Entries about rocks

As you can probably tell from the title of this blog, this day turned out to be a rather enjoyable highlight of the trip. With Sonia and myself finally being able to see a platypus in the wild. And for a decent length of time too, not just a quick glimpse!

But before we get to that, we couldn't leave Devonport without a visit to Mersey bluff,... and go through Latrobe again, without a return visit to the Anvers Chocolate Factory and Cherry Shed!

• Mersey Bluff

We hadn't originally planned to stay in Devonport, and wanted to keep moving relatively quickly, but didn't want to miss out on something iconic to that area either. So on leaving the Devonport Discovery Holiday Park, we asked the reception staff what they'd recommend that was quick and simple to see/do for toddlers around Devonport. They recommended the Mersey Bluff lighthouse. It was an interestingly painted lighthouse, with distinctive red stripes facing out to sea. We held Kaden, and had to keep an eye on Sonia with the cliff edges being so close, but she enjoyed being able to run around the lighthouse and look down on the crashing waves. The view across the mouth of the River Mersey wasn't too bad either.

• Anvers Chocolate Factory

There was no way Clancy would let us drive past this place again without picking up some more extremely yummy chocolate! After visiting it for the first time during the Latrobe Chocolate Winter Festival, we found this visit to be much more relaxed and enjoyable. Less people, easier parking, different things being made etc. We also found another rather fun children's activity available, that we previously hadn't seen. A bouncy truck. The truck was on springs, and Sonia really did not want to leave it! We finally managed to coax her out of it to go and taste some different chocolate samples at the Anvers Tasting Centre. Took a while to decide what we'd buy, and ended up choosing a mixed box of truffles. We'd previously bought a mixed box of pralines. Both very yum!

• The Cherry Shed

As with the Anvers Chocolate Factory, we couldn't bypass the Cherry shed again without restocking our supply of chocolate coated cherries. While Clancy picked up the desired treats, Sonia, Kaden and I went to have a last play and look out of the big cherries.

• Axeman's Hall of Fame

After missing this attraction during the Latrobe Chocolate Winterfest, I'd been looking forward to having a quick glimpse, but had since forgotten that there'd now be an entry fee involved. So yes, considering Clancy wasn't really interested, I'd already seen a fair bit of this sort of thing traveling around the south west of WA, our time frame, and the cost to go through, we decided we'd skip it this time as well, and push on to see if we could see a platypus instead. So after obtaining more information about the Warrawee Reserve, saying goodbye to the big flying platypus, and picking up some Subway for lunch, on we went in search of a good picnic spot, and the ever elusive platypus.

• Warrawee Forest Reserve

The Warrawee Forest Reserve isn't far out of Latrobe (follow Hamilton St, which turns into Shale Rd), with the last section of road through the reserve being gravel. We found a nice picnic spot nestled in a bend of the Mersey River, and enjoyed our lunch with a decent sized flock of friendly Superb Fairywrens or Blue Wrens as they're otherwise known. Sonia and Kaden really enjoyed watching them zip around chasing crumbs or whatever else they could find.

While I fed Kaden, and waited for Sonia to finish her lunch, Clancy wandered around looking at different things, and found about 22 marbles scattered around the picnic area we were at. Seemed like they kept popping up everywhere! After Sonia had finally finished eating, I took her down to be able to throw some stones into the river while Clancy watched Kaden for a while. Sonia really enjoyed being able to do this, seeing how far she could throw them, and how big a splash she could make. I enjoyed the numerous smooth, flat river stones that were around for skimming. I managed to get one to bounce atleast 10 times, but generally averaged about 5-7 bounces. I thought that was pretty good!

What's down here Dad?

Moving on from the picnic area, we found a boardwalk bridge that'd been removed for some reason. It would've allowed us to cross over the creek that ran between two ponds/lakes, as a shortcut to the main boardwalk and viewing platform. Instead, we now had to walk the whole way round the big pond/lake to get there. Clancy didn't really feel like having to return via the same route round the lake/pond to get back to where we'd parked the van, so decided he'd keep Kaden and stay near the gazebo on that side of the lake.

Sonia and I continued on around the big lake/pond to the start of the boardwalk, but decided we'd continue on down through the bush beside the following smaller pond, before coming back to check out the boardwalk. Whilst doing this, we spotted bubbles rising in the smaller pond, but didn't think much of it, as we'd seen similar bubbles in the big pond/lake, and nothing seemed to come of them except an occaisonal duck or other waterbird.

We continued on, following what seemed like an old track round the pond, and came to a sort of causeway across an outlet for the pond to flow back into the Mersey River. We squatted down behind some reedy bushes and continued to watch the bubbles for a while. Much to our surprise, a platypus surfaced, and started skimming across the surface of the pond directly for the causeway!! It changed direction a bit as it got closer, and duck dived to rummage around the reeds, bushes, and banks of the pond leading away from the causway. I managed to keep Sonia quiet, and tried to get as many photo's and videos as possible to take back to show Clancy.

