Awoke to a thundery, stormy wet morning. Decided to take in a cave so as to stay dryish and headed off to Lake Cave. The signs of storm damage from the tornado a few weeks ago are still in evidence - lots of big trees on the ground. took in the cave tour at 9.30 with another family of 3 much younger boys. The cave was essentially just a big cavern with lots of formations - very pretty and very alive, although the water table is receding inexplicably and they are ...

Very cold start- ice on the car. Headed for The Gloucester tree for some serious climbing. Sean was headachy, so we treated that and he soon picked up. Ross and Giles scooted up the tree -all 63 meters of it. Afterwards we discovered that these trees were actually used for fire spotting, so not just for tourists! Headed on to Manjimup for lunch at the local bakery and then via the one tree bridge which was not actually in service anymore, but in a picturesque loc...

Packing it in today. Started with a drive out to Emu point where we saw 4 dolphins making their leisurely way through the channel from Princess Royal harbour. Of course by the time we got the camera ready they were gone, but it was a lovely way to start the day. We moved on from the beach up to the war Memorial up on the mountain behind Albany - it was relocated from its original site in Port Said after it was damaged during the Suez crisis. It commemorates the ...

Had a fantastic dinner at the Plantagenet hotel at Mount Barker - delicious, copious and reasonably priced. Great character as well - we weren't sure what we were letting ourselves in for - the hotel was not well lit from the outside, but we shouldn't have worried. Marvellous. After a very comfortable night's sleep we had toast for breakfast and headed off for Stirling Range National Park. A dramatic skyline of lumps and bumps stretched in front of us. We saw ka...

Very early start this morning- up at 3am. Mark obliged by driving our car back from Penrith Station, and we sat and waited for the 4.03am train to Central. Unfortunately the train wasn't listed on the arrivals board, which caused a few moments of consternation, but the regulars reassured us that it would come. It was 10 mins late, but come it did. Eventually got through all the airport checks and scans and had breakfast before boarding at about 6.40am. Then the ...