oven got a work out with a lamb roast that actually tasted like lamb, the tin of tiny taters may have brought the overall standard of poshness down but we were happy campers! The ridiculously priced bag of korma curry powder will stand us in good stead when we head further north and have to rely on my cooking for all our nutrition!

One would think that alcohol and food were all we did in the M.R. but we did a bit of other stuff too. We took the kids down their first limestone cave which was a great experience for us all. After a short talk the cave at Nligiri was self guided, a better option for the kids with a ranger in the deepest part to let them feel broken stalicmites and stalictites, shining lights through them to relfect that they are all crystals. Fun for everyone. The ampitheatre cave at the end was awesome in that we all lay on our backs and stared at the ceiling and  gave ourselves the visual illusion that the stalictites were a galaxy spinning above our heads. All that is except William who couldn't make the illusion happen and came out of the cave a bit sad that he hadn't had the star wars experience!

On our way north to Freemantle we stopped in at Busselton Jetty, the longest wooden pylon jetty in the southern hemisphere. At 1.8km long I know you think we should have walked it after all the food we ate in the Margaret River but we did the touristic thing and caught the mini train to the end. Tacky but true I'm afraid! The best bit was the underwater observatory at the end. The guided tour down the three levels from just under the jetty to the sea floor at 8m was fascinating and we made the most of both the guide and our time just sitting watching all those fish going about thier business! Though I think both Craig and Lochie were dreaming slightly of the fish on the end of a hook! In fact we did see a fish with a lip peircing, one that got away from someone else for a change!

So whats next? Time to go to Freemantle and see what the West Coast urban life is like for a day or two. See you there...................

Go west.....

Albany colonial - Kim wanted to buy this place.."It needs love"

You leave Albany and the silicon beaches heading west into the timber country. Everything changes again. The open farming land gives way to forests and hills and in this part of the world  grows a version of eucalyptus trees call "tingle" trees. Huge. Apparently the aboriginal word 'tingle' means red wood. But these guys are the largest buttressing eucalyptus species, some measuring more then 24 metres in circumference at the base.

In Walpole - Nornalup National Park we did the tree tops walk up 60 metres into the canopy of the Tingle trees and the Karri Eucalypts which gives you a birds eye perspective on how huge these trees are.
The drive through this region really is amazing. And to think that much of it - especially the Karri forests are regrowth sections from around the 1930's. That makes the them fully grown at around 70+ years and 65 to 75 metres tall, but then every year after reaching their mature height they grow 3-4 cms in diameter. That makes some of these trees 400+ years old!!



Did Kim say she could imagine what the coast would be like if it were whipped up by some stormy weather? We went off the highway to Windy Harbour in the D'Entrecasteaux National Park. Something about the name of this place made me a little uneasy. May be it was the weather station above the office in the settlement with the mill that sounded like a helicopter that about to take off, or maybe it was the driving rain that squalled all around us all night that we packed up in the next morning. Not sure.
The coast has changed from the pure white sands and blue water to the open seas and rugged headlands. This would be our last day of driving west.

At Pemberton we went to the Gloucester tree, in the rain (oh, nice pies at the Pemberton Bakery by the way). This is a Karri Eucalypt tree that was used as fire look out and now is a somewhat dubious adventurous tourist attraction to remind us why as we have developed as human beings we have make some things better.


Sorry Will, that's as far as you go

Makes me look small - I like that

You can climb the 135 steel rungs that spiral around the Gloucester tree to the lookout station that has been built on the top - 65 metres up, just like they did in the old days to look for evidence of fire. Sophie and Will weren't allowed - it was wet, the rungs are about a foot apart and theres a bit of chicken wire on the outsides to stop you falling out. Sophie was dirty. Kim just said no. Lochie on the other hand was all good. Yep, come on dad lets go......... Crap. So, I followed him up. I had to make sure he didn't fall right?


Well, we made it to the most South West corner of Australia. No more driving West. Sophie in particular is very keen on us heading North now. I think she might be cold?

Cape Leeuwin light house is the tallest mainland light house in Australia. This day the wind was blowing around 28-30 knots which is apparently just a smidge above the average wind speed for this area. This was a relatively calm day. At the top of the lighthouse I could lean over into the wind without falling over. The walls at the base of the light house are a solid two meters thick sandstone. I guess that's partly why.

The light house has 172 steps to the top - on the same day as the Gloucester tree. My knees and my butt hurt for days. But who cares really. We have made to the West AND we are in the Margaret River wine country.

The trip south to Albany......

First day back at school for the Queensland kids so have started ours back too. They're pretty unhappy about it, Lochie especially! Finally though, the journals are up to date and are a mix of fantastic and a bit crappy! I'm not sure how we're going to fit this school caper into our days but we'll give it a go. Now that we're not driving such huge distances each day it might be easier.

