South West Corner

And now for something completely different...

The Gardner clan; Jenny, Kee Chan and I; joined the Bloomfield Five in Perth for a short jaunt through Australia's far South West. Here follows the tale of our adventures (because Thea wanted a break from blog writing).

After the flight across the country we met up in the middle of Perth, which was decked out in its royal finest in preparation for CHOGM. An early, WA time, dinner at Fast Eddies fine dining establishment (vegetables optional). TTMEK went back to their digs in Fremantle and we to our hotel room in Perth with views of the 8 lane freeway.

The next morning while TIG000 had a brand spanking new roof rack fitted I picked up our home for the next 11 days, a behemoth Winnebago motorhome, and learnt how to drive it through the city of Perth. We met up again at a playground in King's Park for lunch and then we were on our way.

First stop was planned to be a National Park camping site just outside of Bunbury but the ross river virus carrying mosquitoes quickly put an end to that. The kids were happy enough with the jumping pillow at the caravan park.

The town of Donnybrook has a huge playground so that was first stop the next day. Maddi escorted Kee Chan up the towers and down the slides, and everyone got dizzy in the spinning wheels. For the big kids there was an array of exercise equipment to give everyone a workout before the drizzle set in and we retired to "chalet Bushtracker" for lunch. Then it was off to Busselton to catch the last mini-train down the 1.8km jetty to the excellent underwater observatory with views of sponges and corals and crabs scuttling up and down the jetty pylons and even diving cormorants trying to catch an evening meal. Thea decided that more exercise was required so power-walked her way back along the jetty.

Kai with Mr Apple and Miss Pear at Donnybrook

Kids having fun on the swing

Busselton Jetty

Here comes the train!

Ella Bella

Underwater view of the piers at Busselton 

The schools of fish where amazing

Ghost Piers

The little engine getting ready for the return journey

Bloomfields and Gardners all aboard

Title of best caravan park for the trip goes to the Four Seasons Resort just outside of Busselton for its crumbling asbestos clad games room that contained the 1990s classic arcade game "Suzuka 8 hours" which gave Tig and I a trip down memory lane, and Ella a new experience riding on the virtual fuel tank as her Dad swung the machine hard through the chicanes.

The Cape Naturaliste lighthouse provided a high point, where the storm clouds over the ocean made for a dramatic photo backdrop before they dumped down on us in a short sharp burst. The inclement weather was no deterrent to Thea and Maddi who went on a 3km coastal walk to Sugarloaf rocks.

Although we'd past dozens of wineries our only gourmet stop had been for olives before we happened upon a little boutique brewery. The beer was ordinary but the circular pool table provided some amusement before we setup camp at Yallingup beach.

Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse

Maddi, van and motorhome are the white spec on the green headland.

Eagle Bay Olives

Wildflowers

Olive Groves at Eagle Bay

Jenny (white) and Tig (red) did finally get to a winery the next day. The rest of us enjoyed a brief sunny period in the roman style amphitheatre where Maddi and Ella put on a high five number and Kee Chan did his best Meatloaf impersonation (probably better than the real thing!). The wineries didn't last long and we soon found the “raging bull” at the Bootleg Brewery to be so suitable that the vehicles were handed over to their alternate drivers.  Somehow this caused us to be rerouted to an olive oil soap factory where we purchased some awesome goat's cheese feta. The chocolate factory provided a convenient picnic spot for lunch followed very shortly by an afternoon tea of cakes, hot chocolates, milkshakes and ice-cream. The kids burned off some energy with hide and seek amongst the trees, which held us over for the drive to the caravan park at Big Valley farm where we stayed amongst the sheep and chickens.

Driftwood amphitheatre

Ella Bella all smiles here 

Jenny tells me there was a very loud duck quacking at 4:30am but I was woken bright and early(ish) by a more traditional rooster which was helpful as I needed to make a quick 100km round trip to Busselton and back to repair the broken tap in the Winnebago. After a huge shopping effort in Margaret River we found ourselves at the “Amaze'n” hedge maze. Ella/Thea found the centre first shortly followed by Maddi/Jenny. Tig/Kai were first out while Kee Chan and I were busy trying to find as many “dead-ends” as possible. Tig quickly solved the white-red-black puzzle maze and then got bored with everyone else as Thea and I tried to work it out. The afternoon was spent at a beach playing with interesting sponges, sticky sesame seed sand, and trying not to get wet as the tide came in before going back to Big Valley for dinner, the Korean specialty “bibimbap”.

