Kristy 3

Kristy 3

Stay free and freestay

 

So it can be ridiculously expensive to travel around the country.  It soon adds up when a caravan park cost $35 per night and each child incurs an additional $8-10.  We look to cut costs whenever we can but unfortunately nobody believes us when we try to sneak Taj in as a three year old.  The best way to cut costs is to occasionally shelter in a “Freestay”.  These rest areas range in quality from a gravel pit beside the road to a beautiful treed area out in the bush by a tranquil river.  Now the key to finding all the good ones lies with Chris’ ability to smooth his way in with a particular demographic known as Homo Sapien Greyus Nomadus.  These guys know them all!  Having ditched Mum and Dad it was time to tightening the budget and hit the freestays.  Unfortunately for our kids this usually means no phone or internet reception.  So far we’re on fire with the quality scoring flushing toilets and bore water at both!

 

WIlpenna Pound lies in the Flinders Rangers National Park and it hasn’t changed a bit in the 20 years since I was last here.  The history of the Pound was absolutely gruelling, government forced stock levels that needlessly perished in the heat.  Twenty year heartbreaking land leases that broke families and children forced to work the land in a manner that would have DHS rushing in to remove the kids from their parents in these times.  Our three kids certainly walked away with a new appreciation for modern times.

After three nights of freestays we agreed to head towards civilisation, bahahaha.  We travelled off road along rocky corrugated roads that shook us all to the bone in search of a coastal stop with electricity.  We finally pulled in to Fowlers Bay where on opening the caravan door I found that the oven had rattled out of its moulding (nothing I couldn’t fix).  The boys were off like a rocket with rods swaying over their sholders and as they headed off Ry sparks up a quick chat with a senior gent.  Next thing, Ry and Taj are being given a crash course in squiding complete with two new squid jigs.  I head out to the pier ten minutes later with the same senior gent as Ry hauls his first squid up over the jetty.  “What on earth do I do with that now?” I ask my senior friend.  “Ah love, I’ll take his head off and me missus will show you how to clean it”.  Lets just say I scored an A+ in squid preparation.  Delicious!  

We dragged the boys off the jetty and buckled in for the long, laborious drive across the Nullabore.  We’ve done it four times now and every time I swear that I’ll never do it again.  Thank God our kids are patient travellers.  We rewarded them with another freestay in the bush!  To my absolute disgust we hit 250km or red dust on our “shortcut” to Waverock.  Divorce now pending!  The rock itself provided us with about an hour of wow moments then it was all over.  We pulled up for the night in this quaint little town with the most amazing facilities including a free community pool. What a treat, the kids and Chris were off like a shot to refresh themselves in the pool.  At the same time I went to pop the kettle on only to find it completely camouflaged under an inch or red dust.  Every bloody cupboard was full.  Every towel and doona covered.  Many, many, many hours later my little van was back to normal. Divorce now finalised!!

Perth, oh my goodness, PERTH.  Undoubtedly the most beautiful city in Australia. Yes, once again we looked at real estate and I think I’ll always consider it as a potential relocation for us but not just now.

We booked in to Rottnest Island for a day and blew the kids away.  All three kids were patted down and had to undergo bag searches as they left the island as rumours were rife that they had nabbed a couple of quokkas. We were joined on the island by an old friend Matty Holmes who suffered through the day eating and drinking with us.  We had randomly selected the Kurrinyup Waters Resort as our stay in Perth and it was nothing short of beautiful and you wouldn’t believe it but on our way to the pool I bumped in to Harry Van Rossum, an old workmate of my Dad’s.  I also caught up with an old friend Matt Bardsley who shared a few naughty stories about his days hanging out with my brother which had us in fits of laughter.  On our last afternoon in Perth we headed to a sculpture exhibition on the Cottesloe Beach.  Now when it comes to art the Pentland’s are nothing short of uncultured swine, but some of this was beautifully, other exhibits just left us scratching our head.

Sadly we must leave Perth if we’re ever going to make it to Broome so it’s back to the road heading for remote locations, pristine beaches and… Cyclone Oslin.