The HUGHES Cruises - Dolphins AND Christmas Lights.

We had met the lovely Hughes family (Nathan, Bec, Steph, Ashleigh and Nicole) in Coral Bay and Exmouth and were keen to take up their offer to stay with them at their house in Pinjarra. We'd visited a few weeks prior and had a wonderful afternoon so we're excited about our weekend there, and we were certainly not disappointed.

Although we set up our van out the front we actually made our bedroom for the weekend in their games room, much to the delight of the kids who had access to such a vast array of toys, including (the hands down favourite) a huge barbie house with all the accessories (campervan, motorbike, cars etc). Jackson actually complained one evening about how exhausted he was saying 'I've just been playing and playing and playing, I'm so tired'. The challenges of life as a 2 year old! 

Anyway we had an amazing, action packed weekend. On Friday night Bec hosted a pool party for Steph who'd had finished grade 6 that day. She had about 12 of her class mates around and they certainly made the most of the pool. On Saturday Daniel helped Nathan with some boat trailer maintenance whilst Jackson and I checked out a local cafe we'd been recommended. Emilia chose to stay with the girls and Bec did baking and cake decorated with them. After a huge play in the afternoon we loaded up Nathan and Bec's boat and headed for Mandurah. They took us cruising the marina then as it got darker we cruised through the canals looking at the amazing displays of Christmas lights put on by the clearly very wealthy people who lived here. It was so great with lots of ohhh and ahhh moments. It was clearly a very popular way to spend the evening as there were heaps of boats out. After a short drive home there were more Christmas lights to see on Nathan and Bec's street so by the end of the evening I had definitely indulged my inner child. 

On Sunday we decided to go on the boat again and they took us to up the Murray River (the WA Murray) to Coolenup Island, a small island with an historical flour mill built in 1843, a playground and walking tracks. The kids enjoyed playing on one of the large old trees whilst Nathan cooked up a lovely bbq lunch. After a walk to see the old mill we headed off for a tour of the estuary. It was a lovely afternoon lazing on the boat putting up the estuary when suddenly we spotted a mother dolphin and her calf frolicking in the water near us. The dolphins ended up staying beside or in front of us for at least 10 minutes, at some times swimming right under the boat. The calf put on a show for us, jumping out of the water and performing tricks. It was so incredible and such an amazing experience. Poor Jackson missed out on it all as he was asleep in the hull with Ashleigh! 

We were so pleased that we had got to experience the two touristy highlights of the area (Mandurah Canals Christmas Lights and Dolphin watching) without the tourists but with our lovely friends. The Hughes Cruises definitely get our recommendation! 

Reluctantly we left the incredible hospitality and generosity of our friends on Monday morning (it was a struggle to drag the kids away from their play with the girls) and we headed to the Blackwood River National Park. We were both so anxious hoping for a spot for Christmas and had no idea what to expect when we arrived. Would the grey nomads have already flocked in to the cheap camping and taken all the spots or would the lack of satellite coverage keep them away and mean the place would be empty until the school holidays began on the 17th????

Stay tuned for the next instalment..............

 

Ashleigh and Emilia ready for the Christmas Lights

Steph and Jackson with his way too big Santa hat that kept falling over his eyes.

The first OOOHHHH moment for Emilia

One of the many impressive Christmas Lights displays

Another impressive lights display

Cruising the estuary put 3 very tired kiddies to sleep in the hull of the boat

The dolphin calf doing a jump for us

Another impressive jump.

The mother and calf swimming right next to the boat

They stayed close for ages.

Showing off with a backflip!

Swimming right next to the boat.

Kookaburra Attack

I was the subject on a stealth stakeout and extreme attack on our first night at Lane Poole Reserve, a lovely park South East of Perth. We had a great camp spot and Nanga Brook, close to the river and amongst some trees. Little did we know the tree closest to our table was the preferred spot for a resident kookaburra to stake out his dinner. We were mid way through our meal of marinated chicken drumsticks and salad. I was leaning over my plate taking a forkful of salad (it was quinoa so you have to lean over or it goes everywhere), when from my periphery I glanced the first sign of the attack. The kookaburra came torpedoing in so close to my head that I flung myself backwards screaming and sending quinoa everywhere. I flapped my arms around trying to keep my head safe as I had no idea what type of bird it was or what it was doing. When I calmed myself poor Daniel was desperately trying to hold back a laugh as we surveyed my plate and realised the cheeky kookaburra had stolen a whole bit of chicken right off my plate! Daniel said it came in so quickly he didn't have time to warn me. We were impressed with its accuracy as it missed my wine glass which was right next to my plate. It was certainly a spectacle and I must give the kookaburra points for his boldness, courage and skill. 

The rest of the time at Lane Poole was not as eventful. We did some Xmas craft, swam, went walking and enjoyed the resident kangaroos who came right near our camp and actually ate some oats out of Emilia and Jackson's hands. Emilia is getting so used to wild animals she actually went to cuddle the kangaroo before Daniel stopped her! 

Kangaroos checking out our campsite

Scruffy bush hair.

Don't fall!!!

A refreshing face wash in the river.

