From Up-North to Down-South

Thanks for sticking with me, I know it's been over a week again but I do have an excuse for not blogging, no internet again plus having a bit too much fun!

Our down south trip was like a holiday within our trip. We've been away for 8 days with Sophie and Cale and have been staying in some really nice accommodation (probably the nicest we'll see while we're here!) and sampling some really yummy food and wine.

Last Sunday we headed down to Yallingup which is about 3 hours South of Perth and a hot surfing place, we had 2 nights there to basically enjoy the sun, sea and surf. James couldn't wait to get in but didn't stay too long as the waves were on the larger side, I stayed in the shallow waters too otherwise thought we all might get swept away! The beach was gorgeous though and it was nice to just sit there and watch people surfing, fishing and generally getting beaten up by the waves!

Tuesday we had a long drive further down to Denmark (not the country - bad joke!!) which took up most of the day. On the way we stopped at Berry Farm Winery in Margaret River which was so cute right in the middle of all these trees and had a scrumptious lunch and some wine tasting which is what that region is all about - gourmet food and superior wines. The place we were staying at in Denmark was so different to everywhere else, a small rural log cabin in the middle of a forest so it was only natural that the boys got down to cutting up wood as soon as we got there to make a fire. We had a really fun evening making dinner, playing charades and drinking way too much wine!

Wednesday we did the famous 'Tree Top Walk' in 'The Valley of the Giants' which is basically a big area of 50 metre tall Karri trees in a national park. There is a bridge which is built through the forest at about 40 metres above ground level which moves quite a lot as you walk on it, not for the faint hearted or those afraid of heights! James loved it of course (being a tree surgeon)but said he would have felt safer in the trees rather than on the bridge! From there we stopped at Greene's Pool, an amazing little bay where the water is so clear and nothing but white sand and then onto a toffee factory for a well deserved (we thought) ice-cream!

That night we stayed in a caravan park in Albany which was only about half an hour from Denmark. We grabbed dinner at a cosy restaurant called 'Nonnas' and then just watched a DVD at home which by the way was really rubbish - 'The Eye' with Jessica Alba, don't bother!

Albany was quite a nice town, had a few historic buildings and some nice streets to walk along but I felt like we'd seen it all pretty quick so the next day was another long drive back up to Busselton where we were staying for the last 4 nights of our trip. On the way back up we passed through a town called Manjimup which our Lonely Planet guide said was worth a trip to see 'One Tree Bridge'. Considering James is a fan of trees we thought we'd find this amazing bridge and after driving for a while, came across a small sign for it. After getting out of the car and walking through some trees, there it was - an old broken bridge which was probably about 10 metres long just randomly placed in the forest, not the most impressive sight I've seen while I've been here I must say, so for anyone wondering about seeing it, I'd say its not worth the detour! However, the sign in front is quite a laugh 'bridge no longer in use', who would have thought that when its fenced up in the middle of a forest placed on the ground with both ends broken?

Anyway, Busselton is where we really indulged and where I felt like I was definately on holiday. Our apartment was lovely, really modern and literally a minutes walk from the beach. We all had a game of Supa Golf on Friday which is where you play with big plastic clubs, it was such a laugh and I was quite impressed with myself not to come last, would definately recommend that game to anyone! We visited the Margaret River Chocolate Factory afterwards which wasn't exactly Cadbury World but the chocolate was really good, I couldn't help going back for a fourth time to the free tasters! After too much chocolate and in the wrong order, we went for lunch at a beautiful winery called Providence, you couldn't really ask for much more; sun, shade, lovely wine, tasty lunch AND stunning views over the vineyards and to top it all off, a trip to the beach afterwards for a dip.

Saturday we went to Sophie's favourite restaurant 'The Goose' which sits at the end of the famous Busselton jetty which is 2km long. We walked to the end and back which took just over an hour and worked up a bit of an appetite for our tasty tapas lunch. Me and James squeezed in a bit of snorkelling too and managed to spot a stingray and lots of puffer fish. With even more energy to burn off we played tennis at the resort, don't think I've played since I was 11 but it was really fun!

Sunday was probably the most fun we all had when we went on the all day Bushtucker Winery Tour. We got picked up by this funky bus at 10am and slowly collected another 16 people (all about our age) and headed off to the wineries. Our tour guide Brian was so funny and definately had us all in giggles, especially when he picked on James to eat a 'witchetty-grub' at lunch which is like a giant crunchy maggot, gross. I tried kangaroo for the first time too and thought it was actually really nice! Over the day we visited 4 wineries, 1 brewery, the chocolate factory and the cheese factory and managed to taste about 40 wines! Let's just say we were all pretty merry by the time we got dropped off at 6pm and fell asleep by 10pm with thumping headaches.

Yesterday was just the drive home and a chilled out day all in all. Today we've been to Fremantle again (we went there a few weeks ago) but this time to visit the old prison. This might sound boring but it was really interesting, we went on a tour and the guide told us loads of things about the prisoners and their routines etc and we finished off by visiting the execution chamber which was a bit creepy, what was really weird is that the prison only shut down in 1991 so it's really recent history. We just grabbed a pizza after that and a drink in a really cool place called 'Little Creatures Brewery'.

Well that's my update so far, I'm around in Mandurah for 2 weeks now so will be able to blog more often! For those of you who are wondering about my photos on facebook, well its impossible to upload them anywhere, I'm trying to find an internet which will let me but its so frustrating when it doesn't work!!! Don't worry though, I've got plenty of photos so when I do manage to get them online, you'll all have lots to look at!

Bye for now!!!
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