we really enjoyed the south west. first we visited the amazing beaches on the south coast, from esperance to albany. then we drove through the forests around denmark and walked among the massive tingles, jarrahs and karri trees. and last we spent time in the area between augusta and busselton and enjoyed the food and sights in margaret river. and we visited rottnest island for the first time – it’s such an amazing place and less than an hour from perth.

typical perth ….

but one thing we love every time we get to perth is spending time with our friends.

jeff, sev, mateo and chiara spent a lot of time with us and jeff & mateo even took us out on their boat (from elisabeth quai all the way to fremantle).

natalie was allowed to drive the boat for a bit. exciting!

maybe next she can captain the ‘steve irwin’ (for those who don’t know, that’s the flagship of the sea shepherd fleet).

we also caught up with marianne, scott, alex & vivi, who we know from when they still lived in mona vale. the kids enjoyed kings park and the new attractions there.

natalie was especially happy to spend a few days with alex and vivi and they came to rottnest island with us.

this was one of the highlights of our stay in perth: another visit to a kart track. natalie was delighted that she could drive a ‘big’ kart and go on the same track all the grown-ups were on. she was really fast too and managed to block the track really effectively. we missed ben & jen …

last but not least mum made the loooooong trip to australia once again and will travel with us to exmouth. we even celebrated her birthday on rottnest island.

we visited margaret river again only this time the weather was even worse. we still managed to take the opportunity to go on a little self-guided 4wd safari (jeff encouraged us to do so) and could not believe how beautiful the forest was. they photo does not do it justice.

we’ll be travelling north from here but we’d love to come back soon.