A detour to Fairbridge Village near Pinjarra

The short drive down to Pinjarra was a pleasant one, and the town itself had a gorgeous villagy feel.  The care taken of the heritage buildings, the gardens lining the town centre and the sympathetic new buildings all told us that the locals have plenty of pride in their town.  We travelled a few kilometres further on and pulled into the lovely (but a little bizarre) Fairbridge Village. This too was a heritage village, set in lovely rolling green acres, beautifully preserved but almost completely empty.  The place was purpose-built for migrant children over 60 years or so ago, so is basically a collection of old style houses with a big brick church at one end.  So think along the lines of 'Oranges and Sunshine', without the slave labour and other atrocities (well, so we gathered from the literature on the place anyway - or maybe it was just wishful thinking).  These days it is used for school camps, conferences and outdoor adventure activities. It did have a bit of a ‘Children of the Corn’ feel to it.

Some friends that we had met in Darwin (Justin, Kristy, Allan, Jasmine, Lily, and Ruby) had overtaken us and were hanging here for a couple weeks while Justin did a kayaking instructors’ course, so we thought it would be fun to catch up with them on the way down.

After we found which one of the many buildings they were staying in, we checked out the adventure area on the other side of the village – where after a while of happy play we decided to split after 1 kid, and then 2 kids, and then 3 kids splat themselves on the ground (luckily no serious injuries).

We stayed the night on their back lawn – having a bit of Halloween cubby party that night.  Unfortunately Halloween is not so fun when there’s only one place with anybody in it for 10km! Still, the kids were delighted to be together and were able to get more lollies than they could eat somehow. The adults stayed up and chatted for a while, but had to cut it short as Justin had to get to Perth in the morning to continue his training and therefore needed to get up at the crack of dawn.

Next morning, we played for a while and the kids were sad to (again) say goodbye to Allan, Jasmine, Lily and Ruby.

We stopped at the Pinjarra Pie Shop in Manjurah(!?!) – which had been teasing us for a few kilometres with advertising claiming they had the best pies in Australia. Kel was keen to check them out and we did – gorging ourselves on a Pie and Milkshake meal along with other bakery delights.  They may indeed be right about the best pie bit!

We also stopped off briefly at Harvey Dam where Rich had some old memories of when he visited the construction of the dam for work a few times 8 or so years ago, and then continued through the fields and farms on the way to Margaret River, arriving at Prevelly Beach around 3pm. Rich went for a quick drive up to Surf Point to check out the surf (it was pumping), while the kids acquainted themselves with a new friend, Chloe, back at the campsite.

Catching Up with Mike, Kaz and James - Jurien Bay, The Pinnacles, Perth and Rottnest Island

We threaded our way down the coast, past Geraldton and on to Jurien Bay to catch up with lifelong friends Mike and Kaz Donn, and their new addition James. Upon rolling up at the caravan park we were told they were full – yes we are slow learners!  The desperate look on Kelly's face, and the fact that our friends were checked in to their cabin, must have worked on the lady at the desk who offered up a couple of spare unpowered sites if we wanted to go and check them out.

We ended up in a hilarious skinny site, fenced all round, with a garden and two sentinel stumps at the entrance to make reversing extra challenging.  Wondering at our good fortune in getting a 'garden view' site, we soon realised we were parking in a spot that used to be a permanent resident’s car park and garden. He (and several others) looked on while we backed in, with a look on his face like Rich had just shit on his shoe. Rich and Kel’s joint effort in perfect reversing half won him over, Rich got him over the line by joking with him, telling him that we were afraid that we were parking on his lawn, but that there were no more spots and that we should go into the Caravan Park business in Jurien Bay as there was obviously a pretty strong need for it. Only stayed in this spot for one night anyhow and moved closer to Mike and Kaz’s cabin for the next night.

Caught up with Mike and Kaz and baby James and had a nice time at Jurien Bay basically chilling out on the jetty, flying (well, in Kaz’s case repeatedly crashing L) the stunt kite on beautiful Jurien Bay beach, and soaking up the sunshine.


Hmmm - had to 'borrow' this photo of the Jurien Bay jetty from someone else's blog as we forgot to take a photo - shhhhh don't tell anyone!




Rich collecting his Bundy on the morning after / Bad Hair Day



After a couple of nights at Jurien Bay, we headed on to  Mike and Kaz’s place in Perth via the Pinnacles where the flies nearly got the better of us.  Had a fairly brief look at the rock formations being hounded by flies and waving like maniacs.  Eventually Dylan point-blank refused to get out of the car.  Ventured back to the visitors centre for some fly-less reading and learning.  With no toilets on site, Mike and Kaz had the thankless task of changing James' nappy outside on the verandah - a two person job on account of those fiendish flies.

