Labour Day Long Weekend

A long weekend!! Yeah, what else to do but to gate crash at Dren and JB's! But this time we went there in style...took along our caravan. No sleepless nights in a strange bed... had my own shower, took along our own toilet and toilet paper even. Poor Dren was a little out of sorts that her facilities weren't good enough. Just kidding, we had fun letting the comments fly!!
Of course the weekend was packed with loads of fun: lots of yacking, the kids had a ball catching up with their cousins again, and us adults suffered from lack of sleep as usual!
Saturday, after Dren and I decided we would like to do the touristy thing (staying on the tarmac of course), JB and Dave took us in the opposite direction!! We couldn't possibly miss out the opportunity to go 4 wheel driving!! We had a fantastic day, fitting in lots of different experiences. First of all we stopped off at the Donnybrook Apple Funpark. It was a fantastic park with all sorts of play equipment for the kids from slides and castles to ropes and swings. And there was even a circle of things which I thought should have been for adults only. A lovely little circuit to work out all those muscles you didn't know you possessed!! I had a great time, and the kids had even more fun watching me being unco-ordinated on all these sporty things.
After our bout of excercise we continued on past Gnomesville, where we had to stop and see all the gnomes that have gathered there from around the globe.

An Emu we saw on the side of the road.

Then it was on to the Collie River where we stopped off at Big Rock where the kids (that's the big boys included!!) all had fun sliding down the rocks into the freezing waters! The sides of the rock was so slippery that they helped eachother out with the rope. Once you started going in, there was no stopping!! Cody also tried catching a yabbie but was a little too worried about those nasty looking nippers. We got to sample some smoked sausages for lunch from JB's smoker. Why is it that things always taste delicious when you're out of doors?!



Then on the road again because the boys had seen in the book a cool 4 wheel drive track to take.
Well, after some navigating, we found the track and it was beautiful. My kind of 4 wheel driving; a dirt track with a few bumps, lovely trees, following the river....well, they managed to lull me into a false sense of security. Once I was relaxed and comfortable, the real 4 wheel driving began!! I'm sure the track had been made more challenging by the 4 wheel driving club. Our tow ball kept digging furrows in the mounds we had to go over and then came a nice, sandy hill (not nice white sand of course but lovely red dust!!)... we made it up in a huge pile of dust, and of course no windows were closed!! Then when I thought it was nearly over, we had to go up one more steep hill. Dren thought she would be somersaulting backwards back down the hill, but we all made it, and lived to tell the tale of another 4 wheel driving experience with Dave and JB.

Along the Collie River
Sunday evening we had a relaxing time catching up with Ray and Theresa. Cody and Damon took off to the mud and came back looking like black boys. You could hardly see any skin on them, they were so covered in mud. But they were grinning, had a great time sliding down the dam bank into the water (or was that the mud??!!) The girls had fun going around the vineyard in a kaboda. And the little ones...well, they always have fun!! The kids all swam in the dam by Ray and Theresa's house as well.
Monday was a final day for more adventures. This time we headed off to Dunsborough; stopped to pick up some lunch from the bakery, ate that at a beautiful beach and then headed off to shell beach where we spent lots of time clambering over the rocks and collecting lovely shells. Even Dave collected a bag full of tiny shells for me.... On the way home we had to stop off at Simmo's for an ice cream cone: Raspberry sorbets, chunky monkey, black licorice...the options were delightful!!




And then our weekend was over and it was time to head home again. Thanks JB and Dren for another fantastic weekend. Look forward to our next one...
PS: Dren, I'm still waiting for some photos from you!!