Swimming, golfing and other stuff too.

Another week of holidays begins. Alfie was due to start a 2 week programme called "vac swim" this morning at the beach north of Fremantle, but between oversleeping and a lack of motivation to send my oldest child into waters that have recently proved to be shark infested, we didn't go. In all honesty it's surely very safe. They are keeping all the beaches very well monitored and have closed several recently for a day at a time. But Alfie didn't wake till 8am this morning which is highly unusual for him, and as the lesson was due to start at 8.45 I gave up on any idea of getting there. Tomorrow is another day.


I wrote the above nearly 2 weeks ago and we did indeed manage to get to the swim programme for 7 of the total ten days. It was really good to get into the ocean and for the boys to learn what it's like to be tumbled by the waves.

Taken on a very calm day. There were proper waves some days- honest!

There were regular helicopter fly pasts so we knew we were safe from sharks and Alfie got his certificate yesterday to say he'd be in "level 3" next time we do a vac swim programme.

Last weekend we took a trip out to Fremantle harbour to peruse the market there, have a spot of lunch and a general ogle at the docks. Alfie loves to get hold of the camera and he took a great pic of the other 3 of us having lunch which I thought I'd share.

 Then the boys posed together for a shot of themselves adding to the immigrant population. This sculpture by the harbourside is memorial to the "ten pound Poms" (with additional hats by the Cotter family) :

After lunch we went to a mini golf course as Brian had told Alfie ages ago that he'd take him golfing and it was a promise that was not to be forgotten! It was very quiet so we had great fun and Alfie really got into it:

And he ultimately won the 20cent prize for the winning round.

Whereas Ru was......

how can I put it?

Less inclined to follow the rules of the game!!!

In celebration of Alfie's vac swim ending, and also because we had a terrible thunderstorm yesterday, we went to the movies. I can honestly say I haven't been inside a cinema for years. The last thing I saw that was new out was Black Swan and that was at an open air showing soon after we arrived last year. But one of the other mums had suggested that The Muppets movie was on locally and perhaps it would be a good way to round off the fortnight so off we went. It was lovely I must admit. The boys thoroughly enjoyed it despite never having heard of the Muppets before, and I was taken back to the time when the whole world seemed to watch them. Unfortunately I can't get the muppet theme out of my head now though - it's as infectious as ever.

Temperatures here are in the mid to high 30's just now. In fact I went out for a run this morning (well, more of a run/walk really; 5 mins running, 5 mins walking, 3 mins running, rest of the outing walking- not fit at all). Anyway, I went out before 8am to try to avoid the worst of the heat and it was still easily in the high 20's. I was however rewarded for my efforts with a most gorgeous sight. A pod of dolphins were breakfasting in the river not 50 meters out from the shore. There must have been 6 or 7 of them gracefully arching through the water and then occasionally making a lunge for some unsuspecting fish. At one point 3 of them started circling presumably to round up a whole shoal. There were a number of walkers and cyclists, plus a kayaker, who had stopped to enjoy the sight as it really is rather magical. What a great way to start the day. I might even be inspired to go again tomorrow.

Camping for Christmas. Part 2.

Tuesday 27th December and the beach beckoned once more. We'd been talking to another local chap, Greg, who had a caravan across the road from us. He was a fisherman and said the surf was up so Greens Pool would be packed to the rafters. He recommended that we turn left just before it and head to another beach called Madfish bay further down a dirt track. Always quieter but still great for the kids. So that's what we did. As we passed the car park for Greens Pool we were very glad we'd been chatting to him too, because it was overflowing and there were cars way up the road. Meantime where we went was almost our own and another stunning sight.

B with picnic bag.

The boys get to work on paddling...

...and sandcastles.

 It was windy though so I was grateful of our pop-up beach tent for more than just my usual shade. We all shared it for the picnic of cheese sandwiches and apples we'd brought with us. The only thing missing was "lashings of ginger beer" Famous Five style.

Eventually the wind got the better of us and we packed up and headed back to the site, to be met by wheelie bins everywhere. Well, not everywhere perhaps, but several of them across the tracks on site. Our friend Bob again. He'd got annoyed with some of the newcomers onsite driving too fast (lots of people only came down after Christmas so the place had really filled up). So he had painted signs saying "SLOW DOWN. KIDS" and stuck them to the bins, then put the bins in awkward places so that you really had no choice but pay heed! Gotta hand it to him. Especially as our little darlings (devils) were cycling round in loops constantly. He came out to tell us it was his handiwork and show us the paint stains on his trousers!

That afternoon, determined to make the very most of our trip, and with kids who were never off their bikes anyway, we went for a family cycle. There was a great track straight from the campsite which reminded me slightly of the old railway line near where I used to live in Devon. Totally safe for the kids and coming out near the water a little way along.

