4 Stray Katz: Back in the van with Mr PT man

So I forgot to add a funny happening to the last blog. It occurred when Daniel went back to Fremantle Market to collect a sticker we had ordered (4straykatz) for the back window of the car. Anyway we had left the market and were already at the park when he remembered the sticker (that we were meant to collect 10 minutes after ordering). Anyway he collected the sticker then as he was leaving 3 guys were doing a comedy circus busking act in front of the market. As part of their act they were heckling the crowd. When Daniel walked past he heard them say 'Check out Mr PT walking past there' and when Daniel looked he said 'Yep I'm talking about you mate'. The 100 or so people all looked at Daniel and he says he was embarrassed but I know he was secretly chuffed to be likened to a personal trainer (as he keeps mentioning it:eg 'how could you resist this PT body etc'). I fear this will definitely become one of the stories he rehashes every time he has a few drinks!

So moving on from my hot man to the next part of our adventure. After the house sit we were meant to head to Augusta but this was delayed due to the devastating fires in the SW of WA. All direct roads leading south were closed as the firefighters tried to contain the fire that wiped out the whole town of Yarloop. We moved to a caravan park just south of Fremantle to wait until it was safe to drive through the fire ravaged zone. Thankfully cool weather came on Tuesday and the fires were under control. The roads opened on Wednesday morning and we made it to Augusta, a lovely town on the south coast on the mouth of the Blackwood River.

The highlight of our time in Augusta was the great fishing. We had a lucky Friday with the kids each catching two whiting on their new fishing rods. I caught one by pure luck (there was certainly no skill involved) and Daniel caught another 8 so once filleted we had two dinners sorted. That afternoon we went to a lovely bay and Daniel went for a snorkel with his spear gun. He got an enormous fish (82cm) and a large abalone (my absolute favourite).

We ate the abalone the following night and I encouraged both kids to try. I hadn't had any for several years and was really looking forward to it but wanted the kids to try it to keep expanding their tastes. Well unfortunately their reaction was not quite what I expected and I now have to share as they both loved it! Looks like Daniel is going to be doing some more diving to satisfy my children's expensive tastes.

After Augusta we went back to Margaret River only because it was meant to be super windy so we thought we would ride out the wind and finally visit a few wineries. Our first afternoon we spent at the river mouth and enjoyed a pristine beach afternoon, calm inlet on one side and awesome waves on the other. The next day was spent visiting local wineries and breweries (all family friendly). There kids were over it by late arvo and a light drizzle had developed. The rain slowly got heavier then that evening about 10pm it really hit and absolutely poured. Our plans of heading south had to be aborted as the storm was causing floods down near Pemberton (where we were headed) and we also didn't want to have to pack up in the rain. We extended out stay and watched movies all day. The rain had still not eased and more was coming so we extended another day and got the gumboots and umbrellas out and managed a couple of bushwalks in between showers.

That afternoon we took advantage of the few hours of reprieve the radar suggested to check out Gnarabup beach. As we walked a dog on a lead came trotting along. We grabbed it then looked for its owner, but to no avail. The kids each took turns walking Alby while I ran back to grab my mobile to call the number on the tag. Couldn't get through so we began walking back to try the cafe for his owner. After nearly reaching the cafe I got a phone call from Alby's owner whose husband had taken him to the beach whilst he was snorkelling with their kids. We had seen snorkellers down the other end of the beach so we headed that way again. From a distance we saw them pack up and leave. We hightailed it and Daniel only caught up with them just as they were getting into their car. Then it started to rain so we ran all the way back to the car, we had been up and back along the beach 6 times by the time we made it back, but at least that was our good deed for the day!

Rain subsided so we headed off the next morning, bound for Yallingup (we decided to give Pemberton a few days to dry out before we head down there). We are so grateful we have time to spare and can just ride out the bad weather, we felt very sorry for the many campers who were just on a weeks holiday and had to spend most of their time in their tents.