Sunday 4 October 2015

Camping Trip Down South

It was long weekend last week & that means camping. So I've been away camping in Binningup, about 35 km north of Bunbury. When I returned to work on Tuesday, it was busy busy busy all the way till Friday. I knocked off earliest at 6 pm with 1 day at 7 pm. I'll be paying a lot of tax for this fortnight of work, clocking in 90 hours, my highest so far ever since I set foot on Ozzie land. What I'll be earning this fortnight is what I earned in a month in Sg, including overtime. It's good coz my car needs new rotors. Anyway.

Who else but Mr Ton?
We were much more relaxed (or bochup is more appropriate) this time round. We took our own sweet time getting ready, leaving at 5.30 am in the morning. The main difference between the previous trip & this 1 was that being spring, it was already bright by the time we set off. It also stayed bright for longer & we didn't once drive in the dark. We got to the camp site at 8.15 am, with 1 stop over at the 100 km mark in a Caltex petrol kiosk for meat pie, sausage roll & coffee. Setting up the tent also took much shorter than the previous time. Heh. We must be getting better at it.
The campsite is just 5 mins walk from the beach.
It is hard deciding which pictures to put up from the hundreds we took throughout the trip. But I can never go past Ton Ton. There was nothing quite like sitting there, doing absolutely nothing after the tent was up. I may not be born Ozzie but I sure love the lifestyle. The kids from the other families were all loving Ton Ton & I've received a lot of requests to pat him throughout the 3 days we were there. The adults couldn't believe that he's almost 10 when they asked me his age. It seems that everywhere I go, everybody calls him "puppy dog". I don't think it's becoz they've mistaken him for a puppy but rather, an endearing term for him.

We set off to Harvey Cheese in Harvey but skipped Harvey Beef, also in Harvey (lol). We got some cheese & crackers which later became our lunch. Next, we stopped at Harvey's town center to get some food for dinner. I waited outside the IGA since dogs are not allowed. Then came a woman who tied her big dog outside IGA. She told me, "Don't worry. My dog doesn't eat much." Ton Ton naturally went over to say hi. She obviously didn't like that & barked at him. My timid dog hid behind me with his short tail down. Haha. That is just so him.

So, we sat down to cheese & crackers when we got back to our camp site. I was feeling really sleepy so I went in & had a nap. It was too hot & too noisy to really sleep though. Before we started our dinner barbie, we walked down to the beach for the sunset. By the time we sat down for dinner, it was completely dark. There was not a single mozzie the entire day. But omg, once it started to cool down, we were swarmed. I had the repellent but by the time we realised we were mozzie dinner, it was already too late. Needless to say, we sprayed the repellent early on the next day. When we got back home on Monday, I counted 37 bites, with 32 concentrated from my ankles down (coz I was wearing 3/4 pants).

It wasn't as cold at night compared to the previous camping trip which kinda surprised me. It was absolutely freezing even though we headed up north & it was barely winter. This time round, it was barely spring & we headed down south but it wasn't even anywhere near cold. We went off to sleep at 7.30 pm (coz it was dark & we had nothing to do), waking up at 6 am in the morning.

Next stop, Bunbury. Our 1st stop was the Marlston Hill Lookout. Once you get up there, you get panoramic views. The wind was so strong & whipped my hair all over the place. That was when I realised I left my scrunchie in the tent. I also left my jumper in the car. While the cold was bearable, it certainly would have been more comfortable if I had both my jumper & scrunchie.

Bunbury Farmers Market. I didn't know what to expect. It was early so it wasn't hot yet so we left Ton Ton in the car with the window down. I fell in love immediately. They had beautiful produce & there were products I can never find in supermarkets here. Like coconut yoghurt, perfect for vegans. Like the strawberry & cream nougat which was like nothing I've tasted before. They also sold raw paleo products. I wish we have such products readily available to us in the metro area too. Oh well...
Hard to see but there's a house in between the trees. If I have a choice, this is where I'll love to live.
Next stop, Gnomesville. Coincidentally, both my colleague & Nix told me about this place on the same day. It was Monday, we were sitting around having tea when my colleague suggested I visit Gnomesville. Later that night, Nix said the same thing to me. The drive to Gnomesville yielded spectacular views. How I wish I didn't have to leave.

There isn't an address for Gnomesville. It is actually situated around a roundabout. The place is huge with so many gnomes that people have placed there over the years. The moment I got out of the car, I got this intense feeling. This place is very 阴. The energy I was getting was not malevolent. But I won't say it was benevolent either. (I've been to very old catholic churches & they give off a holy energy which I will describe as benevolent.) Definitely something there in Gnomesville. 
Cheeky little naked gnome.
He's fascinated with the cows just as they are with him.
An unusual brew so definitely must try. Lemon lime lager. 
On our drive back down, we went to this brewery on the side of the road. Hubs had beer battered fish & chips while I opted for just a wildberry parfait. He seems to have taken a fancy to black beers (not stouts) so he had a black ale while I had a lemon lime lager. I'm not so much of a beer person but the lemon lime lager was good. Then it was back to the campsite.
On our drive back to Perth, we stopped over in Mandurah & Rockingham. I was surprised that Mandurah is pretty bustling for a town so far away from Perth City. But it was the long weekend & people probably came down for a short getaway. That concludes our 2nd camping trip. 
Mandurah marina. Apartments overlooking the marina costs over 1 million.
Cape Peron, Rockingham.

1 comment:

  1. Very nice weekend. We used to go to such places so often when we first came to Perth (1980s), but now haven't been down there for so long.

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