Sat 17th - Soft Beach

Sat 17th - Set off in the morning along the 4x4 track back to soft beach, near peaceful bay and when we got there realised that the esky, that was jammed between the towbar, full of fish guts, had disappeared... so we turned round to try and find it.  We'd passed an elderly couple on the way out and managed to catch up with them without seeing the esky so Benny asked them if they'd seen it... they had and instead of putting it by the side of the track so we could see it when we came looking for it they'd "chucked it up into the bush" somewhere on the left hand side and near the "rough part of the track"... riiiigghhht!!! We found it!! And made it to Soft Beach :)

Fishing again!!! Sun was out this time so was enjoying some bikini action :)

Caught the cutest little flattie.... after catching a big one yesterday this one was just like a little miniature version... obviously :)

I also caught some decent sized fish too that we could keep and eat... King George

Soft Beach :)

After the beach we headed into Denmark, another one of Bennys old stomping grounds to see one of his old friends, Glen... cooked up some fish with him, drank some beers, chatted about fishing, lizards in the walls, fishing, air fresheners that sound like ducks, fishing, Steve Irwin and snakes, fishing, and cats that were scared of Benny... Glen's missus was away and the cat "Simon" likes her best and listens to her more, very entertaining hearing Glen try and call Simon in a high pitch girls voice!!

And here I am now, sat on Glens sofa at nearly 1am with the boys talking about fishing..... Gonna hit the sack, will be in touch and update next time I have signal :) xx

Fri 16th - Hooked on Fishing!?!

Fri 16th - Luckily the creepy feeling had gone in the morning.... funny how daylight helps with that!!  Benny did admit that he was kind of freaked out after Id commented on it though...

Drove to Fernhook Falls for lunch, a little walk and of course a flick of the rod... no bites though, managed to get a photo of us both, a rarity!!

Onwards, drove to Walpole and stocked up on some supplies and then on to Peacful Bay, got there late arvo and headed down to the beach :) Benny set up a couple of beach rods and got me to have a go too... I managed to catch HEAPS!! hahahaha, lots of whiting and a decent sized flattie too :)  I do have to give Benny some credit too though, he was being lovely, baiting my hook for me, taking the fish off the hook for me that I caught and killing and filleting them... I think he's just trying to get me hooked and then I'll be doing it all myself ;)

One of Bennys whiting :)

Fishing until the sunset... I even heard the phrase escape my lips... "one more cast!??".... I AM starting to sound like a fisherwoman, Bennys plan is working!!! It does get kind of addictive when you're catching them and getting bites though :)

My fishing stance, get me ;)  My next fishing phrase is I managed to hook a BIG fish (honest!) it was pulling the reel out, making the phhreeee sound!! Benny rushed over to coach me "Walk down the beach..." I yelled back "Why do you want me to walk down the beach when I'm trying to pull a fish in??!!!" hahaha, turns out you're meant to walk in the direction the fish is swimming in to help pull them in... unfortunately the rig wasnt up to scratch, the knot slipped and the fish escaped with the hook :(  Next time I'll get a big one!!

Our catch for the evening!!!  

Benny sorting the fish out while I get dinner on :) x

Thurs 15th - Heartbreak Hotel

Thurs 15th - Woke up at Malimup, I woke up at a reasonable hour, around 7ish, Benny was up at something like 5am to go fishing!!  I did think about getting up and making him a coffee to take down to the beach but the bed was so comfy and I had it all to myself so I decided to snooze a bit more :) Next time I'll be a good girlfriend and get up!!  Benny came back with a good few fish, salmon and some more silver brim... so salmon and hash browns for brekkie, yum :)  While Benny was sorting his fish out near the fresh water stream I got the fire going again and heated some water up for a shower for us both, so good to be clean again, start to feel a bit grimy after a few days and no water action... baby wipes can only go so far!!  I even went as far as shaving my legs to accompany the bush facial beauty treatment, complete with the mossie head net in place :)  I did try and convince Benny to let me exfoliate his hands, he's suffering from the lack of brick work and his hands are starting to peel :(  No go with the exfoliation but I'm sure some more fishing will sort him out!  Benny pointed out what bullants were to me and the fact that they hurt when they bite, he also found a baby scorpion.... good job he found that in the morning and not at night otherwise I would have been freaking out getting up at night time to pee in case they managed to find me and bite me on the bum!! hahaha :)

After packing up we drove onto Windy Harbour....it was Windy!!

