Life in a Humpback

Day 97: Perth (Day 4: Theo)

Today we went to the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA). When we got to the car park, Olivia did not feel well so she went home. At the Aquarium me and Mum went on a conveyor belt, which was a moving platform that took us under a big aquarium tank. We did two laps of the conveyor belt through the tank. We saw lots of sharks, fish, and rays. There was also a turtle. When we got out we saw a massive crab. Later we went to a room that had the most deadly sea animals - it was cool. Then we went to the touch tank were I touched a Port Jackson shark and a bamboo shark. After we went to the gift shop were Mum let me buy a hammerhead shark stuffed toy, which I named Pickle.

When we were waiting for Dad to pick us up we did one more lap of the conveyor belt. When Dad got there, Olivia was there too, but she was feeling better so we went back into the aquarium and did it all again but this time with Dad and Olivia.

Day 96: Perth (Day 3)

Today we went on a train to the Fremantle kids bookshop. At the bookshop me and Theo both got a book for getting to 100 nights of reading in term 1 & 2. I got a book called Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens and Theo got a book called Asterix and the Golden Sickle

Then we got a drink and went to Fox in a Box also in Fremantle to do an escape room. We did the escape room Mastermind: A Heist Story. We nearly finished and probably would have finished with another 60 seconds (we were also trying to do the last puzzle a harder way... by accident). We sadly ran out of time. It was a great escape room and a fun day.

Day 95: Perth (Day 2)

Today we took a train to go to Nostalgia Box but there was a birthday party going on. So we had to wait until around 1pm until the birthday party was done. So we got back on the train to Optus Stadium where mini golf was. At mini golf we played 18 holes. It was fun. In the end Mum came 1! Dad came 2! Olivia came 3! and I came 4 🙁.

Then we took the train back to Nostalgia Box. Where we played a bunch of video games from the past including duck hunt, pong, wii sports, and others. Most of the games there were the well known older games. I beat dad in wii bowling then mum beat me in wii bowling by one point.

Then we took the train to Perth, then took another train to Warwick Station where our caravan park is. We the took the car to Scarborough Night Market, where we got dinner. We ate dinner. Then we went to the skate park where we tried to climb up the sides of it. Me and Olivia couldn't do it because it was really steep and slippery and we were wearing Crocs, but I could do it with Dad's help.

Then when we got back to the caravan park we played for "5 more minutes" on the bouncy pillow - which was more like 30 minutes before bed.

Day 94: Perth (Day 1)

Today we went to Scitech. There were so many cool things to play and interact with including, tunnels representing the brain that shot out bits of neon fabric that was representing thoughts, an earthquake simulator to build stuff on, a machine you used to move a mouse on a screen to the cheese, a chair that you could sit on and lift your own weight, and lots more! We even watched a show which involved a lot of blowing up.

Later we went to the Banksy museum to look at some of his art. Banksy is a mysterious street artist, whose art just appears out of nowhere!

Day 93: Cervantes to Perth

Today we packed up once again to head into Perth. On the way we stopped at Lancelin to go sand boarding on the white sand dunes. We picked up our rental boards and walked out and up the dunes. After a bit of work on technique we all manged to get a few runs down the dunes. The kids and John even managed a few runs standing up. Once we were all thoroughly covered in sand and our hour was up we headed into town for lunch before continuing to Perth.

In Perth we are stayed at Karrinyup Waters Resort located in the northern suburbs. The resort was the fanciest park we have stayed in yet. There is three pools, several playground, and jumping pillows - including one right across from our campsite. The kids had a swim in the pool, then a play in the playground with the pack of other kids until it was time to go out for dinner in the evening.

Day 92: Cervantes (Day 2)

Today we started the morning visiting another part of Nambung National Park, this time at Lake Thetis. This is another place where stromatolites can be viewed. We went on a walk around the lake including out onto the partially flooded boardwalk to try to see the stromatolites under the water. Unfortunately the wind was creating enough ripples on the surface that we could not see them in the flooded lake. As we continued around the lake we found lots of snails in the grasses and scrubs - some with round shells other with long spiral ones.

Next we drove back north to Jurien Bay to have a look around. We went to an art gallery where the art was viewed under black light to highlight the sun penetrating the water scenes depicted in each art piece. After lunch we went for a walk along the foreshore until the rain and wind drove us back to the car.

Back at our caravan park for the afternoon we played pool and table tennis in the games room before dinner.

Day 91: Cervantes (Day 1)

After some wet days the weather was nicer today, so we spent the morning exploring the art trail in Cervantes. We found metal alien robots, zebras who had crossed a road, a shark playground, and many more. The kids also got a swim in the first heated pool we've encountered since Alice Springs.

In the afternoon we drove south to Nambung National Park to visit the Pinnacles Discovery Centre and to go for a walk through the Pinnacles Desert. Unfortunately the 4km driving loop through the park was closed because of damage to the road from a very wet winter. Instead we walked out into the park. The Pinnacles are columns of rock that stick out of the sand dunes around them. Scientist are still not sure how they were created, but one theory is that they are petrified trees. While walking through we found Pinnacles that has birds nests on them, lots that had holes in them, and a few kangaroos eating dinner as the sun was starting to set.

Once we had a good look around we headed back to the carpark to join our Pinnacles Night Tour. First they sent us back out to the Pinnacles for a look around another section of the park before we circled back to where we were earlier. Then we had a yummy dinner before they pulled out the telescope and we got to look at some of the constellations. The dark skies here made star gazing very easy. Just before we headed home Saturn came high enough above the horizon for us all to have a look through the telescope to see the planet with its rings with our own eyes.

Day 90: Mullewa to Cervantes

This morning I got up early to go for a walk along the Mullewa Bushland Trail. It was still rather wet after the previous nights rain, so some of the everlasting were still closed, but it was a lovely walk through fields of wildflowers. I even found a few native orchids along the way. After the walk I headed back to camp to pick up the kids and drive out to Pindar (a small town to the east of Mullewa) to see the wreath flowers. The wreath flowers, with their ring of blossoms, are plants that people come from all over to see, so there were plenty of signs to help us find them on the side of the road.

Afterwards we drove back to Mullewa to hook up the caravan and head south to Cervantes via Mingenew. Along the way we passed fields of barely, wheat and canola with - of course - wildflowers in between. Once we arrived at the RAC Cervantes Caravan Park the kids went exploring the playground and surrounds before dinner while John and I set up camp.

Day 89: Kalbarri to Mullewa

Today we were on the move once again. Our first stop was south of Kalbarri at Hutt Lagoon to see the pink coloured Lagoon. The lagoon is pink due to algae that produce carotenoid. This algae is used for things like makeup and food colouring.

We then headed to Geraldton for lunch and to pick up some groceries, as this was the first big city we had passed through since Broome. It was very windy so we did not spend much time in the city.

Once we were re-stocked we drove back inland to Mullewa, which is a small town in the middle of "wildflower country". We stayed at the Mullewa Caravan Park (overflow section). Once we unhooked the caravan I headed out on the wildflower walk that leaves from the entrance to the caravan park. It was a short 3km walk through fields of pink, while and yellow everlastings, hakea bushes, and pincushion flowers, with a few sculptures scattered along the way.

Day 88: Kalbarri (Day 2)

Today we woke up to cloudy skies and a forecast of rain, so we didn't make any big plans for the day. In the morning we went into town for the daily pelican feeding.

While the others had some down time, I headed out for another look at the wildflowers in Kalbarri National Park. Then later in the afternoon Olivia and I went into town to look at the art and craft exhibition that was on.

For dinner we went to Finley's where Theo was very excited to find a burger named after one of his best friends.