Hyden and Kalgarin

After Busselton we had planned to stay a night at Hyden. Since we had been having a great run with poor caravan parks we decided to check on the internet first as to opinions on the park. The site i use, if you are not already aware of it is Badgers Australian caravan park reviews. From this we could see that the Hyden park did not recieve much praise however the park at Kalgarin did. since it was only 15min down the road that was our new destination.

Tressie’s Museum and Caravan Park was where we stopped and it was a great choice. The park is just off the road but since the area is off the main routes it was quite anyways. We were the only two vans in the park and they allowed camp fires. We nearly stopped two nights here The owners, as the name suggests, also run a museum that among other things holds a fantastic collection of Gramophones and at only $2 entry per person, with a guided explanation of all the contents, we spent quite some time in here.

The next day we were off again, this time for Esperance, however our first stop for the day was to be Wave rock. as we passed the Hyden caravan park we knew we had made a great choice the night before.

Wave rock was impressive, as was Hippo’s Yawn and we spent about 2 hours walking around and over the rock and its surrounding forest.

After Wave rock we only stopped a few times for fuel and food before pulling into Esperance.

Busselton

After our quick stop at Cervantes, it was up early and off to Busselton to see the relo’s. I don't think Dad even slept that night

The trip down and through Perth was uneventful, unlike some of the other cities we have driven through, it seems once you are on a Perth freeway you have no access to fuel stops. You need to pull off into the suburbs however most suburban petrol stations don't really cater for caravans.

We did pull over at a freeway stop point for lunch but that was really our only stop before we got to Busselton. Our luck, about 30 minutes before arriving the wind really picked up and we cut across a storm front moving inland. The very hard rain, in some spots we were nearly forced to stop due to lack of visibility, did not stop until well after we had set up camp

We picked our caravan park based on the fact that Sandra and Lynette were staying there so once we had arrived and setup it was off to take over the camp kitchen, which we filled for the whole evening

It was a great evening and we are glad we had the chance to catch up as it was looking like we might only pass by on the road. The next morning we were to go our separate ways with Lynette and Sandra heading north towards Perth and mum and dad staying at the caravan park. Sara and I, with the kids, went west towards Yallingup to visit the Ngilgi Caves. I have been to these caves in the past, when i was about 3-4 years old, so it was interesting to visit at an age where i could remember it

The caves were great, the guide takes you down to the cave entrance and give you a 10-15 min talk on the caves and their history as well as the general layout before leaving us to explore on our own. We ended up spending about 1.5 hours exploring down there and it was great. At the bottom, in the main chamber they had a guide station that is manned throughout the day and unlike any of the other caves we have been through, this guide had an assortment of cave crystals, bits of broken stalactites and veils that we were allowed to hold and inspect. the material is really quite amazing being very smooth yet dense.

After the caves we stopped at the Bush Shack Brewery where we had a nice lunch with a sample of their Brew’s. We followed this by a visit to The Grove, a Liqueur distillery that also had sampling of the Limeburners range of Whisky. We, Sara and i, sampled and purchased some of their products.

Lastly for the day, we stopped in at the Margret River chocolate factory, this time in the Margret river region, so the kids could get some more samples the product is nice but far to over priced.

Once back home we went for a late walk along the Busselton Jetty which, at 1.8Km long,  turned out to be a long walk.

The next day we were off to Hyden however we took our time leaving as we though we only had a short trip. This was nice but as it was Sunday, on the way out of town we came across a market so we found a place to stop and spent another hour walking around the market.

Cervantes

We had originally planned to stop in at Jurien Bay on our way from Kalbarri to Perth but when we saw where the Pinnacles where we had a quick change in plan  

The Pinnacles are about 10min drive from Cervantes so after a quick setup of the caravans we were off again. There is a charge to access the national park which gives you a few options, the first is a visit to the visitors centre that explains the region. The second is a walk that can be done through the pinnacles themselves, and lastly you can drive your car through them on a marked out track. We opted for the visitors centre followed by a car drive as we had arrived shortly before closing. It was also only an hours or so before sunset.

The drive through the park is punctuated by small car parks where you can stop and walk around anyways so we did not really miss anything by not doing the walk. The pinnacles themselves are individually un-assuming but all together its actually quite an impressive sight.

After driving through the park we returned to the caravans for dinner, a quick walk from the park to the Cervantes Jetty and back, then an unwind before bed. The next morning found us all up early for the drive to Busselton where Lynette and Sandra, dads sisters were waiting to meet up with us for a quick (one night) reunion

Kalbarri

We had a great days drive from Denham to Kalbarri really only stopping for fuel after viewing the stromatolites.

We pulled into our caravan site late in the day and after setting up we really only had time for a quick shop and a sit down. We did a tour of the town ship and discovered that one of the main reasons for us visiting Kalbarrii, the Seahorse farm, was closed, and had been for about 12 months.

Late in the evening we al went for a walk along the beach, and using a bright torch Caitlyn and i spotted catfish, crabs and various other fish in the shallows.

The next day we went out to the Rainbow Jungle bird sanctuary. This turned out to be a great choice as they had a fantastic selection of birds in a great setting. In the large free flight aviary the kids got to feed the various parrots they had loose.

 

After this it was back to the van for a quick lunch as we had booked a Quad bike tour with Wagoe Quad bikes. We had heard about them through various people and booked them as soon as we had arrived and new the weather would be suitable. This was another great choice as we all loved it. I had Caitlyn on my bike and Sara and Bianca had the second bike. Our guide, the owner of the wagoe farm, took us out onto a private beach that is only accessible through two farms, his and his neighbours. We rode the bikes up and down the beach and then went into 4WD mode and tackled some big sand dunes. It was great fun and we would do it again.

Whilst we were off having fun on the Quad bikes, Mum, Dad and Corinda went out to see “Natures Window”. The commodore would not have liked the road out unfortunately. They loved it and said it was a great experience, but the track was a bit light on in some places and had a very long drop off to one side if you miss placed a foot. Caitlyn would of had me very worried if we had taken her there as she likes to run off ahead