Thumbs up for the - ahem - Olympic Torch

Back on the move, we then stumbled upon what may just be the best beer garden in Australia at the lovely (but mighty windy) Lancelin Bay, having lunch at the Lancelin Beach Hotel where the views from the beer garden are great and the burgers even better!

Travelled on to Chateau Le Donn, unpacked and then hit the Wii. A bit of noodle sword fighting and martial arts on the back lawn then ensued. After the kids went to bed, the adults hit the Wii again with some alcohol and chocolate for endless challenges – which Rich won most of!

The next day started off catching up on chores, Kel did some washing while Rich cleaned all the red dust and salt off the car. After lunch we headed into Perth to Kings Park to check out the new Nature Park where the kids could climb high structures, mix ‘potions’, and climb under tunnels and long ropes.

Headed over the bridge to Mill Point Jetty and hired a couple of catamarans which we sailed on the Swan River, Perth as a stunning backdrop. Mike teamed up with Ari, Rich and Dylan sailed the other one, Kel, Kaz and James chilled out on the beach.  The girls got in trouble from a passer-by for enjoying ice-creams while leaving James to suck his toes.  

As the sun was sinking, headed back home for dinner, a Skype session with all folks back home (and the dog - not surprisingly, dogs don't really get the concept of Skype) some more Wii action, and some planning for the next day before bed.

Next day we were up early and headed out to Hillarys wharf with the kids’ bikes to catch the ferry to Rottnest Island. The ferry ride left Kel a little green, but she came good once she went out the back to get some fresh air. Upon arriving at Rotto, Rich hired a bike.  Rich, Mike, Dylan and Ari went for a bike ride around the western side of the island to a beach with a shipwreck where they stopped for a swim and snorkel around the shipwreck before riding back.

The kids were hot and hungry but pretty pleased with themselves for managing the 5km ride.  Rich and team met Kel, Kaz and James near the bakery and we all grabbed some lunch. The kids petted some quokkas near the picnic area while we waited for lunch. Rich had one of the best chocolate thickshakes he ever had.

After lunch we rode / walked over to a beautiful bay on the eastern side of the island and swam in the (frigid) blue water.  Rich and Mike went for another fun snorkel around the reef and rocks and enjoyed chasing the multitude of fish there. Baby James seemed to enjoy his paddle as well.

It was starting to get late so we headed back to the ferry (Rich grabbing a sneaky second chocolate thickshake on the way), and then back home to Chateau Le Donn for some copying of Mike’s CD collection and 100 pin bowling on the Wii – even Kel got involved in this one!

On our last day at Chateau Le Donn we cleaned up all the stuff we and the kids had left lying around the place. Kel and the kids went shopping while Rich spent 2 hours giving the caravan a long overdue wash (yes, he missed a spot).

Eventually we were ready to head off, so we said our goodbyes to Mike, Kaz and baby James, and hit the road down to Pinjarra and Margaret River.

A day at Kalbarri

Our next destination was Kalbarri. After a 5 hour drive we pulled up to the caravan park about 6pm and set up.

Next morning we did a bit of a surf check along the coast, first stopping at Jakes Point, then Red Bluff. Unfortunately the surf wasn’t cranking – but the potential for world class waves was easy to see.

We walked up the path to the top of Red Bluff and saw a large pod of dolphins, a little baby one jumping around amongst the 20 or so adults. The views from the top were great and we hung up here for quite a while, taking it all in.

We then headed to the coastal section of the Kalbarri National Park and did a few walks, enjoying the scenery, watching whales splashing around and checking out the rock arch there. Again, we saw huge numbers of dolphins in the waters below, swimming happily along.

After a lunch at the Kalbarri pub, where Kelly surprised even herself by ordering fish chowder for lunch (and living to tell the tale) we headed inland to the gorge section of the National Park and walked down to ‘Nature’s Window’. This place was pretty cool and the Murchison River wound its way around the rock faces and out to the sea.

On the way back to camp, we stopped to help a little Thorny Devil get across the road.  We had been seeing heaps along the way, always in their funny frozen attitudes, but coming to a screeching holt and parking safely on the shoulder with a 2.5t caravan on the back is not so easy!  Finally we were free of the van and able to stop and take a look.

Completely worn out, we returned to the caravan park for dinner and sleep.

Saying Hello to the Dolphins at Monkey Mia

Travelled a pretty long distance from Coral Bay to Monkey Mia, stopping in at Carnavon.  We were surprised to see orchards springing up from the red dirt - that stuff looks as though it  couldn't grow anything! This area is apparently WA's food bowl.  They have great water from somewhere - we were relieved to refill the van after the horrible briny, gag inducing water at Coral Bay.  We stopped for lunch at the old OTC satellite dish. It was quite windy there, and we were too cheap and time pressed to go to the museum.  So we drove away with a bewildered museum host watching us go, having no idea why the satellite is there and what it was used for! Something to do with NASA and the moon landing (but that last bit might be made up)!

