No Room At The Inn

We've been in Dawesville the last few days which is a seaside town just south of Mandurah. The first day we got here it was very hot and we were starting to wonder if we had headed north too soon, especially after the heat of Busselton. Luckily there is a pool here so we were able to cool off and the following day the weather took a turn.

The past few days have been cool with occasional showers. Great sleeping weather, and we spent the days exploring Mandurah and getting a few things done to the boat. Mandurah is the fastest growing regional Australian city, and you can see evidence of that in the building that seems to be going on everywhere. Some of the homes here, especially those along the canals are absolutely stunning. Beautiful homes, each with backyards backing onto the canals that lead out into the estuary and rivers. Of course everyone has boats. A great lifestyle if you had a spare few million dollars lying around.

Before we left Augusta friends said they were having trouble finding somewhere to stay this weekend as it's a long weekend in WA. We weren't too worried, and figured we'd figure something out when the time came. Well, when we arrived at the caravan park in Dawesville they had a place for us up until Friday but were booked solid throughout the weekend. We were also told that we wouldn't have any luck anywhere and the whole area was sure to be booked out. A few inquiries that we made confirmed this.

Luckily the Caravan park owner saw our camper and offered to let us camp in a grassy area beside their house at the caravan park. So, Thursday night we packed up and shifted and are now camping on the owner's front lawn :). Well, technically it's a front lawn, but as it's in the park it doesn't really feel like it. We are a few metres further from the toilets, but close to the tennis courts and pool which will be great with the hot weather predicted over the next couple of days. We've got plenty of room to spread out here - far more than in an ordinary site, plus we are away from some of the ruckus of the long weekend holidaymakers. Mike and I think we ended up with the best spot in the park!

Today is Mike's birthday and so far we spent most of it out on the water with the boat. I've gone crab mad - it's so much fun to go crabbing, and Dawesville/Mandurah is known for their blue swimmer crabs. Next week is the crab festival, but we don't know if we'll still be here for that. We didn't have any luck this morning, but we have a spot in mind to try out either later today or tomorrow.

There's Something Fishy in Denmark

We took the boat out for a bit of fishing on the river this morning. It was a great morning for it, the bream were really biting. We threw back a couple that were too small, kept two nice sized ones (one was about 330mm and the other about 250). Of course there were a couple that we failed to land as well, but the constant nibbles made for a very fun and exciting morning.

Here's one of the bream that we decided to keep.

Mike scaling the fish

and filleting as another man arrives with his catch.

The pelicans notice that there is some fish cleaning going on and start to run onto the beach toward the fish cleaning hut.

The Pelicans jockey for position as Mike is about to toss a fish carcass.

Success! the pelican in the middle is the lucky fellow who catches the whole carcass in his mouth

and scurries off to the water to be alone with his prize.

Shortly after we are at the camper enjoying ours.

Denmark River

Happy Birthday Mum!!

We spent the morning cruising on the river. We're going to go back out later in the afternoon when the sun has lost it's bite and it's a good time for fishing.

We were going to move on toward Margaret River tomorrow, but we're having such a good time here that we're thinking of spending another night.

Bremer Bay

Today is Sunday, the 4th of February and we have been here in Bremer Bay since Wednesday night. We've had a good connection and have been meaning to update you, but just haven't found the time.

The trip over here was a bit of a dud. We had to pick up maggie, stop at the bank, the supermarket, and run a few other errands before we really got on our way so it felt like we were in the car for ages before we got here, and we really didn't travel that far. Bremer Bay is about halfway between Esperance and Albany. When we finally arrived at the caravan park we pulled in to see if they allowed dogs, to find two men sitting outside and laughing at us. We couldn't imagine what could be so funny about our car/camper but when we got out of the car it became all too apparent.

As we were driving along there were birds on the road here and there, and as we would get close to them they would fly off. All except for one. There was one group of birds that flew away as we approached but one stayed on the road up to the last second. Mike lined up the car so that our wheels straddled him. We weren't sure if he had flown off in the end, and we both looked back and were relieved that we didn't see anything on the road, so we figured he must have flown off in the nick of time. As it turns out he somehow got stuck in something underneath our car and was hanging there when we pulled into the caravan park! To make matters worse, we read a bit about Bremer Bay where they touted it as a birwatcher's paradise. OOPS! When the park owner saw my reaction to seeing the bird hanging there he kindly offered to remove it for us.

We're staying at a Caravan Park called Bremer Bay Beaches Resort and Tourist Park, and it's a real luxury after the week in the national park. The first day was spent getting our clothes (and us) washed and doing some housekeeping and relaxing. The hot showers here are devine - clean with plenty of hot water and fantastic water pressure, and the park also has walking trails, tennis courts, a pool, a great camp kitchen, a cafe and shop along with the usual conveniences. We are really happy with the spot we are in and the park as a whole so decided to extend our stay here to a week rather than the few days initially planned. We are at the flat top of a hill on a huge site that they call "the heliport". We are so spread out and surrounded by trees that it doesn't feel like a caravan park at all, at least not in the area we are, yet has all the conveniences including a good phone/internet and tv connection.

Our spot - nice and serene.
It's approx 20x20 meters and raised so we have a great view of the surrounding park.

Bremer Bay isn't exactly a bustling town, and there is little more than a petrol station, general store and fishing/camping shop. But, if you are into fishing it's a great place. We've been enjoying the beaches, fishing, and taking the boat for a spin on the river. Speaking of fishing, it's so good here that even yours truly caught one! It was the biggest fish caught by anyone fishing with us that evening off the pier. Unfortunately it turns out that it was a Rock Cod which apparently aren't really good eating fish, so a quick happy snap, and my fish lived to see another day. Mike caught some herring which we are told are fantastic and sweet to eat. I've only ever had pickled herring, or herring from a jar with onions and cream sauce, so we're not sure what to expect, but they are waiting patiently for us in our freezer. They are quite small, so we may do some more fishing today so we can at least make a good meal of it.

(Not too shabby, huh Benny?)