Sunday 22/12
Our first full day in Dunsborough and we are off to the shops to buy all the food for Christmas. What a good thing our rooms had three fridges. One was designated as the drinks fridge, the kitchen fridge had the bulk of the food and the fridge in Chelsea and Chantelle's room had all the overflow vegetables (knew they would leave that alone).
Nicholas was given the job of glazing a ham. A firm favourite with the children most Christmases. Nicholas took over the roasting BBQ in the courtyard area for a couple of hours while he basted and cooked the ham leg.
Nicholas was given the job of glazing a ham. A firm favourite with the children most Christmases. Nicholas took over the roasting BBQ in the courtyard area for a couple of hours while he basted and cooked the ham leg.
The only other thing we did for the day was to walk the streets of the town to explore where and what we can do around town. Dunsborough was once a quiet little seaside town for locals, then it was discovered by people from Perth. Now it is a really busy large town with heaps of holiday rentals, and boutique type shops and coffee houses.
Monday 23/12
The day started with a chorus "Are they here yet?" Today gran and grandpa are coming to meet us for Christmas. Good thing there is a three hour time difference, so gran and grandpa are already on their way but still wont be with us until mid afternoon. If we had a dollar for every time someone asked "when will they be here", we would have had a pile of dollar coins!
To keep the girls busy while we waited we took them on an excursion to Yallingup Sheering Shed. In this part of WA all the aboriginal place names end in 'up' which means place. Yallingup means 'place of love' best leave it at that. The sheering shed is part of a working sheep farm of 4000 sheep. Three days a week they take visitors into the sheering shed for a demonstration of sheep sheering, fleece cleaning and grading, dogs working with sheep, lamb feeding and wool bailing. The farmer was very good with the demonstration and involved every child at some point and even some of the adults.
We think perhaps these sheep have been fed before.
The dogs were amazing to watch. The Border Collie went out and brought a flock of about 30 sheep into the yard all on its own. Then the Kelpie took over for the yard work. The Kelpie is extremely agile and would jump on and walk on the sheep's backs. Each sheep in the flock has a different coloured tag in its ear. The tag identifies which year the sheep was born hence how old the sheep is. Chelsea would have been sent to market as mutton, Chantelle would have had a purple tag and Bianca a green tag, Nicholas would have been an expensive stud ram because he has produced 100% girls! All sheep farms use the same colour tag each year. That is very organised.
The sheering shed also had a shop attached filled with all types of wool products. Bianca bought a lamb, Chantelle a dog and Angela some socks.
Eventually, after lunch, gran and grandpa arrived in time for afternoon tea.
Tuesday 24/12
The day before Christmas and the excitement is at fever pitch! The only thing to do is to keep the girls and Angela occupied and busy. We drove down toward Augusta to the limestone caves in amongst the southern Karri forests. Angela had been organised and rung to book a tour but was told that it was not necessary. When we arrived the car park was very full and Angela managed to purchase the last 7 tickets for the 11:30 tour in Jewel Cave.
Jewel cave was first opened tot he public in 1959 after the first explorers of the cave dug out an entrance by hand to allow visitors in. The first entry to the cave in 1958 was through a small hole in the roof of the cave and down a rope. The cave sinks to a depth of 42 metres and is 1.9 kilometres long. The depth means there is a lot of stairs to climb to exit the cave and because there is a high level of CO2 in the cave we were all huffing and puffing when we reached daylight again.
Jewel cave formations.
Jewel cave was first opened tot he public in 1959 after the first explorers of the cave dug out an entrance by hand to allow visitors in. The first entry to the cave in 1958 was through a small hole in the roof of the cave and down a rope. The cave sinks to a depth of 42 metres and is 1.9 kilometres long. The depth means there is a lot of stairs to climb to exit the cave and because there is a high level of CO2 in the cave we were all huffing and puffing when we reached daylight again.
From Jewel cave we drove through the little town of Augusta and out to Cape Leeuwin to the lighthouse precinct. After a picnic lunch on the lawns we had a walk around the buildings that made up the lighthouse community. The cape is the most south-western point of mainland Australia and the point where the Indian and Southern oceans meet. All the cottages and the lighthouse were built with local sandstone over two years from 1895.
After our expedition south to Augusta we headed back to our digs at Dunsborough to prepare to go out for dinner. We rang to let them know we were running a little late and they were very happy with that because they had no electricity. What a great dinner; with no electricity the lighting was all candles and the warm glow was fantastic. The only dish that they couldn't produce were espresso coffees.