It took us pretty much all day to get to Monkey Mia, the lovely drive from the highway, along Shark Bay to Monkey Mia caught us by surprise and was much longer than expected. We arrived at Monkey Mia quite late and were devastated when we were turned away because they were full.  Greyyyyyy Nomadddddddsss!!!!!  Hungry and tired x 4, we limped back to Denham and checked into a cosy park (its claim to fame: the most westerly park in Australia) under extremely windy conditions in the dark.

Next morning we headed back to Monkey Mia early and secured our spot. To be fair, there was a mix of people hanging out here, we were simply unlucky as there were vacant sites for the duration of our stay.  Tripadvisor and other people we had had conversations with had been pretty scathing of the Monkey Mia resort.  Sure it wasn't flash as a caravan park, but who are we to complain about two beachside eateries, deck chairs looking out over the ocean and green grass (wow!) in one of the most beautiful locations you can imagine.  It was still earlyish after setting up the van, so Kel and the kids tripped out to see whether there were any dolphins about, which there were off shore.  Indulged in some cafe fare on the beachfront.  We learned pretty quickly to keep an eye out for the hungry seagulls, always watching, waiting.

After a swim in the pool, Rich and the kids took their kites up the beach and Rich and Dylan got the handle of the stunt kite bought at Coral Bay while Ari flew her kite. Dylan and Ariel then discovered their own island in the sun (which was eventually swallowed up).

Kel joined us soon after and together we watched in disbelief as an emu came down the beach for a swim!

This bird was a professional - it was a performance he repeated over the course of our stay.  He had plenty of friends too, roaming free over the resort and terrorising the campers which was often pretty funny.

On the second day at Monkey Mia, we made a beeline down to the beach for the early morning dolphin feeding session. The kids squirreled into the front centre of a huge line of mostly adults.  Kel watched anxiously from behind doing a mental fist pump when a young lady of Asian background stationed herself in front of them with the fish bucket.  We're in for sure!!!  Sure enough, they were chosen to feed one of the dolphins. The fish was slippery and was dropped – but quickly recovered and re-offered to the patient dolphin.  The kids were thoroughly overjoyed (as was their Mum!).

Look Ari, here they come!

Hey, these are pretty slippery

Plop!

Watch your fingers

One happy customer

Oi - I've got my eye on you

Dolphin Boy

Kel discovered a love for dolphins she didn't know she had.  It is fair to say that she was the most dedicated of dolphin visitors, attending most of the sessions to watch them.  They do indeed come in quite close and they roll over on their sides to get a good look at you out of their one eye.  You can't help but wonder what they are thinking as they regard all the humans on the shore.  'Thanks for all the fish' we suppose!  On the question of to feed or not to feed - it was tightly controlled by Dept. Enviro & Conservation staff.  Each session is accompanied by a speech on dolphins and the history and problems with feeding wild dolphins.  They feed only 5 of the female dolphins and not more than 10% of their daily intake of fish.  There is absolutely no touching (very hard to resist!).  The best part about it is simply watching them watching you.  

In the holiday spirit, we booked ourselves onto a huge catamaran for a trip out to a pearl farm and some dugong spotting. It was great to be able to look back at the coast - the contrast between red cliffs, white sand and turquoise water.  The pearl farm was ‘interesting’ but seriously who could be bothered doing all the work it takes to grow a pearl.  We were lucky to see heaps of marine life as we cruised around including dolphins surfing the bow wave and reef sharks.  We saw a number of dugongs, slowly rising to the surface like big logs, popping their nostrils out for a breath and descending again.  There also several blink or you'll miss it turtles surfacing for quick breaths.  Another highlight for the kids was going in the boom net at the back of the boat and being dragged along through the water.

Pearl Farm

A lesson on pearl farming

Dugong (sea cow)

 

We spent the rest of the day hanging out, swimming in the pool – the kids found out why everybody loves spas, and spent a lot of time with 8 or so other kids in the spa, daring each other to jump out into the relatively cold pool.

The third day was a bit of a bludge day. Kel wanted to prepare for her interview for the following day so after some schoolwork, Rich looked after the kids and let them hang out at the pool / spa and on the beach.

We had a nice breakfast at the beach cafe on the morning of the fourth day, and enjoyed watching the seagulls go berserk, attacking the full plates of the uninitiated. One particular waiter appeared to hate the seagulls, often swiping at them, and muttering things under his breath. Dylan remained on guard of his breakfast – no seagull was going to get his hash browns!

Watching, waiting...

When seagulls attack!

We packed up and drove out of the caravan park to the carpark, and set Kel up for her telephone interview. Rich took the kids back to the resort to the vistors’ centre and then a milkshake while Kel undertook her interview, and then it was off to our next destination, stopping by the stromatolites at Hamelin Pool on the way out to the highway, and then filling up at a service station with what appeared to be the largest selection of ice creams in the southern hemisphere.