WE ARE FINALLY HEADING NORTH

BUREKUP near Bunbury 12^th April – 16^th April

We were all excited for this was our first day of actually ofically heading North!

The morning we packed up from Flinders Bay Tom wasn’t feeling that well and he had started being sick, Gastro had found us! We headed up to Bunbury not sure where to stay, Kenny from Flinders Bay had offered us a camp site on his 15 acre, bush property which was just north of Bunbury and with Tom being sick we thought it easier to be away from the public toilets, so we gave Kenny a call.

Kenny was all good with that and met us later in the day at his property. While we were waiting to meet him we had a look around Bunbury at a few of the popular sites.

One of those is the old grain silos that have been turned into apartments. Kenny was telling us that apparently there was a ban on any new buildings being built over a certain height. So this builder decided to turn these old silos that stood on prime real estate into apartments.



The old silo's restored, the view is from the lookout.



Near the foreshore there is a lookout that gives you a 360 degree view of the town, it is quite a large area following the coast line and going inland. From here you can also see into the back yards of the large mansions built around the marina, they have no backyard!



From the lookout the lighthouse looks qhite big, when you drive past it would
only be about 15 meters tall!!




The lookout, we gave Tom a "piggy back" ride up and down.



 Having done some food shopping and had a quick look in one of the many shopping plaza’s we felt we really didn’t need to go back into Bunbury so we were grateful for the offer to be out of town and in the peace and quiet of a bush block.

We met Kenny at his block and he let us set up where we wanted. There was a small cottage house, that Kenny had only just moved into about three weeks ago, a large shed which we called the “man cave” because this is where Kenny used to live, two dams and three enormous pigs in a pen .The man cave had a bathroom and kitchen down one side, then in the main area along with the car, boat, bbq and tools, was the lounge, T.V., cabinets full of memorabilia, table and posters of Kenny’s favourite bands and his football team, Carlton. The boys thought this heaven, our first couch and T.V since we left home!

As you can see we set up next to the man cave and thoroughly enjoyed our time here.



Our set up next to the shed.



Inside the "Man Cave"



The Big Pigs..............



Blacky, a female.



Big Boy is the black and white, Miss Piggy the other.



You can see how big they are compared to Charlie. Charlie is holding his
breath because there was a rather strong odour around!!
The boys learnt the meanings behind many of the sayings like "you're room is like a pig sty!"



From Kenny’s we did a day drive around to Wellington Dam which is in the Wellington N.P. a very nice place. The dam itself was a credit to those who started building it back in 1931, taking 2 years to build about an 18 meter wall. All the stone needed for the wall was mined from nearby which became the quarry and the hardest thing for them was getting a machine that could crush the rock small enough and didn’t break down. When the dam was completed it was soon noted the demand for water was higher than the supply so in 1940 another meter was added and again this still was not high enough.1960 the wall was extended by 15 meters and now stands at 34 meters tall and 366 meters across. It fills in winter and flows down the Collie River.



The first view of  the Wellington Dam wall.




Looking across the wall, you can see how low the water is now
and this fills in winter and flows over, that is alot of rain!




This is the Quarry where they got all
the stone to build the wall, they now use it for doing absailing on.



After the dam we went in search of Gnomesville! What a weird, yet funny place to see. It isn’t a town, you just come across a whole heap (1000's) of gnomes sitting along the side of the road and they are spilling into the bush everywhere. Many people have heard of it so they bring along a gnome, write their name on it and just place it where they like. Others are groups and families who have gone to a lot of effort and made a collection and or stories or even a house for their gnomes. It really has to be seen to be believed.

 Gnomesville goes on..... for ever and ever it seems.



One of the better ones.



We had a B.B.Q. one night with Troy and Kayle coming up and camping the night.

Kenny’s mum and dad, Sandra and Michael, came up too, such a welcoming family and lovely people. We had such a great time staying at Kenny’s and we thank you all for making us feel so welcomed. Thanks Kenny for allowing Pete to get his tools out and do a few odd jobs for you, he enjoyed it! 

The other thing that happened was I turned 40 but we didn’t make a big thing of it. I will always remember the great meal of B.B.Q. garlic prawns, marron ( small freshwater crayfish) and those awesome chips cooked by Kenny in his “outback” fryer, they were delicious. Kenny also makes a fantastic pork sausage, like a chorizo, yummy!!!! ( We have nearly eaten all that you gave us). Lisa, Kenny, Sandra and Michael surprised me with birthday cards and Tatts scratches, the next morning which overwhelmed me so thank you;unfortunately we didn’t hit the jack pot but it was fun trying.



My 40th in the "Man Cave"




Kenny and Lisa