The Second Half of Our Stay in Mandurah

Sunday, I had it all planned out.  We would do some school before heading out to the Mandurah markets then onto a winery that looked really pretty before finishing up for a picnic lunch in a National Park and then exploring it a bit.  Well that plan went out the window when we couldn’t even finish the second school session as the issue we had encountered the other day on the computer (and we thought we had a work around for) had also actually broken another aspect.  Just great, so I was very frustrated about it all and we were not going anywhere until we had it fixed up and sorted.

So that only took about four hours and a long time on the phone call to Macfee who solved half of the problem and then the other half I managed to do in 5 minutes when I read the information correctly.  So frustrating but so avoidable if someone hadn’t just clicked on a little ‘Allow’ button. Still it was such a huge relief when we finally got it all working again.  By now it was the afternoon so we had lunch and decided to just spend the rest of the day getting ahead in school so we could have all of tomorrow off.  I love that the school work is so flexible like this and we can do as much or as little as we want each day.

So after a relatively uneventful day we packed up and headed over to the Connolly’s for dinner.  Luckily I was only in charge of dessert so I stocked up on all the healthy things like apple crumble, custard, ice cream and cream!  Unfortunately though Kayla hadn’t had a daytime nap so didn’t eat a bite of food really and proceeded to have a meltdown over the littlest thing and woke up her little cousin after he had gone to bed.  So we packed up after dessert and took the two of them home before it got any worse.  Tomorrow will be a new day.

So a new day it was on another beautiful day in Mandurah.  We got off to a great start and got the usual daily jobs done along with Hamish’s on air lesson and then a reading lesson before setting off to Harvey for an excursion with the Connolly family.  We first headed to a park/picnic area below their dam wall for lunch.  It was a really pretty spot and well worth the visit just to have a walk around and enjoy the lunch we had all packed.  The kids had heaps of fun playing in the park.  That is pretty much where the happiness ended (for Hamish anyway) and the pain started for us. 

Pretty little park.

Walkway over the creek and around the bush.

The kids had a blast playing.

Hamish even managed to get Dad up.

From there we headed straight to the Information Centre as the famous author of the Gumnut Babies (May Gibbs) came from this little town.  So naturally I wanted to read up on that, but after what seemed like a minute Hamish came out all upset and Jason wasn’t happy and it just kept going downhill from there.  So needless to say I quickly exited the Information Centre with my two kids as Kayla wanted to sit down and read the books and well I wasn’t willing to buy them all if she wrecked them. 

Before all hell broke loose.

Hamish spots these from a mile away now and loves them.

Exploring the information centre grounds.

Pretty little coffee shop in there.

There was a beautiful old cottage/café on the grounds too and lovely gardens so I thought maybe a walk around that would cheer Hamish up or at least make him forget why he was upset.  I didn’t buy him the recorder from the Information Centre – what a mean Mum.  Let me think about it, a noisy instrument in a small caravan, I think not.  Also but because Jason had said he wasn’t listening he couldn’t have it so naturally I didn’t want to go against Jason with that.  Still the crying and complaining went on and on and Jason got more and more frustrated and I started to think it would have been a better afternoon if I had left the two boys behind.  They are so alike.

So finally we left there and headed to the big orange, and yep it didn’t stop there, so we quickly did the orange climb, took some photos and headed back into the shop.  There we found some cheap wine that didn’t taste too bad, so I stocked up and bought two of them as I certainly needed them after that afternoon.  We then made the smart decision to head home and I just got the boys to calm down and not talk on the way home – for my sanity and so they didn’t keep working themselves up.  Lucky Kayla fell asleep and before long the boys cheered up also.

On the way home we pulled into see the Thrombolites which are a calcium carbonate formation (not rocks) that sit on the floor of the lakes.  They are believed to be a living relic from the earliest days of life on our planet.  It is pretty interesting to read up on and see.  We took Madie and Hamish for the walk to see them as Jodi and Sean stayed with our car as Kayla was still asleep.  Lucky it was only a short walk and after checking those out we headed back.  It was decided then that the Connolly family would come to our place and the boys would go out and try their luck crabbing again.  So then on the way home we ducked in for some supplies for dinner.

Checking out the Thrombolites.

Hamish loved it.

Bit of information for you.

Madie showing me how high she can climb.

