Night 93 - Perth

So we arrived in Perth just before lunch - very exciting!! Ive been wanting to come here for so long.

We headed straight for Freemantle for lunch and a beer at the famous 'Little Creatures Brewery'. Thanks Nat for telling us to go there, it was very cool! We absolutely loved Freemantle; lots of parks, restaurants and great little shops.





We then went to Freemantle Harbour for a quick lunch, very nice!









We then went to Cottisloe Beach for a look around. The houses here are absolutely massive and worth a fortune Im sure. They had a pathway than ran right along the foreshore which was beautiful. We will come back for another look around another day.

We are staying with Birdy and Traci, its been so long since we have seen them so its been great to catch up. We were up until all hours eating, drinking and chatting.

Lots more sight seeing tomorrow....

Night 92 - Avon National Park

What a day we had today, we got lost!

We left Lancelin by 10ish and drove south towards Perth. We saw what looked like a nice spot in the Camps 5 book called Avon National Park. We made it to Gin Gin for lunch by the duck pond, after that Im not quite sure what happened. We had the GPS on (but we dont trust her, she is soooo blonde!), Im trying to read the map but the roads didnt have signs and we had no idea where we were! We drove around and around and did countless u-turns.

Finally by about 2pm we made it to Toodyay and from there we were ok. Toodyay was a great little town, really old and quaint. People were so friendly and even waved at us as we drove down the main street. I ducked into a shop to look for a book and came back to find this old drunk toothless man telling his life story to Craig!

Avon was a nice National Park but there was no one else in sight. And what do you do when there is no one else in sight? Light a smoke flare of course!!




I love camping without others on top of us but not having anyone else in the national park makes me slightly nervous. I had a pretty restless night.

Night 91 - Lancelin

After 3 nights free camping we decided it was time to move on. We drove to Lancelin not even knowing if there was a caravan park there but we found a nice little one. Time to fill up our water tanks, do some washing and charge up all of our electricals!

Lancelin is a really nice little spot, its another cute little beachy town. We spent the arvo at the beach checking out all the kite surfers. It was pretty windy and its starting to feel chilly again as we head down the coast.

The kids loved Craigs fish, he battered it and they had a feast for dinner!

In the morning we werent sure if we were going to stay another night. Craig said lets go so we started packing up. Just as we started packing 4 car loads of South African guys turned up to camp right behind us. Drunk and loud at 9am.....we made the right decicion to leave!

Night 90 - Jurien Bay

Well this morning it was cold, foggy and rainy. We arent used to this at all! First time I have heard the kids say they are cold in a long time!

So this morning was spent sand boarding, classic! We had many stacks but so much fun. I had a go, stacked twice (didnt include on the video as Im wearing a skirt, not the most appropriate attire for sand boarding!!)



In the arvo it rained so we sat down for a few more hours of school work, nothing better to do on a rainy day in a caravan! It cleared for an hour or so and we took the kids to the park in town.

Craig took the kids fishing off the cliff, he came back with a shark which they ate for dinner. Its a gorgeous spot here....









Its our 3rd night here and we havent seen a ranger to collect our fees. Gotta love lazy rangers!!

Night 89 - Jurien Bay

Woke up to an absolute pea-soup fog this morn....but I still managed to get a fish off the beach in. I didn`t try for too long and managed to bag a decent sized tailor.
There has been a lot of seaweed washing up on the beach which makes things hard.

The kids were up early looking for me so we went and had amother session on the sand dune next to our camp.

We had lunch early and then drove through Jurien and then past the next town, Cervantes, to have a look at the Pinnacles. It is another natural wonder that we have encountered on our trip.



Some pics of the Pinnalces...













We stopped in at Jurien for supplies then back to our camp at Sandy Cape. The boys did a couple of hours school work then another session on the sand dunes. I snuck in another fish but only got some small whiting and flatties.

Night 88 - Jurien Bay

After our super quick exit from North Cliff we drove south along the Indian Ocean Road, not far maybe only 50km’s. The Indian Ocean Road is apparently new and winds all the way from Dongara in the north to Lancelin in the South.

We rang ahead and they did have sites available for $15 for the night (yah!).

We drove along the 6k corrugated road to the Sandy Cape Recreational Area. There are only about 10 other campers here. We drove along the road as far as we could go to the beach and there was a free spot right there for us, apparently someone had just left. We got out of the car to check the fly situation and we were pleased to find out that it was better than the night before. It’s a huge site, right on the beach and we don’t have any neighbours. Its similar to Lakeside as it doesn’t have water or electricity. The town of Jurien Bay is only 10 mins away so after lunch we went to have a look around. Shame we can only stay here for a max of 4 nights.




We set up and the kids ran down to the beach to check it out. There are some massive sand dunes so they had fun running up and down them.







Then Craig got out Bailey's surfbord and they had fun ‘surfing’ down them all arvo. It was such good fun and they will be knackered tonight!!




This photo was just before a massive impact that broke his watch!!

