I didn't really want to move in case we scared it, but this decision ended up being made for us. The platypus seemed to have had enough of scrummaging round the edges of the pond near where we were, and went to climb out and over the causeway! It spotted Sonia and I near the bushes not far away, and quickly dove back into the pond. I decided that would be the best time for us to make an appropriate get away, and leave him/her in peace.

We headed back to the boardwalk and viewing platform, where we found Clancy had driven our van to wait on the road above it. After getting a few more photo's and savouring the area a while longer, Sonia and I climbed the bushy bank to have fun showing Clancy the photo's and video's we'd taken of the platypus.

• Christmas Hills Raspberry Farm

And once again.... another not to be missed chocolate opportunity! Clancy ran in and picked up some chocolate coated raspberries, then stayed in the van with a sleeping Sonia, while I took Kaden for a walk around the lake near the cafe. It was a nice short walk that could have accommodated a pram ok. There were also various interesting signs providing information on the history, and flora and fauna of the area.

• The Honey Farm

The Melita Honey Farm is located in the small town of Chudleigh, between Mole Creek and Deloraine. It had a lot of fun interactive displays for both young and old alike, prividing a vast amount of educational information. I found the indoor glass beehive rather interesting, being able to see the bees working in the hive. Sonia however prefered to watch the bees coming and going from the regular box hives through the window outside.

She also enjoyed a display set up where you'd have to look through a small viewing window, to see colourful picture panels moving round at the push of a button. She did need my help to lift her up to the viewing window for that one though. And we all enjoyed tasting the many different varieties of honey and nougat available! We would've loved to bring some different varieties of honey home with us, but would have had to surrender them as soon as we landed back in WA due to quarantine regulations. So nougat it was instead.

• Scottsdale

After leaving Ben Lomond National Park and looking at some of our maps, we decided we'd head up the Camden Hill Road (C405) to cut through to the Tasman Highway (A3) to get to Scottsdale. This was another winding dirt road through forests and farmland with its fair shair of road kill. A nice drive, however the signage was a bit to be desired. We initially missed the correct turnoff for the A3, but finally figured it out when the next turnoff we came to had a sign at the junction explaining various road closures!

Phoning ahead to the number listed for the Scottsdale North East Park camping area in one of the brochures we had, we got the ok to camp there and found out it was a free campsite!! It was located at a really nice Lions park beside the A3 highway heading out of town towards Branxholm and St Helens. There were toilet and shower facilities (pay showers) available, power and water, a playground, picnic tables, shelters, and some short walking tracks. Considering our late arrival, we opted for a hot flannel face/hands/feet wash, and went straight to bed after a quick dinner. There was also a small lake beside the camping area, with quite a few large resident ducks. Clancy got a bit annoyed at them waking him up, but the kids enjoyed being able to chase them around in the morning!

Come morning, we decided to backtrack a bit to check out the Scottsdale Forest EcoCentre that we'd passed on the way into town the previous evening, only to find it didn't open on weekends. So onto the information centre, to find out that didn't open till 10:30am (was then 09:30am). After all that... we figured we may as welll continue on our way to Ralph's Falls via Legerwood.

• Legerwood Memorial Trees

Legerwood is a small town not far off the Tasman Highway (A3) between Scottsdale and Branxholm. Even if you're just travelling past on the highway, it's well worth the short detour in to Legerwood to see these amazing memorials to some WWI ANZACS, and read their stories.

• Ralph's Falls

Ralph's Falls are located approximately half - 2/3 the way along the Ringarooma/Pyengana Link Road or Mt Victoria Road (travelling from Ringarooma). It's a winding gravel road that'd only been opened relatively recently in 1998, joining Ringarooma and Pyengana, travelling through the Mt Victoria Forest Reserve. Considering the rather overcast day it was turning out to be, we weren't too sure if it was going to be worth it or not, but decided we may as well enjoy the drive and see how things developed. As it turned out, we ended up not being able to see a thing when we got there due to thick heavy fog.

The drive itself was interesting enough with some rather nice views before the fog closed in, and despite the extremely cold dampness and occaisional misty rain, I think we all generally enjoyed the short walk to Norm's Lookout. I wouldn't recommend it in foggy conditions, but if it's not foggy, I reckon there would be some amazing views. Once again we had to keep an eagle eye on Sonia, as all she wanted to do was jump off rocks or logs, and run along the wet slippery track. This behaviour was quickly stopped by a firm hold from Clancy as we got closer to the lookout however, as the last 50m or so was a bit too risky for that sort of thing from a 2.5yr old! The track became rather narrow and was very close to the cliff edge.

