Travelling with kids - Lisa

My lovely sister-in-law Milly asked me to write something about how it is travelling with children especially when coming from a busy working life straight into 24/7 family time. It's taken me too long to try and articulate this but here is my best effort.

One of the main reasons for checking out of the regular (real?) life for six months was to spend some more time with my family. One friend suggested before we left that spending that much time with their family was amongst their worst nightmares. So I started to feel a bit worried....

But what I have learnt is that unpressured time with Chris and the girls wasn't something to be concerned about, even six months of it. Sure there have been moments when I hankered to be able to sit and read a book without being sat upon by a child, or not hearing "I'm hungry!" 20 times a day would be nice - but these are not things that truly matter.

I think what I will most remember are learning what my kids are really like as people. I have discovered things like how Charlotte is the most gentle person, she truly has no mean bone in her body. At one stage we were having some fun (at Chris's expense) as he was getting pretty hairy so I showed the girls a YouTube video of Staying Alive by the Bee Gees (their dad I had begun to resemble a Bee Gee after 4 months in the bush). Despite the laughs, Charlotte had to turn it off because she didn't want to be mean. As her mum, I am always being amazed at how she can identify birds on sight and talk about rock types across the country - but seems unable to find her wash bag EVERY SINGLE night to clean her teeth.

It been amazing to see them grow as people, in the security of their family - but facing new challenges every day. Seeing Aurora step-up and realise she was brave enough to climb through gorges in Karijini on her 7th birthday was a highlight. We have also discovered how she needs to make everything a competition with her big sister (not sure where on earth she gets that from....)

School while we have been on the road has been a learning experience for me as much as Charlotte and Aurora.  The workload in doing distance education is significant and requires lots of motivation and time. We have perhaps had too many moments where, let's say we haven't had the most positive learning environment! I have found myself wondering why I was putting so much energy into getting the work completed on time. There have however also been some great creative projects such as the stop motion animation film we made(see link to Daredevil Dave video below). We even wrote some story books together. In recent months I have using the long drives as classroom time, and climbing in the back seat to sit between the girls and really focus on what they are trying to learn.

We have met a lot of families on the road, all with different aged kids, length of trip and travelling style. Most families out there seem to be younger than school age - which seems horrible for travelling (we can hear the toddler tantrums across the campgrounds). However other families with school aged kids have a wide range of strategies. I can say with certainty that I don't subscribe to the often stated belief by other families that formal schooling is unnecessary because 'they learn so much out here'! Yes of course they learn something about geography, culture and history along the way from tours, museums and interpretive signage. I thing the girls really appreciate this because scientist / tour guide Chris been able to succinctly explain and link together the geology, culture or ecology of every place we visit. 

This is all great, and part of why we are travelling - however in no way does it substitute for the reading, english and maths knowledge acquired in a school environment. Hopefully the distance education will fill some of that gap. It will be some time before i can appreciate if this experience has been of value or detriment to them educationally. We will also see what other ways it has changed their attitudes, understanding and behaviours. For me, hopefully the time is spent tutoring them has improved my understanding of the school curriculum and this will enable me to support them over the next years at least.

So with just a few weeks until we get home and go back into normal life it is simply time together I that I will miss the most. We have packed in so many fun and amazing experiences together over the last 5 months that it's hard to contemplate going back to busy city life where much of our interaction is all go go go and without the wonder of a new place to share every few days.

With all this in mind the experience is now even more special because time is limited. We have good friends, loving family and an ensuite bathroom waiting for us.

Cape to Cape Video Blog

Shark Bay to Rottnest Island Video Blog

Video says it all - check it out

Perth to Cape Leeuwin - Lisa

We arrived in the WA capital in sunny but cooling weather, a bit of a shock after months up North. Travelling through the new Northern suburbs with their branding and extensive McMansion developments was an insight in to suburban growth these days. As we made our way further in to Perth the older, richer beach suburbs with big houses and big views showed where all the boom money has gone. We treated ourselves to a couple of nights away from the camper trailer with a a holiday park cabin - and while we love the great outdoors, one can't appreciate too much a bathroom in the cabin in the middle of the night. Just for something different we turn on the television - and wouldn't you know it, our first night watching TV in months and he ABC has got live coverage of the the Liberal Party leadership spill.

Our time in Perth was mostly a haze of restocking, washing, schooling, car servicing and airport pickups. We had to get sorted quickly as my parents would be joining us for the next week in Rottnest and Margaret River.

Quokka and Joey, Rottnest

An unexpected alignment of the stars also meant that Chris and I were able to go to a gig by The Waifs at Perth Concert Hall. Not only was it my birthday, and Nanna and Poppa had arrived to babysit, but the Waif were touring for the first time in years and this was their only Perth Gig. The band were nothing less than amazing (as usual) and with so many of their songs about road travel in Australia, their music is like a theme track for our own journey. (Check the Ningaloo to Gnaraloo video for an example).

The next day and a ferry ride to spend 3 active fun days on Rottnest Island cycling, walking and exploring. It was really nice to catch with my parents, Chris managed to find some good waves and the girls made friends with as many quokkas so as they could find. With no cars, we did a lot of exploring by bike and the girls and grandparents did well covering a lot of kilometres. Rottnest is unlike any other place that we've visited which somehow merges wild places with a modern town centre, a significant history and unique wildlife. One of my favourite places of the entire trip so far.

Cycling with the family, Rottnest

After a lovely stay on Rottnest we took the ferry back to pick up the car and trailer for the continuing journey south. We decide to approach the Margaret River Region from the north at a spot called Yallingup apparently meaning 'place of love' and made famous in the early 1900s by Caves House hotel as a honeymoon destination. Couples would spend two days on the train then another full day on a horse carriage from Perth to get here. Like us they explored the local limestone caves and coastal areas.

