Esperance and Flat Tyres

Our caravan site overlooked the beautiful Esperance Bay and Tanker Jetty, but all eyes on Thursday morning were firmly fixed on the caravan tyre. IT WAS FLAT AGAIN! Even the boys were starting to (slightly) lose their enthusiasm for jacks! Beaurepairs was just up the road so we treated the caravan to a new rim before heading out of town to Cape Le Grande National Park. Esperance is renowned for its beautiful beaches, regularly winning "WA's Best Beach", so we decided to check out a few.

Lucky Bay

Lucky Bay is a pristine white sand beach and is utterly gorgeous - except for the wind! The flies were thick there too, forcing us to swelter inside the Blunderbuss to eat lunch. Still, it wasn't far to the water. While we were lazing on the beach, a kangaroo bounded up and nonchalantly started feeding her joey next to us. We were spellbound!


The rocky headland was crying out to be explored, so we spent some time clambering over rocks and crags, enjoying the wind and the views.

Granite headland at Lucky Bay

Cricket at Hellfire Bay

Thistle Cove, named by Matthew Flinders, was equally beautiful but we drove on a little further to Hellfire Bay. How could we not, with a name like that! It was getting late so we didn't swim, but we did have a fantastic game of beach cricket in probably the most picturesque location we'll ever play in! Ella happily made another set of sandpeople (and cats!) before joining in with the game.


Tanker Jetty saw us arrive early on Friday morning as Lachie wanted to try his new fishing float and we all wanted to see a sealion. After some unsuccessful fishing off the jetty in very windy conditions, I decided to head back for breakfast. There, basking back on the beach, was an enormous sealion. We watched him for a while then went back to camp to get Ella and Marcus, who had chosen to sleep in, to come and see him.

What's for brekkie?

We had a quiet morning doing routine chores (and Dave took the spare off and put the new tyre and rim back on) before heading out to do Esperance's Great Ocean Drive to take in some more fabulous beaches. This is one place where the tourist blurb about the beaches does not lie!

Twilight Beach all to ourselves!

We stopped at Twilight Beach, voted WA's best recently, and lazed about in the crystal clear waters. The water was so clear and inviting that the kids could not resist looking underwater, resulting in saltily sore eyes. The last part of the drive took us past another Pink Lake, but this one was as blue as the sky. If we hadn't already seen a pink lake, we would have thought it was a con! It was time for some resting and relaxing after lunch as we are feeling the effects of far too many late nights. Ella and I washed the Blunderbuss and caravan and the kids had an enormous tidy up in their chair bags and inside the Buss. So it will be a sparkling, tidy rig that hits the highway tomorrow morning! Dave and the kids finished the day with a game of cricket with half the campground while I finished catching up on the blog. I'm glad so many of you are enjoing it as your encouragement keeps me (mostly) up-to-date!

We are going to test our high temperature tolerances in Kalgoorlie for the next few days, and then we'll be driving the Nullarbor!

Stay tuned ...

Wave Rock and Flat Tyres

'Owabouttherflies?

Not sharing the boys' excitement
about using the jack!

A flat tyre! Amazingly, we have driven over 22 000kms before the inevitable happened.

We noticed it as we were about to leave the Albany van park, so put the spare on amidst much excitement from the boys and not too much cursing from Dave!

After an educative visit to Tyrepower (where we changed over to 2 light truck tyres as instructed Pap!), we were on the road again, driving through Porongurup and the Stirling Range before hitting new territory on the way to Wave Rock. It was a cracker of a day after the claustrophobia of caravan containment with glorious sunshine and fabulous scenery. The vast tracts of wheatfields with the Stirling Ranges in the background were particularly stunning. We were pleased to be heading inland again - the wheat harvest was evident to the excitement of the kids and the smell of wheat on the breeze was every bit as energising and exciting as the sea breeze.

Desperation!

We stopped for lunch but couldn't eat for the flies. In desperation, we all got under the mossie net from the van to try to eat our sandwiches without extra protein!