My only slight concern was the possibility of snakes, which we'd been assured were resident in the area. There are both Tiger snakes and Dugites in the area, both of which are potentially deadly. We had actually seen the very first snake of our Australian adventure on the trip out to ocean beach the day before, when we ran over it in the car. We're such typical clueless foreigners that both Brian and myself had assumed it was a bit of tyre rubber when we saw this black thing in the road. It was only after we caught it with our own tyre and saw it turn and slither off that we were awakened to the reality. Anyway, that day we saw nothing more interesting in the way of wildlife than a dead gecko (which was enough to entertain the boys for several minutes). Liam's Dad had seen a 3 foot long Racehorse Goanna on his cyle out that way the day before and we had our eyes peeled for anything. The next day I went out again with Ru and this time I saw a snake. A dugite I'm fairly sure having researched them since. It was just slithering out of the bushes to bask when it obviously felt the vibration of my bike. Thankfully it turned right back into the bush and by the time Ru and I flew past all I could see was its tail. Never have I pedalled so fast or encouraged Ru along more. I didn't dare tell him why 'till after in case he wanted to go and have a look!

On the Wedneday we headed inland to a local maze, which I must be honest and say I was rather disappointed by. There seemed to be no real objective in the thing and we ended up just going round in circles till we eventually ended up back at the car! After the superb one down in Yallingup there was really no comparison, so we moved on fairly swiftly and visited a farm instead.
It was billed as an alpaca farm, but in fact had much more to offer, and with a bag of food given out with every ticket you can imagine the fun the boys had.

 There were goats..

..koalas..

...Alpacas....

..Kangaroos....

Mummys with joeys still in the pouch......

..when they're really far too big to be....

..A pony which James particularly took to....

...and a Highland Cow which Alfie didn't take to at all after it tried to headbut him!

 ..Not to mention the chickens, bison, buffalo, and foxes. All in all it more than made up for the maze and we were there for ages.

The next day, Thursday, was our last, as we were due to pack up and move out on the Friday. We decided to head along the coast to Albany, the largest town on that stretch of coast about 50km away. After stopping for coffee we headed to the waterfront to see the historic brig the "Amity". She's a permanent museum on dry land now, but fantastically restored so that you can go round and see the whole thing. The history of her voyage was amazing as she had travelled from Sidney to Albany in the early days to suss out the possibility of a settlement there.

 She had 40 men on board, many of whom were convicts picked for their skills such as carpentry, gardening etc. and the space down below was not big.

Heading down..

The officers quarters, pure luxury compared to..

View through the door into the main "below deck" area. It really is that low and is a living space, not a store cupboard as you might assume.

After lunch we headed out to some blowholes further out on the coast, but they were not doing their thing according to the disappointed people coming back up the steps so we decided not to bother. Then we went to another fab beach where there was tree shade and grass as well as sand. We all got in the water and the 3 boys spent ages making a sandcastle fortress.

On the way home, we stopped at a sea arch for more spectacular views

 and then back to camp to ponder the work ahead of us on Friday.

Packing up went remarkably smoothly really and we almost made it out of the campsite by the allotted hour of 10am. We certainly didn't get hit by the promised rain storm, the first threat of rain all week. After a stop for coffee and pies in town (Denmark's bakery has award winning pies it seems) we were off. Our arrangement to meet up again just over half way home for some lunch worked well too, with only 5 mins between us.

What we weren't so prepared for was that we hadn't entirely avoided the rain. As we headed off up the road again it started to pour and suddenly we were in the middle of a big tropical style thunderstorm. Forked lightning was flashing up ahead and getting ever closer till it was actually forking down in fields to either side of us. What to do? Well given that the only shelter around would be trees, we just had to plough on and hope for the best. Not a comfortable experience though, and I speak as one who quite likes a good thunderstorm - provided I'm safely tucked away inside my house.

Which is rather a good thing really cause there was another one that night when we were.

Camping for Christmas. Part 1.

Friday 23rd December dawned bright and sunny (as most are here) and we were off down to the far South coast to a place called Denmark. Denmark is a beautiful "hippy" style seaside town about 450 kms from Perth, a drive which takes approx 5 hours. We were to spend Christmas camping with Brian's cousin Lorna, her partner Sue and their son James. We had told them that our earliest likely departure time was 9am, possibly 10 if things went badly with the packing. They were aiming for 7am, definitely no later than 8, as they have a trailer tent which takes a fair bit of putting together. We agreed we'd meet en route or possibly even down there.
10am came and we were still trying to fit everything into the car. I was worrying about how far behind the others we were when the phone rang. The conversation went a little like this.
Sue: " How's it going there?"
Me: "Erm, well, we're not ready yet. Thought the car was packed till we realised Brian had forgotten to put in the ice box." (the ice box is 62 litres so this was a major problem)
Sue: " Well, we haven't actually left yet either, but will be gone in the next half hour or so."
Me: "OK. Still got the bike rack to load but we won't be too far behind you."

