September 2016

Adventures, stories, experiences... who else enjoys hearing or reading about these sorts of things? I certainly do, and so thought I'd start a new section to this slightly disjointed blog. Covering our miscellaneous escapades.

Credit is owed to one of my new friends for this idea though, as the idea came to me after explaining the day's happenings to her in response to the question "How was today's mission?"

So if you're reading this, thank you for sparking the inspiration

"How was today's mission?"

Well... in short, both a failure and a success. If that's at all possible!

(That was basically the gist of the answer to my new friends inquiring question. We'd not long moved into the area and we'd slowly been trying to explore and find a lot of the recommended things to see and do for the region. My 'mission' for that particular day had been to try and find Gibraltar Rock. However as the following story shows, plans soon changed.)

We headed out to find the large rock formations, and found newer looking signs up declaring Dieback disease risk area, requiring a permit to enter the area... so decided to play it safe and leave that one alone.

With that let down, we decided we'd go exploring around Potters Gorge instead. With a detour to see an old weir (looks like it may have once had an old walk bridge along the top of it) down river from the Mungalup Rd bridge. Kids loved it, despite me being the overprotective mum not letting them get too close without holding my hands!

Then onto a constantly interrupted lunch at Potters Gorge to chase magpies and twenty eight's away! Kaden threw a tantrum and they stole half his sandwich while I was dealing with him, much to Sonia's disgust!! We also managed a small smoky campfire (damp wood) to boil water for a nice hot milo (forgot the spoons and milk though!). Kids loved running around playing on the beach after lunch.

Heading the long way home, we stopped at the Munda Biddi trail crossing on Pile Rd to see if we could walk in and find the Nglang Boodja hut (approx 1.6km from Pile Rd according to internet research I'd previously done). Gentle down hill the whole way in, to find a nice little hut, and creek not far from the hut. Coming back out was the not so fun part, as my knee decided to play up and both kids (especially Kaden) were really tired by then and definitely ready for home!

Get home though, and they were both still asking to be able to go camping. At either site... Potters Gorge, or Nglang Boodja much to my surprise!!
So yes, failure and success! And an early bed time for us all!

We've found Lake Leschenaultia to be a great spot for either a day trip, or a camping trip from Perth.

It's an old railway dam, that is now a recreational lake near Chidlow.

Some of the many things available there are:
- Swimming
- Canoeing
- Camping
- Bush walking
- Bike riding
- Picnicking
- Cafe

Getting warm and enjoying a snack	Snack time!

Buggybuddies Jennie has written a great blog about Lake Leschenaultia, so if you're wanting further information, I recommend you look up or contact the Mundaring Visitor Centre, or read the linked blog.

The kids and I spent an enjoyable, relaxed weekend camping there in October 2015, with one of my sisters joining us for the final day.

Yes, I've got the paddle	Here's the paddle

• The kids highlights of the trip were:

- Kayaking
(Especially being able to paddle the kayak by themselves, thanks to the nice gentle slope of the beach into the lake allowing me to tag along and assist where required)

- Paddling
(Their idea of swimming. My sister and I did take them out to the pontoon once, swimming and carrying/supporting them in their life jackets. It was fun, but considering all of us are hopeless swimmers, we found it rather tiring!)

- Building sandcastles by the water

- Camping

- The toy excavator one of the lake staff gave them to play with

Which way Kaden?	Sonia's turn

We didn't walk around the lake on this particular trip, but have done it previously, and found it rather enjoyable. With plenty of interesting things to see and find along the way.

Blue flowers	Bobtails	Pink/purple flowers

Dead tree	White flowers