The Lake Grace service station attendant gave us the happy news that we could cut an hour and a half off our hot journey to Hyden using a road that was marked unsealed on our map. That, and some iceblocks, cheered us enormously.

Surfing Wave Rock

There were more flies than I could have ever imagined at Wave Rock. We started setting up but had to stop to go to the office shop to buy those dorky fly nets that fit over your hat. Being a dinkum Aussie, I have never imagined owning one of these fashionable articles, but then I've never truly needed one either. I felt better about it when we realised that lots of the locals were wearing them too! Dave reckoned that Wave Rock was obviously named from the fly wave! We had a late afternoon exploration of Wave Rock and the nearby Hippo's Yawn, happily wearing our fly nets.

Jackson was thrilled to put yesterday's
tyre changing lesson to use!

Dave was treated to a lovely collection of gifts the next morning on his birthday. The temperature was climbing and we had a fair drive to Esperance, so we got packed and let the kids go to have a swim in the campground pool while Dave, Jackson and I hitched up, when I noticed ... another flat tyre! Jackson had everything ready and we soon had the spare on.

Attention!

A Toy Soldier and Military History display stopped us on our drive back to Hyden. Dave had a great time remembering all his toy soldiers! The tyre place needed a couple of hours, so we spent the time having a birthday morning tea in the bakery (mercifully air conditioned and NO flies), checking out the town's quirky sculptures, trying to find my credit card (thankfully Mr Post Office had it!) and we took a drive out to Mulka's Cave, one of WA's premier Aboriginal Art sites. The cave was cool, but the art was little more than hundreds of hand stencils, and a bit disappointing.

Wheat storage at Varley

We finally picked up the tyre (now with a tube, as the rim had a hole in it) and hit the road by 1 p.m. The wheat harvest was evident everywhere, although the soaring temperatures contributing to the Margaret River fires were also causing Harvest Bans in many areas. Dave put the newly-repaired tyre back on to the caravan while we stopped in Varley for lunch. The wheat storage facilities are dotted everywhere and are filling quickly!

Spotted this from the road. Flat tyres don't seem so bad now!

The drive in to Esperance was long and tiresome and it was nearly 7 when we finally got to the caravan park. They were about to close, so we quickly took a site, chucked up the tent, popped the caravan top and drove off in the dark to find a cafe for the birthday dinner - 2 minute noodles just didn't seem to fit the bill!

Stay tuned ...

A week in Albany

Having a whale of a time

Discovered in 1791 and settled in 1826, Albany is WA's oldest settlement and is situated around magnificent harbours. It has many beautiful colonial buildings, but the building Ella was most interested in touring was "Best & Lest", as she had only one pair of shorts left! We have tried to find shorts in many other shops, but Ella's shorts specifications are rather precise: ie they have to be the same as the pair she has now! Her idea of a good pair of shorts is that they don't go up your bum and they don't show your knees - and Dave is keen to encourage this worldview until she is 35! Fortunately, the Albany Best & Less had 2 pairs left in her size so the endless "Best & Lest" spotting will finally cease! We could then get on with other things ...

The former whaling ship, Cheynes IV

WhaleWorld, situated in the once operational Cheynes Beach Whaling Company's station on the edge of King George Sound, seemed the ideal place to start our sightseeing. Albany has a whaling history of 178 years, and the Cheynes Station was only closed in 1978. It has been transformed into a fabulous interactive centre, explaining the history and process of whaling (in fairly gory detail!) with a whaling boat to explore as well. Some of the stories we heard there were incredible - how the waters of Misery Beach ran red with blood and roiled with large sharks trying to get a piece of whale before it was hoisted out of the water. Men were employed with rifles to shoot the sharks and other unluckier men had to swim out along the whale oil pipeline to check for leaks. No shark cages then! Just a couple of weeks ago two children were on the swimming pontoon and had to be rescued by boat from the white pointers circling them! Swimming went off the to do list in Albany at that point!