But with cute little beach shacks and outdoor sinks for fishy stuff :)

Benny had heard about some shacks that are open to everyone so we went for a beach drive to try and explore and find one.... We hit this bog and decided not to drive through it and went for a walk....

And found "Heartbreak Hotel"

A gorgeous little shack that is owned by Fred and Ian and open to the public with certain conditions, such as writing in the book and replacing what you use :)  Very cute.  Fred passed away in 2009 but theres a plaque for him in the bush nearby with "forever caretaker" engraved and some photos of him around the shack.

After exploring Benny let the tyres down to see if we could get to the shack on a more sandy route :)  Didnt really want the stinky bog covering our home.... or us getting stuck!!

We did find another open shack but it was no-where near as nice...

Back entrance to the Hotel :)

View from the decking from heartbreak... shame it was super windy, Benny would have liked to cast a line into the river mouth but the wind was in the wrong direction and he didnt fancy swimming across to the other side!!

Our camp spot for the night, nearby to heart break.... I wish we'd stayed in the hotel cos I got a strange kind of creepy feeling at this spot... so much so that when I went for the night time bush loo trip I told Benny to come and find me if I didnt come back and if he heard screaming... it was all fine... of course :) 

Tue 13th - Wed 14th

Tue 13th - Checked out the Yeagerup Sand Dunes just south of Pemberton, Benny knows this WA coast line so well, its brilliant, Ive got my own personal tour guide :)  He told me that the sand dunes are the largest inland dune system in WA... they reminded me of a really tame ski field, mayabe a blue run, they even had sticks to stay between!

The photos dont really show how big the area was that the Sand Dunes were taking over.. well worth checking out if you're ever down that area :)

After a quick stop off in Pemberton to buy a National Park Pass and some bargain home grown snowpeas for $2 (Good find Benny!) we pulled into Big Brook Abertoreum to set up camp... first night of paying for camping, $7 each!!!! Pretty pricey for a spot in the woods... they had "camp hosts" at this spot though so we had to do the right thing and pay up, apparently these camp hosts are in the same spot for >>>, felt a bit sorry for them, it was nice enough for a night but it wasnt near any source of water (lake, stream, ocean... well not that we could see, although we both dont know what an abertoreum is and I think it sounds quite of watery??!!) Anyway... Had a lovely fire, dinner and some port that we'd picked up earlier in the day :) YUM! By chance we'd passed one of the winearys that the Xanadu guy had recommended to us, budget campers us ;)  From about 4am onwards the mossies came out to play... not the fly screen project needs work!! I spent the next few hours dosing and then being suddenly awake with the sound of BIZZZZ next to my ear, bloody hate mozzies, little buggers, bite me, take some of my blood I have heaps to share but WHY make me itch, especially annoying on my feet! Ok, mossie rant over :p ....the white board above the head now looks like a mossie graveyeard though!!!

Wed 14th - We headed to Malimup Beach, GORGEOUS, checking out this camp spot is a must!!  It was overcast, windy and full of flies on the beach (but as Benny keeps telling me flies go hand in hand in Austrlia and summer... I'm only just noticing but a big THANKYOU to Wendy for my head netting gear, you have no idea how much I'm wearing it!!) But just back from the beach there were some lovely, sheltered sand dunes with some excellent camp spots... this one we loved, it had fire wood ready for us, a pit for the fire and a fresh running stream under the trees and only a 5 min walk from the beach :)  

After lunch on the beach we set up camp, Benny took his fishing gear down the beach and I made a fire, which included chopping wood with an axe, bloody hard work :p  And treated myself to a bush facial which consisted of exfoliation, cleanse, tone and moisturise, MAN it felt sooo good :)  Benny came back from his fishing expedition with some silver brim and heron for dinner and went to dig a hole in the bush for a number 2.... after all that effort he didnt need to use it.... about an hour later I did though!! Yes, I lost my virginity to pooping in the bush :) 

Map of Malimup Beach in case anyone is down that way and wants to check out the lovely camp spot :)

Dunsborough 9-12 Dec

Drove down to Dunsborough, Bennys old stomping ground, and made it to one of his friends homes about 6ish...just in time for tea with Tina and the girls, Lilly and Arwen :)  Aido was at work, an open mic night at the local pub, we did have good intentions to go and check the talent out but didnt make it... First night on the road was camped in their driveway

Sat 10th - Gorgeous day :) Great start to the trip!!  The start of the day was spent trying to convince Benny to eat fruit, paper airplane competitions, double-dutch skipping in the drive way and playing with Bennys drealocks... only the girls would get away with it, I do have some photographic evidence below ;)  Tina finished all her jobs and we took their sea kayaks out for some paddling and fishing.

