Wide open spaces

Having been on the road for 5 months, we had gotten very used to living out of the camper trailer, but were starting to tire of always having to make sure everything was in its place. We had limited access to our food supplies which were mainly packed away in storage boxes in the boot, and crammed into the fridge or freezer, which no one but Kat seemed to be able to navigate successfully. Most other things we didn’t need all the time were locked away in the cabinets along the sides of the camper, or packed, Tetris like in the boot or front trailer storage box. With a couple of months still to go before we got back to Sydney, we decided it would be nice to treat ourselves to something better than our usual caravan park experience while we were in Perth. We found a great serviced apartment right on the beachfront in the Perth suburb of Scarborough and initially booked four nights. As we drove towards Perth, we told the kids about it and the squeals of excitement that came from the back seat were deafening. We drove through more agricultural landscapes but things became more urban as we got closer to the city. Having not seen anything like that for a while, it was a little strange. As we pulled up to the apartment, we navigated through the massive construction site that was out the front (they were in the middle of redeveloping a couple of km of beachfront in front of the apartment, but fortunately we knew about that), before stopping to take all the bikes off the roof so the car and trailer would fit under the roof of the underground carpark. We carefully navigated the trailer in, narrowly missing the air conditioning units hanging from the roof, before unhitching to manually push it all the way back as the car was too tall to fit. After checking in, we all headed up to the apartment, eager to see how it was. We were all very impressed. There was so much space, with a big bed for each of us, a couch, TV, kitchen and a gorgeous view from the balcony right over the ocean. The kids headed straight to the couch and spent the next four hours bingeing on TV. They had never been so quiet! I spent an hour or so moving what felt like the entire contents of the trailer up to the apartment, and within that short space of time the apartment now looked like a bomb had gone off – my work here was done. That evening Kat and I enjoyed a wine on the balcony watching about 10 kite surfers taking advantage of the sea breeze, very happy with our decision to splurge. We cooked dinner and sat down at a real table with real chairs (as opposed to camping chairs and milk crates for the kids) feeling like we were living in a palace. The kids were very excited about sleeping in real beds that night and looked very cosy under the covers as we tucked them in. Kat and I then enjoyed a bit of a TV binge ourselves, lazying on the couch after dinner before collapsing in our big, warm, comfortable bed.

The next morning we were in no rush to leave the apartment, enjoying a lazy morning. The sun was shining but we were all having too much fun in our new home to head out. I had to take the car up to Toyota for a service first thing but after getting a lift back I happily joined in the lazing. After lunch we finally dragged ourselves out and went for a walk down to the beach. The kids had a bit of a run around while we sat and watched them. On the way back we swung by reception to see if they had availability for a few more days. We had originally planned to just have four nights in the apartment and then head down to a caravan park in Fremantle for a couple of days, but after seeing the apartment, we decided that we were keen to add another few nights if possible. They had a pay two stay three deal so we locked in another three nights. Later that day, I got the call from Toyota that the car was ready for collection, and with no easy transport available, I jogged the 8km to the dealer to pick it up, grabbing some food for dinner on the way home.

After a quiet morning at home, we got on the bikes and headed north along the coast to explore a bit. There were bike tracks all up and down the coast, and after riding for about 30 minutes we found a nice cafe overlooking the water to stop for lunch. The food was great, and then we enjoyed a coffee while the kids worked on their bottle flipping skills (for those of you that haven’t see this, you put a bit of water in a bottle and then try to flip it so it lands right way up). It amused them for a good 30 minutes before we all decided it was time to head back home. We stopped at an exercise park on the way back for a bit before the girls headed to check out an op shop while Oli and I caught some Pokémon.

The next day we headed into Fremantle to check out the famous Fremantle markets. Kat and the kids wandered through the markets while I took advantage of the glut of barbers in the area cashing in on the hipster trend and went and got my head shaved (also happy to avoid too much market time). I then tracked them down and after the kids drooled over a lollie shop, Oli bought a small Swannies scarf which he was keen to have while watching the AFL semi finals. After swinging by a playground to let the kids run around for a bit, we headed back home before the sun went down and took the warmth with it.

The sun was shining again on Saturday so we headed out to Kings Park to check it out, having been told that it was worth a look. We headed to the main area first where they had set up a colourful display of umbrellas and had a bunch of giant kids games available to use including cards, twister and snakes and ladders. The kids grabbed the cards and played memory and then fish while we bought a coffee and took advantage of the free deck chairs to have a laze in the sun watching the kids play. After a while we went for a walk along the main path to check out the spring wildflower displays which included a treetop pathway through the canopy of the trees which gave us a great view over the city. It was back to the apartment for lunch before Oli and I headed out for a bit of Pokémon Go while Kat and Em did some craft. We then all settled onto the couch to watch the AFL preliminary final between the Giants and the West Coast Eagles. It was a much better outcome than the Swans, with the Giants thrashing the Eagles.

On Sunday we had arranged a lunch catch up with some mates that we had met at the Windjana Gorge campground at the end of the Gibb. They were from Perth and told us to look them up when we got there. We headed over to their place for a lovely lunch on their deck followed by a game of hockey in their back yard. In spite of hockey sticks being swung wildly by five kids, there were minimal injuries and no hospital visits. We then all walked down to a local school that had a great park and flying fox which kept the kids amused for ages. We finally headed home as it was getting late and the kids would soon be demanding dinner.

On our last day in Perth, we headed down to Cottesloe Beach for the morning. We wandered out onto the rock wall that took us out past the surfers and watched the waves crashing into the wall for a while before heading back to the beach and along to a park so they kids could have a play. We found a giant chess board so Oli and I had a game. There were a few pieces missing so our shoes and caps were turned into kings, queens and knights. After Oli beat me again, we headed back to the apartment for lunch and then just lazed there for the afternoon. The kids enjoyed another TV session while we started to long process of moving all our stuff back down to the trailer as we were leaving the next day. That evening Kat and I reworked our plans again (this seemed to be happening a lot at the moment). We had planned to head from Perth straight onto the Nullarbor towards the east coast, but we worked out we had a little bit more time up our sleeves so decided instead to head down the south west of WA to check out a few places along the south coast before then heading up to the Nullarbor.

The next morning we finished packing the trailer while the kids enjoyed their last morning of TV. We moved the trailer out of the carpark and then loaded all the bikes back on before saying goodbye to our mansion.