Rottnest Island

or Rotto as the locals call it. A limestone island just off the coast of Perth, perfect for holidaying families. Most people walk or bike around as there are very few cars on the island. We might get the bus around it tomorrow.
I've just got back from the beach, a few hundred metres from our cabin. S and I went for a snorkel. The water is a beautiful temperature and there are rocks and weeds just off the beach but the visibility wasn't great and I only saw one large fish. It was still nice to have a swim.
The ferry now only takes half an hour from Freo so we've spent the afternoon having a look at the lighthouse, the beach near our cabin and a walk around the limited, overpriced shops.

The cheeky quokka (mini kangaroo) keeps trying to come into our room. I think they are a bit of a nuisance as they've had to make special perspex doors into the shops and toilet blocks to keep them out. The island gets its name from these animals. In 1696 a Dutch explorer saw them on the island and thought they were large rats so Rottnest literally translates to rats nest in dutch.

Perth

S and I enjoyed a morning at the Freo markets before we joined Evan and the boys for lunch at a beautiful river side park, Point Walter Reserve.
In the evening we went down to the South of Perth Yacht Club with Dad and Mary for a meal and almost crashed the Liberal Party victory party with Sky News and all.
The club is right on the river with a great view of the city over a huge green lawn and we watched a beautiful sunset.

Busselton

We decided to have a nice quiet morning in Busselton today. We drove down to the jetty and Evan and the boys took the little train to the end, 1.8 km. I spent my train fare on a coffee and muffin and had a quiet sit down and a look in the shop. When we were here in 2001 we walked to the end of the jetty, part of it was falling down but it was very beautiful in the stormy weather. Now they've done it up and charge $2.50 just to walk on it. They're probably still trying to pay off their repairs, however, I think they bring in quite a bit from the under water viewing area at the end.
The kids enjoyed playing in the park and we were then on the road to Perth.

Margaret River

I didn't sleep that well last night in the bush. It was quiet, a little too quiet. I felt very isolated and the small bat or possum running around on the roof of the tent spooked me. This part of the forest had been burnt out a few years back and one large, half dead looking tree was a little too close to our tent. Anyway, as you can see the possum didn't get me and the tree didn't squash us and I lived to write another post. Apart from the isolation it was a great camp site with lots of sites separated from each other. The pit toilets were clean and it only cost us $17.20 for the night, compared to the Mandalay Holiday park in Busselton tonight at $88!

The road from Wright's Bridge to Nannup was very picturesque and there was a great new road on to Margaret River.
We met Grandpa and Mary for lunch in the park. We found a gorgeous little hippy bakery which made risotto muffins, bacon sausage rolls and open veggie tarts along with an amazing choc meringue.
We'd planned to spend the afternoon looking at Cape Naturaliste and the lighthouse, however, we found ourselves on Caves Rd and after passing a few wineries we couldn't help ourselves and stopped in at a few to taste...and buy.
The Cape can wait for tomorrow.

The great South West WA

We had hoped to make it to Busselton tonight however WA is a lot bigger than I always imagine. We didn't get a very early start and took the tourist drive west to Denmark, stopping to have a look at Cosy Corner beach, a lovely spot to camp in future.
Back onto Highway 1, over hills on country roads, past dairy farms, through tall gum forests, past little cottage industries like olive farms, cheese makers, ice creameries, why did we not leave more time for these?
We found The Valley of the Giants for our lunch spot. The South West is famous for it's forests and this one did not disappoint. These massive gums are characterised by there huge girths which become hollowed out at their bases by fire and rot. There is a tree top walk however we were happy to just do the ground level walk past and through many of these giants.
We really had not made it that far this morning and it was at least another 3 hrs on to Busselton so we had a look at the map and found a great little spot off the road between Balingup and Nannup called Wright's Bridge. There is a honesty box for the National Parks. It's very peaceful here amongst the gums and we're the only ones here. We were able to have sausages on an open fire!

The frame!!

Back in Sydney, I hear there's been a lot if rain, however the concrete has cured and the frame is going up!! My favourite part of a house, seeing the frame go up and imagining what the rooms will be like, and I'm not there to see it. I'm a bit sad but we're having such a good time and I'm glad the builders are making progress.
That last pic is my kitchen!!

Albany

Grandpa and Mary found us at the Emu Beach caravan park and the boys were very excited to see them. R has been saying 'Grandpa plane' a lot over the last few weeks, they have all really missed him.
We were going to see the whaling museum today but when I found out it was going to cost $64 for us all to get in I decided we'd just buy some post cards and have an explore around the national park instead. We walked down to the blowholes and they were blowing. We continued around a surfer track and down to a small beach not visited by many. The coast reminded me of some of the west coast of New Zealand, steep green, windswept, headlands down to a roaring sea.
Back in the car we drove around to the natural rock bridge and the gap, and got covered in salt spray.
I'm a bit sad that we only left one day to see Albany as I would have liked to have made it to Two Peoples Bay which is supposed to be beautiful and I don't remember it from when I was 10 or 13. Next time...I've already started planning a trip back to WA in 5 years time.