Busselton and Margaret River.

I'm glad to report that we're home safe and sound from our sojourn down South. Betsy (the generic name given to all the vehicles we've ever owned) did us proud and got the six of us and an unfeasably large amount of luggage to and from Busselton, approximately 200 kms away.

We set off after school / work last Friday and within the first half an hour had seen a sight I'd rather not see too often. A large bush fire was blazing high not far from the freeway.

The picture was taken from our moving car and doesn't really do it justice but it was an amazing and scary sight. As usual the boys brought some light relief. Ru made some comment about how great it looked.
Alfie replied " No, bushfires are dangerous. Do you want to die Ru?" 
Ru "No"
Alfie "Well then never walk into a bushfire"
Good advice from an older brother it would be fair to say, but it did make us all chuckle to hear the pair of them.

Saturday we stayed around Busselton as we'd started the day fairly lazily. Off to the jetty. Not just any old jetty it has to be said. It's 1.3km long and you can get a little tourist train to the end of it, where there is an underwater observatory.

The view as we set off. That's the far end of the jetty in the distance!

The train ride was really cold but it was well worth it as the view en route and the observatory when we got there were amazing. There were so many fish around and corals too- and all in the open sea, rather than an aquarium. I guess it's the closest you'll get to diving without getting wet. Really incredible.

 At the very furthest point sat dozens of birds, especially gulls and cormorant, all waiting for their next meal. As you can see from the pictures there were plenty of fish in there for the taking when they got a bit peckish!

Hard to see, but atop every post was a bird.

And then at the landward end, next to the ice cream shop, was an old lighthouse which has imaginatively been turned into a helter skelter slide. As it's now off season it was closed so I didn't have to bravely accompany the children on a trip to the top, but it was a lovely sight.

 

In the evening we went for a stroll around the holiday park where we were staying, and down to the beach to watch the sunset. First we met some ducks who had made their home on the outdoor pool.....

 The ducks ( we'll meet them again later )

The sunset was beautiful, as was the beach......

 .....and the boys just couldn't resist going for a paddle...........

...................which turned into a full blown running race...................

.......which, because they are boys, soon turned into a " lets just get wet" competition.....
..

By the time we were leaving they were drenched and getting cold, so they came back and made full use of the spa bath in the lodge where we were staying.

Sunday morning we woke up and went to pull the curtains, only to find that the ducks are very much part of the landscape where we stayed! They hovered around obviously hoping to be fed, but as Dad had read a sign asking people not to, we just took advantage of them for a photo opportunity.

For the rest of Sunday we went further afield and visited a variety of attractions, most of which involved food. The first did not, being a fascinating and stunning cave. I was keen to explore but rather worried that the boys would find it creepy and scream blue murder to be let out. Thankfully they loved clambering around the paths and tunnels and were delighted by the crystals and stalactite/ stalacmite formations. We must have spent about an hour and a half down there in all.

Next stop was the Margaret River chocolate factory where you can watch them through a window making all sorts of yummy delights. We had a coffee and bought some provisions from the shop, just to keep us going you understand.
 Onwards we drove to Bootleg Brewery,  an oasis of beer in a region famed for its wine!  They cater very well for the kids with a big playground and so we sampled a variety of ales, the childeren played, and ultimately we decided to stay for lunch.

Having sampled both chocolate and beer, we rounded things off nicely with a brief stop at a cheese factory and came away with a large tub of delicious feta marinated in chili and herbs. Mouth watering stuff.

Monday we rather wasted by just going for coffee in Busselton, stopping in Bunbury for lunch and coming back home in time for dinner (starting to sound like there's a theme developing).

Sad to say we managed to miss all the wineries completely, but that's just an excuse for another trip to a beautiful region some time soon.

A new arrival.

We're off down south this weekend to Busselton and Margaret River. It's 3 hours drive away and I suppose this crystallised the need to get a car we could all fit into. So allow me to me introduce you to our new addition. It's a 1993 (yes, that does make her 18 yrs old) Mitsubishi Nimbus, which I think was a space wagon in the UK.

We have invested in her because she has 7 seats and with Mum and Dad here it was becoming increasingly difficult to go anywhere as a group, and hire cars were getting extremely expensive for them. So we've clubbed together and gone down the route of a cheap and cheerful alternative. Dad volunteered to give her a wash and polish today in the hope of making her look smarter. I have to be honest and say it has only made a marginal difference to her looks, but having done a bit of polishing myself, there was a certain sense of satisfaction that we'd made the effort.

