Margaret River and Perth

Our four days in the Margaret River chalet with Andrew’s parents seemed very removed from the previous 3 weeks on the road in the tent.  Isla was most excited about having stairs in the house!  We were just excited about the house part!

Our first full day together was Olivia’s 11^th birthday.  We enjoyed a pancake breakfast and then headed north to Busseltown.  Busselltown’s claim to fame is its 2km long pier – rich in history, which was interesting to read about in the information centre.  We took the little train out along the pier and back.

After a tour of the old Goal and a birthday coffee we headed west to Canal Rocks.  We have been amazed at the beauty of the WA coastlines.  Both in the ruggedness and in their pure white sandy coves.  Canal rocks were a perfect example of rugged coastline.

While ‘the boys’ went out fishing ‘the girls’ took a trip to Donnybrook ‘to pick apples straight from the trees and eat them!’  The girls could hardly believe their luck – fruit for the picking….and eating!  They were in heaven.

A couple of winieres were enjoyed and some local produce sampled – our kind of heaven.

We moved onto Perth for 4 days – the most important day being Andrew’s 40^th.  The day before we spent on Rottnest Island – what a gorgeous island, with spectacular scenery and rich in history too.  The girls (except for Isla) loved the Quokkas. 

We spent Andrew’s birthday in Perth……

…and then joined his Mum and Dad for dinner out in Fremantle.  In hindsight we would’ve been better off staying somewhere down near Freemantle as we seemed to spend our time heading back down there – what a gorgeous place Freo is.  In parts it felt a bit little New Orleans.  We had a lovely meal and the girls played in the sand pit at Little Creatures – a perfect end to a lovely day.

We bid Andrew’s parents farewell the next day and headed for the Aquarium of WA, which claimed to have the longest underwater tunnel in an Australian Aquarium.  We were really impressed with it – the girls loved it and we did too – winner all round.

And thus ended our time with Andrew parents and our time in the ‘big smoke’.  Time to head back out into the land of long straight roads and roadhouses!!

Till next time.

A.