The coldest Perth December in 50 years!

We booked a week in Perth to coincide with the annual Christmas pageant, a huge parade through the main street which I wanted to take the kids to. Unfortunately our visit to Perth also coincided with the coldest December days they'd had in 50 years complete with storms and a lot of rain. We could handle the horrible weather but were devastated when the Christmas parade was cancelled. It was the first time they'd cancelled it in the history of the event (42 years) so we managed to be a part of two Perth records.

We still had a great week in a Perth though as we were surrounded by some great friends and we stayed in a lovely park. The caravan park had several small lakes with a heap of ducks, swans and other water birds (many with babies). They were very bold and would come right into your camp hoping for some food. The kids spent the days playing with the friends they made at Sandy Cape and some new friends from the park. We did some Christmas shopping and car and van maintenance for the first few days. We also explored a few local beaches and enjoyed the 3 resort style pools at the caravan park. On the rainy day we were very grateful for the local Bunnings who kept the kids and Daniel entertained for a few hours (they had Xmas craft, face painting and the usual indoor playground so we were set).

Our friends from Adelaide, Martin, Kelly and Alexandra, whom we'd met and spent a lot of time with on the trip were visiting Perth to collect their puppy and were another reason we had chosen the first week of December to visit the capital. On Saturday we went around to their holiday apartment to see them and meet their gorgeous puppy, Louie. We spent a lovely afternoon catching up and we were all smitten with little Louie, Rascal may be getting a friend when we get back.

We spent the next few days with them, at Kings Park (where the kids ran amok in the great playgrounds), at our caravan park (on the jumping pillow and in the swimming pool) and then on Tuesday took ourselves and our van around to their lovely holiday apartment in Cottesloe where we got to stay inside an actual HOUSE on an actual BED! What a novel experience it was. We had a great day at a local park then on the foreshore of the Swan River watching Martin windsurf before the kids crashed and we sat up eating delicious Nepalese (and a lot of chocolate that Kelly and I got on a late night run to Woollies where Kelly had to sprint into the closing store and just grab whatever she could find. As she didn't know what we would like she came out with an armload of ice creams, chocolate and biscuits, it was a seriously lovely sugar overload). 

We also got to meet Santa at Perth's Christmas Place. Emilia was happy to talk to him but Jackson preferred to keep his distance. We did manage a few photos but he was pulling away ready to run to me! The kids got to make snow domes, decorate gingerbread biscuits, play in fake snow and meet some Christmas characters so it sort of made up for missing the parade.

The friendly duck, he then got a bit over friendly and tried to share our dinner every night.

Swan parents and their cygnets wandering through our camp.

Gotta love free facepainting at Bunnings

Too cool for facepainting he got a dragon instead.

The swans taking another morning walk.

Afternoon tea with Daniel's Aunt Gerda, Uncle Harry and his cousin Rob.

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Jackson wanted to hug the reindeer but his hand positioning was very unfortunate!

Taking advantage of the photo opportunities at Christmas Place.

 

Jackson ready to run from Santa!

Emilia was all up for letting Santa know her wishlist this year.

Jackson was very unsure but wanted to ring the bell so came closer.

Very intense colouring

A postcard to Santa requesting an Elsa doll.

Hard at work designing their biscuits

Mmmm food colouring and sugary biscuits

Very artistic

Extreme ropes course at Kings Park

Playing on the new skateboard with Alexandra.

A wine-less Margaret River stopover.

After finding our preferred spot for Christmas at Chapman Pool, we had hoped to spend a few days camping there to get a feel for the place but when we arrived on Saturday morning there were no spots left (we keep forgetting to take in to account that a lot of people go away on the weekends so places are going to be busier). After a quick family meeting we were headed to Margaret River for a few nights. We found a magnificent eco-camp at one of the old mills from the logging days. Wharncliffe Mill situated within what is now a national park and surrounded by lovely bushland and great walking tracks. Best of all was the nature based play area right next to our camp, complete with sandpit, rope swings and climbing ropes. The kids loved it! We skipped the wineries as we knew we would be doing them around the Xmas period so spent our time at a few local parks, doing lots of bush walks and getting some jobs done whilst the kids made the most of the play area. We did visit the Cheeky Monkey Brewery though and had a fabulous meal of marinated ribs complemented by a few blonde ales.

It was a great place and it is our fall back plan for Xmas if the national park is busy. Whichever way we will definitely be coming back.

Swinging and dodging Dolly provided endless entertainment.

Jackson preferred to hide as Dolly had hit him a few times.

The other entertainment at the campground, which the kids loved.

The first day of the Advent Calendar - the kids were SO excited.

The first day treat, a lolly watch, was devoured quickly before breakfast (and before I could change my mind!).

Sampling one of the lovely beers at the Cheeky Monkey Brewery.

Can we find the perfect camp for our upcoming bush Christmas??

The next week was dedicated to finding a camp spot where we will spend Christmas. Our checklist is:

No caravan park, near fresh water, walking/bike tracks, reasonably private sites, bush style camping.