At quarter past twelve that day, after having to remove pedals from bikes and stuff things under seats, we pulled into the local "Super Cheap Auto" store to buy more straps for the roof rack, before finally setting off !!

By five thirty we arrived on the camp site and had the further stress of unpacking everything again, putting up the tent, blowing up beds, putting up fairy lights etc. The kids just got on their bikes and cycled round in laps of the site until it made us adults feel giddy to look at them, but at least it kept them happy.

Next day was Christmas Eve. We went into town early to get some shopping, then back a little later to get a new gas bottle for our camp stove as it turned out the one we bought with it wasn't compatible ( thanks very much Mr shopkeeper for selling us that combo). The weather was beautiful and we decided to take a trip to a beach called Greens pool a little way along the coast.

Wow, they sure know how to do beaches down there. It was a stunning inlet with rocks around so that the full surf was broken up and the "pool" area was perfect for children to go in. There were plenty of steps to go down to get to it though. A fact which caught me out later when Ru needed an urgent poo after going in the cold water, and the loos were up top at the carpark!!

  One of the permanent residents of the site was a 75 year old white rasta with beard and dreds called Bob. Bob could take up a whole blog post all to himself, but suffice it to say he had taken rather a shine to us, largely on the basis of Brian and Lorna being Irish ( he was of Irish descent) and Brian's ability and willingness to chat to anyone. He lent us a second icebox for our beers, some glasses, and generally offered words of wisdom about the area. He also decided to pop over for a few Guiness' that evening, when we were trying our hardest to get the kids to bed and do the "Santa" thing successfully in tents. It was an interesting evening to say the least, but we did eventually manage to get everything done and be a little bit sociable too.

Christmas day came and Alfie tiptoed across from the boys room in the tent to ours. In the middle section was Santa's sack full of pressies for the boys. He whispered as if Santa might still be around "He came Mummy. He did!"  Ru awoke and the tent was soon filled with the sound of ripping paper and oohs and ahhs.  At ten we went off to Christmas day mass in the town. This is a picture of the first thing I saw as I got out of the car:

Approximately the size of my hand. Yuk!

The church was so cute, like something from a film, felt like it should be full of Amish or something:

Oddly enough the parish priest was an ageing Dubliner so there was some small hint of home for Brian at least!

When we got back to camp we had a visit from Santa in the local fire truck. They tour the whole town and park on Christmas day every year, sounding the siren, ringing the bell and throwing sweeties to the children. What an exciting sight. I was so thrilled for the boys I nearly forgot to take a photo!

Christmas dinner consisted of breaded chicken, mash and glazed carrots. The breaded chook was eaten with a dollop of Ocean Spray cranberry sauce on the side as a nod in the direction of proper Christmas dinner, but we passed on the Brussels sprouts this year due to lack of demand. In fact we ended  up with a rather larger group at our table than originally planned as the boys had made a friend, Liam, who was with his parents a couple of tents away. They came over for a glass of bubbly in the run-up to dinner and ended up bringing their table, chairs and meal over with them. We had plenty of crackers and Santa napkins to go round so the more the merrier it seemed.

I did insist on one Christmas tradition. Christmas Pud. There was a brief interlude after the main course while I cycled up to the microwave in the camp kitchen at the other end of the site with said pud tucked under my arm, and orange paper cracker hat at a jaunty angle on my head. I then had to wrap it in a couple of teatowels to bring it back, turn it out and feed some brandy in and over it in order to set the thing alight. This was a novelty for all at the table apart from Brian and myself, but everyone entrered into the spirit of the thing pretty well and we sang "We wish you a merry Christmas" before devouring it with loads of brandy butter and squirty cream. In all, it could be said to have been an unusual, but not at all unpleasant, Christmas day.

Boxing day we headed West to the "Valley of the Giants", a forest of huge Tingle trees where they have built a treetop walkway that takes you 40 metres into the canopy itself.

 Sue is terrified of heights but was persueded to give it a go. She did amazingly to get all the way round as the whole structure had a definite swing to it.

Presentation of a well deserved certificate!

The trees themselves were really beautiful, old and full of character, something that could actually be appreciated far more from ground level.

This one made me think of Enid Blyton stories, there's surely an elf living there.

This tree is actually named "Old Grandma Tingle" I think you can see why.

The boys stand inside a huge tree trunk.

Chilling out, hoping for ice cream.

We went for dinner on the way home as between fear and plain old excercise we were all starving, then Brian and I took the kids for a drive to have a look at another beach close to town called Ocean Beach. Thus called as the ocean meets the inlet on which Denmark sits, it has beautiful views from its viewing point, and scary currents in parts.

You can just see the inlet like a lake to the left of the picture.

The actual mouth of the inlet.

Then we went down onto the beach itself and very soon this happened..

!!!

I'll update you with the rest of the week later.