It was a nice night and we enjoyed the bbq dinner before the mosquitos moved in and decided to feed on us all.  So we did some sparklers with the kids while the boys headed off and then we moved inside and left the mosquitos outside.  The boys were gone for what felt like forever, and of course I couldn’t get my two to sleep in the caravan and poor Madie couldn’t get to sleep either.  It was definitely a welcome sight when the boys came home and we could finally get the kids to sleep.  It has been a very long day / night and hopefully we all sleep well as I think we need it.  Tomorrow is our eighth wedding anniversary, gosh that has come around so fast.  I wonder if Jason will remember… only time will tell.

Hamish and Hugh.

So Tuesday saw us reach the eight years married milestone.  We aren’t ones to make a big deal of it and it showed when neither of us had gotten each other anything, not even a card.  We didn’t have much energy so decided to treat ourselves to a morning tea out and just focus on school for the day.  Kayla kept on wandering off so the lovely couple behind us said they were happy to watch her whilst Jason did some school with Hamish and I caught up on the blog (posting the previous ones).  I also had to send off some stuff for school so did it all whilst I was on a roll. 

We had planned to go out for a nice lunch and check out the little Venice area but Kayla fell asleep on the bed so we just hung around the van for the rest of the afternoon and headed out for dinner.   I decided that we should probably book something for Easter as everyone staying around us had done so whereas I thought if we headed inland we would be fine.  This was not my smartest move as when I started to ring around places I found out very quickly that everything was booked out in regards to powered sites.  Free camping would be harder too as all the locals will head to the popular spots, and as I have found in my research, there doesn’t seem to be many free camps down this way.  Eventually I found a place that had one powered site left, so I snapped it up.  Were we originally planning to go to this town?  Probably not.  Is the caravan park nice?  I have no idea.  Is there much to do there?  No idea.  Still it will be an adventure and we will find out in time.

Eventually we headed out to check out the little Venice area and it was a blessing in disguise as it was nice and cool when we did head out and the walk around the area was a lot easier and more comfortable.  It is certainly different and there are some cool houses/apartments that did remind us of our trip to Venice, but I personally would need a backyard or a bit of space, although I do think it would be cool to live there for a little while or when I am retired.  Mainly as there are all these lovely places to eat all within a short walking distance.

Little Venice is still being built.

Pretty cool but not quite the same.

Hamish loved the Dragon Boat drum beat.

On the second top balcony (left side) there is a mannequin and apparently the owner dresses her in different outfit for each season.  Well so a local told me.

After our walk we chose one of the lovely places overlooking the water for dinner.  It was so well priced and the meals came out super quick which was even better.  Jason and I shared a seafood platter that Hamish also enjoyed too and then on our way home we stopped for some dessert at Baskin Robbins to finish off the night.  We didn’t want to stay out too long as we had to babysit my niece and nephew the next day along with trying to do some school, so we needed our energy levels to be high for all that. 

Enjoying our anniversary dinner.

The view from dinner.

We ate at the first one along.

I tell you what, I don’t know when was the last time I woke up to an alarm clock but my gosh it was hard.  Probably made harder by the fact that I hadn’t gotten fully organised the night before.  So I still had to pack up everything that we would need for the day.  The kids were put into the car still in their pjs (we had to wake up Kayla) so we weren’t late as we needed to be there before Hamish’s lesson started, otherwise my sister would be late for work.  It was hard doing school with all the kids around and so many distractions so we only did a few sessions before calling it quits. 

Having fun with the dress ups.

Hugh had Jason wrapped around his finger.

I don’t know where kids get their energy from but I know there are two exhausted parents who are going to sleep so well tonight.  We couldn’t really get out either as we only have two car seats in our car and being a very warm day a walk is out of the picture.  Still it was great to spend some quality time with my niece and nephew as we don’t get to see them very often. 

Hugh and Madie - I was trying to get a photo for Jodi.

Baby Kayla - she loved hoping in all of Hugh's things.

Once Jodi was home we retreated to the caravan without the kids to start packing up and putting everything where it belongs in preparation for moving on to Bunbury tomorrow.  We did it in record time without having to watch the kids or re-pack things as they pull them out again.  Then we returned to Jodi’s place to enjoy a few beverages and have dinner.  It was a great way to unwind after the big day and we left just after seven as Madie and Hugh crashed and well our two weren’t far off it.  Kayla fell asleep on the way home and Hamish took a bit more convincing.  It wasn’t hard saying goodbye to family when we will see them again in a week and again before we head north of Perth.

The playground below the dam in Harvey.

Pile on Uncle Sean.

Just stunning grounds.