Yallingup - Pumping Surf!

We spent some time in the first afternoon getting lost amongst the coastal heath and wild flowers and adjusting to the now icey on shore wind. The coastal landscape differs down here from further north with more dramatic sea cliffs and lashing waves.

Chris managed to find himself some waves while my parents (apparently the swell was 'pumping' for days!) The girls and I explored the Ngilgi Caves, coastal walks and the Yallingup maze. My parents said goodbye after a couple of days and headed back to Perth for a flight home. I had been worried they might be bored while with us so had filled the last week with so much walking, riding and exploring that in the end I think they were looking forward to a rest.

Yallingup had the best surf themed kids park!

We spent a couple more nights in the region camped in the bush at Conto's in the heart of Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park. It was nice to be back in the bush again, no crowds - just beautiful camping and kangaroos everywhere. We explored further south including a visit to the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse. The tour up to the top of the lighthouse was a fascinating insight into local and Australian history and spectacular views of the south west coastline.

Sunset out the front - Yallingup

Margaret River - Surfers Point

Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse keepers cottages

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Theres a line between the oceans - apparently!

View from a lighthouse

Coastal Walks on Cape to Cape Track

Shark Bay - from Lisa

From the surfing enclave of Gnarloo we continued to head down the coast. The sudden cooling of the weather and ocean as we travelled southward was refreshing but not an entirely welcome surprise.  We are now layering up more at night and the ocean swims less frequent. I was no longer feeling so smug listening to stories of the cold Sydney winter.

We first touched the eastern inland point of Shark Bay at Hamelin Pool.  Hamelin Pool is an inlet populated with stomatolites, the most ancient of life forms formed by bacteria in very salty waters.  They look a lot like small rocks in a bay but are apparently geologically very exciting (so Chris tells us...).

Stromatolites gone wild!

We camped at a Bush Heritage property, Hamelin Station which was previously a sheep station now restored as a historical site and for land conservation.

Hamelin Pool was the first of many surprises of Shark Bay.  To be honest I really only knew of the dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia before we visited.  But as we ventured into the area the discovery of Shell Beach, a beach entirely made up of small white cockle shells and crystal clear water and the view of sharks, fish, stingrays and abundant sea life from Eagle Bluff and then the remote coastline of Francis Peron National Park which make it a special place.

Who gets the fish?

Our early morning visit to Monkey Mia for the dolphin feeding wasn't so much a disappointment but more managed than I expected.  After decades of feeding dolphins with buckets of fish each day it turns out us well meaning humans were doing more damage than good.  The dolphins were losing their hunting skills and the young dolphins were not surviving.

Are you sure thats a dolphin behind you?

A small crowd of 200 people turned up for the 7:45am talk and feed and Charlotte and Aurora were lucky to be chosen as one of the six to hand a fish to the two dolphins that came in for feeding.  It was  amazing to see dolphins cruising up and down the beach in reaching distance and in flat water but it was also all over pretty quickly.

We spent the rest of the day swimming, snorkelling, fishing and 4WDing the National Park which we shared with just a few other people and much much more wildlife.

Chasing fish in Shark Bay

The Pinnacles - nowhere near Shark Bay

Ningaloo and the NW Coast

Video Blog - click to play

We popped out on the Coral Coast at Exmouth and the North West Cape. I very different sort of town, originally built to support the defence installations, its now part oil town, part tourism and of course part defence. Camping under the Lighthouse we had an interesting view toward the huge aerials, and a huge stretch of Ningaloo Reef at our doorstep.
My first surf since the Sunshine Coast was is pumping waves at Dunes. A fast barreling left on a building swell was a heap of fun - until my last wave and my lack of surf fitness almost put me out of action. Pulling in a fast backhand barrel and my position was wrong and the lip landed on my head, instantly I felt a twang in my hamstring and I was left hobbling for days. Thankfully I was still able to surf the rights, albeit gingerly. Its a wild coast but the snorkelling off the beach is unbeatable.
Heading down to Coral Bay we enjoyed an awesome snorkelling cruise on a sailing catamaran. I have now recovered from my phobia of sailing catamarans and coral reefs and this one expertly avoided getting wrecked on the reef.
At Carnarvon we turned back north toward a less visited part of Ningaloo, Quobba and Gnaraloo are home to some of the most legendary surf breaks in Australia. Its an intimidating coastline, extremely remote with big powerful waves and an ocean full of creatures great and small.  I had a few surfs at Red Bluff and 3 Mile as my hamstring slowly recovered. But when the swell peaked with triple overhead sets sweeping down the reef I realised that I was not up for that just yet.

The lefts at Dunes

Ningaloo - the water really is that colour!

Red Bluff

The shorebreak at Red Bluff

The view from our camp

The Bluff Lining up in all its glory

Karajini and the Pilbara Video Blog

We knew that the Pilbara is full of iron ore, but we didn't expect how beautiful it can be when shaped by nature. The Banded Iron Formations are not what you expect, they are so dense and hard the rocks clink or ring like steel when dropped. This incredible hardness has meant the plateau erodes very very slowly, creating smooth, stunning red rock scales. The other unexpected feature of Karajini is its alpine nature. Most of the plateau is well over 700m and some of the peaks are over 1200m. It feels alpine, it can be very cool at night and the vegetation is almost like a heath.

After a few months of rock hopping and bushwalking, the girls were loving all the scrambling through the gorges on this wonderful hard rock. Aurora celebrated her 7th Birthday by completing the class 5 (hardest grade walk) through Hancock Gorge