Albany {Caravan Park}

Two nights turns to three when you get 50+mls of rain the night before you are planning on leaving.

Now I don't mind packing down in the rain, it isn't that much of an issue when you are setting up again a few hours later.  But after the road in front of us is turned into a river and it is still coming down in bucket loads when you are supposed to be leaving it is just easier to say 'I will take this ensuite site for another night' and that is what we did!

With no real plan on where to go and by when we decided to spend a few days in Albany doing some running around for supplies and other bits before we made our way somewhere else.  We splashed out with our own bathroom and it really wasn't too bad at $56 a night for all of us {cheaper than some places have quoted for just us on a normal powered site} and after so long without a real hot shower it was worth every cent we paid :)

Surprisingly the caravan park was a Big 4, the first time we have stayed in one and it had heaps of things for the kids.  A nature park with heaps of different animals, pool {although why anyone would have swam in the weather we had was beyond me, but some people did}, playground and a great camp kitchen.  Even better it had a massive drier that all but dried the washing in one cycle for $1!

Thankfully we managed to get out on our full day to explore some of the national park that is around Albany, drive around and look at some of the wonderful old houses and look outs.  We even took ourselves out for a meal, to a pub!  The wind farm was a great way to further the kids learning of all things electricity and we also spent half a day looking around the museum and the old boat {which was kind of scary to go down under the deck in}

After much twoing and frowing we have decided to make our way towards Kalgoorlie, going through the Stirling Ranges, Hyden and then heading up the Holland Track.  It should be good.

A few nights away

Sounds weird really given we are permanently away but after packing up and moving from Koordarie on Thursday morning, we dropped the trailer at Yanrey and headed to Winning for the night. We'd had a call from Aggie asking if J might be able to help out with some work before we headed south again.

We arrived around 4pm to see Aggie and her new puppy dog. Yes she has yet another puppy, this time a rat dog {or rather Jack Russel} which the children instantly followed around. It was a tiny dog that wore a cat bell so you knew where it was! The kids went in search of the lamb they had feed the last time we visited, Justin discussed bathrooms and I took over the kitchen. We had a lovely afternoon with everyone, it was like we had never left {except this time we got to stay in Nana's house}.

Friday saw us leave mid morning and head to Dooawarrah Station for J to look at some windows, what a lovely old homestead with lots of history, including damage from the floods a few years ago. We left just after lunchtime and headed to Carnarvon to get some running around done, things needed for different jobs and putting quotes in for supplies for others. Last stop before checking into our hotel was the toy store for the smalls to spend some of their well saved pocket money.

We had a quiet dinner in and J headed off early Saturday morning, back to Dooawarrah to do the few jobs they had for him. The smalls and I spent a quiet morning in the hotel before heading to the park for the morning, they had a wonderful play and I had a chat with Nana till my phone went flat. Justin got home early afternoon and we had our next fun job of grocery shopping, such an exciting trip to town....

Sunday we packed up and headed off, back to Winning to deliver some bolts and also to raid Aggie's veggie garden {which was full of amazing tomatoes} and then onto Yanrey.

It was nice to have a break,a to have a shower in our room but it was so much nice to be 'home'.

Exmouth {Ningaloo Lighthouse Caravan Park}

Lighthouse Caravan Park is where I decided to book us into. It is 17km north of exmouth and a lovely spot out of the way and close to the national park. It was the cheapest at $51 per night for all of us.

We arrived on the Saturday afternoon and first on the list was afternoon tea with my Grandparents who had decided to meet us for a night. We had a great afternoon and they left not long before it was time to get ready for dinner. I was so looking forward to a wonderful hot shower and the heat didn't disappoint but the salt water most certainly did, and for what it cost a night I was more than a little disappointed!

Dinner at the PotShot Hotel Bistro was amazing on Saturday night and well worth the splurge and a good thing that we had just that managed to secure work on a station 80km from Parabadoo.

Sunday the weather wasn't on our side so we stayed in for the morning, had morning tea twith my grandparents before they left to head back to Winning {and we decided we would head there after an extra night at the caravan park as J wanted to see a muster} and the afternoon we drove to a few spots to take a look around. Shop wrecks, points and the old lighthouse.

The first Sturt Desert Pea we've seen 

The extra night meant that Monday we got to go out and check out the National Park and we must go back to do it properly. I think at least a week we would be ale to actually see and experience most of it and it is definitely something that has to be booked in advance as it is a booking system for camp sites and it was fully booked already when we arrived.

Tuesday some supplies, fuel and off back to Winning again {I secretly couldn't wait}

Denham {Shark Bay}

Shark Bay

Hard to believe that our week in Shark Bay has come to an end and we have now moved on. We had a wonderful time, even with the awful weather as the company we had made up for it. We all enjoyed hanging out with friends, having someone else to talk to, go play with and to go places with. Both of us {as in both families} had been Shark Bay before so knew all of the wonders it had to offer.

The Echidna we saw on the way into Shark Bay

http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=1686170031613514010#editor/target=post;postID=7940538828735105759

The weather wasn't overly pleasant when we arrived but we managed to set up before the wind arrived, our friends however didn't fair so kindly having to set up in the rain.

Thankfully the next day we awoke to a wonderful sunny day and we enjoyed a stroll down to the foreshore , bike rides, trips to the visitors centre to enquiry about fishing charters afternoon at the beach. The older children went for a fish at the jetty while S and i potted for the afternoon. The men folk called and had organized to go out on the fishing charter the next day before the 'bad weather' arrived.

Friday morning was school work for my two as we didn't want to get behind, afterwards we headed again down to the park {just S, I and five children}, we had baked goods for lunch and waited for the fishing charter to arrive. The kids all got excited when they s the boat coming and even more excited when they realized fresh fish was for dinner.

We'll Saturday proved to be interesting with an older men {which the park was full of} walked around warning people of the weather due that afternoon/night. Our friends decided to pack down the camper and hired a cabin for the night with their three small children and we decided to stay put given we had seen terrible winds/weather down south. The rain came and it was an very boring inside day had by all. We watched movies played games and had an early dinner/bed. J and I didn't get much sleep as the wind arrived with the rain and stronger wind. We had a few leaks in the camper but for the most part faired reasonably well.

The rest of our trip we did much the same with an afternoon to Monkey Mia and a trip to the Ocean Park {which thankfully had opened again} thrown in for good measure. The weather was nothing like the last time either of us had been to Shark Bay but we made the most of it and Wednesday morning saw pack down and both of us heading our separate ways {although we will see each other again in November}.

Our original plan for the next stop to be Steep Point got changed due to the weather and a phone call from the Ranger advising that it was simply to wet on the raids out there and the park would stay closed until at least Friday. So we got in the car and just drove, to wear we didn't know but we would work it out........