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Published: August 2nd 2011
We left Perth bright and early and drove up to Kings Park to visit the War Memorial and it also has the best view of Perth. The weather was kind to us again being sunny and 21deg. Kings Park is a definite visit just to get an appreciation of the city. The memorial is pretty awesome too. The parkland is the largest inner city park in the world, with walking tracks all the way through. There were many joggers, cyclists, mums with prams and tourists all enjoying the park. After a quick refill of the radiator, yes we are still losing water, we headed out for Fremantle. Just across the river “Freeo” is not unlike Port Adelaide with many old historic buildings. Our first stop was to find a double car park ???? As it was Sunday and the derby (WA’s showdown) was on, Fremantle was crazy. We couldn’t find two spots to pull up the van. After driving around we spotted the wharf parking area at the bottom of the big park. Plenty of parks there. Off to the Sunday markets we trotted. These markets were similar to Adelaide Central markets. The kids bought some souvenirs and we gave the
Kings Park
Awesome view!food section a miss and headed for the fish’n’chup shop, Cicerello’s. There was a band playing, sun was shining, the kids were grooving as we waited for the fish and chips. $71, for all of us with 1 beer (sharing) and 1 softie. Ouch! It was pretty busy but they did a good of getting the food to you quickly.
After we finished there we strolled down to Little Creatures Brewery a few doors down. This nice little Brewery right on the harbour has some very nice beers. Unfortunately the queue for a table was a mile long, and we were only keen for one beer. So as responsible parents we dragged the tired beasts to the Bar while we skulled our pints. I would definitely plan not to be there on a Sunday in future. The beers were great so we headed next door to grab a carton of take-aways and headed to the park. The kids played on the great equipment there and then we headed back to the car, next stop Secret Harbour.
Secret harbour is home to our good friends the Patons. They had kindly put us up and had told we were in for
Little Creatures
Was unfortunately tooooo BUSY! a treat, sleeping inside … in real beds …. Oooooooohhh! They were looking forward to seeing us as we hadn’t seen them for 6 years and they were keen to see how big “Feral Cheryl” (Jane) had grown. They named her that after she slept over with them one night as a baby and kept rolling around on their bed messing up Joombie’s paper in the morning. The name has stuck.
We were spoilt with dinner cooked for us and TVs in our rooms (thanks Amy and Elise). The kids vegged out until dinner time and then afterwards crashed together in the same bed. You think they would want to have their own bed for one night ??? Crazy. In the morning it was time to say good-bye and move on to Margaret River.
As we drove south it began to get very green, many cattle, deer and sheep farms. The whole region is beautiful. I definitely could have spent a month here exploring everything. Our first stop was the Margaret River Chocolate Company. They have quite a range and of course there is a café to have a coffee with whatever you choose. With a coffee and
samples in our tummies we found a few pressies and headed out before we bought the whole shop. Next door was there garden market business that sold cheeses, curries and local fresh produce. With the rain on and off we decided we better get to our campsite before we would setup in the dark and rain again!
Maybe it was too many samples or I was just half asleep, we unfortunately missed our turn off. Not to worry there is another connecting road next turn. Turns out I have navigated us up a 5km skinny flooded, boggy road with nowhere to turn around. To make matters worse, half way along there was a car coming the other way. Jac drove well driving the now ‘Slighty Mighty Pajero’ out of the bog, along with the camper and safely (but now with more mud all over the van) to our park.
Tonight we are staying at the Big Valley Camp Site. A sheep farm just out of the town of Margaret River Township. The kids were asked if they wanted to feed the sheep while we setup so off they went. As I was setting up I was laughing my self
silly at the woolley sheep all trying to jump up and get their noses in the bucket the kids were holding. They were definitely not shy sheep. That evening we cooked in the camp kitchen along with some grey nomads and some vine pruners from Italy. The Camp kitchen was great, the kids played pool and we ended the night sharing some of my “F@*#ing Good Port” from Curtain Springs with the other visitors.
The next morning we were off early to visit the Mammoth Caves. There are quite a few limestone caves and we were recommended to Mammoth. It was also mammoth in price as it is not run by the WA parks. $50 later we had a MP3 guided tour which was well done and very informative. It was quite cool underground and the canes went for quite some distance. The walkway led you through the bottom on the cave and up and into the nook and crannies and along the roof of the cave. We saw jawbones of prehistoric animals in the limestone and the effects of water passing through the limestone for millions of years.
Next stop was Margaret River Township to visit the
Margaret River Chocolate Company
Guts, all awaiting the chocolate feast! bakery for morning tea! (We have done pretty well with this Bakery tour so far). After that we strolled to the top of town to the visit the Marg River Fudge Company. We tried some samples and bought some to take home. They definitely had way too many flavours, too many we wanted to try!
With our fill of fudge we headed out to the Colonial Brewery. This micro-brewery was a very flash setup and the beer was delish! Can definitely recommend the wheat beer (Witbeer), Jac liked the Kolsch. So much so we bought two BIG 2ltr Stein-like jugs of it, only problem … they only last for 5 days…. Don’t think that will be too much of a problem.
Tanked up with pastry, fudge and now beer …. we thought we could top it all off with some candy at the Candy Cow! They had all types of lollies made locally. With precious time left and not having visited 1 winery yet (?????) we made a dash for Vasse Felix, north of Margaret River. This winery was immaculate. There is art all through the manicured gardens and inside the Cellars. We tried a few of their
wines and took a few photos and decided it was time to head home for tea. Not sure I had much room for tea though.
Off to Albany tomorrow, then Esperance…. TTFN
RJJMB. xoxo
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tamandfamily
Tam & Family
Great photos!
Great photos guys! You might be a little too past it but if you get a chance try out Donnybrook playground as the kids might enjoy it... http://www.acoffeeinthepark.com/apple-fun-park-donnybrook. .... a perthite :)