Ru was very inspired by the whole process and decided he'd do his bike while the bucket was out:

 And when Alfie came home from school he also wanted to join in the fun, so we set him to work on the Subi so he didn't feel left out. Ru showed him how it was done:

It wasn't entirely out of pride that the Forrester got a wash either I must admit !

I've bought some breakdown cover today too but am optimistically hoping that it will be an unnecessary extra. We'll be a long way from home though and you can't be too careful with a car that has over 200,000 km on the clock and you've only owned for 2 days. Anything might happen. Wish us luck, and assuming we get back, I'll let you have some pics of our travels next Tuesday :o)

When is a treat not a treat?

While stopped at some traffic lights with Ru the other day he suddenly declared "Bowling. Can we go bowling Mummy?" My first thoughts were: "What the heck put that into his head?" followed quickly (as I saw a street sign for the tenpin bowling alley) by "How on earth did he read that? He's only three".
My illusion of having a gifted child ( "He was reading at three, and wrote his first novel by the time he was six, blah, blah") was soon shattered as I saw a fifteen foot high skittle atop a nearby building. Ahh, all becomes clear.
Next door there was a fast food joint called "Chicken Treat". I'm not entirely sure where the "treat" part comes in. It sure isn't a treat for the chickens involved and by the look of it I'm in serious doubt about the diners too. To give you an idea of the establishment it was also sporting a model on its roof. This time it was a chicken. In case the average customer is unsure of what they sell no doubt. I wonder if the menu is similarly graphic?
I drove off  wondering how long it'll be before I am subjected to a barrage of requests for fast food on every journey. Not long I suspect. Alfie already recognises the McDonalds "M" and comments on it regularly, and he's only ever been in once on a long journey to have their breakfast porridge. He has spotted the playzone at the one on the highway too. If he ever so much as hears the phrase "happy meal" I'm sunk! I thank my lucky stars Ru only noticed the bowling on this occasion, and the lies tripped from my tongue without a thought "It's closed today darling, maybe one weekend we'll all go."

Alfie learns to ride his Bike.

We're just back from the park and while the dinner's cooking I thought I'd tap out a few words because I'm feeling very proud.
It was another glorious day and the boys wanted to go out so we decided that Brian would cycle them to one of our riverside playparks in the trailer. Mum, Dad and I were charged with the job of packing up a picnic and then driving out to meet them there. We decided at the last minute to put the boys bikes in the back of the car too, as theres a big green area where we were headed and it might be a good place for a bit of cycling.

Picnicking by the water.

Alfie has for a while now been getting more confident on his bike and B loosened his training wheels recently. So we decided today that while there was only grass to fall onto, this might be the time to take them off altogether. We were all amazed. After three or four tries when he needed some help to get started (essentially me running behind holding the back of the saddle for a few seconds), he figured out even the push-off and he was away.

 None of us could believe how well he was doing and Ruairi didn't want to be left out so he insisted on having his wheels taken off too.

Unfortunately at only 3 he didn't quite understand to concept that if you stop pedalling or don't look where you're going, you'll fall off. He spent a good bit of time looking at his own shadow and toppling, and ultimately it was decided by all concerned that the wheels should go back on his bike! His brother on the other hand was standing up on the pedals and flying round in circles like a pro by the time we left.

Now we're home, the sun's going down (as it does at alarming pace here) and because it's autumn time, when the sun goes, so does the heat. I have some corned beef on the hob, spuds and cabbage in the pot, and the boys are watching a recording of "Shrek" and eating popcorn while they wait. We could almost be back home!

I'm adding an extra picture today to prove that there are really lemons on the new "tree" as the more I looked at the other one the less I could make them out!

Patience is a virtue..... and I don't seem to have it.

So B eventually got in the door from Singapore at 3 o'clock last Sunday morning. His flight had been moved from the Saturday morning to the evening (so he could work an extra day) and was then delayed. To make matters worse, on the morning flight he had been booked into business class due to lack of space in the cheap seats, but when they changed it they managed to squeeze him back in down the back somewhere. In all it made for a lazy start to Sunday and I was glad I'd bought a few bits for a Sunday fry-up. We cooked it all, including fried eggs, on the barby and the weather was very kind to us:

In the afternoon the lemon tree was finally planted into its pot.

