After our visit to Perth and Fremantle, we drove down the coast to Dunsborough, a beach resort town popular with Perth residents. Unfortunately, it was a bit cold to do much at the beach other than look. The kids were a little disappointed — to make it up to them we went wine tasting – yeah!
Margaret River is the wine region in Western Australia and, despite our less than delighted offspring, we managed to visit several, absolutely stunning wineries — and, the wine was fantastic! Although, to be completely honest, my opinion may be a bit unreliable since, all I’ve been drinking lately is wine from Bali (yep, they actually make wine in Bali!). This probably gives me the credibility of a hobo but, sometimes you just have to make the best of things! The other option is the alcohol they make locally called Arak which, in some cases, can make you go blind so…wine for me!
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- Kids enjoying the beach
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- Dunsborough Beach
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- Fletcher doing his best to stay warm
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- Allie struggling to stay out of the water
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- Surf was very intense at this spot
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- It was very windy at this spot – the ocean was very churned up
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- Functioning lighthouse we visited
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- At the top of the lighthouse – very, very windy!
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- Marc w the kids at our first winery. Kids are still smiling!
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- Luckily there were trees for Fletcher to climb
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- What I thought the school pictures would look like at Green School!
For our last two nights we decided to book a farm-stay which are popular with families vacationing in Australia and New Zealand. Farm stays began as a way for farmers to make a little extra money and for city folk to see animals up close and experience authentic farm life. I would guess in the early days farm stays were on real working farms and guests got to help out with actual chores. Not so much anymore. These days the focus is more on the guest part than the actual working farm part. So, while I had visions of Rachel Ward on Drogheda – the reality is closer to a slumber party in the middle of a giant petting zoo. Fortunately, the kids didn’t seem to notice and had lots of fun.
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- Fletcher with animals
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- Fletcher with lamb and farm dog “Dexter”
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- Alpaca
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- What my kids teeth are going to look like after a year in Bali and no orthodontia!
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- Young alpaca
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- Pea Hen
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- Another pea hen
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- Allie with “Murray” the orphan calf
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- Murray
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- Murray
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- Alpaca – not that happy to be posing for a photo
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- Fletcher and Dexter – he lives to chase sticks
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- The bigger the stick the better!
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- Allie feeding Murray – notice the wine bottle he drinks from!
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- He would shake to make the milk come out faster and spill it all over himself.
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- Ducks and other birds
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- Hissing geese – hilarious! If anyone got to close when they were eating they would all start hissing!
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- He can jump over from a standstill!
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- “Justn Bieber” the cow
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- And his friend “Justine Bieber”
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- Allie feeding the Emus
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- They’re really not beautiful
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- Feeding the chickens – they were so fat compared to the chickens in Bali!
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- Our cabin
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- The ant hill Allie ended up standing on and getting bitten. Hard to see from this pic but, the ants were over an inch long. Scary!
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- Feeding the lambs
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- Feeding the sheep
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- They know the drill and get very excited when the buckets come out!
It was a great trip! We even managed to bring a few extra bottles of wine home in our suitcases. I was a little nervous when our suitcases went through the x-ray machine at customs and the agent was looking at the screen – but, he didn’t even notice the extra bottles in any of our four suitcases! Granted it is Bali so, there’s a distinct possibility that the x-ray machine was hooked up to a camera in the parking lot or pointed at someone’s shoe but, I choose to think the gods have taken pity on me and knew I couldn’t risk blindness anymore. Either way, a nice welcome back!
cali2bali 
LOL, nice job, smuggler! And, about hobo level credibility, I don’t know, have you met the hobos they have in Napa? Hee hee hee 😉
Bali is such an amazing place! Where else can you work on spiritual enlightenment and petty crime all at the same time?! xx
Great commentary – I love the comment about your expectations of school photos at the green school while Fletcher is literally hugging a tree.
His Papa is especially proud that he has become a full fledged tree-hugger! Hope you guys are doing well!! xx
Hi Jessica,
Somehow I got to your website and couldn’t stop reading. Being Indonesian (not Balinese) and living in US (not in LA), it’s always interesting to see other’s opinion about my home country, all the good things and bad things (n yes, you can’t drink from tap water nor we have garbagemen like in US). It’s also interesting to see how foreigners feel annoyed by something that we consider good. Why would we need alarm clock that you can snooze and eventually make you late, if you have roosters around that you can’t shut off. 😀
anyway, I really like your blog, and hope you enjoy your life in Bali.
Hi Ari!
Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry I’m just responding to you. I’ve been away from the blog for a little bit but, I’m trying to get back. Thank you so much for your incredibly kind comment. I’m so surprised and thrilled that someone other than my parents is reading my humble blog. And, you’re Indonesian! That’s awesome! I hope you’re enjoying being in the states half as much as we love your native country! Thanks again for sharing your comments with me I am so grateful!!!
All the best! Jessica