Goode Beach - The whale blood used to
make the water here red

Goode Beach was just as its name suggests, and we also had a look at Salmon Holes, a popular local fishing spot. We drove back to Emu Point and had fish and chips at The Squid Shack. Definitely up there as the best fish and chips we've had! Lachie found some fishermen on the nearby jetty and we were entertained as they caught fish and fed them live, whole and squirming, to the waiting pelicans.



Thursday was the low point of the journey by quite a margin. I was feeling unwell and the heavy rain confined us all to the caravan. The kids were like caged lions and Jackson and Marcus had a full on fight in the van on the way to the shopping centre to get supplies. We wanted to see the Brig Amity but after a miserable lunch in the van while it poured down, we drove home via two bookstores to get some new reading material for everyone. The rest of the day and evening was spent reading our new books and at least there were no more fights!

The top of The Gap - huge granite cliffs where the sea
rushes in, creating a roar and spray and an almighty
backwash which heaves into the air as it meets the
incoming waves entering the narrow chasm

It was still cold and wet the next morning but we decided to get our coats on and get on with it. We drove to Torndirrup National Park to visit some spectacular features sculpted by the Southern Ocean. The Blowholes were noisy, but not as spectacular as the ones further north. The Gap and Natural Bridge were a short stroll from each other. It was fascinating to learn that we were standing on the edge of Antarctica ... or at least where Antarctica used to join Australia. A good deal of time was soaked up climbing around on the rocks and enjoying the scenery, in between heavy showers of rain.

The giant turbines never stop in the Albany wind!

Everyone was keen to have a close look at the Albany Windfarm which dominates the skyline. The turbines have a 65m tower and three 35m long blades and are the largest to be installed in the southern hemisphere. Jackson was very interested in the engineering aspects but we were all impressed with the giant windmills on possibly the most spectacular piece of coastline around.

Hayward Peak Lookout

Tree-in-the-Rock

Saturday's improving forecast encouraged us to drive out to Porongurup National Park, where we climbed up to Hayward Peak lookout and enjoyed the view. It was a treat to be back in the cool and inviting Karri forest and at 9:30 no-one else was there, which is always an added bonus. Tree-in-the-Rock was a remarkable sight - a large karri growing out of a huge granite boulder. Pressed for time, we decided to forgo the other granite outlooks at Porongurup and drove another 40kms to the Stirling Ranges to attempt the much more difficult Bluff Knoll Walk. Bluff Knoll is a very imposing granite bluff overlooking the surrounding countryside ... and it looked fearsome as we had lunch in the carpark underneath! The 3kms of steep track was very hard going, particularly as Marcus and Ella were in the lead and impossible to keep up with. Some of the track was scary, with sheer cliffs on one side and a sheer drop on the other! After 2 hours of hard slog, we reached the summit. WOW! 360 degree panoramic views for many kilometres rewarded our efforts and we made a pact to climb more summits! The kids felt they were in a plane as we watched the clouds' shadows darkening the amber patchwork of wheat fields. Ella asked "Is this all of Australia?" and I could see her point!

View from the top of Bluff Knoll

Bluff Knoll from a distance

The knee-jarring descent was easier than the ascent. We were all knackered at the bottom, where we made the particularly stupid decision to drive the long way home through the Stirling Ranges and Red Gum Pass. Dave and I both agreed we would rather pass a red gum than do that 64km rough, unsealed drive again! The Blunderbuss rolled back into Albany at 7:35 p.m. and its occupants were fed and asleep by about 8:05.

To cope with our aching legs, we designated Sunday a rest day! The kids played in the playground until Ella and Lachie had huge blisters on their hands from the monkey bars as well as sore legs. Our new books were passed from reader to reader and thus sustained us all for a bit longer.

Monday morning started with Ella wanting to join The Secret Seven. "Every time they have a meeting, they get lemonade and organade" she told us excitedly ... and we wondered whose organs were used for that tasty drink! I heard some ladies chuckling in the next van and somehow knew that the boys were up to something ... they had been detailed to hang out the washing. The ladies happily filled me in: first they had made cubbies out of the sheets and all the pegs and they were presently engaged in trying to make a sheet spiral on the Hills Hoist. I didn't let them know how they had all enjoyed watching the front loader wash, lest they think them imbeciles! They haven't had much screen time lately ...

