We ended up staying at Prevelly Beach for 3 nights, and then heading up to Yallingup for another 3 nights.
On the first day at Prevelly, Rich got up early and went for a drive around the Margaret River area, starting at Surf Point, heading down to Gas Bay, Grunters and then around to Redgate, and Contos to check which surf areas were working the best.
He got back to the campsite at around 10am, and then we all headed off to Busselton – the Busselton Show was in town!
We took in the sights, sounds and smells of the Busselton Show, and threw down some egg and bacon rolls. The kids tried their hand at the climbing wall, Ari surprising us with her skill, clambering almost to the top.
They then tried their hand at the giant balls, Dylan surprising us with his skill at bumping into other balls (and the giant balls owner). We hit the show bag pavilion and Rich and Kel had to negotiate with the kids to get them to agree to a single showbag each, Wizz Fizz Bag for Dylan and a Supa Lolly Bag for Ari.
They then tried their hand at the giant balls, Dylan surprising us with his skill at bumping into other balls (and the giant balls owner). We hit the show bag pavilion and Rich and Kel had to negotiate with the kids to get them to agree to a single showbag each, Wizz Fizz Bag for Dylan and a Supa Lolly Bag for Ari.
Following the Busselton Show, we took the kids to the Yallingup Maze where Rich and the kids spent 2 hrs running around shooting each other with waterpistols while Kel had a quiet ice chocolate while reading the paper in the cafe.
Followed this up with dinner in Margaret River at Godfathers, pizza and some yummy deserts. Wow - what a day!
On the second day in Prevelly, Rich got up early and went surfing at Surf Point. It was really cranking, with 6ft offshore, and 8 or 9ft sets.
Rich was a bit worried, not having gone for a surf for 3.5 months and feeling a bit unfit after months of Southo and Cokes. He summoned up his courage, donned his wetsuit and headed out. The first thing he realised was that it was pretty big out there, the second thing he noticed was that the local surfers out there were very good, and had very big boards. Rich and his 7.2 ft didn’t really stand a chance. After a couple of hours dodging the larger sets and the local surfers screaming down from extremely late takeoffs, Rich finally caught a relatively small 5ft wave. After getting caught inside and receiving three 8ft waves on his head, Rich decided he’d had enough and paddled in. On the way back to the car, Rich got chatting to an older local who showed him the 5(!) gun boards he had in the back of his car. The smallest one was 8 ft 2 and they went up from there to around 9 ft 6. He told Rich that for these waves you need the right equipment. Fair enough!
Rich was a bit worried, not having gone for a surf for 3.5 months and feeling a bit unfit after months of Southo and Cokes. He summoned up his courage, donned his wetsuit and headed out. The first thing he realised was that it was pretty big out there, the second thing he noticed was that the local surfers out there were very good, and had very big boards. Rich and his 7.2 ft didn’t really stand a chance. After a couple of hours dodging the larger sets and the local surfers screaming down from extremely late takeoffs, Rich finally caught a relatively small 5ft wave. After getting caught inside and receiving three 8ft waves on his head, Rich decided he’d had enough and paddled in. On the way back to the car, Rich got chatting to an older local who showed him the 5(!) gun boards he had in the back of his car. The smallest one was 8 ft 2 and they went up from there to around 9 ft 6. He told Rich that for these waves you need the right equipment. Fair enough!
Hung out at the campground for the rest of the morning. Got chatting to Chloe’s parents who seemed to be doing things a little tough. Rich then took the kids over to the Rivermouth where they spent the afternoon building sand horses, sand boats, sliding down the banks of the lagoon and having a great time. Kel spent this time to prepare for her second interview.
Next morning we packed up and shipped out, leaving Chloe a little present by her tent, and drove 50kms up the road to lovely Yallingup.
We were able to check in early so that Kel could undertake her second interview. Rich took the kids to ‘Xscape’ where they basically ran, climbed and jumped themselves to exhaustion, while Rich kicked back with a coffee and planned the next stage of our trip in the cafe. After lunch and back at Yallingup, Rich went for a surf - but the big mushy 6ft onshore waves pushing onto the reef made things difficult and after an hour and a half or so of paddling out, Rich gave up and came in – arms wrecked. We spent the afternoon hanging out at the great playground opposite the caravan park (it even had a pitching barrel wave, complete with steam / spray when a button was pressed). Kel jumped on realestate.com! She loved the beautiful beach, the awesome park area and the very cool atmosphere, perhaps we could live here!
