Fremantle continued

The weather turned a bit sour with bucketing rain last night. The morning was clear so Justin continued with his plan to visit Rottnest Island while the rest of us headed for the Perth Zoo. Very impressed! The zoo is well laid out and the animal enclosures are designed to cater for the animal's needs and the needs of the visitors.

The boys saw all sorts of animals including the elephants being washed down with a pressure hose and meerkats -

but the favourites were the spiders and a scorpion that fluoresced under ultra violet light.

We left the zoo and then went to visit Susan, Peter, Amelia and Bethany who we had not seen for a while. While the boys were entertained by Amelia and Bethany, we picked up tips for our trip north as Susan and Peter had recently visited some of the places we intend to see.

 

 

Fremantle and Perth

Rain threatened all day today and tonight it really came down. Not ideal for camping but "them's the breaks". We had a look at the Fremantle Round House which was a prison and one of the first buildings in WA.

Next on the agenda was the Perth Museum which houses some wonderful dinosaur skeletons and some impressive meteor remnants and an interactive section for the kids. Here is Jack with a killer whale skull.

The boys enjoyed putting the large jig-saw puzzles together and playing with the interactive musical installations outside the museum.

Tonight while Justin and Lisa visited friends, we had dinner in a restaurant in South Fremantle giving the Chef an evening off.

Fremantle

We had an easy 90 min drive up to Fremantle today. Once we set up in the caravan park we headed out to see the sights. First on the list was the War Memorial that overlooks the city.

We then headed to the centre of the city and the parks to give the boys a run. The Little Creatures Brewery is one of the attractions and it was doing a roaring trade but the kids preferred the park so a six pack and a bag of chips kept the whole company happy.

Close by was the Maritime Museum that houses the remains of the 400 year old Batavia that sank off the coast of WA.

As well as the remains of the ship there are all sorts of other artifacts such as coins, guns, cannon, anchors, pots and plenty more including the skeleton of one of the crew. Worth a visit!

 

Rockingham

We went to Rockingham today, with the intention of seeing Penguin Island and replenishing the boys' underwear supplies. We took the ferry across to Penguin Island where we saw thousands of seagulls (and a couple of penguins). We watched some penguin feeding in the Discovery Centre.

Then had a walk around the Island which is a protected environment for bird breeding. There were penguins, gull, pelicans, cormorants and assorted other species.

The rest of the day was spent replenishing clothing supplies before returning to camp.  The boys presented the day's purchases before bedtime.

Jarrahdale and surrounds

We had decided to have a slower day today but you have to be careful what you wish for as it may come back to bite you. In our planning we had not realised that it was Anzac Day so everything was shut. It was a REALLY slow day.

We started at Jarrahdale which was at the heart of the Jarrah woodcutting industry at the beginning of the twentieth century. Of course most of the logs were cut and the forests are only now starting to regenerate.

This is the crew with one of the samples of the logs that were cut in the area. We then went on to see the Millbrook Winery. There appears to be some serious money in wine.

Then on to Mandurah which was all closed up for the holiday. We finally found a place to get lunch then headed back to camp to commune with our friends from the bush.

Bunbury to Waroona (Lake Navarino)

We traveled north again stopping first at Bunbury at the Dolphin Discovery Centre. The most noticeable feature of the Centre was the complete absence of Dolphins. Apparently wild dolphins come in to shore quite regularly but today was not one of their days. So we watched a couple of videos, saw the displays and moved on to Lake Navarino at Waroona.

We set up in a bush environment above the lake.

As soon as the food came out, the local inhabitants decided to join us. This included kangaroos and a variety of birds but mostly these very cheeky parrots.

Having been moving on very regularly, the boys are ready for some more settled time so we may stay here a few days.

 

Margaret River Area Continued

Our tour of the Margaret River area continued today. We are seeing the reasons why people love the area. There is open farmland with beef cattle, goats, deer and sheep together with plantation forest and National Parks. Amongst all this there are wineries with good restaurants, little specialty shops, coffee houses etc so you could spend a lot of time exploring the area.

We started the day at Busselton with the idea of looking at the pier but they wanted $130 for all of us to go to the end of the pier and see the fish display at the end. So the alternative of a walk into town to buy ice-creams to consume in the park was a clear winner with the kids.

We visited another winery - which also doubled as a distributor of artificial flowers (apparently the largest in Australia) then headed off to see the coast. The Canal Rocks first and then some time on Smiths Beach for the kids.

 

Margaret River

We had a leisurely day on Sunday. Having packed we went 60k north to Big Valley Campsite which is a great little campsite on a sheep farm next to a National Park. The boys fed a lamb, saw a fox that had been trapped the night before and watched some roosters loosing their heads and being plucked. All very exciting.

We spent the afternoon at Vasse Felix winery

and the Colonial Brewing Company. They had a wonderful playground and fantastic chips so adults and children had a happy afternoon.

One of the attractions of the area is the local Marron (freshwater crayfish). We had mentioned it to the proprietor of the park and she threw some traps into their dam. That evening, we all went down to retrieve the traps and they were filled with Marron. She was good enough to cook some up for us so we had a feast of the local delicacy that night.

Hamelin Bay

Yesterday we traveled from Parry Beach across to the west coast at Hamelin Bay. Having been without showers and hot water for three days, the priority was washing and showers. Relished by all. After a good sleep, we went down to see the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse this morning. This is the tallest lighthouse in Australia, right down on the most south westerly point of the continent. This was the first light seen in many months by many of the sailing ships coming to Australia around the Cape of Good Hope using the "Roaring Forties".

While the rest of the team toured one of the local caves, Granny, Pa and Lachlan took a short walk through the adjacent Karri forest. They are massive and beautiful trees and apparently their roots can get down over 60m to collect water.

 

 

Around Walpole

We spent a day wandering around the Walpole area, the highlight being a visit to Dinosaur World. They had dinosaur skeletons, reptiles and birds. The boys handled snakes and birds. Lachlan was less than sure about it all but finally touched the snake and lizards.

The weather has turned bad so we had a long lunch in Walpole before heading back to camp. On return there was a bit of (unsuccessful) fishing before setting up for the evening.

 

Parry Beach

Today we made the short trip from Albany to Parry Beach a bush camping site in the William Bay National Park a little past Denmark. We set up amongst the trees in the dunes behind the beach along with plenty of other campers in this popular site.

Having set up we went to see the sights of the area including Greens Pool (a sheltered beach)

and Elephant Rock. The boys enjoyed playing on the beach before dinner and, of course, they came back a little wet.

Around Albany

The kids needed a slow day today so we went to see the sights of Albany. The rocky coastline of the national park contained a number of points of interest. We looked at the Natural Bridge and the Gap.

Then it was off to Frenchman's Bay for a swim.

Back in town Granny and Pa treated themselves to a foccacia and coffee while the others checked out the local Maccas (which was found to be very expensive). It was decided that the men to look after the children while the women undertook a little hunting and gathering.

Justin entertained the troops with a little "What's the Time Mr Wolf" while Pa acted as back up (and cleaned his car).

 

To Albany

We spent the night at Lake Grace which was a great town with no lake but the caravan park was full of noisy workers so we got to sleep a little later. The drive down to Albany was beautiful, passing over dry cropping land dotted with salt lakes. The Stirling Ranges popped out of the otherwise flat landscape.

We finally found a park just outside Albany and set up then headed for the beach. The boys were supposed to stay dry but that was never going to happen on a beach.

We found the King of the Beach in his natural environment then headed up Mt Clarence lookout to see the view over Albany and the surrounding bays. I have to say it is a beautiful part of the world.