At dusk Craig went for a fish with everyone else from the camp, again nothing. Lucky I always have a spare dinner for him or else he would be starving by now!

Night 87 - North Cliff

After leaving our caravan park this morning we had a final look around Geraldton. Being a Sunday nothing was open so we hit the road again. Craig took these snaps before we left...







We didnt have to drive too far to our next stop. A gorgeous free camp, no neighbours, absolute water frontage, water views from our beds, beautiful wildlife at our doorstep, peaceful and quiet....





EXCEPT.....we could barely step foot outside the van before we were attacked by flies. And I mean attacked! They were everywhere, Craig was on the verge of having a meltdown! We have just found peace from the wind and now we wish it were back to blow all the flies away!

We saw dolphins right in front of us, they were chasing fish and so close to the shore we thought they were going to beach themselves.



We also saw a rig out to sea, not sure if it is oil or gas.



Not sure what tomorrow brings but we are hoping it brings a day without flies!

Night 86 - Geraldton

Our camp last night was pretty good although Ive never seen so many flies in my life. We stepped outside the van and they were swarming around us. Truly awful! We had seen plenty of people wearing those hats with the fly nets over them and thought how crazy. How I wish I could have had one yesterday, I wouldnt have cared what I looked like! We did sleep pretty well considering the amount of road trains that drove past. Gotta love saving $50 a night in caravn park fees though.

We packed up pretty early and drove to Kalbarri National Park for a bit of a look around. We didnt know if we were going to stay here the night or not. Its really beautiful and the coastline is pretty spectacular.







This is the township....



We drove to Bluff Point which, according to Craig, has a great left. He was so keen to get in and have a surf but it was pretty flat.



We decided to keep driving to Geraldton, it was a pretty drive with all the wild flowers out in bloom. We arrived just before lunch time and found a nice caravan park opposite the beach. The beach was lovely but had a whole lot of sea weed so we decided not to swim.

Geraldton is huge and we both really liked it. There is alot to do, especially on the waterfront. There is a nice walk along the waterfront with lots of nice cafes and parks. Apparently this is regarded as one of the bext windsurfing beaches in the world.

Night 86 - Galena Bridge

The day started with my standard job along the beach, I jogged as far along the beach as the Monkey Mia pearling barge. Monkey Mia certainly is a beautiful part of the country.

We got packed up nice and early so we could go down for the first dolphin feed of the day. Kai stood down the other end of the beach by himself and was picked out of the crowd yet again for his 3rd feed! Don’t know how he did it! Bailey was also chosen and he fed the pregnant dolphin named ‘Surprise’.



After the feed we towed the van into the car park and went back down to the beach to wait for the next feed. Unfortunately they didn’t return so we left around 10.30am.

We saw another emu incident, this time it was getting hassled by seagulls on the beach. Emu's walking along the beach....classic!






We left around lunchtime and drove down to our free camp for the night. A little spot by the Murchison River called Galena Bridge. When we first got there we were the second van, by nightfall there were 11 other vans or motor homes turn up. This place was the fly capital of Australia! Absolutely revolting! We walked along the river bank and saw some pretty aggressive nesting black swans.



As night fell we enjoyed another night of toasting marshmallows over the fire and star gazing.

Night 85 - Monkey Mia

We arrived at Monkey Mia at about 7.30am, mad rush to pack up from our last camp and drive the 40km’s there. This place is simply beautiful. There isn’t anything here except the resort which is where we are staying tonight. It’s a pretty average ‘resort’ considering the amount of tourists that visit here. Its in a great location though and right on the water front.

We arrived just in time for the first feed of the day, there must have been 200 people on the beach. We were all so excited! We raced down to the beach and listened to the national parks ranger talk about the dolphins. The only feed about 5 regulars, all of them females. They only feed the dolphins 3 times a day, between 8-12, and its up to them as to when they want to be fed. One of the dolphins ‘Surprise’ is pregnant and due any day which was pretty exciting to see. She is massive!

They randomly select people out of the crowd, Kai was chosen…..his grin was from ear to ear. He went out and fed a dolphin and he didn’t hold the fish close enough to the water so she reached up and snatched it off him. After they have finished feeding (they only get 3 fish each) the rangers splash the buckets on the water and the dolphins know its all over. They them swim away and come back when they want. Everyone sits on the beach and waits.

We went back to set up the van and while we were setting up Kai ran back down to the beach by himself and again got chosen. He kept saying it was his lucky day! It really was so special to see them so close and amazing to see how they really look up at you to check you out.

We took these photos and video:















In the afternoon Craig went for a fish, unfortunately catching nothing. He is having a great time trying though.

Poor Bailey was trying to do his school work when an Emu friend came to say hello, needless to say he was a little distracted.



After dinner Craig and Bailey went back down to the beach and caught a few whiting and flatties, all were too small though. Finally we have a bit of relief for the wind as we are on the other side of the bay and its sheltered. Hopefully a good night sleep is on the way tonight.