6 inch gun in the gun battery

We had a couple of things left that we wanted to do before leaving Albany, so the afternoon was spent very enjoyably at Princess Royal Fortress, which was opened in 1893 and was the first federal defence post of Australia. The gun batteries are still operational - well, the kids could operate them and shoot enemies minus the ammo! We explored the underground magazine and had mock battles using the naval guns on display. None of us would have liked to be in the naval gun turrets during a real firing though!

We rushed off to pick up Marcus's lost hat at Whaleworld (he was very smug: he'd written his name and phone number inside, while Jackson's hat is still in Darwin somewhere!) and then took Lachie fishing in the rain at Salmon Holes, as promised. Actually, we didn't promise the rain, that was just an added bonus! Jackson, Marcus and Ella dug holes and I challenged them to make something worth photographing from the cliffs above. You be the judge:

The proud sand-sculptors!

Lachie and I were chatting to a guy fishing there who also photographed the kids' efforts. He was telling me about his set-up for fishing (he'd caught 6 fish to our usual - none!) and when we all returned to the Blunderbuss, found that he'd left Lachie a float and tracer set up for him to try. One of the joys of travelling is the lovely people you meet, and we've met plenty.

Onwards to Esperance, via Hyden and Wave Rock in the next few days.

Stay tuned ...

The Valley of the Giants

Inside Hollowbut, the Red Tingle
which survived two huge fires

The torrential rain during the night in Walpole caused some grief in the caravan, but the Oztent continues to stand up to anything! We are becoming a little bit sick of the rain though. The mud through everything and all the wet gear is driving me mental!

After bucketing down until mid-morning, the rain finally looked like clearing, so we saddled up for another big day of trees - but no climbing trees within our radius, thank god! The Walpole - Denmark area is famous for its very rare Tingle trees - they are only found in a 6000 hectare area and within 10kms of the sea. They are truly ancient trees - they were growing here when Antarctica was still attached! - and are the forerunners of all the modern eucalpyts. Susceptible to fire, many of their buttressed roots have been burnt out and provide great shelters from the rain, we were pleased to discover! One very famous tree had a space large enough for a bus in its roots, and many locals have a photo of their car in it. Sadly, it fell over in 1990, due to its shallow root system being damaged from all those cars and buses!

The view from here was astounding - you could see huge
waves crashing onto the offshore islands

An amazing vista caught our eye as we drove further into the forest, so we stopped to admire the view from the only clear space in the forest of tall timber. There were huge waves crashing onto the islands, making us all cheer as they surged up, clearly visible.

A short drive further took us in to Circular Pool. The coffee coloured Frankland River tumbles over rocks and generates a froth worthy of a cappucino before eddying and creating circular currents. Bizarre and beautiful.

The kids wanted to throw on some paper to make a
marbled artwork!

Our favourite tree in the forest -
Grandma Tingle

The Valley of the Giants and the famous Tree Top Walk was last on our agenda. Dave was not looking forward to it, but surprised us all by purchasing 6 tickets. We managed to catch the last guided tour of the day on the boardwalk, where we learnt lots about the Red Tingle, Eucalyptus Jacksonii, a name we won't forget easily. It was then time to tackle the 40m high Tree Top Walk. Jackson had to be forcibly dragged away from the engineering information panels! It was designed to move 3 ways, Dave was most pleased to hear! The walk high above the trees was incredible, but Dave was not happy up there and zoomed along to the end with both hands firmly on each handrail, while we enjoyed swaying in the canopy. We all went around a second time, while Dave left to have a restorative coffee!

The highest point on the Tree Top Walk

After a quick squizz at Coalmine Beach, we got back to camp just in time for more heavy rain. Great.

It was a wet and mucky packup the next morning, but the day improved as we drove along, sadly leaving the giant eucalypts behind us. We stopped for a while at Green Pool and the nearby Elephant Rocks, where the unexpected sunshine lured us into the water.

