Wednesday 8 September
Today our last in Perth. Was lucky with the pack up with the weather - headed towards the south west travelling through Mandurah and Busselton. Bit disappointing in Busselton as the longest jetty in Oz was closed! Apparantly the renovations not finished until December with an underwater observatory at the end of the jetty and a tram to and fro. So, as we hyped the boys up about this, and to be closed, we popped into Maccas for a smoothie and coffee. Liam loves the playgrounds!
Rejuvenated, we travelled through wind and rain towards Dunsborough and stayed in a crappy park! I guess the weather didn't make it attractive either. The night was very blowy and wet!

Thursday 9 September
After a rough night earlier on with blustering winds and rain, we woke to a partly good day! Leaving Dunsborough we visited Yallingup, which was a beaut little seaside town nestled on a hill. Reminded us of Wategos. Had to have a playground stop for Sir Liam!
Travelled further along the tourist drive towards Margaret River on Caves Road. And passed many wineries. Amazing how extravagant they are! - huge with restaurants, playgrounds and lakes!
Popped into Margaret River for some fudge. Yummo! Remembered that from 17 years ago ( no surprises there for those who no me! Hahaha ). 6kms down the road and memory lane we revisitied Prevally Beach where we fell in love with the place back then. Of course, there were many changes.
Travelled on towards Augusta then Cape Leewin Lighthouse where the 2 oceans come together ( Indian and Southern ) . It is also the biggest mainland lighthouse in Australia. So theres' a lesson for everyone! Hahahahaha
Augusta was a lovely seaside town also. Can imagine what these plaes would be like in the summer. All those grey nomads from Broome migrating south! ) hahahaha
So, went inland from here towards Nannup and stayed in a park there run by the Visitor Centre. Quite good actually. We even went for a trail walk from the park along the Blackwood River with many little bridge crossings. Tulips were also abundant in the town. Very nice.
COLD NIGHT.... brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr and no powered site = no heater!

Friday 10 September
After a good nights sleep we awoke to a chainsaw and chipper! Bloody things. They were only there for 10 minutes! Sure it was to wake everyone up!
Travelled from Nannup to Bridgetown. Was a lovely tourist drive between the two towns into the karri tree forests. Travelled through Manjimup and on to Pemberton where we set up camp early ( about 12 noon ) and then boarded the 2pm Karri tramway for a scenic 1 ¾ hour train ride. Liam thought it was fab! He even got to press the horn!
On the tram ride there were 2 stops. 1 to the Cascades, which were lovely and flowing well. The other was into the forest to see a 300 year old karri tree that had been struck by lighteneing on the bottom and made a huge hole where, apparently, 35 people can fit inside. The circumference was huge. This was near the Warren River - then back to Pemberton.
As it was near 4pm we drove 3ks out of town to the Gloucester tree. The tallest fire tower tree in the world - approx 90 metres. We were going to climb it but looked pretty high and steep. Will try another one tomorrow.!

Saturday 11 Septmber
Sleep in today! Didnt get going until 1030am! Dave took the boys to the skate park up the road whilst I did a few ' chores'! then headed on our Karri Explorer Drive into Warren Park first and attempted to climb the Bicentennial Tree,,, NUP! Couldn't do it! We only did about 20 steps as it was raining, we had done it before about 17 years ago and Liam too little! Theres our excuses and we are sticking to them! Lololol
After the attempt we headed on to the Heartbreak Trail ( a fire track cut by hand )- a one way journey through the forests with lookouts on the way.
We travelled further along the ' Drive ' to Beedulup National Park where there was a lovely walk through to a look out over cascading falls and onto a great swinging bridge! ( not one for Oma! Hahahah ) Was lovely! Liam and Jack both loved this and love the walks.
As our tummies were grumbling we headed to the King Trout and Marron Farm just out of Pemberton. Here we had a fish for trout and Liam caught the first one within 5 minutes of throwing his line in! He was so excited! In total we caught 8. We catch them, they clean them, and they cook as many as we want and we take home the rest. So ordered 3 to cook and a basket of chips. Was a fun day!
Back to the caravan park for a scooter at the skate park and a relaxing arvo!