Near the carpark area, there was a decent sized BBQ/picnic shelter available, with utensils chained to the walls. Satisfying a toddlers curiosity looking through everything, we came across a Geocache by total accident! Clancy and I had previously enjoyed finding a few of these when we'd been based in Sydney, and hadn't even thought about possibly looking for some on our travels around Tasmania! So after signing the log and replacing the cache, on we continued to St Columba Falls.

• St Columba Falls

We were glad to find that these falls were below the cloud level that we'd previously experienced up at Ralph's Falls. There were good toilet and picnic facilities availalbe, and the top half of the falls were visible from the start of the track at the parking area. Some rather interesting historical information was available in the small shelter at the start of the track, including the background of the 'Pub in the Paddock', and a story about a lady who went missing for 9 days chasing a lost cow.

We were expecting quite a few steps so carried Kaden in the Ergo baby carrier, but the walking track down to the falls and viewing platform ended up being quite suitable for a pram. The falls themselves were awesome, and well worth the trip. We were also lucky in seeing an echidna crossing the road. Rather fat and fluffy compared to the ones I'm used to seeing in WA.

• Bay of Fires

After stopping for some lunch, lollies and information at St Helens, we headed on up the coast to Binalong Bay and The Gardens. The coastal red rocks were great! It would've been even more amazing on a sunny day, contrasting white sand, red rocks, ocean, blue sky, and green trees/bushes. This area is well deserving of the positive reviews it receives.

Kaden slept through most of the time we spent there, while Sonia thoroughly enjoyed being able to run and jump all over the large rocks and sand. I would've loved to have utilised one of the many free campsites available near the beaches to see the rocks at sunrise, but once again, we had to keep moving. This time it was so we could hopefully get down to Bicheno in time to join a penguin tour.

• Bicheno

As we were leaving Binalong Bay, we rang Bicheno Penguin Tours to see if there was any space available for us on the tour that night if we managed to make it down in time. There was, and thankfully, we got there with just enough time to pay for the tour and get on the tour bus, carrying the extra jackets we'd need to combat the cold wind. We weren't allowed to take any video's or photo's on the tour ourselves, but could later email the tour company to receive a copy of photo's that they had.

The kids were understandably hungry and tired, but did amazingly well to stay as quiet and as still as they did for the whole tour. We found it best to carry Kaden, and let Sonia walk (occaisonally carrying her as well). It was really good seeing all the penguins coming up through the rocks and steep banks to camp in all sorts of random hiding places. They were rather noisy, with interesting songs or calls, and apparantly smelt pretty bad when they opened their bowels. Thankfully, we didn't get to fully experience that side of them! The guides were also very excellent. Really knowledgeable, and interactive with all ages on the tour.

We'd organised to stay at the Bicheno East Coast Holiday Park, and had informed them that we could be late (ie, after reception shut, but before 10pm). No problem, just press the buzzer. Following the penguin tour, we ordered pizza from the nearby restaurant (very yum!), and finally got to the campground by about 7:15pm. Reception was obviously shut, so I pressed the buzzer and received a somewhat surprising response. A not very happy lady answered, stating we'd interupted her dinner!! I remained polite and didn't say much, but really felt like saying 'Sorry, but we did warn you, and the person I spoke to (I'd previously spoken to a man on the phone) said that would be fine, and to just push the buzzer when we got here!'

I'm glad I didn't say it, as the rest of our stay there was quite positive. We'd been given a very handy spot close to the bathrooms, laundry and enclosed kitchen, and Sonia and Kaden loved the playground that was available before leaving in the morning.

Bicheno

• Sonia, Kaden and I enjoyed the playground at the Bicheno East Coast Holiday Park while Clancy finished packing up, then off to start the days exploration.
• Diamond Island:

I'd previously read that it's possible to walk out to Diamond Island at low tide. Unfortunately for us, I later found out when we got into town, that low tide had been at 05:30am or 06:00am that morning. So no adventuring out to Diamond Island for us.

• The Bicheno Blowhole and Rocking Rock:

These were great to see (I think the huge rock sitting beside the blowhole is Rocking Rock, not 100% sure though!). With regular, decent sized spouts of water shooting up into the air, and plenty of large picturesque red rocks to enjoy running and jumping on.

Freycinet National Park

• Some of the beaches we visited:

1. 1. Friendly Beaches - Nice long stretch of sandy beach, with a few sections of rocks running down to the water. Seemed like there were some good spots available for camping as well if we hadn't needed to keep moving south.

1. 2. Richardsons Beach - This was easily accessed from the Freycinet National Park Visitor Centre, and provided some nice views over Great Oyster Bay. A short walk that was perfectly fine for a pram.

1. 3. Honeymoon Bay - We found this to be a really nice spot to enjoy a picnic lunch, and had it pretty much to ourselves for the time that we were there. Sonia and I enjoyed climbing up onto a soon to be island rock as the tide was coming in, then rejoined Clancy and Kaden to find more rocks that just begged to be clambered on. The water was calm and really clear as well, allowing us to see all sorts of interesting things amongst the rocks under the water.