Yes we did manage to share a kayak without capsizing!!!  Sat arvo Aido had a gig at Caves Hotel in Yallingup so we drove down there to check him and his friends out and had a couple of sneaky pints :)  On the way back to their home we had a bit of a de-tour to Coles for a pee stop... very funny story that I kinda dont want to share on the blog but maybe ask us about it next time we're drunk ;)

Sun 11th - Dove to Smiths Beach to check out Lil doing her thing at nippers and enjoyed a splash around in the ocean :)  Benny and me then hit the beach in Dunsborough to try out a bit more fishing (minus the kayaks this time), no joy :(  Checked out one of Bennys friends new place/business and then headed down to Milup Beach for a quick nanna nap and then everyone started arriving for a barbie, some bongo drumming and fire twirling for the full moon... the girls were frigging amazing at fire twirling, very impressed!!!

Mon 12th - Back to reality for everyone but us (mwaah hahaha!!) so a quick bye to Aido as he left for work and we continued to sleep in his drive way and then at a more reasonable hour up to say bye to Lily and Arwen before they went to school.  Had a quick fish with Tina but it was pretty stormy and overcast and we werent getting any bites so we packed up and headed south.... via Margs so I could stop in at one of my favorite winerys, Xanadu, to get some fortified shiraz, yum :) Had a chat with the guy selling it and told him our story, he realised we werent working and so gave us a 10% discount (bonus!) and also recommended some cheaper ports for us to check out :) AND gave us a couple of wine cooling bags... to which Bennys first comment was "Sweet, they're perfect for keeping fish in on the beach!!"  We decided to camp on the Blackwood River that night and found a nice little spot, Benny flicked his rod a little bit but then it started to rain a bit... then a bit harder.... then a bit harder still.... you get the general idea, so we sat in the cab and read for a bit and then decided to hit the sack early, I mean EARLY, probably around 5ish!! For tea we had crackers, hommus and American Honey, yummy!!!

Single pony?!!

Nah, bunches look better!!! x

Leaving Perth

My drawer and all the 'crap' I've managed to squeeze into it!!

We had tickets for Emma Louise at Mojos on Sun 4th and the original plan was to enjoy the evening then pack up and leave on the Monday.... unfortunately we think I managed to get my drink spiked, one minute I was fine and the next I was throwing up in the alley, lovely, lucky Benny was there to look after me... the next day was spent recovering!!  We were all set to pack up and leave on Tues 6th BUT Freo obviously didnt want to see us go and decided to hit us with a massive thunderstorm and rain ALL day, see the radar above!!  This made packing everything into the ute difficult and also Benny needed to finish off some welding and this couldnt be done in the rain so we stayed another night...

Wed 7th was officially leaving Freo day! Managed to fit everything into the ute.... tight squeeze :p  We were on the road, all the way to Mandurah, ahahaha, a whole hour down the road ;)  We wanted to stop in and say hi and bye to Bennys parents before we hit the road properly and get some last minute jobs done.  Including setting up a mossie net for the awning, the lady in spotlight was highly amusing with our 'discussions' about measurements for velcro and zips, so much so she gave us a discount!  Thanks so much Trish for helping with the velcro sewing and mossie net stuff :)

FRIDAY 9th DECEMBER 2011 - Hitting the road :)

Photos from our August North Trip

Red Bluff

Harem Pants and Uggs - Rocking out camping style fashion ;)

Mrs.Whale

Bloody Scary "Breathing Rock" - otherwise known as Whistling Rock

Melted Candles near our campfire

My 1st Wobbygong...howd you spell that??!

Testing!

So this is my first post.... I'm on my LAST swing at work and setting up a blog so we can keep everyone up to date when we're on the road!  Of course I'm doing this in my lunch hour (ahem!).  I'm super excited and a little bit nervous at the same time.  Bennys working hard on getting the ute ready... and I'm helping as much as possible :)

Well I'll be in touch again when we've got a leaving date! Hope to see all you Perth people at our leaving catch up... Sat 19th Nov at South Beach, Freo from 11am onwards, bring some snags for the barbie and/or a 6 pack and come down to say hi and bye :)

xx