This morning we went surfing!! It was amazing. Our instructor, Heather, helped me and Theo a lot. And we all stood up at one point! I had the longest stand and I really enjoyed it. The water was also not that cold which was great! The board was really big though. There was 5 steps to get to standing, which were:
The fourth step was the hardest.
We did surfing today. It was fun. We all stood up in the end. We did it for two hours. Me and Olivia worked together to grab two boards and bring them down to the beach. I grabbed the front of them and Olivia the back because I had shorter arms and she had longer arms. We had to walk about one kilometer to get to the beach (ed: it was actually 400m). It felt very far.
The waves were medium sized and there was five steps for standing up on a surf board. The first one was to paddle four times when the wave was coming at you. Then lie down and get up on your knees. Then put one foot out in front and stand up. It was easier to do on land than on the water. I would like to do surfing again it was lots of fun 😄.
Today we went to do soccer golf. It was fun! Soccer golf is where you kick the ball through obstacles and into the hole. Dad said if we got a hole in 1 he would buy us a stuffed animal! But none of us did 🙁. Mum came first, Theo was second, I came third, and Dad was last.
Then we had froyo for the fist time and it was delicious. Froyo is frozen yogart with toppings. I got a vanilla and mango froyo with strawberrys, marshmellows and sprinkles.
Today we went to Soccer Golf where we did 18 holes. They all had a obstacle. I thought that they got harder as you went.
There was one hole that was really tricky that you had to kick it over walls and between poles. The logs went from one side of the pole to the other so you couldn't kick it around it you had to go over it. Then you had to go through poles that didn't have logs and then shoot through an octagon hoop in the air like a Quidditch goal.
There was another hole where you had to kick it straight through two rocks to get it to the hole. Dad said that if we got a hole-in-one than we would be able to get a stuffed toy. So far we only have gotten one stuff toy each on the trip and that was the limit. But if we had gotten a hole-in-one we would have gotten two stuff toys.
This morning the kids and I started our day at the Margaret River Farmers Market. Where we picked up some fruit and veg and the kids talked me into getting them some pancakes.
We then collected John from camp and made our way to The Hairy Marron Bike Shop to rent mountain bikes. We had a great four hours in the Wooditjup and Pines trail networks. Similar to Dwellingup we could ride from the bike shop to the trailhead, but the trails were closer to town and there were more options for linking shorter trails together.
The kid's favourites trails were Pugsley and Pineocchio. I really enjoyed the downhill trails Line Manager, Pineocchio, and Pumpty Dumpty and the climb on Beanstalk. John's top picks were Bluega and Pumpty Dumpty.
We all had a great afternoon riding but with all the ups and downs we were all pretty tired.
.jpg)
Today we drove further south towards the Margaret River area. Along the way we stopped in Busselton. While there we checked out the new shipwreck playground, the historical buildings on Queen Street, and stocked up on groceries. We did not walk out to the end of the jetty because we did it last time we were in Busselton (back in 2018).
We pulled into the Prevelly Caravan park late in the afternoon. It was the start of a long weekend in WA so the park was very full!
Today we went mountain bike riding at Dwellingup. While renting bikes we bumped into Mim (Elka and Sid's Mum!!)
The trails we rode on were Emu Run, Munda Biddi Trail, Marinyup Loop, Blaze and BFG. Then we went to the pump track. Most of the trails are made out of gravel and it was very slippery and the bike brakes weren't really working 🙁. Overall I enjoyed the riding, it wasn't to big of an up but that meant the down wasn't very good, but that's ok.
In the evening we made damper. I got to knead the flour and water and we cooked it over the fire. It was hard to get it to cook all the way through so I didn't like the taste very much.
We also saw a bandicoot near our campsite. It touched me while I was sitting still outside, but I moved and scared it off 🙁. It was so cute! 🐀❤️*
(* Unfortunately a rat is the closest there is to a bandicoot emoji 🙁)
Today we drove south from Dwellingup to the Treetops Adventure in Lane Poole Reserve. We spent the morning climbing ladders, zipping through the trees, and tackling obstacles high up in the Jarrah tree forest.
On the way back to Dwellingup we drove through the reserve. It was a beautiful forest with lots of camp grounds and a river running through it. If we had more time it would have been great to explore this area a bit more.
We had a late lunch before catching up on blog posts, clarinet practice, and chess lessons.
Today we packed up and said goodbye to the shelducks, the coots and their chicks, and the moorhens that live in the caravan park lake. At least two of the chicks hatched during our stay. It has been nice to listen to the birds and frog calls from the lake at night.
Our first stop for the day was in Mandurah to see the wooden giants that are scattered across the city. We only made it to two - Yaburgurt Winjan Cirkelstone and Santi Ikto. We tried to get to a third (Seba's Song) but it was hard to find a nearby park for the caravan. The two we saw were very impressive - John now wants one for our block of land back in Tassie!
Our final stop for the day was Dwellingup. We arrived at the Dwellingup Chalets and Caravan Park before lunch and then had a wander through the township. The town is a bit like Derby back home as it has set itself up as an adventure destination. It has a few mountain biking areas, but also has bush walking tracks, and areas for kayaking, canoeing, and rafting. The town in one of the few places that the Munda Biddi bike trail and the Bibbulmun walking tracks cross over - both of which stretch from Perth to Albany and are around 1000km each.
Today we went to the Aquarium! But when we got there I got a headache!! So me and Dad went back to the caravan while Mum and Theo did the aquarium. I'm not sure what Mum and Theo did but I just stayed in bed. I was feeling a lot better when we went to pick Mum and Theo up so we all went to look around again. Theo had gotten a hammerhead shark plush toy that he has been wanting for awhile from the gift shop, he named it Pickle.
My favourite place was the touch tank, I touched a Port Jackson shark, but I couldn't reach the bamboo shark. I also picked up a starfish! We also went on this moving pathway that went around and under a big tank with lots of sharks, fish, coral, and rays. We even saw a turtle! We also saw more coral and fish at the marina and other rooms. At the end I got an adorable, soft, big-ish... axolotl! I named her Bella, she looks very good in Dad's sunglasses.
