19 June
To Busselton
We were late leaving Big Valley as there were so many people
wanting to chat and give us some tips on where to go and what to see. A really
lovely feel about the place and somewhere we will recommend to others as we
travel. One of the nice ladies who we had spent time with around the fire did
some home baking for us. Yummy Anzac biscuits and fruit slice which reminded me
how much I have missed TJ's baking on the trip as we don't have an oven in the van.
Drove through to Busselton without hassle and grabbed a
coffee from the beautiful Old Courthouse Gallery. This place has been
transformed into a gallery/cafe. You can wander through the court room,
exercise yard and even the cells, really well done.
(Gangham Style)
Then over to the 2km long jetty for the train trip out to
the Underwater Observatory. The day was magnificent with the sun shining and
although the breeze was a bit cold the trip out to was lovely. The observatory
was fantastic, you got to walk down three levels with windows all around
watching as you slowly got deeper and deeper. It was an unusual feeling as you
looked up through the water to the sunshine above. There was about 10m of
vision which made it even better, We saw many lovely fish and even an octopus
swimming by. There was the remnants of pylons from the old jetty and off cuts
that had been left when the jetty caught fire a number of years ago. The young
girl who took the tour was really informative and was excited to tell us that
she had done the around Australia trip when she was 10.
Then back on the train for the ride to the other end of the jetty. Great tour.
Stayed in Busselton that night and got ready to head up to
Bunbury via Donnybrook.
20 June
To Bunbury
Woke up to rain and were not sure if we should go via
Donnybrook. Why would we want to go via Donnybrook I hear you ask??? Well when
we were in Albany at the Vancouver cafe a young lady who worked there was from
Donnybrook and told us about this huge outdoor playground they have there,
apparently it is huge so we thought we better have a look and it is not really
out of the way.
We decided to call up a shop in the area to find out if it
was raining which it wasn't so off we went.
This playground was huge and they
are extending it. The kids had a ball,
we had a coffee and lunch and it wasn't raining. Fantastic. Then back in the
car and off to Bunbury.
The caravan park had a mini golf course and lovely
facilities but as it was on the Bussel Highway it was really noisy which was a
shame.
History lesson time
When TJ was in hospital having Milly there was a woman in
the bed next to her who had her little boy on New Years Eve just before Milly
was born who was also 10 weeks early. So there was a few common themes going on
there and we got to see them a lot over the next 4 weeks while we all remained
in North Shore Hospital. We have kept in touch with the Landrigan's over the
years visiting them in QLD when we were up there for a holiday a few years back but they moved a
while ago and we hadn't spoken to them for a while. Anyway they moved to Bunbury 18 months ago and TJ contacted Cathy
to arrange a catch up. Unfortunately she was in Brisbane but we went and
visited Matt and their two boys Hayden and Reece who was born just before Milly.
We had a great visit. Saw our first WA sunset over the ocean from the lookout near their
place and just had a good natter. So much so that we decided to go back the
next night for dinner.
Spent the day around the park playing mini golf, trying to
arrange a service for the car and van and just catching up, the sun was shining
which made for a nice day. Trying to work out what to do for accommodation in
and around Perth. What a hassle and very expensive.
Had a great dinner with Matt and the boys that night.
Had the mechanic out to service the van in the morning,
played some tennis which was great fun then took the kids to the big swamp
playground. Great big park which was paid for by the mining companies. Patrick
was meant to be following us down to the camp kitchen that night but got caught
up when he heard some motor bikes. He went over and introduced himself and
found out that the guys was racing the next day in the State motor cross
championships and told Patch to come down to the pits and have a look around if
we got to the races.
That afternoon managed to back the car into another car
in the rain at a shopping centre carpark. Not quite sure why she decided to
stop directly behind me as I backed out but she was there in my blind spot and
I got her. DOH!!!!!
We decided to take the kids to the Motor Cross racing the next day as an outing
for Lincoln's birthday. Unfortunately it was bucketing down. TJ decided she
would drop us off and go and do some shopping for L's birthday. The four of us
got on our rain gear, took two umbrellas and packed a snack. It basically
poured the whole time. The ground was
one big muddy puddle and the bikes were throwing up dirt everywhere. We had a
blast. The only downside was that it was too wet to get to the pits for Patch
to see his mate but we did get to see him race and wave to him as he came off.
We were standing close to the track and the kids were high fiving the riders as
they rode off after each race. Very muddy. Very loud. Very cool.
Then we chilled for the rest of the day and then had a very
quick visit back to the Landrigan's as Cath flew back in from QLD. Really nice
to see her and they have a really nice place there although Cath is looking
forward to getting back to QLD when Matt's work allows.
Back to bed and ready for our next stage as we get closer to
Perth. Fremantle in the morning.
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