A family road trip

So 2013 has started in a slightly unusual way in that we haven't had Brian here for the whole month of January. He left on Jan 2nd to go to Malaysia for 2 weeks for work, then needed to go home to Ireland to see his Dad who had to have major surgery last month. We have missed him terribly but it was planned so that I would not be completely alone while he was gone as Mum and Dad have been here for the whole time. The boys and I just love having them around and I know they are already starting to worry a little about how we'll all feel after they go home again, which is fast approaching. In the meantime we have been having as much fun as possible to keep ourselves from missing daddy too much.

Last week we set off down south to Bunbury and Margaret River. First came our stay at Bunbury , at a lovely golf resort where we had our own small 2 bedroom house. It was noticeably cooler than the 30-plus degrees we've become accustomed to in Perth of late, but it didn't deter the boys from having a swim in the beautiful pool (I might add it DID deter the adults!)

Friday morning we checked out of our golf resort early and headed to the nearby Dolphin Discovery Centre. This place has an onsite aquarium but most importantly a beach which is regularly visited by wild dolphins. We had been told to get there early to have our best chance of seeing some, so by 8.15 we were there.  And our early start paid off almost immediately, with a female dolphin coming in to the beach just after we had got there. We raced down and stripped off trousers to wade in (it's a controlled interaction where you may not touch or splash at the dolphins, but just stand and watch)

I was in the water when i took this one...

...then got out to show how close they come.

She went away after half an hour or so, then came back with her daughter later on.

This time the boys came in too. They had been a little unsure earlier and stood watching from the shore, but now we were all thoroughly wet and enjoying a once in a lifetime experience.
After a few hours at the centre we loaded our somewhat damp selves into the car and headed off again, this time further South to the next part of our adventure, Kerrily Park Farmstay.

We found it fairly easily, given that the maps we had didn't really seem to show a road of the name we were looking for. Anyway, after following the roads we could identify we rather stumbled on the right place, albeit that I drove straight past the driveway and had to slam on the brakes and reverse back to get in. Once there we found a signpost directing us to our chalet and saying "Welcome Cotter Family", which I thought was a lovely friendly touch. The chalet, being honest, wasn't really great. It was old and the kitchen and bathroom could do with updating, not to mention the sofa which was so saggy it was hard to stay seated on it! But it was very clean and the beds were comfy and the farmers wife Renee came to visit almost immediately and bring a fan for the boys room, as this was not equipped with air conditioning. She told us we could visit the animals whenever we liked, but the main event "feeding time" was at 8.30 every morning. That afternoon we settled in, visited the playground, and went to the pool for a quick dip.

Then went out to find some supper, which was happily consumed at the Caves House hotel in Yallingup about 20 minutes away, where the boys (and the mummy) were delighted to find a bouncy castle to keep them amused.

Next morning it was all out for the feeding. I had said we might eat a late breakfast after, thinking the boys would lay in and we'd be rushing down to the farm for 8.30. How foolish is wishful thinking? The boys came into my room somewhere in the region of half past 6 wondering if it was time to go yet. So it was on full bellies that we headed for our first day's feed time.
There are several young animals there who are being bottle fed. First two little black pigs, who squealed and grunted with delight at the sight of people coming, whether it was to feed them a bottle, or just scratch their backs. Next was Lucy, a 5 month old goat who has been bottle fed from birth and who wants to join in all the kids games. Lucy has a firm friend/ "brother" in a water buffalo of the same age named Inge. His mother died at birth and he has been with Lucy since they were respectively 3 and 5 days old. They all eat "real" food also, but still enjoy their bottles, and I think the kids just LOVED giving them to them.

Inge, the water buffalo gets a bottle.

Next came the feeding of the shetland ponies....

........followed by the goats other than Lucy.....

........followed by the sheep.....

........and Alpacas.......

 ......all finally rounded off with a chance to cuddle an emu!

Lucy decided she enjoyed Ru's company,

and even wondered if she might enjoy a nibble of his hair too!

The rest of Saturday was spent mooching around the town of Margaret River, eating lunch and visiting the delicious chocolate factory.
Sunday started much as Sturday had with a trip to feed the animals. Then we went not very far up the road to see a demonstration at the Shearing Shed. The farmer sheared a sheep, showed us how everything was sorted, then we got to bottle feed a few more little animals,  lambs this time, before getting a demo of how the dogs work on the farm. It was surprisingly interesting I must confess.

A trim behind her ears.

 

Me getting to cuddle a lamb!

The boys plus Grandma and Grandad bottle feeding lambs.

 

 

Off goes the Border Collie to get the sheep.

 

And they soon arrive in a cloud of dust.

 

 

Next the Aussie dog, the Kelpie, is put in and she runs around amongst and on top of the sheep to get them moving through the pen.

 

 

Just keeping an eye on things....

 

 

The rest of Sunday was spent at the Yallingup Maze. After over an hour of being lost we finally reached the end and rewarded ourselves with food and tea (of course) The boys jumped on the second bouncy castle of the weekend for hours and the grown ups sat doing games and puzzles, with a small interlude for cricket with Alfie. When we got back the boys couldnt resist heading down to find Lucy the goat and she promptly followed them back and played on the playground with them. At one point I seriously thought she would go down the slide (which I'm told she has before), but she changed her mind and went back down the steps instead.

All in all a really lovely long weekend, which didn't end until Monday when we finally said goodbye to Lucy and the other animals and gently headed back to the heat of Perth (via a playpark of course)