• Cape Tourville Lighthouse:

The boardwalk/track up to and around the lighthouse was wheelchair accessible, and provided some amazing views looking south along the coastline.

• Sleepy Bay:

Another picturesque bay with contrasting red rocks, water, and sky. Nice short walk down some steps to the lookout vantage point. The track continues on to Little Gravelly Beach, but lunch was calling, so no visit from us this time.

• Wineglass Bay Lookout:

Well worth the time to climb all the steps to get there. The views are just stunning! After completing the Cape Tourville circuit walk and then clambering over a lot of rocks with Sonia and Kaden at Honeymoon Bay, Clancy really didn't think he'd survive the walk to and from Wineglass Bay Lookout, so opted to stay with the kids at the van and watch the wallabies around the carpark area.

I found that the first third of the track (or there abouts) would've been prammable, before the steps started, and never seemed to stop till getting right up to the lookout. A lot of track work seemed to be occuring while we were there as well, with numerous signs up explaining detours and closures of different tracks. I would've loved to have been able to share the awesome view from the lookout with Clancy, Sonia and Kaden, but ended up returning to find they'd enjoyed themselves just about as much watching the wallabies. The return trip dramatically got shortened for me, as I decided to have some fun and run (well, not really run as such, but more like a child pretending to be a horse!) down the steps! Hadn't really done this since coming down off a mountain with my brother quite a few years ago. Managed to stay on my feet and thoroughly enjoyed it! Reducing the total walk time for me down to about 45 minutes.

Coles Bay to Triabunna

• Another really nice, picturesque drive. With views of vineyards, bush, rolling farmland, and never ending coastline.

• Spiky Bridge:

An interesting convict bridge off the side of the Tasman Highway near Swansea, with stones set up like spikes on the top of the bridge walls.

• Triabunna Cabin and Caravan Park:

We'd rung ahead, and found that yes, this park was open at this time of year. They were quite happy for us to arrive late, choose a site, utilise the amenities and backpacker kitchen, then see them for payment in the morning. When we asked them in the morning, they highly recommended visiting Maria Island if we were prepared for longer walks and bike rides, as the ferry was free for the short time that we were there. Unfortunately for us, Clancy didn't think he'd be up to that with two young children in tow, so on we continued towards Port Arthur.

Triabunna to Richmond

• Clancy and I enjoyed reading the names posted beside some of the hilly sections of the road - 'Bust Me Gall' ... 'Break Me Neck'
• Actually, if you enjoy interesting place names, Tasmania's got quite a few of them we've found! They add a bit of a spark to your day when you come across them unexpectedly.

Richmond

• This town reminded me a lot of the Ross and Oatlands townships we'd been through during our first week in Tasmania, with a lot of historic convict era buildings and infrastructure.
• The Richmond Bridge was amazing, and is the oldest bridge in Australia that's still currently used!
• The spread of the sites to see throughout the town was also good, allowing us to walk quite comfortably from one to another with the pram and buggy board.
• There was a good playground and toilets centrally located, which was also rather popular with the local mum's as well as Sonia and Kaden.

Sorell

• We initially only stopped for an emergency toilet stop for Sonia, then decided we'd have lunch there and let the kids run around for a bit as well.
• The first park we found was Pioneers Park, which turned out to be excellent. It had good picnic tables and a great fenced in playground that we could let the kids go crazy on, while we made lunch.
• The playground was suitable for all ages, from crawling tots to adults (I rather enjoyed clambering all through it with Sonia!).

Eaglehawk Neck

• Some of the many interesting sites we managed to visit in this area:

# 1. Tessellated Pavement - Unfortunately, the tide was just over the rocks and the kids were asleep when we got here. Otherwise I think both Sonia and Kaden would've enjoyed looking and running around all the rocks. Clancy and I ended up dashing down to see the rocks and grab some photo's before the kids woke up.

# 2. Blowhole

# 3. Tasman Arch - Can drive and park near both the Arch and Devils Kitchen, but it's not too far to walk between the two of them.

# 4. Devils Kitchen

# 5. Various Lookouts

# 6. Doo Town - Clancy and I once again enjoyed reading all the different place/house names! 'Doo Drop Inn' ... 'Make Doo' ... 'Gunna Doo' ... 'Dr Doolittle' ... 'Rum Doo' ... etc.

# 7. The Officers Quarters (Saw this on the return trip 2 days later)

# 8. Dog Line (Saw this on the return trip 2 days later)

Taranna

• Federation Chocolate Factory

  

This was the only thing we stopped to see in Taranna, and then only because the word 'chocolate' was involved! Not only was it a local chocolate factory run and operated by a local family, but also a rather interesting museum including items, stories, maps and photo's from their family's history. There was a good viewing window into their manufacturing area, with several signs up explaining their chocolate making process. However, being winter, they'd stopped making the days chocolate by the time we got there near 4pm sometime.

