Sid’s camp is a great spot. Nestled amongst the surrounding forests close to Northcliffe, it’s a great place to base yourself to explore the area. Its also super-cheap with the bush traveller in mind. Sid used to be a park ranger and way back when a group of Land Rover mates wanted cheap low-cost bush camping so as to explore the region, Sid realised there wasn’t any, but he had land. Putting 2 & 2 together Sid’s camp was born. Of course, it took years to get council to approve his endeavour and the local caravan parks had their noses firmly put out of joint, but the result is a bush style camp but with decent flushing loos & hot showers in quirky huts and a large communal fire at the ‘Bull Bar Saloon’. All this for a few bucks a night and Reo passed as a dog, making it even cheaper!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With us deciding to spend a few nights here, the bikes came down for the kids to race around camp. Reo found out the hard way that you can’t ride fast downhill through soft sand and came off with a loud howl, scream and unaccustomed tears, he must have been hurt. Northcliffe had a little library so again we made use of this for the kids to do some readers but decided daddy & kids would ride there. Its strange how a seemingly flat road when in a car has hills you never noticed before but now had to urge the kids up. They did well in the end and bah the sand incident Reo is becoming very confident on his larger bike. Way back in Sydney the kids heard the lyrics in a song “What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” and previously struggled with the concept which they are now totally au fait with. The library became a daily visit and they allowed us to take a few books home each night for bedtime stories.

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The Southern Forrest are an amazing display of Jarrah, Karri and Marri trees. Karri’s are the third tallest tree in the world and on the forest walk we learnt how to identify one from the other. They also get hollowed out by bush fires in a similar way to the Tingle trees, so another family photo op. We stopped for lunch at Shannon, an old logging town, purpose built in its hey-day in the centre of the forests to make use of this rich resource. Nothing of the town remains today, but it has been turned into a massive National Parks campsite with information boards depicting what life was like for this thriving but remote community. Apparently, many of the buildings disappeared to the coast to make holiday retreats around Windy Harbour, our excursion for tomorrow’s day out.

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Sid has made some nature trails meandering away from camp through his woods and with the bikes down daddy & Lexi decided to have an explore before the sun set. Its only a couple of km, but a lovely track and Lexi is really loving getting out on her bike. She was so pumped that she convinced both Reo and mummy to join her on a morning bike ride. Now mummy isn’t the most confident rider, but she’s keen to try and with the sun rise they were ready to hit the trail. They all did a great job zipping through the woods, whilst daddy was left back at camp to relax and enjoy his morning coffee in peace. Win-win.

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After a good breakfast, with tummy’s full we jumped in the car to head to the aptly named Windy Harbour, with the forecast of, you guessed it, strong winds! No sooner had we stopped came the howl from the back seat, “Not another waaalk”, followed by the click of his door lock! No amount of persuasion could extract him, so we left Lexi to deal with the situation and headed off to the start of the 300m path to the lookout. It’s really funny to see how kids work through these dramas. We snuck back hiding behind other parked cars to watch Lexi talk to Reo on kids terms and in her own way managed to winkle him out of the car. But he was walking on his terms, so we weren’t allowed to even acknowledge he was there, even a glance back would be met with howls of protests. Once at the look out however all was soon forgotten as the kids made up some rules or other to turn the walk into a game, they were either snakes, dogs or roos this time, I can’t quite remember which.

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Mount Chudalup is a prominent hill on the drive back with amazing views from the top. After the previous protests we were expecting a repeat performance, but it couldn’t have been any further from the truth. In a complete 180, our anti-walker was BANG up for it and headed off with a spring in his step… go figure..!? Mummy and Lexi had stopped at the loo whilst daddy & Reo patiently waited and waited and waited. I’ve no idea where they got to but wanting to seize the moment before his enthusiasm waned, I headed off up the trail with Reo. He literally bounded up the track and showed his mountain goat prowess when the track gave way to the rocky final path to the top. A rustling behind and we could see mummy and Lexi emerging from the trees below for the final ascent. Turns out they took the wrong turn from the loos following what must have been a scratchy roo trail to the foot of the rock to be met with a near vertical climb before deciding to turn back. I’m not sure how they missed the 6-foot-wide graded path which was the official route to the summit? As expected the views were breathtaking and there is a certain peace that comes from being perched atop a mountain with the wind in your ears and the vastness of the view unfolding beneath you.

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Sharing stories around the communal fire it was soon apparent that with Easter and ANZAC day approaching the Margaret River region would be extremely busy as most of Perth head out of town and to their holiday homes in the wine region. Hmm, bang goes that plan of heading there and time to have a rethink. I’d recently read on another blog some travellers had done a house sit and I suggested this as an option to Maz. I thought the idea of having to look after a dog or cat might have dissuaded her, but she was really keen on the idea. Seeing as we had no prior experience or references and with Easter only days away, we jumped on the website hopeful that desperation of a house owner would work in our favour. Numerous request were sent out that evening and in the morning we had a reply. A quick phone call later and we’d secured ourselves a place in Perth and the kids were beside themselves with excitement that we’d be looking after a dog… Coolio!

