Pemberton, WA

Pemberton is famous for its giant tingle trees and its beautiful forest and also the new Munda Biddi mountain bike track that weaves over 1000km through the South West of the country. We headed to the camp ground as even though the weather was still rubbish, we thought we should get camping again and not spend all our money on nice cabins. This is what we found at the camp ground!

This is the campground! The posts are the campsite markers. We are prepared for roughing it but this was going to be a challenge!

Thanks, but no thanks

So, after a visit to the visitor information centre trying to find somewhere to stay we ended up at Pemberton Farm Chalets in a 4 bedroom house! So much for trying to save the $$$ by camping again. But it was all that was available and it was a good price as everything was in a bit of disarray after 3 days without power and trees still down across the region. The farmer who owned the property was desperately trying to get everything in order before a busy long weekend in WA. The best thing about our house for 2 days was the open fire and our very own laundry!

Look at all that SPACE!

But the best thing about this place from the kids perspective was that there were a lot of baby animals to feed twice a day. Like any farmers, our daily schedule was based on the feeding routines of the animals. We had to be back home in time for baby lamb and baby calf to get their bottle.

Sophia with Lamby the lamb

Sami with TimTam the cow

Chris finally managed to go for a MTB ride on the Munda Biddi track but came across more than a few obstacles so it was a slow ride....

Another tree down across the trail!

 We visited a few of the sights around Pemberton- mostly to do with very tall trees.

The roads around here are beautiful

You can climb this tree to the lookout at the top. It's over 60 metres high and an old fire lookout tree.

We didn't climb all the way up, but we did go a few metres

We also did the Tree Top Walk 40 metres above ground. We had been told by lots of travellers that it wasn't worth it and a lot of money for a quick walk through the tree tops. We were going to just do the walk on the forest floor but couldn't help ourselves once we got there. May as well give it a go!

Old Grandma Tingle

And then it was time to head East for home.... on our way now!

Margaret River & Augusta

After the windy conditions in Perth, the weather was still destructively windy in the South West, so we checked into another cabin. This one was in Margaret River, right on the river, so we had a great view of the wind and rain and lots of fun playing with the ducks that visited us morning & night. It was a lovely spot (Riverview Tourist Park) and the cabin was a big 2 bedroom place so we were really starting to get used to having more space. Funnily enough, we were still missing the camper trailer and having all our things in a compact area. Our home is going to seem so ridiculously huge when we get back. The girls were very much enjoying TV though as we haven't watched any for over 50 days!

Margaret River is a great town. As you would expect, lots of lovely cafes and restaurants and of course, the wineries are all close by. We visited a few wineries- particularly the ones with good playgrounds. These wine makers know how to keep the parents happy! I worked in some nice restaurants in my early 20’s and I've always remembered the wines that were on our wine list. So I visited some of those wineries too. We also checked out a brewery or two but hit a major hurdle- the storms over the past few days had taken out power in a lot of places. Some areas hadn't had power for 3 days. There were trees- BIG trees- across roads and powerlines. Chris wanted to take his mountain bike out but the local bike shop advised against it saying the track was a mess with trees down everywhere. So glad at this point that we were in a cabin! We missed out on the chocolate factory and a couple more food shops as they were all closed due to the power outage. Thankfully, the cheese factory was still open so we stocked up on some great Margaret River Cheese Company cheese and enjoyed the local wine while overlooking the river.

We made the short drive to Prevelly, the coastal area of Margaret River. It was windy & wooly and there was no one out in the surf.

One of the great wet weather activities in the region is the underground limestone caves. We visited Mammoth cave as it’s self guided using MP3 players rather than a tour- it’s easier with the kids to take it at our own pace and the girls loved having their ear phones in listening to the commentary. We asked the older girls a few things later and they could recall great detail about the caves so that was their science lesson for the week covered!

On our way out of town we took a small detour through some giant Karri trees which were quite spectacular. Our trip to Margaret River was shorter than planned due to the weather but we will be back here one day to explore further. 

 

 

After leaving Margaret River, we headed to Augusta, the town at the South West corner of Australia. We wanted to see the lighthouse and the place where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. That redefined our definition of windy! When given the option of walking out to the lighthouse in gale force winds or staying in the cafe to drink a hot chocolate, Chris & Sam took the lighthouse option while Sophia, Caitlin & I got that hot choccie! I have noticed that we have a lot more photos of Sam on this trip than the other girls- it is not because we play favourites, but because she tends to be the most adventurous and therefore is always with Chris who is the photographer of the family! We hope to come back for a better look in a few years and will check the forecast for winds and perhaps stay in something more solid than canvas ;)