We had a great camping weekend planned down at Dwellingup, and had we been equipped with scales, fins and gills we would have had a terrific time. The skies opened up and happily alternated between a torrential downpour and a soaking drizzle for most of the time. Mum held out, despite a leaky tent and the kids tried to make the most of it before Dad took them home early…
LR discovered a passion for playing the guitar. She happily entertained the group as we waited for the rain to pass.
Each year, we invite a few friends up to the farm at Gingin to celebrate the winter solstice. After spending the day pruning the fruit trees and tending to the orchard, we fire up the pizza oven and serve a nearly endless stream of delicious homemade pizzas. We follow up by lighting a huge bonfire to brighten things up through the long night. It’s heaps of fun (despite things often going awry because of rainy weather).
Citrus is in season at the moment, and the trees are totally loaded with fruit. LR gets to work picking some mandarins. Delicious!
Read on to find out about our exciting adventures with dangerous oversized animals at the Ulun Danu Beratan Temple at Lake Beratan. We get drenched by a massive tropical thunderstorm, and are amused/delighted/revolted by some hot beverages. Finally we end up having a meal at a great little place on the coast.
Mom leads the kids off to the Ulun Danu Beratan Temple!
Found it!
But it's guarded by lions... hungry lions... Careful M!
Look out, LR!
We'll ride the magic giant fish off to safety!
The sign said, "Beware of Giant Eagles", but did they listen? Oh nooooooo.... "No giant eagles around here," they said. Here's your freaken giant eagle, buddy.
"Spin us, Uncle Paul! As fast as you can!!!" ... The kids learned a valuable lesson that day.
Mom and P take M and RJ on a WILD ride on the swing.
On the way back down the mountain, we ran into our first tropical thunderstorm.
Rice paddies and farms on the side of the mountain.
On the way back to the villa, we stopped by this nice little coffee shack and tried their various coffees and teas, as well as the infamous, "Poo Coffee."
Poppa is awfully suspicious. In the background, you can see a big poster describing the process of feeding coffee berries to the lewaks, collecting their valuable coffee-bean-caffinated turds, and the washing that takes place before roasting and grinding the beans. They did mention washing the beans, didn't they? Lots and lots of washing?
No RJ! Don't eat that bit!!! Ha ha... Actually, the hot chocolate made from their own cocao beans was really fantastic.
Mom refused to try the crappy coffee, but did give the lemon tea a go... and it was actually great stuff. The kids loved it too.
After a long day, we went to the Potato Head Club to relax and have a great dinner. The place was extravagant, decadent and completely over the top... and we loved it. Aunty Bron, Uncle Troy and Poppa enjoy a drink while trying to get Shazam working on their phones.
Aunty Carrie, Grammy and Uncle Paul sit down for a cup of tea... Hang on a second, that's not tea in that pot!
Mom watched whle the kids had a brilliant time swimming and jumping around in the pool.
We even enjoyed a tiny, 2 minute sunset. There was so much cloud that the sky didn't really light up.
The kids kept swimming and playing into the night while our dinner was prepared.
Sophie checks out the menu... Yep, just about everything on there looks delicious.
Uncle Paul waits for Auntie Carrie at the bar... The place felt like a scene from a movie.
After dinner, LR and the other kids danced on the grass to the loud, thumping music, while Dad cheered them on.
PA. prepares to launch her sky-shooting glowie -- a tiny light on a pair of wings.
After our first few days in Shepherdstown, we took a quick road-trip down to Charlottesville and Nelson County, Virginia to catch up with some old friends. We only had a few days, so we didn’t get to catch up with everyone that we wanted to, and it’s something we unfortunately have to get used to (until we become ridiculously wealthy and can extend our vacations to months at a time). After getting back, we had some more fun with Grandpa Jeff and had some more cuddles with Baby V.
We drove down to Nelson County, Virginia to visit Jimmy & Jane, great friends of ours. The customary cookies and hamburgers were very popular.
The trip to Rotto with the school was full of all sorts of events, beyond the amazing LR learning to ride. A series of school competitions and activities took place on Saturday, despite the massive bursts of rain that showered down throughout the day!
RJ explores Longreach Bay on a final wander around the island.
Check out the video…You won’t believe it’s calm, weatherless Perth! We came through a doozy! The good news is that we’re all fine, despite being at the local rubbish tip/dump when the storm hit (flat plain, surrounded by metal, on the back of a metal truck) with lightning flashing all around.
The old house doesn’t have any damage at all that I could see; although all of our neighbours have smashed windows and water damage. Grammy and Poppa’s house is NOT waterproof, but our new house looks fine from the outside.
L gets a few days off of school, because the roof of the outdoor area is destroyed. And the hospital (where my office is) still hasn’t restored full power. My office has two inches of water in it and a collapsed ceiling.
The good news is that we don’t have to repair the old house before it goes on the market this weekend!!!!
And yes, the kids had a great time darting outside to grab hailstones and other fun stuff during the brief moments of calm in the weather. We’ve got golfball sized hailstones filling the freezer (some people around here were pummeled by baseball-sized monsters!).
