Blogs from Yallingup, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania

It's 5.00 am on Saturday 27thFebruary and I am up and at ’em unfortunately, we are miles behind on the blogs and are still trying to finish the sequence from Christmas. For some strange reason I woke up thinking about this blog that happened last Saturday and the only thing to do was get out and type it. Two words that don’t play nicely together are Australia and fire and not long after Christmas when we were in the middle of our summer and the days are scorching at 40+ degree’s we were saddened to see there were terrible fires in Yarloop, a pretty little town not too far from here and a town we have been through many times. In fact we were in Yarloop for our friend Andy’s birthday when we all went to ... read more

It was time for spring in the valley and we headed off to the Margaret River area to see the baby coats being born, the lillies in full bloom and the wine just ready for tasting :) We stayed at our favourite farmstay and the kids are getting so much bigger and in to it that it has made it really easy to stay here. They take off at 7am and play with the other kids, collecting eggs for breakfast and feeding the sheep and goats. We also worked out that it was cheaper to eat in at night and let the kids watch a movie or play board games, but to live it up at the wineries and events around the area during the day. The breweries are now everywhere down here - maybe at ... read more

We are joined at Yallingup by Joey and Heidi and their tribe, the triplets, Ava, Sienna and Tia and Seb and their friends, James and Kate and their children Holly, Karri (mini Carrie) and Stirling. The kids set straight out to explore and discover a small forest of climbing trees and spend much of their time playing amongst the trees. They also undertake bow and arrow construction led by foreman Ella, so that everyone is armed and ready for play. We spend our days, the boy’s (Matt and Joey) enjoying the surf and the kids swimming in the lagoon created by the reef. We also head out for an afternoon at Margret River’s Duckstein’s Brewery. An amazing building landscaped to perfection with a dam, complete with island as the outlook, accessed by bridge...it was suggested that ... read more

Geo: -33.6459, 115.032As they say in Australia, there are "heaps" of places that have been given names that are just so odd that they almost invite you to visit simply so you can say you were there. A small sampling might include Boing Boing, Burrumbuttock, Come By Chance, Eggs and Bacon Bay, Goonoo Goonoo, Humpybong, Koolyanobbing, Pimpinbudgie, Woolloomooloo, Yorkeys Knob, and the one Aussie destination we wanted to get to but never did, the Bungle Bungles. After a couple of long driving days we found ourselves just a short distance from a place called Donnybrook and, having witnessed more than one Canadian donnybrook, it was worth the drive to this town just so we could say we were right in the middle of the Australian donnybrook. Our first stop was the tourist info office in Donnybrook ... read more

Day 5 and the day of reckoning was upon us! All the talking had been done (and there was a lot of talking done) and it was time to hit the road! We piled all the gear into the car, thanking God that it was just the two of us going, and pulled out of Fremantle and onto the highway. We were away! First stop was the picturesque town of Bunbury. Wanting to stay as close to the coast as possible we followed the tourist drive and found ourselves at a lighthouse and viewing tower! This gave a fine view of the town and its surrounds, so far so good! We pushed on south and soon came to Busselton where we had our first “picnic” lunch. Peanut butter and Jam sandwiches all round by Busselton’s jetty ... read more