What We've Been up to in the Month of May

While all our Canadian friends and family are enjoying springtime at home, we are enjoying some cooler autumn weather here in Ferntree Gully.

There's just one tree in the neighbourhood that is dropping it's leaves and reminding us of home,

 

and then you look up the mountainside and all you can see is leafy green!

We asked the kids what kind of things they wanted to do on their weekends for term 2. They surprised us with saying they wanted to stay home more and take more day trips since last term they didn't have much time for playdates, sleepovers and birthday parties. 

Cool. We can do that!

On a Friday night a few weeks ago there was a school disco. Given that the word "disco" isn't something our generation uses very often I wasn't sure what to expect! Sure enough it was your normal every day school dance.  But for these kids the real gem was being able to wear "free dress" (translation: no school uniforms!)

So after a quick dinner and some primping (ok maybe a lot of primping), Tyler went with the first group on the early shift from 5:30 to 7:00pm at which point we went and picked him up and dropped Hannah off for the later shift of 7:00 to 9:00.  This may have been the most fun they've had on a Friday night in a long time!

Mother's Day was a real event for me this year. I attended a Mother's Day tea held by Hannah's girl guide troop one night, had morning tea with Tylers preppie class (all devoted to the letter "m"), and had breakfast in bed on Mother's Day. I've loved every minute of being a "mum" so far this year, and it means so much to me to hear straight from the kids how much they appreciate having me close by this year.

Recently on a lovely Sunday afternoon we met up with some friends to go to the Melbourne Zoo. Since the weather was cooler the animals were moving around and there was lots to see. We all agreed that the highlights of the day were the meerkats, and watching the elephants search for the melons hidden around their enclosure. And of course there was the new baby elephant - it's amazing how something that big can be that cute!

One of the wonderful things about the kids school is not only the strong academic focus, but the fantastic arts program. They each get the opportunity to participate in a grade appropriate art class and music class weekly and Hannah also participates in the "Love to Dance"program where she has an hour of dance every week during school hours as part of a collaboration between the phys ed and arts departments.

One evening last week we had the opportunity to attend the Fall Art Show. We were handed a lovely glass of wine on our arrival and took the next hour to wander around the outdoor basketball court that had been transformed into the Ferntree Gully North Art Gallery! We saw the textiles work Tyler had been working on, my Mother's Day portrait, some watercolour scenes that Hannah had done and some line drawings.

After we had taken the opportunity to mingle with the other parents and admire the artwork we were treated to a show by the kids in the school dance program. This was Hannah's first performance and I think for only 5 weeks of practice she did a fantastic job. Here's a little peek (she's in the middle towards the back)

Hannah and her friend Talia were so fired up after their big performance they agreed to pose for a couple of celebrity shots!

June should be another quiet month. We're hoping to get some day trips in, but mostly we're just enjoying spending time with some of the new friends we've made.

WA - Down the Coral Coast we Go

By Sunday we were ready to starting heading back down the coast towards Perth, while making a couple of key stops along the way.

After a quick stop at the local Coral Bay bakery for breakfast, we got back into the camper and left for Monkey Mia.

The campground at Monkey Mia was more a sandy parking lot than a campground, but it had a great pool and some locals to hang out with. 

On of the highlights of Monkey Mia is that there are a number of dolphins living near the reef that come into the beach every morning between 7:30 and 9:30 to be fed. It is actually a dolphin research area where they study the dolphins and their behaviour in the Shark Bay area. It was very cool to see that many dolphins come in to the beach voluntarily. They certainly aren't coming for the food, one fish a day is just a perk and an incredibly small part of their daily diet. The rangers don't touch the dolphins or interfere with their calves and this helps the populations to grow and thrive.

So the next morning we got up early and headed down to the beach. By 8:00 there were 9 dolphins swimming near the beach waiting for fish.

There are 200 people that turn out for this first feeding and each dolphin only gets one fish. Thats 9 fish and 200 people. The odds of being picked to help feed are slim. I had read online that if you dress to be noticed by the volunteers who pick people out of the crowd to do the feeding you have a better chance.

So I dressed the kids in their red Canada t-shirts and they stood near the front looking cute. Sure enough they got picked! Up they went to feed Surprise the dolphin. Hannah still says that this was one of the highlights of her whole trip.

After the dolphin feeding frenzy we headed down the the other end of the beach for some swimming and shell searching. We easily brought back 100 amazing shells that the kids found.

That afternoon, because we hadn't squeezed enough into our day we took the kids out on a catamaran for a sail and more wildlife searching.  I think they may be adapting to this way of life!

When we had had enough of the sand of Monkey Mia we packed up and headed for the red cliffs and gorges of Kalbarri.

Along the way we stopped for a rest at Shell Beach. A huge beach covered entirely in small cockle shells that run 5 metres deep.