The salt lakes throughout central southern WA are amazing, we stopped to collect some salt and all sank through this pure white crust to the black oozing mud underneath. The kids thought it was fantastic!

The drive south to Albany took us through the Stirling ranges, seen here from the north. It was a great drive even though we thought we'd lost a piece of the car on the rough corrigations at one stage!
A bit later.................

We've spent the last few days herre in Albany and have had a good explore. The kids really enjoyed whale world though found the whole concept of whaling and blowing them up with explosives hard to comprehend let alone understand why we did it. The skeletons of the whales and the sheer size of them is amazing. The blue whale jaw bones alone makes you see why it was perfectly possible for Jonah to be swallowed whole!

Probably the most fascinating thing for me was the whale lice! A gigantic version of the nits we see every school term in our house! They were the size of my little fingernail, would be so much easier to comb them out if ours were that size!

The coastal scenery is really rugged and wild. Though the weather has been really mild and calm I can just picture how the ocean could turn and be really fierce. Albany is West Australia's first European settlement and there are remnents of the early Georgian building in town. Very Jane Austen, easily able to picture women and men of a bygone era walking some of the streets.

Esperance and Cape Le Grand National Park

Days later and we are back in the reach of the telecommunications giants so time for an update! Have just spent a great few days in Esperance then on to Cape Le Grand National park where we explored, snorkeled and fished to our hearts content.

Since I typed the above I went on for another fantastic 5 paragraphs only to loose it as we dropped out of internet range before I could save it, a lesson learnt the hard way. Am too disheartened to continue so Craig will have to pick up the thread...............over to you Craigo!

William says today, "Next time we come across a trail, we better not go down it because it might be too long"

Best eye spy quote in the last week, Lochie gave a hint saying it was something mummy was doing....William piped up and said "Lost the plot"!!

So back to Esperance. Craig seems uninspired so I will try to re create my former post though maybe briefer! Favourite bits of Esperance...... the tanker jetty, Sammy the wild seal swimming underneath searching for a free fish, eating fish and chips in the dark on the same jetty while trying to catch a fish. The surrounding beauty of this little seaside town, the majestic beaches we explored, finding shells and watching abalone divers. Not so favourite would have to be the cold water at the beach. I convinced Will that he could see icebergs off the coast, that was why the water was so cold. How else do you explain the great southern ocean washing up to shore from Antarctica several thousand miles away!

An early start on Wednesday morning got us the worst spot in the best campground out at Cape Le Grand national park. Lucky Bay is reputed to be the most beautiful beach in Australia and I think it might be! Our photos don't do justice to the colour of the sand or the water. We spent our days fishing, snorkeling and swimming. Craig broke his 15 year dry spell and caught actual fish, many (well 8) of them straight out of the ocean (not from the fish and chip shop)! Lochie and I managed 2 and 1 respectively. Sophie and Will fed bait to the crabs under the rocks. Lochie and I snorkeled at Hellfire bay while Craig, Sophie and Will built sand sculptures on the beach.

We walked up Frenchman's Peak, 300m above sea level early yesterday morning. We thought it was a real family feat especially for the kids as it was scrambling up granite rock faces and a tough climb but they all did it keenly with no complaints. The view from the top was amazing, 360 degrees over the ocean and plains. My pride in us all was slightly deflated when on the way down a man strode up the rock face with a baby on his front and a toddler on his back and was bare footed into the  bargain!

I'm thankful that the dead penguins freshly washed up (or run over) on Cape le Grand beach weren't claimed by the kids for Granjohn for his skull collection. Dismembering them then finding somewhere for the flesh to rot off was not my idea of fun for the afternoon, sorry Dad! Now Craig is going to take over a write a bit about the item he removed from his bucket list today....Wave rock.

Does anyone remember that 70's board game 'Discover Australia' ? Well wave rock was on it and since has been planted firmly in my head as somewhere I needed to go. It doesn't matter that until recently I thought it was in the north of WA?
After Esperance and Cape le Grand which was pretty awesome we had about 4 hours driving to get to wave rock - north east away from the coast again and after only a couple of hours Kim was saying to us - this had better be worth it!

Well here it is........

I thought it was worth the trip. Amazing structure, amazing geology.

