Peaceful Bay and a birthday (April 2015)

We have arrived in Peaceful Bay. They know how to name their beaches in Western Australia; that is for sure. Jolmer is turning 40.

He starts off his birthday with a snorkel, accompanied by Laura, Jaap and Tim.

The usual singing, presents and decorations follow, and we continue our travels towards Walpole. 

From here we can take the car to the Karri and Tingle forest in the Valley of the Giants. We are going to do the very well advertised tree top walk. The weather is cloudy, rain is predicted for later today and tomorrow, and for a couple of days to come.

That doesn’t stop us enjoying the tree top walk: we have a good view and marvel over the sheer size of these trees.  Now apparently the Karri’s have the better root system of the two and have really sturdy wood. The Tingles, apart from being pretty have little use. Their roots go about one meter deep, therefore the base of the tree is wide for more balance and support. These trees however due to fungus and parasites and other processes become hollow on the inside. Not a lot of wood to harvest. We think that explains why they weren’t all cut down in the previous century. Very characterful trees.

Because it is a special day I suggest the children go abseiling from a 10meter platform. Jaap and Peter are keen and get suited up, Tim is VERY keen and will also do this thing! Laura claims she does not like heights –at all- and says she won’t go. Of course, as we thought she would- she changes her mind after she sees her brothers have fun. She tells the man to do all the things normally and not listen to anything silly she might say in the heat of the moment, but when the time comes, she is focused and determined and doing very well.

They all get a second turn, and we can tell they feel very brave and unstoppable now. The boys start walking in some type of tough-looking walk, with their harnesses and helmets. Great fun and a really nice company. Also recommended.

The planned birthday cake with apples is not such a success as I hoped. I should have followed a recipe. The dough had way too much butter –which is nice if you want to snack on uncooked dough (my favorite part of baking apple pies) –and the pattern over the top melts instead of bakes. Taste is good though.

Jolmer and I argue about the moist absorbing agent best to use. I always thought Dutch dry rusks –beschuit- but Jolmer insists his mother always uses custard powder. I am sure there will be a rematch not very far away. Better keep an eye on the ‘Bus-tucker’ blog!

Albany 2 (April 2015)

Returning to Albany feels like coming home. Funny that.

On the parking lot of the Memorial Hill there are interestingly no signs that you cannot occupy a vehicle over night. That helps because we want to visit the museum as well as the monument at the top of the hill.

The museum is very well set up; at the entrance you receive a card with a real person’s name on it, with a bar code. Throughout the exposition you can scan your card for more details about that soldier/officer/nurse. Not all people on the cards survive the war, some return home and die prematurely. My nurse actually was in her 90’s when she passed on. At the end of the route you can leave a message to your person. Children write the darnest things.

We learn about the characters of the ANZAC troops like John KirkPatrick with his donkey –he died- and we learn about the statistics, the casualties, the staggering numbers of lives lost on both sides. We learn about the significance of the symbols. Coming from Europe a lot of this is new to us. We try to understand what it must have been like fighting from the trenches. Why did they do that?

Jolmer and I are affected by the museum and tears are rolling down our cheeks. Such a gruel war.

The children have to write letters –as part of their schoolwork- as if they are at the fighting front, and as if they were still in Australia. They have to make a care package and we bake ANZAC biscuits, of course. This is something we had actually done a couple of times since arriving here in 2006.

The Kids wrote a recipe and background down for Anzac Biscuits. Well worth the read and give it a try if you like. Click here for the link.

The next morning we visit the monument at the top of the hill. A little Bandicoot roams around. What a view over the bay. We can almost picture all the boats in the harbour getting ready for departure. It must have been an impressive sight. There is a lone pine tree as well, grown from one of the seeds from one of the very few pinecones taken from Lone Pine Beach. It all has more meaning now.

We’re glad we went back. Whenever you are in Albany: Memorial hill is well worth a stop.

