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.