And just for every ones amusement, a big huntsman spider has just crawled into the tent and across the roof. It must have come up from the ground and through one of the pole holes. Its dead, but now how do i sleep........? Can i plug up the holes....its freakin me out........C.xx

I always wanted to drive the Nullarbor. It seemed like something that only the most adventurous would do. Arid, isolated, distant. Well forget that. Ive done it now and I'm glad I don't have to drive back the same way. Its a great incentive to keep on going around.
It is interesting in parts: the mouth of the Great Australian Bite has some awesome views, the telegraph station and jetty at Eucla are fascinating and have thankfully been excavated from the sand dunes, and the view back down over the lower plains as you head back up west of Eucla is awesome. Maybe just some parts last way too long.
Easter Sunday we went to Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie/Boulder. Beautiful old buildings and shop fronts. You can catch a very brief glimpse of the wealth that was. Kalgoorlie especially now is surrounded by new housing estates with flash brick homes that all look the same but down the main street the feel is the same. This place must have been something.
The big 'Superpit' now rules the sky line and the tourist route. You have to have a look. It is something to behold. Once ownership of all of the mining leases was controlled, the ground was opened up to consume all of the underground mines. Its 4km long and at its deepest around 500m. That's some legacy for our children. I wonder if they will fill it in when they are done?
The WA mining museum was open and was really good. The kids loved seeing all of the gold in the vaults but also learning about the history of the area and Mulga Bills bicycle and the Police station that was a rail cart which moved from site to site as the mining or the tree cutters moved on.

First campfire and ...'technology'?

We camped at Lake Douglas recreation reserve around 10kms out of Kalgoorlie. It was a bush camp with the full moon and heaps of stars. We cooked over a fire, finally after a week which was great AND we got to experience first hand the dedication and determination of those 24 hour mines as they drove their big trucks and loaded their big trucks and emptied their big trucks 24 hours of the day and night about 2 kms from our peaceful bush camp.
The kids are all fired up now for the beach.

Sammy the sea lion

Wen we went for a walk we went to the tanker jetty  and there was a statue of sammy the sea lion and on the jetty we saw him swimming near the walkway. We  saw some fish that the people caught on the jetty.

from Sophie.

Crossing the Nullarbor

Sitting by a campfire trying to write this by firelight is a challenge to my Year 8 touch typing skills!The wonders of the 21st century...out here outside Kalgoorlie the gold miners of 125 years ago who wheeled themselves from the coast by wooden wheel barrow would have a hard time wrapping their heads around modern communication!

So....the last few days crossing the Nullarbor.........interesting! Well the first day was really interesting and the second day was just.............. painful if you ask me, or nullaboring if you ask the kids! We really did see some sights. Maybe the man skate boarding the Nullarbor (minus a helmet, IPOD in and being overtaking by semi trailers with 3 doggies attached) took the first prize but their were a few other sights that seeing was believing! The Japanese people going solo on their pushbikes who looked in need of resuscitation or a good push or the ergonimic bike and trailer could win second prize! Sadly we didn't get any photos of these feats of human bizarreness!

The Nullarbor itself, to the WA border was quite beautiful and very scenic driving along the edge of the bight. After Eucla it was just sheer hard slog!

Eucla was fascinating/ Its been dug out since I was here 20 years ago, not only do you see the chimneys but you can walk through the rooms. The jetty a walk down at the waters edge that bought in supplies was a good explore for sea urchin shells and banked up kelp. The old rubbish dump was good for a treasure explore! The next 600 km after that was not so exciting. We didn't even take a phoot of the longest straight road in Australia we were so pedal to the metal to get somewhere, anywhere!

We're away..................

 Only 4 days since we left Brisbane and already a world of experiences and memories created ...and revisited. The first day a very long one of driving the boring bits done many times before. Probably the highlight for me being the new way the kids have invented of playing eye spy. a few of the corkers they came up with were.....T T......travelling trailer,....A G V............. a good view; just to name a few of the challenges thrown at the parents!

13 hours sleep in Nyngan meant leaving slightly later than we'd planned! An 11am kick off wasn't ideal but we seem to have already slowed down to nomad pace! The emus viewed and wild goats counted passed the time till we got to Broken Hill when the memory lane monologue was started by yours truely (Craig and kids very polite and seemed not too bored!).

A call to old family friends means we have spent the last 2 days out at Ravendale sheep station and visiting Mutawinji (or Mootwinge if you're me) National Park, the first house I ever lived in, and in fact the first house mum and dad ever lived in together. A chance encounter with the ranger enabled me to take the kids and Craig to the old visitors centre and our old house where he put on an aboriginal movie of the dreamtime explanation for Mootwinge's importance to the local aboriginal people. The beauty of Mootwinge was glimpsed at and the green state of the country at the moment, thanks to our floods in Queensland meant its best side was shown. The kids find it hard to imagine me a child living in such isolation.

Ann, Bill and Ravendale  were GREAT. Touring the countryside scouting out sheep, cattle and playing in the rock garden will stick with the kids for a while I think. Lamb chop BBQ (a personal favourite) probably topped things off really though my city bred children struggled with eating while there were a few flies around! The red dirt, blue skies and creamy grasses looking lush with the grey green of the saltbush are colours I love and will always associate with childhood.

 Bill's tall tales that are probably more true than you think remind me that there is a whole aspect of Australian life that us coastal dwellers have little contact with. We're off across the top of South Australia tomorrow, looking forward to the adventure of this trip!