30th - Pinnacles

Today we left Perth and headed north.  Unfortunately there are some serious roadworks in Perth and it took us 2 HOURS just to get out of the city!  Insane!!  We finally escaped the clutches of the city and got to see the Pinnacles.  I had seen these when I was 16 on a visit to Perth and remember being a bit blasé about them.  As an adult I found them much more impressive:

Lachlan was less impressed than I was: 

And Justin got so excited about them that he fell over….

 

29th - Perth Zoo and Rottnest

Today Justin split from the group to go and visit Rottnest Island.  We decided that the boys were a bit young to appreciate an island full of Quokkas, and I had already seen it so he headed off in the morning and came back in the afternoon.

While Justin was away the rest of us visited Perth Zoo.  It was very impressive, nice walks, lush vegetation.  Really nice.  The boys all liked the gorilla too!

After that we went to visit a family friend in Rockingham.  It was lovely to see Susan and her family.  It has been ages since we saw each other last.

28th - Perth & Freemantle

We started today at the Old Round House, the oldest public building in Western Australia.  It is an old gaol up on a hill with good views of Freemantle.  There are loads of stairs to get to it so the kids gave us some of their best spiderman climbing impressions:

 

The gaol came complete with stocks which provided entertainment for all:

Following that it was off to the Museum of Western Australia which had a roaring Carnotaurus dinosaur in the foyer to start us off:

and had loads of other stuff to boot.  Good fun for all of us.  Outside was a garden with percussion instruments all through it.  Jack and Cooper had to be dragged home!  Hilarious.

27th - Freemantle

Today was a day around Freemantle.  We started the day at the War Memorial which overlooks Freemantle showing how amazingly flat it is here!  You can see for AGES! The boys enjoyed running up and down the grass hill of the memorial and completely exhausted itself.  Better than any playground ever!  Here are the boys being tough at the memorial:

Following that we moved on to Little Creatures Brewery.  It was a bit too much for us so Dad bought a 6 pack, we moved to the huge playground across the road, Justin bought some hot chips and a feast was consumed.  Beer and Chips. Best thing EVER!

While eating we saw the Maritime Museum and had a look in there.  It has a huge, 400 year old shipwreck on display with a lot of its cargo too.  Really impressive display.

26th Penguin Island and Rockingham

Today we visited Penguin Island.  It was fantastic.  We caught the ferry over, saw them feed their penguins and listened to a talk, and then had a quick walk around the island.  

On the island were hundreds of nesting seagulls.  They all had eggs in their nests, some of which were just centimetres from the walkways.  It didn’t stop them from getting angry at us for getting close to the nests.  Justin managed to see a wild penguin in one of the caves, and there was a flock of nesting pelicans on the hill.  On the ferry back we also caught sight of 3 dolphins including a baby.  We were the only ones on the ferry so the ferry driver gave us a good look at them and told us heaps about the local dolphins.  All in all - UNREAL!

After Penguin Island, a quick stop in Rockingham to buy the kids some PJs and Jack a new pair of shoes (the boys are seriously growing while we are away!), and then back to the camp.  This afternoon to complete the wildlife experience at this campsite, we had a kookaburra come down and do fly-bys to pick up bits of meat.  He also took some food from Dad’s hands.  Very impressive display!