We all enjoyed taste testing the different flavours available, and were really surprised that if we'd wanted to, we could have tasted every flavour available! The person who attended us was excellent with Sonia, interacting well with both her and us as parents. After a lot of debate, we ended up choosing three blocks of chocolate for about $5 each. Honey, Stawberry, and Licorice. And then much to my amazement, Clancy decided to save some to share with family and friends back home in WA!!

Port Arthur

• Port Arthur Holiday Park

We found this campground to be rather large and well set up. But considering the number of visitors I guess they get during warmer months, they probably need to be! There was an amazingly large camp kitchen, numerous sheltered BBQ areas, quite a few ensuites (only available at this time of year if staying for 2 nights), good playground, free wireless, and a proper baby bath available in the laundry! The walk from the campground down to the beach could take a pram, and continued on to the Port Arthur Historic Site approximately 2km away.

After enjoying two nights at the wonderful Port Arthur Holiday Park, it was time to fuel up and continue on around the rest of the Tasman Peninsula before heading back to Hobart.

• Remarkable Cave

At the end of Safety Cove Road (B347) is a great lookout point, and short walk down a fair few steps to Remarkable Cave. A tunnel carved through rocky cliffs by the ocean. We were lucky that it was clear while we were there, and enjoyed the views of the surrounding bays, hills, and even all the way out to Cape Raoul. Clancy had previously seen a photo of the Cape Raoul cliffs and would've loved to be able to see them close up, but unfortunately for us, we didn't have the time to complete the walk (Clancy didn't think he'd survive the walk anyway), and we couldn't afford to pay for another cruise.

So down to the cave we went, where Sonia enjoyed running and jumping down all the steps (once again testing our stress levels!), and I had fun trying to unsuccessfully get photo's of the waves gushing in and out of the tunnel. Depending on the tide, I'm guessing you may be able to walk into the tunnel itself. Lots of fun, but it most likely would not be recommended!

• Coal Mine Historic Site

This was another well set up site with plenty of interesting information signs available. The following is one of the poems that caught my eye.

On arrival to the main carpark near the toilets, Sonia decided she'd throw a massive tantrum and scream session. So off to the toilets, then finding a spot for her to sit, think, and calm down. We'd been pretty lucky this whole trip, that the occurence of these events were few and far between, but when they did occur, it wasn't in too public a place, or with many other people around. We never did end up finding out what brought this one on! However, after that, she thoroughly enjoyed running around and pushing Kaden in the pram.

So a note for those of you out there with young children, take heart in the fact you're not the only ones that have to deal with these scenarios! And for those without young children... we greatly appreciate it, and thank you for the times when you can accept that these things happen and attempt to ignore the attention seeking behaviour, allowing us as parents to try and work through it with the child as best we know how.

• Eaglehawk Neck

As we'd previously seen many of the sights around Eaglehawk Neck on the way into Port Arthur two days previous (described in a previous post 'Triabunna to Port Arthur via Richmond'), we decided we'd stop for lunch on the way out and see two of the sights we hadn't seen previously. We found a lovely spot where we could enjoy the sun and also be out of the wind in the Eaglehawk Neck Community Hall carpark (they hold community markets there every second Saturday of the month) for a beside the van picnic. This was only the second or third time that we'd actually been able to enjoy the use of the camp chairs we'd hired with the van.

Following lunch, we checked out the nearby Dog Line statue, and found it hard to imagine a line of dogs across the small section of land there, and continuing on platforms out into the water. It would have been totally terrifying to see. We then walked over to see the small museum housed in the old Officer's Quarters. It was very interesting, looking through the building, reading the history, and especially listening to the stories of some of the occupants that played out of an old radio. As we were the only ones there at the time, both Sonia and Kaden had fun wandering through all the rooms. Causing our education of the site to be occaisionally interupted by one or the other of the kids testing the boundaries of where they were allowed to roam. I don't think we would've been as relaxed, or enjoyed it as much if there'd been more people around.

• And finally.... back to Hobart

The drive to Hobart was uneventful, and by this stage I think the 'homing bug' had started to settle in. With all the mixed feelings that come with it. We'd pretty much seen everything we'd hoped to see in Tasmania for this trip, so now just wanted to get home. Yet still felt that the time had flown by too fast, and there should be more to see and do (which there definitely is!). I was looking forward to spending some time with my high school friend and her young family in Hobart before we flew back to Perth, while Clancy couldn't wait to get out of the campervan and back into a regular sized house!

With a long weekend approaching... Nil other commitments for myself and kids... (No such luck for Hubby unfortunately. He had to work the Monday public holiday)... And no real rain predicted... the constant, slowly smoldering thought took hold and burst into flames. Lets go camping!!

