beautiful western australia

We have had a wonderful week in gorgeous Western Australia! What a pretty place. It's been so special to spend time with U. Dave and A. Christine and Katie. We are loving staying at their house...in the country surrounded by green hills, cattle, wildflowers and trees. So peaceful.

We've been enjoying the beaches with their white sand and turquoise water. The kids have enjoyed building sandcastles and running in  the waves.

We did a day trip down to Mammoth Cave near Margaret River. There are lots of caves in the area with just a few open to the public. We each had an MP3 player and earphones and went on a self-guided tour. It was a huge cave where they had found bones of all sorts of creatures....huge mammoth wombats, giant kangaroos and many other prehistoric type animals. It was all good until we had to climb 160 stairs to get out. Not the best when the kids are tired and hungry! But we survived!

On the way to the caves we stopped at a place called Channel Rocks. The ocean pounds into a little pool between some big rock outcrops. It was beautiful!

Zara and Katie out on the rocks.

We found a HUGE playground in a little town called Donnybrook - a beautiful little town full of apple orchards. Everything was in bloom and so pretty. We all loved this fun merry-go-round... spinning fast and getting dizzy!

Uncle David has been very generous in lending us a car to use. We drove this fun little mini for a few days while Katie was working. I'm really enjoying driving on the "wrong" side of the road!

Yesterday we saw dolphins.....LOTS of beautiful bottlenose dolphins!! First we saw them right near the beach. We were standing in about thigh deep water and just watching them swim around nearby. Then we went out on a boat tour and had a wonderful time. It was dolphin soup out there! We were watching them feed in an area where the river was flowing into the ocean. There were lots of nutrients coming out of the river that the fish were feeding on, then the dolphins were eating the fish. We learned lots about dolphins and were thrilled to see so many of them. Thor's hat blew off in the wind and by the time we got the hook out to grab it, it had sunk. Thor and Bella had a big cry and then the guide said "Tomorrow if I see one of the dolphins wearing your hat, I'll try to get it back for you!" Thor burst out laughing and they were fine after that!

A dolphin bow riding right below us!

I wondered how long it would be before the kids "played"wedding after seeing Sally and Lachie get married! We bought this pretty white nightgown for Zara at A. Christine's shop and she gave Bella this bouquet of flowers....a perfect combination for a wedding!  Katie raided some wisteria flowers off A. Christine's vine and hung some lace....voila...the stage was set! They practiced their lines a few times and then called us out to be part of it. Bella and Zara walked in to some pretty music, then when Katie asked Thor if he would be Zara's husband he said "NO WAY"! and threw the ring at her! So Zara and Bella got married instead! 

We can't believe how quickly time is flying by. Zara is very distressed that our time in W.A. is almost up - she's not ready to leave! So we are trying to stay in the moment and just enjoy every minute of it. Zara has spent some time with A. Christine in her shop, putting shop stickers on bags and helping her unpack boxes of new merchandise. We're all having a lovely time and enjoying being with family that we don't get to see very often!