Enjoying Green Pool in William Bay National Park

We prised everyone away from the clear water and fabulous jumping rocks to continue the drive to Albany, arriving mid afternoon. We drove around a little to get our bearings after setting up camp, got a few essential supplies and entertained ourselves after dinner with a quiz about the trip. Jackson observed "I think Ella is asking questions to find out the answers!", although she quickly remembered the answer to "What are our cats' names?"

Stay tuned ...

The Three Tree Challenge

Harvey Dickson's Country Music Centre

We packed up and left the caravan in situ while we drove 5kms out of town to the bizarre and unique Harvey Dickson's Country Music Centre. He has developed part of his farm into a rodeo ground and music arena. He runs his Country Music Show in September and then has a rodeo in October. The whole area is full of amazing home-made buildings and sculptures. He uses trees and turns them upside down to create his incredible figurines. Ella loved his horse!

If I can just reach the bridle ...

After we hitched up we drove to Bridgetown and then on to Manjimup where we had a very chilly morning tea before finding the Giant Jarrah Tree. This magnificent tree, which we could just reach around by joining fingertips, whetted the boys' appetites for the 3 karri climbing trees in the area.

A series of fire lookouts were constructed in the top of karri trees, mainly during the 1930s and 1940s. There are still 3 trees in the Pemberton area that you can climb and the boys were desperate to climb the Blue Diamond Lookout Tree - all 52 metres of it.  I think one of the many challenges of parenting is not passing on your own anxieties to your children. I am not great with heights. Dave is terrible. So it was not easy watching the boys as they started to climb up the sparse metal rods towards the platform in the canopy far, far away.

Note the reassuring safety gear!

Almost back to terra firma, Els!

Ella of course wanted to climb too, so started merrily on her way following the boys. I couldn't let her go alone, so I climbed behind her. She got scared at about 10 metres and I was more than pleased to help her come back down!

The Gloucester Tree, at 61 metres, was the next karri tree stop and the boys were up the tree like monkeys. Ella was happy feeding the parrots, but I was determined to get further up this one, so I climbed about 15m before my courage failed. Dave climbed 4 rungs before deciding that climbing trees was just not his idea of holiday fun. He went to join Ella feeding the parrots!

"The Ringneck Parrot eyeing me down"
-Ella

After lunch, we drove out to the last, and biggest, climbing tree for the boys to complete their Three Tree Challenge. The Dave Evans Bicentennial Tree is a staggering 75m straight up. The boys charged off again and were at the top in no time. Ella wanted another go and climbed up quite a lot further before freezing. Dave was lying down feeling sick at the thought of the tree, so I climbed up again to help her down. I decided that I would make a final attempt to get up a reasonable distance and managed to get to the first platform, about half way up. I knew I could get up the rest of the way, but I also knew that I would not be able to get down from way up there, so after admiring the view (impressive, even from half-way!) I tackled the downwards journey. It was VERY scary! Marcus took these photos from the top of the Bicentennial Tree, just before he started his descent face-forwards. My rather strangled instructions to come down facing the rungs reached him, and he made it down safely. Would have been a shame to lose such great photos!

On a fine day, you can see more than 40kms from the lookout tower!

How anyone could be smiling up there
is beyond me!

And here is another crazy smile
at about 73 metres!

Tree Climbing Comments:

Lachlan: It was hard work getting up there but it was worth it. You could feel the tree swaying.
Marcus: Now I know what it feels like to be a bird - maybe an eagle. We could have seen the ocean if it wasn't such a cloudy day.
Jackson: It was so much fun climbing those trees. The view was amazing. It was a fantastic experience, one of my highlights.
Ella: Scary!
Dave: I was nearly vomiting standing on the ground!
Kerrie: I nearly had heart failure when Marcus started coming down from the 75m platform face forwards!

