For our Christmas holidays this year we decided to go to Esperance with Willem and Linda and Hendrik and Jackie. We left on Wednesday, and our first night we spent alone at Lucky Bay. Esperance has absolutely beautiful beaches, and Lucky bay, in Cape LeGrande national park is no exception. We managed to find a spot for the night in their little campground and quickly set up camp. Our camp had a number of visitors, kangaroos coming to check out the newcomers and also some awesome looking perenties. We saw quite a few of them sunning themselves on the roads around Frenchman's Peak. Thursday morning we summoned up some energy and climbed up the Peak. Wow, it's a good climb, not for the fainthearted as it's just a climb straight up the rock face, no proper paths or ropes to help you along. Needless to say, the kids did a good job of waiting for me to catch up and at the top the kids had a ball exploring the little cave while I caught my breath. It was well worth the climb though, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes to do something a little more strenuous.
Our campground visitors...
The view from the top, looking over Lucky Bay.
The following afternoon Willem and Linda came to join us. Since Lucky Bay was rather crowded with the Christmas crowds, we decided to move camp and set up our camp right on the beach at Dunn Rock. The sand was so white we needed sunnies; it was super fine and very clean. White clothes were still white after a week of camping!!! The photo on the left is what we saw every morning when we woke up from our caravan window. The kids had a hoot on the waves, from the youngest to the oldest, they could all pick their level of wave. Further back the waves were bigger but closer in they just gently rolled in. Excellent for boogie boarding. On Saturday afternoon Hendrik and Jackie joined us on the beach and wow did we have a week of great fun, good food and fantastic fellowship.
With boogie boards, fishing rods and kayaks, and a cupboard full of board/card games the kids were never bored. Cody had a few too many girls around, and no boys his age other than Wade so he got into some nailpolish mischief. The guys had to stand on the roof of the cars to get any kind of phone reception, but they managed to send a few text messages out!!
About a km down the beach there were huge, brilliantly white sand dunes. The kids had a blast taking their boards down them. The walk up was a bit tough, and they could've used a ski lift or 2 but the joyride down was sooo worth the effort they kept going back for more.
Just past the dunes was a brackish stream entering the sea. That's where us ladies went for "showers". All the girls would jump into the car and we'd drive down for our evening bath. It's amazing how clean hair makes you feel so much better!!
We spent a relaxing Christmas day enjoying the beauty that was around us. We also had the privilege of listening to one of Rev Schouten's sermons. And of course the yummy food abounded. It was a wonderful day.
On Tuesday we decided to do something civilised and we all went to Esperance. After a morning of doing our own thing in town - like laundry for me, and getting some more fresh food, while the kids did some window shopping, we all went to the local pool for a good long swim. After a week of no showers or running water, it felt like a luxury to be able to have a good shower! And the kids really enjoyed the pool. To cap off a great day we all went out to a lovely chinese restaraunt for dinner. Wow, all clean, and no cooking!!
Our last night at camp was New Year's Eve, and wow, what a New Year's it was. Definitely one we will always remember as the night of the tides. During the week we had noticed that each night the water came a little higher. The night before New Year's the water had lapped at the back of Willem's ute. For New Year's the tide charts said high tide would be at 11pm. Well, our evening began with a great dinner together. By 8 pm, though, the tide was starting to come in, and the camp site was starting to get a little wet. As the hours went by, we made little walls out of sand and seaweed to protect our tents, while the others packed their tents up. The kids had a blast calling out wave alerts and Willem was busy making his Oliebollen. Although he was more than ankle deep in water, he was merrily making his Oliebollen. It was rather very comical. We were going to have Oliebollen.... did I mention Willem's Oliebollen??!! At 11pm, although everyone was running around in shorts or with their pants rolled up, we had 'saved' our tents and it looked like we had weathered the tides rather well. So just before midnight we sat down to read and pray to finish off the old year before welcoming in the new. Just after prayer, as we were looking for a watch for the final countdown and getting ready to fill our glasses for our cheer of "cheers", Erin yelled "Wave" and this big wave came rolling into camp. It was still at the height of the caravan steps as it came rolling in. It went up the sides of our tents, and wreaked havoc in our campground. I made a mad dash to save our camping cupboard containing Brett's birthday presents which had fallen over and was floating... but in the process tripped over a full water container which, moments before had been sitting behind the caravans! Fortunately our tents are good ones and the insides stayed relatively dry. So we all spent the next while packing up camp and heading to drier ground. It took a bit of hunting around to find all our bits and pieces back - our towball had been buried under the sand!! A good lesson for those who wish to camp on the beach. Beware of the tides!! (apparently Dunn Rock's tides come in an hour later than in Esperence... now they tell us!!) It was such a comical evening that it turned into a great adventure, and not a great disaster. We actually got to bed as the sun was coming up on New Year's Day!!
From Dunn Rock we said good bye to Hendrik and Jackie and spent the next few nights at Starvation Boat Harbour. Another lovely little bay, although the white sand was gone but instead we had lots of rocks and rock pools to explore with millions of shells of all shapes and sizes. Needless to say, Travis can spend days hunting on the beach for the perfect shell!
January 2nd is Brett's birthday so we celebrated his birthday with a morning coffee with Willem and Linda before they headed on to Busselton. Brett was ecstatic over the money he received from them as he's been saving up for a Ripstick. (grandma and grandad's present gave him enough to buy one so straight to the shops Dave had to go! Now Brett's the proud owner of a Ripstick and wiggles through the house like a pro!!)
We spent the next couple of days exploring the area and finding other interesting places.
On our way home we stopped off in Katanning and enjoyed their big park with their super big slides. A great way to stretch your legs and have some fun.
And then it was homeward bound.
Brett's big surprise when we came home! Happy birthday buddy!
