We packed up our little house on wheels, and drove the huge distance (two suburbs away) to Kylie and Stu’s for Maxx’s 1st birthday party. The birthday boy amused everyone before going down for his little nanna nap, then was up and running again! It was a good chance for us to say one last goodbye to everyone (seems like all we’re doing these days is saying goodbye to people!) before we headed down south.
Got to Busso (as the locals say…) Sunday afternoon after I drove most of the way down the new Forrest Highway! Craig and Dale (who we were staying with) live right on the beach at West Busselton, or Abbey I think it might be called, and it’s beautiful! When we got there it was nice and sunny, we took the dogs (ours and theirs) for a walk along the beach and basically just caught up on the news.
Monday, Craig and Dale had the day off (they own and operate the par 3 golf course in Busselton, it’s awesome fun! http://www.touristradio.com.au/busselton/sponsors/par%203%20golf.htm), so we went out to some of their local drives, across to Dunsborough, 4WD to Yallingup, had some lunch there, then headed down to a couple of galleries for lookies and coffee. On the way back to Busso, we called in to Christian Fletcher’s gallery in Dunsborough, and I was in heaven! Christian’s photos are unbelievable, something to aspire to, and the gallery is just beautiful. Well worth the visit if you’re ever down that way, or even check out his website, you’ll see what I mean! Monday arvo, Matt and Craig went out on Craig and Dale’s kayak’s, and Matt scored some mussels off a couple of the boat moorings that are just off the beach. I tell you, there’s nothing better than fresh mussels on the barbie, so yummy! We went to Craig and Dale’s friend’s place in the afternoon to play tennis, and ended up being there for about an hour and a half.
Tuesday, Melbourne Cup day, Matt and I played in the par 3 ambrose (listen to me talking like I know what I’m on about!) competition at Craig and Dale’s golf course. Matt and I were Dale and Pam’s (Dale’s sister) handicaps, so much so that Dale and Matt came last, and Pam and I second last! It was good fun, I did feel bad for Pam that I was so crap though… J We watched the race after that, as you do, then had a quiet afternoon back at the house with Craig. Matt and Craig went out on the kayaks again, and this time came home with a couple of squid that Matt and I cooked up for dinner for all of us! So yummy again!
Wednesday, our 9th anniversary, we ended up doing a bit of a tour of the area thanks to the lovely Craig and Dale. We headed down to the Margaret River cheese factory first, then onto Moon Haven in Cowaramup which Dale’s friend from high school, Leonie, owns. We got a backstage pass so to speak, with Leonie showing us all through the stock rooms and even giving us a few samples! J After buying a few things from there, we headed over to Providore which has the most amazing pastas, sauces, jams etc, I think Matt and I sampled just about everything! We then went on to Woody Nook for lunch (delicious!), then back to the chocolate factory (ahhhhhhh), and on to Yahava Koffee before heading back to Craig and Dale’s place. Matt and I hung around for the rest of the afternoon while Craig and Dale went to work, then we all went out for Thai for dinner with Craig and Dale’s two daughters, again so lovely!
Thursday, Matt went to work with Craig to play in the weekly mens comp, then I went in with Dale at about 9, and Matt and I played another round. We then headed back to Craig and Dale’s place so we could pack up the van for the weekend, and some stuff for overnight. We then headed back north for the night to Bunbury (Bunno as Ryan tells me…) to stay with Ryan and Brent for the night. Brent cooked up a storm on the barbie, and we sat around in the lovely afternoon sun, chatting and drinking.
Friday we headed back to Busselton for some food shopping, then we were off for the weekend camping with Craig and Dale and Leonie and Eric who we’d met on Wednesday. We ended up staying at Sues Bridge, the only place around there that allows fur kids. So we all got set up for the weekend, and had a few drinks around the campfire.
Saturday, Matt and Craig decided that they’d like to kayak down the Blackwood (launching from where we were staying), and we could all go and meet them in a couple of hours to pick them and the kayaks up and go back to camp. Dale, Leonie, Craig and I sat around the campsite for the time being, reading and just hanging out, pretty much. We said we’d meet the boys at Hut Pool at about 12, but after we’d been waiting there for an hour and a half, we started making plans on who was going to go back to camp and get some food and warmer clothes for us all. About five minutes after we’d decided that, the boys came paddling down the river! Apparently it was longer than they thought, and there’d also been quite a few places that they’d come across where the river was quite wide and they’d pretty much had to paddle non-stop! So, we had a fairly quiet afternoon after all that excitement! We did have a few more drinks that night, and played cards, oh damn, again.
Sunday Leonie and Eric packed up to go home, so Craig, Dale, Matt and I went out 4WDing for the day. We went back to the Donnelly River campsite where we camped at Easter time to show Craig and Dale, then tried to find the access to the campsite on the other side of the river – no joy. On the way back past we stopped at Donnelly River wines (very cute!), then went up and had a look at Red Gully where Matt saw the first of two (albeit small) snakes that we found that day. We had lunch, then cut back through Denys Road and had a look at another campsite right on the river where there was a snake just at the edge of the river. Yay.
Monday Craig and Dale packed up before we’d even started to do so, then headed off back home. We finally finished at about 12, then headed south again and ended up staying at Parry’s Beach for the princely sum of $7 for the night. We got a hot shower before the sun went down, and the camp was right on the beach (not as good as Woorrora, but still pretty good!).
We made it to Albany this morning, had a bit of a look around the town then headed out to the King River Palms CVP, where we’re set up right on the river. It was beautiful when we got here, and for about two hours after that, but big thunder storms have been rolling in all afternoon, and it was even hailing when we got back from our drive this afternoon! It’s pretty nice though, so we’re here for another night to have a bit more of a look around, then on to Esperance. We’re both looking forward to getting past here, onto “new” roads for us since we’ve never been further than Albany along the SW coast.
I’m putting some pics up tomorrow, so check them out probably in the afternoon, I should have at least some up by then! : )