Realising we still had some ways to go before Perth we decided to look for a National Park camp that we could book to avoid a later desperate hunt for a place to stay, who says leopards can’t change their spots? With a plan sorted we bade farewell to Sid’s and continued our journey. Enroute we took a small detour to show the kids the Bicentennial and Gloucester Trees. These are crazy tourist attractions, 70m odd high, they have metal spikes hammered into the trunks to form a precarious spiral ladder to the top. Back in the day they were used as fire spotting platforms, but now tourists mad enough to brave the heights can climb to the top of each tree. You’re probably thinking big deal, there’ll be a million rules around how to do this with a safety harness, clipping on with an emergency rope to catch you if you fall…well nupe, narda, there’s none of that. If you want to climb, just get on with it and climb, one rung at a time and don’t look down. An OH&S nightmare! Reo was up for it, but we weren’t that keen to end the trip early when he inevitably slipt and fell to his doom. We’d previously done this climb in our youth, but there was no way you’d get me up there again!

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The friends we made back in Boat Harbour came from Nannup, home of the worlds largest wooden clock but ironically by the time we arrived it had already closed for the day, good time keeping not being a Towns’ strength. We took a quick snap then back in the car and onto Donnybrook, home of the LARGEST free playground in the southern hemisphere – boy they love their accolades in Oz.! With daddy and the kids getting hangry, Lexi had the smart idea to find a town BBQ and cook up some snags. When they saw the playground attached to the BBQ they were in heaven and ran around like kids possessed. Glad we had the foresight to pre-book camp, we drove up into the hills in darkness and arrived at Potters Gorge camp at Wellington Dam bang on bedtime.

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We spent the next couple of days exploring the area around the dam and surprised the kids with a visit to Gnomesville… you guessed it an area filled with thousands of Gnomes of all shapes and sizes. What started as a few cheerful characters placed at the side of the road soon grew and established itself as a top tourist destination in its own right with families keen to leave their own little tribute gnome to the swelling ranks, now estimated to be around 3000 inhabitants! When a flash flood caused havoc a few years back, the inmates at the local prison were enlisted to rescue the wayward gnomes, tidy up the debris and return it to its former glory of the most habitable Gnome town (in the southern hemisphere)! Only in Australia..!

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Enjoying the drive back to camp we followed a scenic drive along the river and came upon another tucked away campsite with an excellent swimming hole. The camp kids were already jumping in and out of the water and having a great time and of course the lure was far too strong for Reo not to want to have a go. He was soon down to his undies as we’d left our swimmers at camp, but Lexi was a little more bashful in company electing to watch from the sidelines. The jumping platform was high & the water looked cool n fresh. The little guy had to pluck up courage. After a few false attempts teetering on the edge, a new camp buddy befriended him, and a deal was quickly struck, if one went they both went – SPLASH down! Meanwhile daddy had spotted a massive pile of free firewood. Our camp allowed fires given the cool weather, so daddy was soon to be seen squirrelling bits of wood into the back of Tinfish with a big smile, after all camping without a campfire is just sitting outdoors in the dark!

With the campfire roaring Lexi was very keen to roast baked potatoes in the embers and eventually at half past bedtime the spuds were handed over to me wrapped in ali foil. Hmmm perhaps they’ll be ready for brekkie… a spark of an idea forming… How does bacon, eggs, baked beans and fried slices of baked potato for brekkie sound to you… I’m dribbling with just the thought. We had a long drive ahead of us to Perth so a good full English to fill tummies was just the ticket & the kids loved helping to prepare the feast.

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That marked 116 days on the road. Nothing significant in itself but as good a time as any to pause and reflect. We were under no illusion when we set out on this journey as a family that it’d take time to adjust and get into a rhythm. On our last big adventure when we drove from UK to OZ, it took a good couple of weeks to find that balance, but then that was just the two of us pre-children. Most of our friends back in Sydney thought we were crazy to consciously spend 24×7 in the small confides of a home on wheels with our two darling children and not go mad. Add to that the trials and tribulations of home schooling by two parents new to that game! Not that we didn’t have an interest in their schooling back in Sydney, but with two busy, stressful jobs there’s only so much you can do in a day when you might see the kids for a few hours each day during the week.

When we say 24×7 it’s exactly that. There are no walls inside Minty to find solitude behind and the beds are on top of each other. When ones awake, we’re all awake and then its go, go, go (think 2 hours of negotiations before Reo even picks up a pencil to start school) all the way through till bedtime, when typically, its daddy snoring away first, long before the kids have even worked through their first 5 reasons why they are out of bed yet again.

It’s chaos most of the time, but from within chaos a random pattern emerges, one that you can embrace. We rarely know where we’re heading from one day to another, we’ve come to peace that this isn’t a holiday with the need to tick-off every attraction in the brochure, for us it’s become a lifestyle, an alternative way of living, where sand in the bed from the kids feet is par the course, where we can’t get shoes on Reo come love nor money and Lexi is growing quickly with all this fresh air and exercise (we simply can’t fill her up!) One thing the kids crave of any parent more than anything else is just their time and on this adventure they fill their buckets daily and the family bond is stronger as a consequence.

I’m pleased to report we’re into a rhythm now for sure. To the outside eye looking in it may look haphazard but then there’s none stranger than family with all their associated idiosyncrasies but look beyond the chaos and you’ll see the calm beneath. That’s what travelling as a family is all about and we wouldn’t change it for a thing…. A delicate equilibrium has indeed been achieved 😊