 I see from the pics (though you probably can't from the one above) that the few lemons it has clinging to it were very green then, but as I write 6 days on they are turning quite yellow already. I know all the garden books will tell me it's probably a better idea to take the fruit off when the tree is small, but who can resist seeing a couple of lemons clinging to it. I'm far too impatient to wait a whole year for the first ones!!

Monday heralded a trip to Ikea. I had to get a couple of rugs in the interest of protecting the beautiful Jarrah wood floors in the house (and particularly inspired by the fact that our first "house inspection" was due on Wednesday). Thankfully the boys absolutely love the Smaland play area there, because having bought our rugs, we realised we couldn't all fit in the car to get home! Dad and I did a rug run leaving Mum in store with the boys in the play zone, then we went back and all had good old Ikea meatballs for lunch - I don't even want to think what's in them but they're tasty and the boys love 'em.

Tuesday we had a meet up with some of the other kids and Mums from school at a local playpark. The park is on the river and it didn't take the boys long to gravitate to the little jetty and beach nearby and find some jellyfish. Lots of jellyfish actually. Clearly they weren't very strong stingers as all the boys were handling them for about an hour. They seemed to think they could save everyone else from the jellyfish if they put them all in one pool.

I can't honestly promise that no jellyfish were harmed at all but they were kept wet with numerous buckets of water and put back in after, so hopefully most survived!  
Wednesday was the dreaded inspection which, on the positive side, gave me a reason to do a major clean of the house. On the negative side it absolutely necessitated a major clean of the house. At some point I became resentful and imagined all sorts of "conversations" I might have if the agent gave me negative feedback. Amongst other things they all included my offering to come and check how clean her house is at the end of the school holidays. In the event she was very pleasant and all went well, but I do resent the fact that they will re-inspect my cleanliness every 3 months for our entire stay. At some point one of my less than cheerful imaginary chats might just come into play!

Then, today was back to school. Both boys were going this morning, with Alfie joining all his friends and Ru starting somewhere new. He was only offered this very local place late last term so I've kept him on at his original school, but added the new one in as well. They both only offer two sessions of 2 and a half hours so it shouldn't be too taxing. By the end of term we'll see which one seems to be his favourite and go back to just one- if only to reduce the running around I do. He came out smiling anyway and also with a lovely mothers day gift for me (it's mothers day on Sunday here). I can't be expected to tell a 3 year old I'm not opening his present, and I've already explained that I'm rather impatient too, so I've opened it already:

A lovely bead necklace made by his own hand in a box painted and decorated  "all on mine own" too. I suspect he may have had a little more help than he's prepared to admit, but I don't care, I've been wearing the necklace all day anyway :o)

Bingo and Bunnings.

Brian has beeen in Singapore for the last 3 days. We've been to Bunnings (/B&Q) in his absence and bought a few more plugs, a lawnmower and a lemon tree with large pot. Well, to be precise mum and Dad bought us the lemon tree as a sort of housewarming. It's a dwarf tree called "Lots of lemons" and apparently it produces just that- and even better they're normal size, it's only the bush that's dwarf :o)
I must say they've got the right idea for keeping the children happy too. There's a childrens playground area actually in the store which allowed me to drop them in and leave one or other grandparent sitting watching over them. It makes life far easier from a shopping point of view and I'm sure it makes sound commercial sense too. I have before now had to leave a trolley load of stuff in B&Q and just leave when I could no longer control my childrens desire to run (and I guess my own).
It's been distinctly cooler here and indeed it rained and blew on Wednesday both day and night. We joked about needing to make our own entertainment as the boys couldn't go out, and they had great (albeit fruitless) fun chasing a fly round with a newspaper for about 20 minutes.  Apart from the light relief afforded by the trip to the DIY shop we actually made and played bingo as Alfie absolutely loves it and it's great for his familiarity with numbers. I also decided we'd make some "letter" bingo so that he gets good practise with his alphabet too.

Homemade bingo game. Numbers 0-20.

Lower case letter bingo. More than just a fun game (but don't tell the boys!)

Yesterday too was much cooler, although the monsoon style rain showers had stopped. The boys were delighted to get back out on their bikes and scooters and work off some energy and Alfie is getting used to his stabilisers being much looser as Brian altered them last weekend. He really needs to do some straight runs to get his balance as mainly here he's doing circles which does make it harder. Down to the cycle path along the river at the weekend I think.

