25th of May
Spent the morning driving around looking at some prados and
pajeros but by lunch time I was over looking at overpriced cars that were well
below the standard and quality of the pajero I only saw last night. So at 5 o’clock
I went down and purchased a pajero that was a one owner with 72000km on it with
a full service history.
26th of May
I needed a towbar
fitted and the suspension beefed up to help carry the weight but being Perth
nothing is open Saturday so had the suspension booked in for Monday morning and
the towbar fitted Tuesday. So while my Wife and kids were back at Kalbarri I
had nothing better to do then wash and polish the new car. Later in the
afternoon I went for a drive in the pajero through Kings Park and back up the
coast road as most blokes would understand nothing better than driving your new
car lol.
27th of May
While the wife was flat out looking after the 3 kids by herself
I was just wasting time fitting a couple of seat covers and blind spot mirrors.
28th of May
When all my problems started it turned out that through kate’s
family they had a second cousin who lived in Perth and had a mechanic shop.
Pino the owner of this mechanic shop organized all the bolt on stuff through
his suppliers in the area saving me at least $900 bucks. So before the
suspension was fitted Pino changed my oil and filter and gave the car a check
over and he couldn’t even believe how tidy it was. I then had suspension fitted
and wheel alignment.
29th May
I had the automatic serviced in the morning then the towbar
fitted but it took a bit longer then I hoped so ended up not risking driving in
the sunset and the dark.
30th may left early in the morning and drove up
to Kalbarri calling into Geraldton for breakfast and pick up some food suppliers
from the cheaper coles. Spent the afternoon packing and sorting stuff out
31st Last day at Kalbarri spent the day still
sorting and packing stuff up and re packing trying to make it work . I finished
just in time for beer o’clock and walked down to the front of the park to watch
the sunset and talk to the other caravanners. As we had being at a place for 2 weeks with 3
kids no car we were the talk of the caravan park so spent our last night have a
laugh and beers with the nice regular visitors to the caravan park.
I have to mention a special thank you to Greg and Kerry the
Kids loved them and would do anything for us. If I didn’t find a lift down to
Perth on Thursday he was going to change his plans and head down on Thursday
for me.
The people that run the caravan park were friendly and made
it a great place to be stuck.
There were heaps of other amazing people there like the 84
year man Charlie who was so witty so switched on, so healthy and could tell
jokes like a comedian and drove a motor home that most people of any age would
stress driving. Plus his wife was 25 years younger than him. I asked where they
met he said he walked into a pub in London when he was 50 and saw this young
lady completely drink a pint of beer in one go and said he had to go out with
her. I said well there must be truth in the saying you’re only as old as the
lady you feel.
1st of June
Keen to test out the new rig and get on the road we left
after saying our farewells to Greg and Kerry the girls even had breakfast with
them and gave them a big cuddle good bye and the wave out the window to
everyone else as we drove through the park towards the exit. We were keen to
make up some time and it was about 400km to Denham. Upon arrive at Denham we
set up camp and headed into town to find out the procedure to head out to
monkey mia. I also realised yesterday that I had left my national park past
worth $80 on my old truck window but the gentleman at the info centre told me
to go into the parks office next door to see if I can get a replacement for
free. The parks lady was very nice and even though they had no record of it
still gave me a new one for free. (I am telling you anything to do with the government
is easier in Wa compared to nsw).
2nd of June
A lot of people have told us they didn’t like Monkey Mia but
I think if you have Kids that love to see animals, you can’t beat it. We got up
early as the first feed is at 7.45am and we had to drive 26km to get there. We
got there early as we have been warned of big crowds. I would say by 7.45am
there was close to 150 people and they said it is bit quiet today. At 7.45 they
let you walk down onto the beach they keep the beach closed until then so the
dolphins don’t come in to early and neglect there kids. After about 20mins of
standing in the water up to knee height with the dolphins swimming within
reaching distance of the kids and myself and the volunteer telling you about
the dolphins we all had to step out of the water. This signals to the dolphins
that it is feeding time and 3 dolphins came in and 3 more volunteers came down
with a bucket for each one and each bucket had 3 fish. Jess and I got picked
first to go and feed the dolphin closer to us, Megan was still too tired after being
woken up early so had no interest yet. When the feed finished we went up and
Kate had a coffee while I enjoyed a discounted milk lol. The Dolphins also have
2 more feeds one at around 9 if different dolphins turn up and one at 10.30 if
the same happens again. While we were waiting for the first feed to start a
lady about 28 years of age was talking to us because she remembered us from
Kalbarri even though she hadn’t seen us she had heard about us and remember
seen our kids. Anyway I hadn’t seen anyone so keen to feed dolphins she was
there before us must have been the first there and she didn’t get picked at the
first feed. Then I was walking pass the beach when I was coming back from
getting stuff from the car and there she was at the second feed still failed to
get picked, even though the crowd gets a bit smaller each time. On the third
feed the kids and I were on the jetty when they started and there was this lady
half a metre in front of everyone else trying to get picked again and the
problem is there is different volunteers at each feed. I decided to walk down as
Megan wanted to feed them now and this Lady loved kids so gave her Jessica and
Megan to increase her chance of feeding them and they could all do it together.
I am standing 3 rows back keeping an eye
on the kids and the volunteer lady is down to her last choice and for some
reason picks me out at the back, I declined and suggested the kids and lady
would love it more. We spent a bit more time after the feed, with the kids
swimming in the pool followed by our packed lunch before heading back to Denham.
3rd of June
We were going to free camp just out of Denham but decided
the water is still too cold to swim in and that we might as well get going to
make up lost time and try and get back in front of the grey nomads and try and
beat them to Broome. So today we decide to head to Carnarvon on the way we called into shell beach I have never seen so many shells in all my life you can't see sand. Once at Carnarvon booked in at
the big4 as they didn’t rip me as much for the kids. We spent the afternoon
with the kids playing on the jumping castle and in the park.
4th of June
Carnarvon
Big Banana first
Went for the train ride out on the 1 mile Jetty followed by
looking around the old lighthouse cottage and the shearer’s museum. We also stocked
up on some food and called into some fruit farms where we also purchased frozen
strawberries coated in chocolate, frozen banana coated in chocolate and some
fruit for later.
5th of June
Headed out of town up to Coral coast as we were driving half
way there the indash temp was saying outside was 22 degrees. By the time we got
to Coral coast a place that looks awesome and normally would be paradise it is
14 degrees and raining this is the first time I have had to set up in the rain.
After setting up I decide to go for a walk to see if I can find a nice couple
that I had some afternoon chats with on more than one occasion and at more than
one caravan park. I then returned to my caravan for a cuppa tea some journal
writing followed by a break in the clouds so took the kids for a walk.
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