Tag: #busselton

Been some time since we put up a post on here but since we arrived at Margaret River we have been pretty chilled.  We spent quite a fast time to get here whilst covering lots of ground and states.  

First up for me was to get prepped for Karen’s birthday two days before Xmas day.   I tend not to plan ahead but do what appears at the time.  This year it was the usual Mimosa breakfast and opening cards and presents.  Complete with French toast and Maple syrup, lovely.  

Then it was in to Margaret River where Karen was booked in for a Thai Massage.  Not the soft relaxing type but a deep tough tissue massage.  A real beat up to get the tension out after the long drives.  Kaz limped out of the place sore but loose and revived.  We then walked down the hill to the Main Street and entered what can only describe as a hippy shop.  As Kaz wondered what was going on, everyone in the place wished her a happy birthday.  Still with no clue, she was introduced to a lady who was a psychic.  She would be telling her fortune and giving a tarot card reading as well.  I then left Kaz there with an astonished look on her face.  

Afterwards made our way to the Margaret River Brewhouse where I had booked a table for 1pm.  Once there with Max in tow, we were given a great table under cover on their huge deck.  This was very welcome as the sun was beating down? The food was great although we did leave with a full carton of chips to go.  This was due to Kaz ordering chips with her muscles, only to discover they came with chips already.  We shared some chilli squid to start and I had Mackerel and chips.  All washed down with some wine of course.  It was then back to the van for more champagne and birthday cake.  I was pleased how it all went considering we were far from home.  More importantly Kaz had enjoyed a great day.

Xmas day was a bit weird being on our own but we headed of to the beach for a Xmas day swim.  The water temperature was amazing as was the white sand.  

We had a Xmas meal of, eye fillet steak in a pepper sauce, chat potatoes and broccolini.  Yes and a two nice bottles of sparkling red wine.  It was peaceful and we had lots of laughs.

The following day we got up about 9am and as usual took Max for a walk before cooking up a fabulous breakfast.  The plan today was to chill.  Kaz reading books as ever, with me continuing to write my book whilst having a play with the guitar.

As we sat there relaxing, a new couple arrived.  They came over to us and asked if we knew anything about the huge smoke cloud rising up behind the farm.  We had no clue and got up to have a look.  Across a paddock and behind some trees we could see a massive amount of smoke rising.  It was clearly getting worse and as the wind was blowing in our direction, we started to see some ash falling and the smoke haze started to block out the sun.  

The caretaker Andy then appeared.  He instructed us to pack up everything just in case we have to leave in a hurry.  In near forty degrees temperature we had to remove our awning which we had spent a bit of time and effort to put up, before packing everything else up.  There were quite a few people who we believe were Perth residents who left to return home as the temperature was forecast to remain around forty degrees for the next few days.  They said they would return once things got better.  We of course had no such luxury of returning home being full time travellers.  With everything packed up and the van hooked up just in case we had to flee, the caretaker returned with an update.  He said the wind had changed direction and the helicopters had managed to get on top of the fire rapidly.  We could now relax as the danger for us had passed.  We weren’t that worried really, more concerned as to where exactly we were meant to go if the wind hadn’t changed.

For the next few days we headed for the beach and spent the day swimming in the ocean.  Max with his frisbee and us enjoying some snorkelling.  

On New Year’s Eve wee had the fun of welcoming in 2022 three times.  Once for South Australia, then Western Australia before the UK.  It wasn’t a late one and we were in bed pretty early.

We have enjoyed some day trips around the region.  Dunsborough was nice with a fantastic beach.  Coweramup was also a nice spot with sculptures of painted cows everywhere.  We also took in a couple of tasting sessions at a few wineries.  Yesterday we headed up to Busselton where we intended to walk the two km jetty.  We arrived there and the place was pretty busy with heaps of people swimming and sun baking.  There was lots of things for kids who were everywhere.  We rocked up to the sign and our plan on walking the jetty was killed off.  Our most seen sign as usual read, “NO DOGS ALLOWED”.  So once again Max had unwittingly put paid to that experience.  We then returned to the car, collected our picnic bag and returned to the ocean from, found some shade and people watched.  Busselton was a real surprise to us and we will return without Max and walk that jetty.  To finish off the day we found a dog friendly beach and Max enjoyed a nice swim and run around with his frisbee to cool off.  

It was then back to Olive Hill where hopefully it would be cool.  On the way we decided to have a quick cider in the Colonial Brewery, two minutes from Olive Hill. With Max being bugged by bugs we had to help him. He seemed to like the fly net.

As I write this its the fourth of Jan 2022 and we still have a couple of weeks to go here before we once again hit the road.  We have now been on the road for eight months and absolutely love it.

Happy New Year to all and hope you keep following Our Wee Journey.