Margaret River - and so it begins...

Our first real stop on our own - no caravan park, no power, no worries!

We stopped at Canebrake Pool - which is about 15km out of Margaret River. Its a lovely little spot where CALM have made these camping spots around a pretty part of the Margaret River.
We stayed two nights, during the day we explored wineries, and surf spots and had a lovely time.

The first evening was too cold for us - so I told Dave to lock the door, and we snuggled into bed fairly early, only to be woken by the sounds of someone trying to get in the van, or at least it sounded very much like it. We were the only ones in the whole place so we were quite nervous. We have since told ourselves that it was only the water pump.... we hope... but the van is always locked now, no matter where we are!

The next night was marginally warmer and there were three other campers so we felt pretty safe, we stoked up the fire and had steaks and veges on the hotplate - yum!! We then sat around playing cards in the firelight and said to ourselves... "this is the life"
Look at how dirty my scooter got on the way to the camping spot!!! I don't like gravel roads... really I dont!

From Margaret River we are heading to Manjimup to see Jeremy and Kelly Beissel who own the Fonty's Pool Caravan Park.

Mandurah - Mick n Mel n Isaac

Here are some photos of our time with Mick and Mindy and Isaac in Mandurah!


We had a great time staying with them, we spent lots of time getting to know baby Isaac! He is terribly cute - but infectious! (We left Mandurah with colds)

We were lucky enough that Mel and Mick put their pontoon boat in the water for us - we had a lovely time pottering around the canals.. one couldn't help thinking... "this is the life!"

We also went and visited with Uncle Keith and Aunty Jenny - and had tea with them and had a good ol chat.

Unfortunately we weren't able to sell my Mazda, so it is in their garage wating for us when we visit in March next year....

Family Photos

We took some photos of the whole family whilst on our "FAMILY HISTORY MYSTERY' tour down to Merredin and Beverly.

We took these photos on the farm where Mum n Dad lived - and where I came into the picture....

The menfolk were absolutley delighted to have to bring a white shirt and wear it and pose and smile for these photos.... while the kids were just as pleased as punch to have to STAY CLEAN for 20 minutes!

Melbourne Cup

Dave was pretty keen to see the big race, and to put his once a year bet on a horse...

Having seen his lukcy number (10) win a "hermit crab race" on the TV that morning - he went with his lucky number again!The above shot shows the point where Dave realised number 10 might have a chance...

This is the winning ticket!!

This is a $465.00 win

a girl could get a few pairs of shoes with that!

We are finally on the move!!

we have left Perth at last...

Perth - Scootering and the Red Bull Air Race

Well we are still here in Perth... siiiigh

We had been staying with my good friend Lynda up until last week, this is her - we went out for a lovely lunch in Freo.. We finally left Lynda in peace and moved into the Karrinyup Waters resort, just to see if we'd have more luck selling the mazda there... so far, we haven't

But as you can see below, Dave has found a few mates to share a beer with... this is not what we expected "happy hour"to be like... Like my Dad told us, dead on 6pm Happy hour starts... and thats exactly when these guys turn up. We need the use of a hose after their departure unfortunatley.

We have had great fun exploring on the scooter. Apart from a scary encounter with some very stern policemen.... who just happened to be looking for two "crims"on a scooter.... I think if we hadn't happened to be riding along the footpath we wouldn't have caught their attention so rapidly.

I have ridden the scooter - its scary fun, but I still need a bit more practise/confidence before I actually hit the open road and other traffic.

On our scootering - we wound up at Trigg beach where Dave proposed nearly 3 years ago.. this is an actual recreation of that moment... can you see why I said yes??? So handsome

This photo below is of our mate Mick, he is taking us out to his mates Launch for us to watch (front row) the Red Bull Air Race - IT WAS AWESOME!! Felt sorry for the people on the stands who paid big bucks to sit in the sun... we had prime possie and had a ball
This is us heading out on the dinghy to the launch
These acrobatic planes were very cool...-
indy and Isaac were there to greet us when we arrived on the big boat. He gets cuter and cuter everytime we see him,

I think his Daddy thinks the same thing!

This is a little video footage - all 15 seconds that my phone will record for.... bear in mind this was all A LOT LOUDER in reality!

Our new Wheels!

SING IT WITH ME NOW...

Get out on the highway...
lookin for adventure....
BORN TO BE WIIIIILLLLD!!

Beverley to Byford Via Merredin

The Murfit convoy left Beverley behind and made its merry way to Merredin... our cousins let us camp on their farm up on Newcarnie rocks. As you can see we were knee deep in vegetation until "fixit farmer father" got the flora under control. Up until this point I had pondered upon why one would go camping with a "whipper snipper" (all these photos can be clicked on to enlarge them)

Grandad and Reilly - reflecting on the meaning of life???

We had quite a time driving around the region, checking out where my Dad went to school, where he grew up, checked out the Museum - kids loved that, I liked seeing both my Granmas profiled in the "Pioneer" womens section at the museum...

Grandma Edith even got a plaque and a rose in the Pioneer womens garden, that was pretty cool.
We had a lovely afternoon tea/lunch at Springvale - The kids had a great time - terrorising Matthew and Beths chickens (hope they started laying again?)

The museum was great fun, and the tadpole rescue mission was quite something to witness, traumatised tadpoles.. can you imagine?

The whole family went back to where Dad was born and grew up - and we placed a plaque there - some friends of Dad's from Merredin came along too which was nice.
Dad then took us for a bit of a walk and showed us all around - telling us stories of this and that, I particularly enjoyed hearing about his ferrets. I have a soft spot for ferrets... don't know why - I've never even touched one... they look "bitey"

I think secretly Ken wanted to take this peice of "machinery/bucket of rust" home with him.

Geraldton to Dandaragan to Beverley

So we finally left Geraldton and made it as far as Dandaragan - happy to have made that! We had sooo much to do before we left so it was a relief when we finallly rolled out of town.

Spent some time with Dave's brother Johno and family - had a little mini birthday celebration and played on the new ride on mower!
From there we cruised up to New Norcia and spent the night at Bomber and Lisa's place and had tea with them and Phil and Mezza Haywood and their girls.

After dropping my mazda at Bindoon for the week we headed thru Toodyay and York onto Beverley to stay on our old farm "Bally Bally"We met all my family there and had a great time - Dave celebrated his birthday for about the third time (third cake too)Bush camping was the order of the day - nothing like a bit of a challenge to start our adventure! The kids had a ball , playing with fire and smoking us all out...
we caught up with some of Mum's brothers and families which was nice -loads of kids everywhere - all playing on Uncle Ross's new tractorThis is Mum n Dad's old ute - the one they took on their Honeymoon to AlbanyUncle Ken showing the kids how to throw a rock... and showing the adults how to throw your back out!
Me n Dave at County Peak
The kids outside the gates of the farm at Beverley - onto Merredin next