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Hi all, it's been quite a busy week for us, done loads of exciting stuff. We have had fantastic weather since our last entry with constant sunshine and average temperatures in the mid 20's. The tans are starting to build now! Kevin is also running very well now. We found out his Carbs were clogged and that's what was causing the problems. A quick clean sorted that out.
On Thursday we visited an attraction very close to Irene's - Lesmurdie Falls National Park. It is within spitting distance and is a really spectacular waterfall with fantastic views over to the city with it being located up in the hills. We went round Kalamunda afterwards, the first time we'd really explored it, and ended up in a toy shop where James couldn't resist buying some water guns. You wouldn't believe he turned 22 on Friday! We also picked up a set of boules and Yahtzee for the evenings. We played Yahtzee with Stuart and Irene that evening, neither of them had really played it before but they defiantly enjoyed it.
On Friday it was James's birthday and we got up really early to head over to Rottnest Island on the ferry from Fremantle. Rottnest is a small island off the coast of Perth. It is the only home in the world to the Quokka, a tiny kangaroo type thing crossed with a big rodent. Take a look in the pics, they are very tame. It was a beautiful place. We hired some bikes whilst we were there as cars aren't allowed on the island. We also took our snorkelling gear and the waterproof camera. It's a disposable so we won't be able to put the pictures up until we've used the whole film. Got some cracking shots though. Hopefully it won't be to long before we can load them up.
In the evening James, Stuart and I went out to Perth to see what the nightlife was like and for James's birthday meal. The drinks are very expensive here - ($7.50 a shot and the same for even a local beer! That is over £3!). The meal was fantastic. James got his first taste of Kangaroo and really enjoyed it. It's a similar taste to steak but more tender than most. Whilst Stuart and I were stuffed after starter and main, James went ahead and ordered a 'death by chocolate' which was huge and he needed a bit of help with it. We wanted to stay out later but unfortunately we had to get the last bus back if we were all to have a drink. It was probably best for our bank balance anyway! They are very strict on drink driving laws over here. If the breathalyser shows up any alcohol at all then they pull you into the station for a check on another machine to see if you are over the limit.
Saturday was just spent stocking up for our test run north up the coast. The run went very well. We left on Sunday first thing and arrived at our first stop, Lancelin around 10.30. There we hired some sandboards and headed out to the huge dunes. It was great fun but quite tiring climbing back up the dunes in the high temperatures. Unfortunately we have no photos of us sandboarding as we didn't want to get the cameras sandy. After that we went to Back Beach at Lancelin for our lunch then continued up to Cervantes. We were going to follow the coast on an unsealed road but when we saw it it was obvious we'd need a 4x4. It was very soft sand! We looked at the map again and found another route, along a gravel road instead.
When we arrived at Cervantes there was enough time to take a look around before it got dark. We visited a lookout point we saw on the map and got some photos, the scenery is beautiful along this coast, the whole bay is sealed off by reef and a couple of islands, I can't imagine it'd be fun getting a boat in! We visited the local tourist info who were helpful as ever, providing us with some in-detail maps, then headed back along the road to a picnic area James had spotted on the way in and decided it'd make a good place to set up camp. Our first night in Kevin!
We didn't sleep particularly well; the first night in a strange bed is always a little restless. We were on the road again by 7am and visited the Pinnacles Desert. It was fascinating how these rocks just seemed to sprout out of the ground randomly. If it wasn't for the odd shrub or two you could have felt as if you were on the surface of another planet. On the way back into Cervantes we made a couple of stops at some beauty points: Hangover Bay - although we hadn't been drinking, and Kangaroo Point - where a Kangaroo bounced across the road in front of us.
The next stop was Jurien Bay. James promptly bought a fishing rod and some lures, and then we checked into a caravan park. It's won an award for being one of the best parks in Oz but was very reasonably priced. We tested Kev's electric hook-up, which works great, and I couldn't resist playing on the huge Jumping Pillow they had at the site - it's a huge air cushion about 20m x 10m and it's just like jumping on a giant trampoline! Great fun. We tested James's fishing rod out that afternoon and at sunset but unfortunately he didn't catch anything. It did give me a chance to take some great sunset pics though. James taught me how to cast, too.
When we got back to the campsite we got the BBQ out to test it but it was too windy and it kept going out, so we used the sites BBQs instead. After we'd washed up we watched Pirates of the Caribbean on the laptop, and promptly fell asleep! We slept a lot better that night, must've been getting used to the bed.
The next day, Tuesday, we went and had a look at the Jurien Bay marina. We parked up outside the volunteer sea rescue centre and a man inside called us over, he invited us to view the marina from the veranda on the 1st floor of the building, and we got a much better view from there. We stopped at Ledge point on the way home in the hope we could do more fishing, but there was too much seaweed washed up on shore which made it awkward getting out, and the flies were being pesky so we carried on back to Irene's. Irene cooked us a roast dinner that evening, a great end to a great week.
From now on is also looking very busy. We plan to go whale watching on Friday and then begin our travels on Sunday. We'll probably spend most of the first week around the south west which means we need to find a new wi-fi spot so apologies if our future blogs are infrequent but we'll still aim for 1 entry a week.
Enjoy looking at the pictures (and the videos if we can get them loaded up) and we hope everyone at home is well.
Lots of love, Laura and James xXx
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