Where to? - No real preference. Maybe try and avoid crowds. Good luck with that on a public holiday!
Just us or others to? - Definitely others too! Shared experiences are often enjoyed a whole lot more. Not to mention the much appreciated assistance with young kids!

Throw the idea around and.... The kids and I can head off early for 4 nights. Clancy will be able to join us for one night. Two of my sisters will be able to join us for 3 nights. And one other sister may be able to do a day trip out to see us and join in the fun for that day.

The consensus on where to go? - Still not solved! Until... Clancy decides he doesn't want to travel too far, and would like green and trees. Not 'boring old wheatbelt bush!'

So... Lane Poole Reserve... lets see if you live up to the reviews and expectations!

I had previously done an overnight school canoe trip through this area many years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ayla (my youngest sister), had also been on a school camp to this area previously... but neither of us could really remember exact details. We all knew that there were plenty of things advertised to do in the area (far too many to complete in one weekend). So, despite knowing that it'd be fairly full of people, we decided to just have fun and make this an exploratory trip. Scouting out what extra there was to see and do, ready for the next trip.

Finding the Main Entrance

- I found the signage to be a bit lacking in Dwellingup township itself. Especially for night arrivals who've never been there (or can't remember) and are coming through Dwellingup from North Dandalup on the Southwestern Highway.
- GPS navigation systems are not always accurate either!
- So... Check direction details before leaving.
- If arriving during business hours, the Dwellingup Information Centre's definitely worth a visit. Very helpful in providing information on things to see and do. The informative displays covering the 1961 bushfires were also really interesting. The kids especially loved the old fire truck!

Campsite Arrival

- Once again... all good intentions failed. Resulting in an after dark setup
- Plus side to that... I now know that I can successfully erect our new BIG tent by myself in the dark and freezing cold.
- Well, bigger than our previous tents anyway. And not 100% dark, I did have a much appreciated head torch! Oh, and it wasn't really 'freezing'... it just felt that way to me at the time!
- Biggest thing I was thankful for during the whole experience... both kids stayed asleep in their car seats till I had the tent up!
- When they did wake, it was time to roll out sleeping mats and bags, cuddle into pillows, and sleep.
- Well... that's what I'd hoped! Unfortunately, I'd grabbed the wrong sleeping bags out of the back of the ute, meaning I kept waking up to the cold.
- And with both kids wanting to sleep in their individual sleeping bags (also not very suitable to cold), this required constant checking to ensure the extra blankets I'd thrown over them both, actually stayed over them!
- Note to self... take the time to grab the correct bags next time!
- Major re-organisation and explanations regarding sleeping arrangements to kids come morning!

Warm Sleeping Hints

- The following ideas are some that I've come across in my travels thus far that I've found to work for me.
- Put a silver car windscreen sun visor/ sun shield thing under your mat to help reflect the heat back up to your body and stop the cold seeping up through from the ground.
- Place a wool blanket on top of your mat/mattress to act like an under-blanket. And another one between yourself and sleeping bag (inside your bag if you're actually sleeping inside a zipped up sleeping bag).
- Try and keep your sleeping bag puffed up. I've found wherever it gets thin, gets cold!
- So... the kids new sleeping arrangements became...
1. Windscreen visor
2. Sleeping mat (like yoga/exercise mat)
3. Crocheted wool blanket
4. Flannelette sheet
5. Sleeping space
6. Flannelette sheet
7. Crocheted wool blanket
8. Regular wool blanket
9. Opened sleeping bags
- And, instead of sleeping them in individual 'beds', I put them together so they could huddle together and help keep each other warm.
- Success! Nil further waking in the night from cold.

Kids and Cold

- Not good!!! Major grisle, whinge, whine, cry time.
- I thought I'd packed enough warm gear for them. Obviously not so!
- During the day and evening was ok. Morning was the horror.
- Every morning was the same routine... wake up, toilet, PJ's off and into layer upon layer of day clothes, start breakfast... and as the cold slowly seeped in... so the issues started.
- With what we had available at the time, I think we may have finally figured it out by our last morning.
- Which was to... continue the same routine... but let them sit in their chairs all rugged up with extra jackets or blankets to keep warm. With one of us feeding them if need be. Then getting them up and about, actively preoccupied with something else as soon as possible.
- Remember for next time... gloves, extra warm jackets, sneakers as well as gumboots, scarves for faces, leggings/thermals.

Which Campsite

- Many of the possible Lane Poole Reserve campsites require pre-booking on the DPAW website.
- Others are available on a first come, first served basis.
- Some allow campfires out of fire ban time frames, others don't.
- If thinking about going over a long weekend or during school holidays, book well in advance if you want a booked site as they get booked out pretty quick.
- We were lucky despite booking relatively late for a long weekend and managed to get 2 sites next to each other at Baden Powell camping area (Everything else was already booked).
- No campfires allowed there. However... due to the cold over that particular weekend, the rangers informed us that we could have a fire if we had something to contain it in, and keep it off the ground (See 'For Future Trip/s' at the end of this blog for examples).
- Unfortunately we didn't have access to anything like that, so we put up with the cold and thought about planning for next time.
- We also used this trip as a scouting exercise to help decide where we'd like to camp next time. Thinking possibly the non-booking area of Nanga Mill or Nanga Brook if not canoeing. Otherwise, maybe Tony's Bend, which isn't too far from Island Pool.