Denmark (April 2015)

Denmark is being fondly described by the locals as the Byron Bay of WA, but then without all the tourists. It does have a bit of a modern hippy vibe. The modern-hippy shire however does not like self contained free camping: all areas are signposted. It is Easter long weekend, the caravan parks are full and we don’t know where to go. We end up somewhere out of town in a spot we are certain we are not supposed to be, but reckon no ranger is going to check this area, so we’ll get away with it.

Next day we park our massive motorhome at the parking area of Ocean Beach. And sure enough a Ranger comes to warn me we cannot stay there and she takes photos of the bus. I find it a bit intrusive to be honest. But we have to be there because we are booked in for another surf lesson with Mike. He must be a local celebrity, renting out surfboards and providing lessons for sixteen years. He’s good too. Making the children practice on a board on the beach, explaining more about the waves with really cool illustrations. When they have another go in the water we can tell the new skills are carrying the kids even further than before. He explains they need to get as much ‘glide time’ as possible. Doesn’t matter if they lie on their back, sit on the board or stand.  The kids just love it, except for Hugo. He doesn’t really like getting wet.

Mike invites us to stay at his place, so we can park the bus and not break the law.

However the neighbours alert the Rangers and we have to explain ourselves again. Nicely, he accepts we are staying at Mike’s and that’s that.

We don’t want to stay too long though.

Easter is a bit different this year, without an Easter Fruit Loaf. Luckily the local bakery makes delicious hot cross buns. Our decorations have failed. Denmark can’t accommodate us, time we move on, in this case back.

We need to return to Albany because the children need to do schoolwork about ANZAC day and the centenary of the landing in Gallipoli, and where better to go than ANZAC memorial hill?

Albany 1 (March 2015)

The road between Esperance and Albany is quite narrow and with steep shoulders, which does not provide very relaxed driving. 

The campground we have selected to stay is not big enough for our large motor home, that is: we think we can get in, but we’re afraid we can’t get out.

Luckily enough there is another option at a park with a special area for big rigs, called ‘the overflow’.  We can book in but have to be out of there before the Eater long weekend. While exploring Albany by car we get the impression there is a lot to like. The main road, dipping down towards the port has a nice historic feel to it.

We find all that we are looking for right here. Firstly we get all the brochures from the information center and then do some shopping. On Saturday there is a farmers’ market and we are keen to learn what the local producers grow. It is tucked away in a small area, unpretentious, nice. No rice growers here, but plenty of apples. We’re a bit late for strawberries. On Sunday we check out the boat shed markets, with more nonfood stalls and a good atmosphere. We have to buy honey, because we finished all our own supply before entering WA.

One of the apiarists we talk to tells us his hives have a lot of chalk brood and American foulbrood disease. We are not so convinced the Western Australian beehives are that much more disease free than the rest of Australia. We certainly never had foulbrood in our hives. We checked regularly. Needless to say we did not buy his honey. Anyway.

We fill our time with collecting Woolworth’s dominos, some other shopping, a visit to the new Orana Cinema (Disney’s Cinderella, love the performance by Cate Blanchet) and a visit to the Sandalwood distillery (a bit of a joke, not much of a tour, but many very pricy products).

Highlights are the former Whaling Station, now museum. It boasts the most fantastic view, a fascinating history and very well set up. Good to know that the number of whales is recovering steadily. The other ultimate experience is snorkeling and spearfishing at Mutton Bird Beach. In the local dive shop –where we bought a long wetsuit for Laura, and a new spear for Jolmer, they had provided us with this priceless tip. What an excellent spot for beginner snorkelers. The beach is sheltered from big waves by two islands only hundred meter of the coast and the water is crystal clear. The new long suits are working well, nobody is cold and Jolmer manages to catch a feed. We feel we have landed in paradise.

We like Albany so much that we make an appointment to get shown around one of the local schools, for future orientation.

Surfing off Margaret beach proves to be tricky. We miss the nice long rollers from Surfers Beach in SA and Lucky Bay near Esperance. None of us manages to get up on the board, but that is OK, we experience different waves and surf and break. Let’s try again in Denmark.

We now have 2 boys with a B diploma. Hugo says he also has one. A B-abyploma.