Having finished the adrenaline taxing tree climbing, we enjoyed the sedate and lovely drive to Walpole via Northcliff, with rolling farmland and a mixture of plantation forest and National Park forests of huge trees. I took the wheel as Dave was exhausted from his vertigo and in the space of about 5 minutes saw a fox, 6 emus (they tripped over some wire running away from the road and had us all laughing at the tangle of feet and feathers!) and a whopping kangaroo, which meant the trip into Walpole was slower than expected. We finally arrived, found a site in the National Park and set up just before dark and more torrential rain.

Stay tuned ...

BONUS! Blues Festival in Bridgetown!

We packed and left Augusta in a squall of rain, which seemed fitting, and drove out to investigate the gorgeous farmland and stands of old-growth timber around Nannup and all the other "up" towns. The "up" suffix is from the Noongar language meaning "place of", so we reasoned that Nannup was obviously the place of Nannas! In our usual organised fashion, we bumbled into Bridgetown and noticed that it was quite busy for a small town on a Friday. It turned out that Bridgetown Blues Festival was on that weekend. We were thrilled - we have missed rodeos, festivals, openings and celebrations all over the country until now! There was no accommodation available in Bridgetown, not surprisingly, so we drove on to Boyup Brook, which is co-incidentally WA's Country Music Capital. There are some wonderful musical sculptures in the main street.

The Haystack Mountian Hermits and Friends

Howdy Pardner!

Jackson Street and some more tall musicians led us to a wonderfully relaxed and almost empty shire caravan park on the river, where the sign said "If office is unattended, make yourselves at home". We took them at their word and Marcus soon had a fire lit ready for a BBQ and some music playing. We were plagued by the most flies we've come across anywhere, and he had to take drastic measures to stay sane!

Marcus and his fly net

It was a lovely evening of music making by fire and moonlight once the flies disappeared at sundown. The caretaker dropped by to say G'day and stayed to listen awhile.

Beautiful Bridgetown Blues Festival

Clouds were threatening as we drove back into Bridgetown for the Blues Festival on Saturday morning, but the rain held off and we had a brilliant day. The main street of the very attractive, historical town is closed to traffic and there are two free stages offering entertainment all day. Market stalls add to the festival atmosphere and we couldn't believe what a fabulous, family-friendly event it was. The big names were in the ticketed marquees and venues around town but we were more than happy wandering the street between the free stages and buskers.

The Bad Piper - played his bagpipes
with panache, not to mention his
suggestive sporran wiggling!

Juzzie Smith (a Byron local and Bluesfest performer) was busking in the street between gigs and we had a great chat to him. Chris, the harp player from Homebrew was another lovely guy who chatted to us and then presented Marcus with an A harp when he learnt that he was a harp player. Marcus was chuffed. Dave learnt heaps from a local bluesman Martin Lee Cropper, who stopped busking to show us his resonator guitars and equipment. We treated ourselves to Margaret River Wagyu Burgers, Margaret River coffee and the kids (well all of us, to be truthful!) were very excited to try Simmo's Ice Cream - all gourmet treats we had not had time to find during our stay in the Margaret River area.


A fantastic day was had by all. Byron Bluesfest could learn a thing or two from Bridgetown!


Stay tuned ...

No august weather in Augusta!

Send 'er down, Hughie!

It hosed down. It hailed. It poured and pelted. It blustered and buffeted. The thunder rumbled and boomed. The lightning lit up vivid vignettes of nocturnal life.

I didn't notice much of this. I was having my own elemental battle in my innards, lying prostrate on the amenity-block floor. One of those traveller's tales that is funny in the retelling many years later. For others. At the time, I was thinking that being seasick at Franklin Island was not really that bad. I was also thinking of all the germs on the toilet floor which were no doubt rubbing their germy little hands together in glee and swarming all over me and I couldn't do a thing about it.

The storm and I made it to dawn and I spent the first day at Augusta in the tent. I didn't miss much, as the weather was so awful (rain and gale force winds) everyone else spent the day in the caravan or reading in the back of the bus. Games, music, reading and drawing were the order of the day. Ella had a marvellous time with Marcus and her wombat playing Yahtzee. Wombat won "about three times" and Ella recommends "not to verse a wombat in anything - you'll get beaten". Don't say you weren't warned.

