Australia Day Long Weekend

I went down to Esperance with some boatie mates to compete in the Country Carnival. A few of us drove down on the Friday and made it there in just under nine hours. The drive did seem to go quick as we were chatting or busting out some serious vocals the whole way down.

We set up camp and happened to actually be right beside some more boaties, which worked out really well and meant we got to stay at our camp for drinks! I also thought I was pretty cool with my inflatable couch!

On the Saturday we went down to Twilight Bay for a training session. Here we ran into difficulties. The swell was big and the pump for the boat wasn't working. We ended up going for a row with another surf club which was really nice and a great display of Aussie mate ship. It was also helpful to learn a few things from the other crew.

The surf was even more rough on the Sunday- just in time for the carnival! We decided the conditions were beyond our capabilities and elected to watch the carnage instead. We even entered ourselves in beach sprints and were terribly excited when we didn't come last in the relay!

Sunday night was a bit of a wind up, there were lots of drinks and lots of dancing with all the competitors from our club.

After only a short time down south we did the long drive back to Perth on Australia day. It was slightly longer than the way down, as we started heading for Kalgoorlie and then took a very long gravel track to cut back.

I had a great experience in such a short space of time and wish I could have stayed longer.

Christmas and New Year

We did the usual Christmas thing. Lunch with Dad's side of the family, and then dinner with Mum's side at home. On Boxing Day we did the frantic clean up and load up the car to go down south for our usual family-after-Christmas holiday.

This time we rented a house and brought the dog with us (after selling our camper earlier in the year). We also thought we were hilarious in booking a house next door to some friends, who had no idea where we were staying. The plan was to just say "oh fancy seeing you here" when they arrived.

Some plan that was. When we arrived there was someone else staying in the place. We ended up ringing the friends saying, "surprise, we might be sleeping on your floor!" Turned out there was a mix up and we stayed in the house next to that for one night and then moved into the right place for the rest of the time.

We took the dog for the biggest walk of her life and had a look at the markets in the Dunsborough town. It was great looking at all the little bits and pieces and we had a yummy-freshly-squeezed juice.

Dad also took the dog for a bike ride. Yep, he spent all Christmas Eve finding a basket for the back of his back. She seemed to like it, but it didn't last long when we all went for a ride because she wanted to be with everyone.

Same story with the kayak. She came for a paddle with me a few times, but when she saw someone else she jumped out to see what they were up to.

There is no doubt that my dog loves the water as much as me. Whenever we took her to the beach she would run down into the water and swim out with us.

We also checked out Bussleton, Yallingup, Grace Town and Margaret River.

I also found this awesome jacket on sale. I saw the same one a while back but it was really expensive so I didn't get it then. I hadn't seen it since and I thought I would never see it anywhere again!

As always our time away didn't last long before we had to go back to reality.