Baden Powell Camping area according to kids...

Baden Powell Camping Area

- Book online
- No fires
- Free gas BBQ's (sheltered)
- Water available
- Designated camping sites
- Site sizes available for small tents up to campervans/caravans
- Long drop toilets
- Short distance down to the river and Baden Powell Day Use area and waterspout (swimming, canoeing, fishing).

- Apart from not being able to have a fire, we found it to be a really nice camping area.
- Considering the crowding we saw at Nanga Mill and Nanga Brook over the long weekend, we were rather glad to have booked a site guaranteeing a bit of space (even if small) between us and the neighbours.
- Being able to easily walk down to the Baden Powell Day Use area was also great. The kids loved exploring the rocks and water as much as we'd let them!

Island Pool

- Nice big pool in the Murray River (canoeing, swimming, fishing)
- Wooden steps down to the river
- Rapids/rocks at the up-river end of the pool
- Picnic tables
- Toilets

Island Pool Walk Trail

- Click heading above for mud map. Click here for walk details.
- Starts from the upper car park.
- Nice walk through jarrah forest up, across, and down the side of a hill.
- Some steps at the beginning and end of the track.
- We managed with a pram/stroller, but definitely wouldn't recommend it!

- Kaden had fallen into a deep sleep on the drive there. I noticed that the steps were only mapped at the beginning and end of the track so thought we'd try the pram and see how we went. Kaden amazingly stayed asleep for two thirds of the walk despite a rather bumpy ride over rocks and sticks! It provided quite a workout pushing/towing the pram. The log seat at the half way mark at the top of the walk was much appreciated!
- Pram/Stroller hints... For difficult sections - towing the pram's often easier. For really difficult sections - a second assist for lifting/carrying the pram is definitely recommended!

Marrinup Falls

- Thanks to Dwellingup Information Centre for the heads up about this one.
- Located not far from the Marrinup Camping Area, the Marrinup Cycle Trail, and the historical Marrinup POW site
- The access road into the falls walk car park is apparently meant to be one way. However we found that a fallen tree just past the car park nicely converted it to a two way road.
- The walk trail is fairly short and nice over varying terrain.
- There were only pools of water to be seen while we were there. Would be great to see it in full flow!
- The kids enjoyed the walk down, clambering around the rocks, and finding various interesting things for Sharelle to photograph.

For Future Trip/s...

- Portable campfire thing
See if we can maybe make something like this ??... Other examples (...1...), (...2...). Otherwise... for a lot more money, a Snowpeak cary fire pit from Drifta (Currently on my wishlist!).
- Larger quantity of appropriate kids cold/wet weather gear
- Check and print out maps/directions prior to leaving
- Map and record possible geocache coordinates
- Canoes
- Mountain bikes
- Marrinup POW site
- Captain Fawcett 4WD Track
- Hotham Valley Railway
- Scarp Lookout and Pool

Any other recommendations... let me know!

With some time available and decent weather predicted, the destination of Wave Rock was chosen. We effectively had 2 days, 2 nights there, which was just about perfect for us and the kids to enjoy a nice relaxed getaway.

Doing some research before heading out, I found there to be quite a decent amount of information readily available. So with all of that, here are some of the useful links that I found, and a story line of pictures from our trip. Enjoy

• Wave Rock main website
• Tourist Brochure
• Driving there
• Walk Trails at Wave Rock
• Walk Trails for surrounding areas
• Wave Rock Weekender Festival
• Wickipedia

Rest stop at Corrigin on the way to Hyden...

Corrigin dog in a ute monument

Corrigin helicopter

Totally freaked out both kids when I discovered that the rotors actually do spin!! Didn't help that in the process of figuring that out, I also accidentally bumped the car alarm/horn button on the key ring in my pocket. So with loud spinning helicoptor rotors, blaring car horn, and terrified screaming kids... took a while to calm everyone down (including parents!) ready to keep driving again!


Hyden Rock / Wave Rock...

Wave Rock

Sliding!

More sliding!

View from Hyden Rock

Runoff point atop Hyden Rock

Old quarry atop hyden Rock

Rock pool on Hyden rock

Hyden Dam

Swan on Hyden Dam

Hippo's Yawn...

Walk trail beside Hyden Rock

Hippo's Yawn

It is possible to climb up and out through the back of Hippo's Yawn with young kids. Coming back down around to the front on the left side. Both Sonia and Kaden would've quite happily done that circuit over and over all day if we'd let them!