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse - slightly
higher than the last one! Must have
been the only patch of blue sky all day!

Monday night was just as bad as the previous one. Ella, Marcus and I slept in the caravan and were amazed - and quietly terrified - at how much it rocked during the vicious wind gusts. Next morning, after another hailstorm, we reasoned that being underground would be the best bet, so we rugged up and headed out to the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse to buy our multi-caves pass. The Lighthouse tours were still running despite the awful weather, so we climbed the 176 steps of Mainland Australia's tallest lighthouse. You could feel the stone wall moving slightly in the 80km winds which greeted us in full force as we struggled out onto the viewing platform. Our faces nearly blew off, but man, we really knew we were alive!

On the viewing deck of the Lighthouse

Marcus leaning into the wind

The cape is the most South-Westerly point and has incredibly rough waters as the Southern Ocean and the Indian Ocean meet there - which is of course why the lighthouse was needed in the first place.

This flowstone replicates the Karri
forests some 80m above

We drove to Jewel Cave to escape the wind and rain, where we marvelled at the astounding underground world. There are some fascinating formations there - Helictites, Flowstones, Moonmilk, Straws and Shawls were added to our speleological vocabulary, along with the more mundane, but equally beautiful, stalactites and stalagmites. Tree roots from the Karri forest above grow 50-60m down to reach the water in the caves. A complete skeleton of a thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger) was found in this cave. The last one we "saw" was in Kakadu! Maybe there are still some out there somewhere, like the Wollemi pine!

A little further on Mammoth Cave (aptly named!) and the audio guides provided held our undivided attention for the rest of the afternoon. The kids were very excited to see some more skeletons partially uncovered in the cave walls and a 400 year old possum skeleton! On our way back to Augusta we stopped to see the magnificent Karri forest in the late afternoon light.

Karri forest - they are the third tallest trees in the world

Is this a portkey? Where is Credic
Buggery? Have we won the Tri-Wizard Cup?

Wednesday morning was Dave's turn to feel below par. He slept in the back of the Blunderbuss while we attempted and claimed victory over the hedge maze at Margaret River. Ella, after all her Harry Potter reading, was fairly concerned that the centre of the maze would contain a port key. She took a lot of convincing to touch the centre pole! The colour sequence maze and the Turn Left Maze entertained the kids thoroughly and we had such a great time that Dave ended up joining us for another run through the hedge maze.

Margaret River Chocolate Factory

Margaret River Chocolate Factory was of course included in the day's agenda. We have never seen Lachie get out of the car so fast as he did in the carpark there! Tasting chocolate buds as we perused all the wares was no fun, nor were the Margaret River Cheese Factory tastings!! We took our spoils for lunch at a park in Margaret River. Dave then lay in the van while we went for an hour's walk in the forest admiring the Karri and finding "honky nuts" from the Marri trees. The kids started talking about survival camping and spent the rest of the evening designing shelters and equipment lists (Ella: pocket nife, baked beans, matchs, toylet paper) ready for our return to the farm! Their excitement levels are astounding -  we haven't done much camping lately!

Honky kids with Honky Nuts

The gravity defying suspended table
in Lake Cave

Thursday, our last day in the Margaret River area, started with a tour of Lake Cave, the most active and spectacular of all the caves we saw. It was smaller than the others but jam packed with beautiful features. 

The Berry Farm was our next port of call where the kids had a ball tasting jams (but all agreed that Gran's strawberry jam would beat them at the show!) and Dave and I tried some wine and port. We found the other end of our walking track from yesterday for a secluded lunch in the forest. The kids collected sticks and were disappointed that we didn't load them all up, as they were "perfect" for survival shelters!

We relented and let Ella have her
walking stick!

We completed our tastings in Margaret River with a lolly tasting at a sweet shop. Ella's delight was complete when we stopped to see the Miniature Horse Stud on the way home.

Little Sweeties at the Sweet Shop

Heading nor'east towards the 'up' towns - Nannup, Boyup Brook, Manjimup etc - next.

Stay tuned ...