The centre of the maze

Tig and Kai find the owl

Grant and Thea trying to work out the white-red-black puzzle

Everyone else sick of waiting

Prevelly Beach with sesame seed sand

The Bloomfield's had prior experience but Mammoth Cave was a first for Kee Chan, so he paid extra attention to the ridiculous audio devices that were handed out to justify the asking price for the self-guided tour. Note to self - a four year old in the dark with steep steps and a toy with flashing lights and buttons is probably not a good idea.  Lunch today was at the Boranup wood gallery, where we entertained Tully the cafe owner's dog. We would have bought a $15,000 dining table but Tig's roof racks already had the bikes on top.  Another maze stop meant we arrived at the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse just in time for a quick explore of the grounds and a view of the whales in the distance at the boundary of the Indian and Southern oceans. We were now heading into the Southern forest areas and made camp in a roadside rest area, where between brief rain showers we headed out for a spot of star gazing with the help of the star chart app on Tig's iPad.

Mammoth Cave

Winnebago just fitted

Grant and Kai at the centre of the maze

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse

Into the Karri forest and stops at the Four Aces, four giant Karri trees all in a line, and the one tree (ex-)bridge. The old steam trains at Manjimup Timber and Heritage Park got Kee Chan and Kai very excited, while the adults were impressed by the giant steam engine and wheel that used to power one of the local timber mills. The 52m high Diamond Tree fire tower was no match for Maddi and Tig while the rest of us looked up in awe as they disappeared into the canopy. We also shared this lunch spot with an endangered baby biltong and a collection of kangaroo joeys being fed by a WIRES lady with more than a passing resemblance to Mrs McGillicuddy.

Train at Manjimup Heritage Park

Diamond Tree at 52m high

Maddi and Tig going up

Still going up (shadow on the left)

Kee Chan and Kai busy with Barbie computer

Ella and Kai at the bottom of Diamond Tree

The WIRES lady and one of her 6 joeys

The Pemberton Forest Tramway had been eagerly awaited by all the train buffs (mostly of the male persuasion) and the 1.5 hour journey through the Karri forest was about as informative as you could get. The driver was pleasant enough but lets just say that during this journey I began to see the sense of providing recorded audio gadgets. After a bakery lunch at the pool (caution- deep flowing water, no lifeguards, venomous snakes!) we piled on the kms to reach Peaceful Bay and take a late afternoon stroll along the beach, assisted by the “cool” breeze coming across the Southern Ocean from Antarctica.

Pemberton Train Station

Forest Tram

(L-R) Tig, Kee Chan, Ella, Jenny, Grant and Kai

Just for looking at, at Pemberton Station

Peaceful Bay

Out of the Karri forests and into the even bigger Tingle trees of the great South, the “Valley of the Giants” is a spectacular sight from the 40m high suspended tree top walk and was a great way to finish our few days in the big trees. We found ourselves at the ocean once again for lunch, at the beautiful emerald turquoise pools and giant boulders of Elephant Rocks where we were enthralled by a pair of Pied Oystercatchers fishing out eight inch long worms from the sand to feed their chicks.  Jenny and Thea decided that Denmark was far enough for the day so they left the young-uns with Tig and I and hit the one bookshop that was still open while we circled the wagons (in the caravan park). The bikes came out for a quick trip into town to pick up the Chinese takeaway dinner.

Elephant Rocks

Kee Chan, Ella and Kai

Success! Got a worm.

Now I find myself in “chalet BushTracker” for our last evening cup of tea. Kai and Kee Chan's combined car/train collection has been separated and tomorrow we will be heading North towards Perth and the Bloomfield Five will continue the eastward leg of the Great Lap. It has been a fantastic week and a bit in an amazing part of Australia. A great time has been had by all. Thea will have to bookmark her page in “a guide to Crotchet” and get back to blogging!!

Cheers,

Grant

Photo selection and captions by Thea