Rocks near Hippo's Yawn

The Humps...

Climbing The Humps

The Humps

Enjoying the rock pool

Plants atop the Humps

Rock pool atop the Humps

View from atop The Humps

Walking back...

Mulka's Cave...

Entry to Mulka's Cave

Aboriginal hand prints in Mulka's Cave

Mulka's Cave

Lake Magic...

Modified Valentine Tank

Lake Magic

Sand for a.... sandcastle?

Trying to build a sandcastle

Lake Magic

Looking back towards Wave Rock from Lake Magic

Emu fence near Lake Magic

Other things we saw / did...

Breakers

Riding the tortoise in the Wildlife Park

We purchased entry to the Wildlife Park, the Lace Place, the Pioneer Town Museum, and the Miniature Soldier Museum and spent several hours exploring each of these. The kids were quite happy to zoom through, just glancing at everything. While Clancy and I preferred to spend more time looking at the displays and reading all the associated information. We were too busy trying to see and read everything, plus monitor kids, and unfortunately forgot to get photos in these places. Note to remember... the Pioneer Town Museum is located over the road at the caravan park entrance!

Things I want to do next time...

• Explore surrounding towns and districts more
• Explore the John Holland Way and Holland Track
• Explore the Granite and Woodlands Discovery Trail
• Thinking along those lines... possibly even some of the other suggested outback self drive routes, or 4WD routes.

• Survey reference tree

Found whilst stopping to look for a geocache en route to Lane Poole Reserve from Collie, via a gravel road we hadn't previously explored. This is an interesting blog about survey reference trees by Eric Smith for Doherty Smith & Associates Consulting Surveyors in NSW.

• Blackboys after a bush fire

I've seen plenty of blackboys with single spike flowers before, but never with flowers like in these pictures. We saw plenty of these driving through an area of Lane Poole Reserve that had the bush fires go through in January 2016.

• Old Stockton Mine entrance

Near Stockton Lake, and once again, found whilst looking for a geocache.

• Mungalup fire tower

Went exploring and found this with some friends. Kids loved exploring around it, but weren't too impressed with not being allowed to climb it at that particular time!

• Gibraltar Rock (Collie)

Not far from Cardiff, are some rocks known as Gibraltar Rock that are rather interesting to see and fun to climb. Made for a very pleasant day out in the sun after being cooped up sick for a week in a cold house. Please note, this is not the same as the Gibraltar Rock located in the Porongorup National Park.

After moving to Collie, Lane Poole Reserve has become one of the main areas for us and family/friends to get out bush and enjoy some 'away' time together. Mainly due to its location (fairly centrally located between all of us), and the varying things available to see and do.

For this trip, due to late confirmation of everyone's availability and weather, the only pre-bookable sites available to us were at the Chudditch campground (decided we'd avoid Nanga Mill on weekends due to crowds). Considering our plans of canoeing for the weekend, this actually turned out really well because of its location, despite the kids wanting their last campfire for the season, and fires not being allowed at the Chudditch campground. (Toasted marshmallows on the gas stove will suffice if they have to!).

Considering myself and one of my sisters were pregnant, and unable to now physically fit ourselves plus a kid or two into the kayaks we have... we decided we'd utilise the services of Dwellingup Adventures, and hire some canoes for a day trip. We found Dwellingup Adventures to be amazing to deal with. Extremely helpful and accommodating. We decided we'd purposely do a shorter trip (maps and info) so we could take it easy, have fun, enjoy the trip, and relax. So instead of going from Island Pool all the way through to Baden Powell, we requested for the canoes to be dropped off at Island Pool, and picked up at Bob's Crossing (map). This worked extremely well for us. I don't think either us, or the kids would have enjoyed it nearly as much if we'd tried to do the whole length through to Baden Powell.

After growing up and canoeing on faster parts of the Avon River, my sisters and I found the section that we'd chosen to canoe fairly flat and slow. Perfect for introducing two kids to canoeing when you're pregnant! Due to the water levels at the time, and the extra weight of pregnancy, there were a few sections that required at least one of us to get out of the canoes to assist over rocks or logs. We also found that one of the canoes we'd been given had a small leak, requiring an occasional stop to empty it out. Otherwise all good, and we thoroughly enjoyed it!

Recommendations for next time... Remember the sunscreen!!! I'd forgotten that I'd removed the sunscreen from my vehicle's glove box after discovering it'd leaked everywhere several weeks prior... and so with everyone else also forgetting to bring some... we covered up as best we could and amazingly didn't get as burnt as I thought we might have.

Another thing well worth considering if you're hiring canoes, is to hire a dry barrel as well. With kids, canoes, and water (and the occasional small drop over rocks/rapids), having somewhere you can store and keep things dry is greatly appreciated!! We hired one, and were very thankful we had. Otherwise all our snacks, keys, phones... etc. would've been totally soaked by the time we finished.

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