Rich and Kel watched the surf roll in while a kite surfer took it on, and made friends with the resident stumpy tailed lizards begging for food. In the late afternoon – we spotted some whales out to sea when we were on our way back from the shops.
On our second day at Yallingup, the kids did some homework in the morning and then we drove down to the caves. We stopped first at Mammoth Cave – which as the name indicates was HUGE! The thing went in about 500m and had many cave formation everywhere – they’d even found a fossilised prehistoric wombat (zygomaturus something) jawbone which was left insitu for everyone to see.
Next stop was the cave visitors centre which was interesting. The kids convinced Rich to go in a mock canyoning cave that you had to crawl though. After getting stuck several times and having one kid pushing his butt through while the other one pulled his arms (much to the amusement of the other visitors) we all headed off for a very quick tea and scones at the cafe next door.
Next stop was the cave visitors centre which was interesting. The kids convinced Rich to go in a mock canyoning cave that you had to crawl though. After getting stuck several times and having one kid pushing his butt through while the other one pulled his arms (much to the amusement of the other visitors) we all headed off for a very quick tea and scones at the cafe next door.
The next cave was called Lake Cave. This cave wasn’t as large as Mammoth Cave, but its entrance was amazing, as were the formations in the cave itself – one of which resembled a dragon and another that resembled a table suspended above the underground river by two large pillars.
After the caves, we continued down south, through the impossibly tall and mystical looking Karri forests via Hamelin Bay to Augusta.
At Augusta we took a drive around the wind blown and treacherous coastline to the lighthouse, before returning via the picturesque bay and then back home arriving at the caravan in the dark.
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| If you go down to the woods today... |
At Augusta we took a drive around the wind blown and treacherous coastline to the lighthouse, before returning via the picturesque bay and then back home arriving at the caravan in the dark.
On the third day at Yallingup, Kel and the kids took off for a morning horse trail ride while Rich hit the surf at Yallingup. At the horse riding, Kel and the kids nearly met with disaster when they came across a man walking his dog in the wrong place at the wrong time. Just moments before, Ari had been chatting away about her horse riding lessons and then uttered the fateful words "I never fall off". The little ponies that the kids were on were being lead by the guide. Trained apparently to do the same thing day in day out (and stop when the guide's horse stops, not in response to the rider :(), they were visibly nervous. The large dog at the other end of the trail, about 70m away, was lunging toward the horses on it's lead. Then Kel's nightmare played out, both little horses backing up and wheeling around to flee. Kel was on a giant (needed a step to mount it), but fortunately lazy horse. She grabbed the bridle of Dylan's horse from the saddle but was unable to hold it. Then she leapt down from the horse (still not sure how she came to have her feet on the ground!) and started to run after them, watching with horror and disbelief as her two babies were carried away on bolting horses. Kel was shouting to the kids to hold on and fortuntately the horses stopped. They both managed to keep their seats! Catching up, Kel grabbed Ari's horse by the lead with one hand and pulled Dylan (who was a little skewed in the saddle) off with the other. Some time after this the guide turned up (where was she all this time?!). The man and his pram and dog had disappeared but Kel was no longer interested in continuing on with the horses stirred up as they were. Also, Dylan's little horse had snapped the reins and cut its mouth. But the kids very bravely rode back to the stables and spent some time in the arena practicing their skills. Afterwards they were raving about how much of a great time they had! Kel, on the other hand, needed a lie down!
While all this was going on, Rich was out in the large 7ft surf trying to get out. After about an hour or so of non-stop paddling (and some shouting), he thought he had made it out the back when a monster set came through. He made the first wave, but not the second, and after climbing back on his board and duckdiving the third wave, his board floated to the surface in two pieces. Surfing was over for today – Yallingup had won.
While all this was going on, Rich was out in the large 7ft surf trying to get out. After about an hour or so of non-stop paddling (and some shouting), he thought he had made it out the back when a monster set came through. He made the first wave, but not the second, and after climbing back on his board and duckdiving the third wave, his board floated to the surface in two pieces. Surfing was over for today – Yallingup had won.
Kel and the kids arrived back at the van just after Rich, and we swapped our disaster / survivor stories.
We decided to cut our losses and headed out to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory, where we sampled a few chocolates and then participated in a family chocolate fondue and buying some 'souvenirs' (including a chocolate Australia J ).
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