From Wamberal to The Snowys - this time last year

This time last year we were preparing to pack up our house at Wamberal and move 'everything' into a van to head to The Snowy Mountains for our 12 month 'ski-change'.

As we reflect back on the challenge we can recall lots of packing and chucking stuff; from 18 years of living in the same place 'oh boy!' we had 'collected' some things.

Many memories were left behind in our little house in Wamberal but the prospect of our new family adventure kept us excited and we were focussed on the trip South/West to the Snowy Monaro region.

We are very grateful that we could rent a house at The Station Resort in staff accommodation.

Looking out our back door at The Station

We called this lovely place home for 9 months and had the opportunity to meet the most welcoming group of neighbours and friends, enjoying many an afternoon bbq followed by a night around the campfire.

Not to mention Birthday celebrations and various themed parties like Australia Day and Halloween.

 We also had the opportunity to spend some memorable time in Jindabyne walking or bike riding along the Lake and at the Skate Park.

Jay in the bowl at Jindy skate park

The winter season was the best in 14 years and we loved having all of our visitors, aswell as some days of snow in the backyard.

We enjoyed every minute of our time living in Jindabyne but we missed our girl Bonnie who was being very spoiled at Aunty Jacqui's with her new playmate Reuben. So we had to find a home with Bonnie, which meant a new chapter.

Snowy van

Look where our little van is living for the winter months.
We keep him at Snowy River Holiday Park in Dalgety. The park is on the scenic Snowy River and we are always welcomed back by Sue and Colin.
We have made a lot of happy memories in Dalgety, out of the hustle and bustle of Jindabyne.

Jenolan Caves .... our adventure continues from home

Our adventures continued today, not far from home but we could have been a world away. We visited Jenolan Caves. Ever since we went to Buchan Caves in Victoria last year, we have been keen to visit our own Limestone cave network in NSW. 

Yesterday we picked Joshy up from Tuggerah train station, dropped off the hounds, then drove from Central Coast to Oberon via Blue Mountains. We got ourselves into Jenolan Caravan Park which is 30 mins from the caves. It is a windy drive down to the entry to the caves.

 The day commenced with a walk around the Blue Lake where we saw many bearded dragon lizards and witnessed a platypus in the wild, diving and coming to the surface. Liam had a run in with a nettle bush and believed Josh when he told him that his itch may result in amputation of his leg or worse, death. Liam remained concerned about this all day, but he has survived the incident.

 We did a guided tour of the Orient cave, which had some steep staircases through the underground caves. Jay was a little scared at first, but we had about 20 other people on the tour, I was not sure if he was scared of the caves or the people, but he soon warmed up. Josh got swooped by a bat, even after the guide had told us there are hardly any bats in the caves anymore.

After our guided tour we did a self-guided tour of the external cave which allowed you to listen to an audio guide as you walk from point to point, this was also amazing. It was just as good, but different to the underground cave. We finished the day off at a local playground where the boys completely exhausted themselves. 

So much fun to be on the road again. We will be heading to Katoomba tomorrow to do the Scenic Railway.

On the way to Geraldton towards Perth

We left Shark Bay and headed to Geraldton with some adventures along the way.

this is the view from Eagle Bluff

and then we went to Hamelin Pool, where we learned all about stromatolites - for those interested you can read more here .... http://www.sharkbay.org/Stromatolitesfactsheet.aspx

We ended up staying the night at a 'by the side of the road' rest stop called Murchison River, where the locals were very friendly.

this was the sunset.

Up early the next day to see Kalbari National Park which offered some beautiful flora to view on the way in, then amazing cliff top ocean views on the drive out.











We arrived in Geraldton (Gerro for the locals) on Sunday 16th September 2012, and stayed for 2 nights.
We really got a feel for Geraldton, no windsurfing but we got to know the way around town.

 Tonight we are camped here

with a view of this

We are not far from Perth now and then it will be the long drive eastward. 

We are missing all of our family and friends and are looking forward to catching up with you all when we return in early October. 

Denham and Monkey Mia

Another peninsular on the west coast that we travelled out to and have been well rewarded.
We arrived on Thursday 13th September and were planning to stay for one night but when we saw the outlook from our caravan site we decided to stay for 2 nights.

An attempt to catch fish for dinner was unsuccessful










We visited Monkey Mia on Friday 14th September to see the dolphin feeding at 7.30am, then we went for a drive in in Francois Peron National Park (four wheel drive access only, now that we have a 4WD we can do that).








We met an emu who wanted to race the Toyota, that was funny.

Drive into Denham

Glass bottom boat tour in Coral Bay

Spangled Emperor fish

This posting will be mainly images of the amazing things we saw and did on the glass bottom boat tour at Coral Bay on Tuesday 11th September 2012.

The photos were taken by the deckhand on the boat, Kurt.

Glass bottom boat tour Coral Bay

Liam snorkelling out on the reef

Mal swimming with Turtle

AMAZING !