Kalbarri is all about red cliffs and amazing gorges. We made sure to see lots of both. 

 One of our side trips included Pink Lake. It looks orange in my picture for some reason, but it really is pink due to a higher than normal beta carotene levels in the water.

Our last day of travelling was a long one from Kalbarri to Fremantle where it proceeded to rain for the rest of our trip! 

On our last day we unpacked our rain jackets that we hadn't used for 2 weeks and headed to find the free local bus and see some sights in Fremantle.

We started at the Fremantle Prison built as convict barracks in 1850 eventually changed into a prison in the 1890's and continued as a working prison until 1991.

Out at the waterfront amongst the many freighters and cargo ships there was a sailing tour getting ready to launch

And the South Fremantle Markets were fantastic. We spent our whole afternoon here tasting new treats and doing some shopping.

It was the most amazing 2 weeks we could have asked for and we're already working on planning our next trip for the winter break in July. Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef here we come!

WA - Up the Coral Coast we Go

And so after flying into Perth on Sunday, and picking up the motorhome on Monday we stopped at the supermarket for some supplies and stayed at a Caravan Park in Perth for our first night.

Tuesday morning brought some excitement. We were off on our first leg of our road trip taking us to Geraldton. Our first stop was at the Pinnacles Desert in Nambung National Park. The Pinnacles are limestone spires that are uncovered as the desert sand is washed and blown away. Some of them are up to 5 metres tall and there are thousands of them.

As we got closer to Geraldton and closer to the coast we could get a few glimpses of white sand and

blue ocean.

The next morning we tried to get an early start knowing that we had another long day ahead of us in an effort to get up the coast as quickly as possible  - so that we could take our time coming back down. On this leg we saw the trees and grass disappear and large expanses of red dirt grow. We were travelling the main highway, but it could be 100 km before you saw another car on the road.

It's 478 km from Geraldton to Carnarvon our next stop, and 200 km from Geraldton to the first possible stop for diesel - at the Billabong Roadhouse.

Since we were already stopped we decided to pull over at the picnic area beside the roadhouse and get everyone some lunch before continuing on. Check out the scenery. All it needs are some vultures sitting  on the tree branches.

Such huge pieces of our drive are spent without seeing another car, you begin to think you're the only ones out there...until an emu runs across the highway in front of your giant motorhome!

Right after these guys bolted in front of us, we passed a sign telling us to "Watch for Emus - They can be Unpredictable"! No kidding!

Thursday was a big day, we only had a couple of hours driving to do, and we would finally arrive in Coral Bay 1,132 km from where we started and where we planned to stay for 3 whole days.

We made a couple of stops along the way, one to take a picture of the Gascoyne River. Yep, we know it doesn't have any water in it. They call it an upside-down river, since water only flows in it for about 120 days of the year and below the dry river bed for the remainder of the year. 

Gascoyne River - the longest River in Western Australia

And we stopped to see the Blow Holes at Quobba Station where water from the ocean is forced into sea caves and explodes out the top once enough pressure builds.

No railings or anything, just take your kids and walk out on the cliff! Just a big sign telling us that "King Waves Kill". Thanks for that. 

Coral Bay is amazing. The water is always turquoise and peaceful and there is sunshine on average 320 days a year. 

We had promised the kids we would do a couple of tours in Coral Bay to check out the wildlife and beach. First up, snorkelling.  After breakfast we boarded the Ningaloo and headed out onto the reef.

The kids are loving this.

First time off the boat was snorkelling with the fishies living in an amongst the coral of the Ningaloo Reef.  We saw all sorts of fish, turtles, and reef sharks.

Turtle!

Once we had our feet wet, the boat took us out a little farther, and with the help of a spotter plane, we found some manta rays to swim with! Some of them were huge - the largest one we saw was 5 metres tip to tip. They are really quite playful, they like to swim up to you (like this one below) and then flip up and over expecting you to follow! But you have to swim fast to keep up with them.

We had some lunch, looked for some more fish and were back at the campground for afternoon tea.

I think Tyler may have turned into a fish :)

With one more day in Coral Bay we decided to spend Saturday on a Quad Bike tour. We biked up, over and around the sand dunes and along the beach. This was a great idea and certainly completely different from anything Scott and I have ever done.

The kids picked who they wanted to ride with. I think Hannah thought I might drive slower.
Ha! No way chicky...the girls led the pack!

They certainly look like they're having a good time!

How can you beat this view. This is truly paradise.

And we even saw a few of the locals!

**I must note that the underwater pictures from our snorkelling tour and the atv trip are not 

taken by me.  Our guides bring along cameras and take pictures so that you can just enjoy your 

time and the scenery without having to worry about getting a great shot. They are however all 

actual animals and sights seen on our particular tours, as each guide provided us with a copy 

of the pictures after the tour.