Last night I made a Thai green curry for our dinner. The boys loved it and came back for more which is a true compliment for my boys who are by no means fantastic eaters. I used a bought paste as the base I must admit, but added extra kaffir lime to the mix which made it smell really amazing. This was courtesey of Brian's cousin and her partner who live in the hills to the East of here and have lots of citrus trees in their garden. I must admit it had never really occurred to me that a kaffir lime was a fruit tree, it was just a name for a recipe ingredient. They're funny looking things though, and you don't eat them but can use the zest as well as the famed leaves. I did both and the kitchen was filled with an incredible lemon-grassy aroma.

A fresh kaffir lime. Wrinkly as a bulldogs face but full of heavenly scent.

Thank heavens it's been much warmer today, to the point that Alfie even went for a dip in the pool. Ru was less brave and made his own sport filling a bucket and tipping on Alf as he swam underneath. I waited with bated breath for war to break out but Alfie thought it was great fun so they played that way for a while. Later when Mum and I went to the supermarket we invested in some baking ingredients so that we can bake some fairy cakes and bread in the next few days. Can't wait I must say.

Doing time.

Easter monday we headed off down the Canning Highway to Fremantle. Fremantle is the port city for Perth and has loads of history and lovely old style buildings, not to mention massive container ships with big cranes for the boys to enjoy. Mum and Dad got new hats and then we took a guided "tram" tour to see the sights. We'd done this before but it was a good way for the new arrivals to see round and this time we also included a tour of Fremantle prison. It was a scary place and although really rather beautiful on the outside it certainly looked a pretty desolate place to have to spend time.

The Prison Gates from outside....

...and from inside....

Just like in the movies.

The excercise yard. At the far end were the washbasins and loos-outside in the yard itself.

It was a fascinating but rather disturbing insight into a place that must have been really desperate to inhabit. Although built by convicts in 7 years the 1850's it was astonishing to find it was only decommissioned in 1991. The cells were originally just 7 feet by 4 and as many as 50% of the convicts died overnight by simply suffocating. Eventually the authorities cottoned on to why so many deaths were happening and the cells were widened and given ventilation which solved the problem.
After our tour we were lucky enough to be let back out and went for some very welcome tea before hopping back on the tram and seeing more of the city. The war memorial was decked out in flowers as the Anzac day service had taken place during the morning, and the views from there are beautiful.

The top of Alfie's head dwarfed by the obelisk.

Alfie was so tired he fell asleep for the rest of the tram ride, poor thing, but woke in time for an ice cream at the end.
Probably because of this nap (I don't know what Ru's excuse was) the boys were still full of beans when we got home so B took them out on our newly reassembled bike trailer. My bike has the best gearing for pulling it so he took that, but heaven knows I don't think I'd be fit enough to pedal those two hefty monsters around!

Where did they go but yet another playpark?!

By the time they got back it was nearly time for dinner and soon bed beckoned both adults and children alike.

Today was still bank holiday here ( Officially Easter monday as yesterday was Anzac day) -so we headed for the beach. Hillarys harbour to be precise with its lovely safe inner beach which is great for the kids. Both boys were very keen to get in the water and see if there were any fish to be caught. Sadly there weren't today but they still enjoyed splashing about. Then Alfie set about making a sand castle, which turned into more of a fort, and I helped a bit to get the moat dug. Before we knew it there were 3 other boys asking if they could join in the fun cos the castle was "really cool" and Alfie, who's incredibly sociable, was thrilled with himself  :o)

Brian decided he'd make the most of the opportunity for a dip too and headed out to the deeper water for a swim. He came back more quickly than expected and it turned out he had found a different sort of fish on his travels- he'd been stung by a jellyfish across his face!! Fortunately it wasn't too serious and he put some vinegar on it at the fish and chip shop as we had lunch later, which helped a bit. As we walked along the quay afterwards we saw lots of  tiny jellyfish, only about an inch or two across and I guess it was one of those that got him. Poor Brian- he was only just getting over the tummy bug I'd given him!
Also on the quay was a special Thomas the Tank engine "train" ride. It only took about 3 minutes around the quay but the boys were entranced. When we asked it turned out to be free -so on they hopped!

Sitting in the troublesome trucks.

Choo choo, off we go!

Even better, they got a Thomas stamp on the back of their hand, and were allowed to keep their ticket, one of Alfie's treasures which he'll keep safe.

We got back home in time to iron a shirt or two as Brian's off to Singapore in the morning. He'll be back Saturday but it's still a shame when he has to go. It'll be lovely for me to have some company here on this occasion though.