We aren't after much but we have decided being near a river in a bushy setting is ideally what we want as you are much more protected from the wild coastal wind that often occurs over here. We certainly don't want to spend Christmas Day getting sand blown into our champagne!

So after racking the brains of every local we know we began exploring Wellington National Park which has camping on the Collie River. We spent 2 nights to get a feel for the spot and this is the positive/negative run down.

Positives:

Camping spots right next to river with picnic tables

Shade from the lovely trees

Ducks to feed

Kayaking

Swimming

Heaps of walking tracks

Lots of logs to balance on (the kids latest craze)

Bike riding

Flushing toilets

Negatives:

Only a few sites could take our van, most are for tents only.

Could get really busy with day visitors as it's an awesome spot and there have been quite a few people here even though it is midweek.

Quite a bit of rubbish (cans & bottles)- is it a bogan weekend hangout??

You can still see other sites from your site.

From there we headed south to the Blackwood River, where there are a few dedicated camping spots within the National Park and we'd also been told of heaps of tracks down to the river and secluded camping spots. 

On the way in to the national park, on long straight stretch of road, we saw a large dust cloud on the other side of the road and both wondered what it was. By the time we reached it 30 seconds later we were confronted with a totally smashed single cab work truck that had just run off the road and rolled to a stop on the edge. Tools, a air compressor, oxygen and acetylene bottles and several jerry cans of fuel were strewn across the road and the driver was wandering around, in a daze, but seemingly unhurt.  He was more worried about tidying up and calling his boss than any injuries he might have. We had no phone reception so Daniel got on the UHF to try to contact someone whilst I tried to get some debris off the road. The driver wasn't sure how it happened and was, understandably, quite shaken. Thankfully some other people stopped and one drove off to get phone reception and get help. We helped for a while the left him in the capable hands of other helpers who didn't have toddlers in their cars. Hopefully his boss took him to get checked out as it was incredible to think he had no injuries from an accident like that. 

After that drama we were keen to get settled. Unfortunately the spots in the national park camp grounds didn't take our fancy so we went off exploring some of the tracks. We found a steep track that took us to a cleared area on the riverbank, perfect. We spent several nights here and came to this conclusion:

Positives:

We were on our own 

River was easy to get in to

Kayaking opportunities

It was free

Negatives:

Two different groups of people (one a group from a local school) came to the spot to launch their kayaks so it is obviously a spot known to locals.

At 12.30 on night a car came down, after much cursing they sped away. Daniel found a still warm campfire just upstream the next morning and we think they may have been illegally netting marron and we were camped where they normally stay.

We spent some of our time exploring more of the Blackwood River area and we both really like a place called Chapman Pool. It is a National Park camp area so for only $20 a night we get the luxuries of drop toilets, free gas bbq's, picnic tables, walking trails and a small 'beach' area to get in and out of the river and launch the kayak. The sites are also quite bushy so you have a bit of privacy. It is also only 20 min from Margaret River for supplies. We have decided this will suit us for Xmas now we just have to get a spot. Only a few sites will fit the van, as most are just for tents, so we plan to head down on Monday 14th with our fingers crossed and hopefully secure a site. If that fails we found a few other free camps that would be okay  but I am sure we will manage to have a lovely and unique Christmas wherever we are. 

Jackson perfecting his 'monkey' skills - not sure why he had to do it nude though (definitely like his father!)

Admiring the serenity of the Collie River.

A bush camp is what we are after.

Kayaking on the Blackwood River.

A House - what a strange and exciting experience.

We'd planned on beginning our exploration of south west WA and our quest to find a perfect camp spot for Christmas but we only made it as far as Mandurah, south of Perth. We were taken with the grassy foreshore where we watched dolphins frolic in the estuary whilst the kids enjoyed the playground. It has great walking tracks and the marina area was lovely. It was actually the first place in WA that both Daniel and I said we could live at. It also had all the shops Daniel needed for the lighting upgrade he was planning for the outside of the van so we ended up staying for four nights to enjoy the place and get a few jobs done (the lights turned out amazing - thanks to my very handy man!) On our last day, Sunday, we were excited to be visiting friends we had met in Coral Bay and Exmouth. Nathan, Bec and their 3 lovely girls (Steph, Ashley & Nikki) live in nearby Pinjarra, a lovely town on a large river with a real bush feel even though it's only 45 min from Perth.
Our afternoon on Sunday was memorable not just for the delicious lunch Bec and Nathan served us, the wonderful time the kids had playing with their girls in the pool or the great conversation but because it was the first time we had stepped into a house since we began on our trip (9.5 months ago)! It was such a strange feeling being in a house again and we both commented several times how lovely (and spacious) it was. The kids had such a great time playing with the girls in their cubby house, trampoline, slippery slide and pool that time slipped by so quickly and we didn't leave until around 6.30pm, a very long lunch! We just managed to get them back and fed before they completely crashed. We are really looking forward to visiting Nathan and Bec again for a few nights in December. 

Ice cream (and dairy free mango sorbet) on the foreshore

It was just so good they made it last for nearly half and hour.

My deprived son finally enjoying a ice cream from an icecream shop

Zoned after a hard day of play with Steph, Ashley & Nikki.