Day 79 – 81
We arrived in Busselton around lunchtime, set up camp and had a little look around. The park was nice and clean, kid friendly and practically empty which was just as well as the kids immediately got out their scooters and started racing each other around the park roads. The park also had a water playground and heated pool which the kids enjoyed. It started to cool down late afternoon and then around 8pm something we hadn’t seen for roughly 10 weeks fell from the sky – rain – and it kept coming.
It basically rained for the next 48 hours which was a bit of a downer for the Noones. We had to dig out long forgotten jumpers and enclosed shoes and when you are camping rain is not your friend. Everything feels damp. I am tipping that when they installed heat lamps in the ensuite bathroom the park owners weren’t contemplating the bathroom being used as a drying room but that’s what we did. Everything was so wet. Every time the kids went out they got drenched so we definitely got our money’s worth out of the ensuite site this time.
As a result of the rain the body surfing championship had to be put on hold. We did a lot more driving around. We went to the Lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste, explored the Ngigli (Yallingup) Caves, lunched at Margaret River, checked out Driftwood Winery (only because I remember it as being one of my best desserts ever 15 years ago), drove through Cape Lodge (another place we stayed 15 years ago) and to Caves House (a lovely old hotel 15 years ago now surrounded by new developments and somewhat lacking in the charm it used to have – damn developers and progress).
The cave was a great experience. We descended 11 stories via stairs, sometimes crouching, sometimes backwards, all the while checking out the various stalactites and stalagmites. The humidity was 100% and the air quality not so flash so just talking could leave you a little breathless. What goes down a hole has to come back out so we also had to climb back up the 11 stories. Madi declared that she loved it but would never do it again as it hurt her legs! The kids all enjoyed it so it was worthwhile.
Unfortunately due to the rain and also a refurbishment we didn’t get to walk (although Madi insisted we would have caught the train) along the 2km wharf or check out the underwater observatory. The kids were also disappointed that the water park beside the wharf was closed but we told them they could bring their own families back here when they were older and they decide to torture their kids on a trip like this. The seed sowing must be working because they all think they would like to do that!
FFR2 were in town for one night while we were there so we had dinner at their caravan park. This was a pleasant evening. The kids swam in the indoor pool while we cooked the BBQ. After that, Madi had made dessert which was a fruit platter with toblerone dipping sauce. We had to stand back when that came out. The kids seemed to morph into a pride of hungry lions and all semblance of manners disappeared. Once sated (or rather once we ran out of fruit and sauce) they disappeared out to the playground where we found them soaked to the skin when it was time to go home – thank God for the drying room!
Today we are heading to Pemberton. The skies looked clear as we packed up but it has just started to rain so we could be getting wet again. Hopefully it clears so we can have a good look around.
