Pemberton and Margaret River

So on Tuesday we packed up again, something we are getting vvery efficient at and headed off. We had an amazing day driving through some beautiful national parks. We stopped at the Valley of the Giants and I overcome my fear of heights (just very briefly)  to walk the treetop walk. At the highest point I was 40metres high OMG I was shitting myself. I think I held on for dear life, it was the sway of the structure that was scarier than anything else. I loved the views. This was an amazing thing to view, the tindle trees were huge! And so interesting. We are finding out so many amazing things about Australia as we venture forward. It is reigniting my passion for Australian history and every night I am regailing some strange fact about Aus to Mikie (he is so greatly appreciative too!!!)

It is amazing to think that the 6^th largest continent in the world is so densely populated in such a small amount of land. We truly are a harsh, but amazing country. The wildlife is amazing and to think that in this harsh land we have such an amazing and unique array of wildlife and plant species…..Ii am loving what I am learning!

We have pulled up tonight in Pemberton, after meandering our way through such a beautiful country side (definitely a favourite of mine) we are staying in the gorgeous Caravan Park that is set right into the national forest. I can hear the singing of the froggies and lots of different creatures. The parrots and bird life is amazing tomorrow we are going to feed them, apparently they will land on your head and feed from your hands….so cool.

Tonight we also had the pleasure of meeting up with the grey nomads from Ceduna, again they settled into the camp kitchen, bottles of wine and nibblies in hand, it was great to hear their journey again and to have a laugh at the ladies having a bitch whilst cooking tea, apparently travelling together for 3 months in a big group can cause some issues. It’s funny to watch the same ‘issues’ do not dissipate over time, they still annoy you as you get older!

Wednesday 11^th May

In the morning, the kids got to feed the parrots, they went beserk and flew in from everywhere, Oscar was loving it, and after her initial fright so did Scarlett, Lola liked to try and catch them, it was so funny watching her chase the ducks  as if to say ‘I’m gonna get you!!!!’

Today we went to the big trees in Pemberton. It would be safe to say that this was the highlight of  Oscar’s trip so far. It was here that a foolish mother allowed him to climb the 61metre Gloucester Tree. He was so excited, his eyes were shining with adrenalin and he was off, I have never seen him scale the pegs so fast, he was going full ball and Mike was yelling at him to slow down! I watched for a while and then my heart palpitations became too great and I took the girls for a little wander around, whilst they reached the very top of the tree. There was another older couple watching Oscar and they were amazed that he was not scared at all, they were also scared for him. It was funny watching people start the climb get about 10 pegs, then come straight back down (ok so not other people but me!!!!)

By the time Mike and Oscar got down Mike said his legs were burning, just trying to keep up with Oscar and for the next few days every time Mike tried to bend he was feeling the pain!!!!

Then after lunch we went to the ‘other’ big tree (I can’t remember what that one was called), that was a 78metre climb with no branches to assist. Oscar was bitterly disappointed when I firmly put my foot down and said that this one was a definite nono. He was so cut and tried to climb it before I pulled out my sternest mum voice and made him stop. (Oh and I felt so old actually realizing that I have this stern ‘mum voice’

That night we had a fire back at camp and kicked backed relaxing around the fire (eg constantly getting up and stopping Lola from getting too close!) As much as we are relaxing and having fun, we are constantly on the go, chasing Lola as she runs down the roads in the caravan parks, stopping her from falling into rivers, oceans, etc etc. One of us is always on  ‘patrol’. The kids loved having marshmallows in the fire and Oscar and Mikie had a little dad and son time just chewing the fat in front of the fire! It was great to finally be sitting outside at night as we haven’t done a lot of that yet. Mostly because it’s been a little too cold but also coz Mike and I have been going to bed at 8.30!!!!)

Thursday 12^th May to Monday 16^th May

Today we headed to Margaret River and Mike started his official designated driving stint. It is very beautiful here, the river is gorgeous, the shops are gorgeous, the wineries are gorgeous!. We picked a few wineries that have playgrounds attached to them so that we could all enjoy the experience, unfortunately for me my lack of taste has not returned so I am tasting all these wines, without any idea if I actually am enjoying them or not!!!! Very disappointing! We are having a great time though, the kids loved the chocolate factory and especially loved the fact that they could keep going to the free bowls of chocolate and help themselves!!! I particularly liked the fudge factory, mmmm choc orange yummy!!!! We have visited more foody  places, providores, choc factories, icecreameries in  the last 3 days then in the last 5 weeks, YUMMO!!!