Wednesday 25/12
Christmas Day had arrived and we were all excited but probably none more than Angela who just loves Christmas! Angela cooked lunch with the assistance of Nina because the oven in our apartment was not working well. Nicholas and John had collected patio tables and chairs for the lunch because the tables provided were not very good for eating at.
Christmas lunch on patio tables.
Christmas lunch had all the trimmings that a Christmas lunch should. There was the turkey with stuffing, ham, cauliflower cheese, potatoes, pumpkin, peas, carrots, and beans. Nina had brought with her a homemade Christmas pudding which we had with brandy cream and brandy custard. John had made the traditional White Cargo which we all enjoy drinking. Mmmm what a delicious meal.
Christmas lunch had all the trimmings that a Christmas lunch should. There was the turkey with stuffing, ham, cauliflower cheese, potatoes, pumpkin, peas, carrots, and beans. Nina had brought with her a homemade Christmas pudding which we had with brandy cream and brandy custard. John had made the traditional White Cargo which we all enjoy drinking. Mmmm what a delicious meal.
After lunch we headed down tot he park to try out some new toys, namely battery powered water pistols. Really who would give young children water pistols? When we returned Nicholas was soaked to the skin from the pistol wielding young ladies. .
Thursday 26/12 Boxing Day even in Western Australia. The girls had a fun morning playing with their new things from Christmas.
We had a booking for lunch at Leuwen Estate vineyard. The vineyard was just past the town of Margaret River and the restaurant had a fabulous view over the lawns in front of the stage then across a creek to the Karri trees towering in the background. It was a lovely vista in front of which we had a very enjoyable lunch. The girls could disappear between courses down to the lawn area to play. They even found another little girl to play with and enjoyed a game of elastics which Chelsea got for Christmas.
Friday 27/12
Friday we all were able to enjoy gran and grandpa's Christmas present, a private winery region tour. We started the tour with a stop for everyone, the Yallingup Maze. This is probably one of the most difficult and tricky mazes that we have ever attempted. The maze had secret doors and an elevated platform which needed to be used to get from one part of the maze to another. The object of the maze was to reach each tower in order from 1 to 4.
After the maze we visited a winery before heading for lunch at Duckstein Brewery. We very nearly ran into a crisis as Duckstein was so busy that they had closed the kitchen to new orders. Some quick talking by Angela we were able to sneak our order in and avoid the 2.5 hour wait for our food. The food was German style with lots of sausages and chops and sauerkraut.
The afternoon brought more wineries, including Windows and House of Cards and a chocolatier. We finished up the day at Simo's ice-cream. Simo's is a local icon located up in the hills above Dunsborough. The locals thought he was mad opening an ice-cream place so far out of town, but judging by the number of cars and people it is a screaming success. Simo's also has mini-golf an adventure playground and massive lawns with BBQs.
No one was really hungry for dinner so we ordered some food from Squid Lips and prepared to pack up to leave the following morning. There was a large amount of provisions to take back to the camper and there were several trips to be made.
After the maze we visited a winery before heading for lunch at Duckstein Brewery. We very nearly ran into a crisis as Duckstein was so busy that they had closed the kitchen to new orders. Some quick talking by Angela we were able to sneak our order in and avoid the 2.5 hour wait for our food. The food was German style with lots of sausages and chops and sauerkraut.
The afternoon brought more wineries, including Windows and House of Cards and a chocolatier. We finished up the day at Simo's ice-cream. Simo's is a local icon located up in the hills above Dunsborough. The locals thought he was mad opening an ice-cream place so far out of town, but judging by the number of cars and people it is a screaming success. Simo's also has mini-golf an adventure playground and massive lawns with BBQs.
No one was really hungry for dinner so we ordered some food from Squid Lips and prepared to pack up to leave the following morning. There was a large amount of provisions to take back to the camper and there were several trips to be made.
Saturday morning gran and grandpa had a very early start to make it to Perth Airport for a 10am flight back to Melbourne. The rest of us finished packing and started heading to Albany for the night.
The road to Albany took us through some huge Karri forests and some regenerating Jarrah forests. Along the way we stopped at a farm that made cheese from sheep milk. Quite delicious and not strong cheese like other sheep cheese we have eaten.
Just out of Walpole we pulled off the main South Coast Highway and headed to the Valley of the Giants. The Valley of the Giants gets us up walking 40 metres above the forest floor through the canopy of the tingle forest to enjoy the majestic views over the canopy of the 400 year old Tingle trees. A combination of insect infestation and bush fires makes most of these trees completely hollow though still growing.
We made it to Albany and eventually found somewhere to setup for the night.
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