Shepherd's Outback Adventure

January 6, 2015

Hello all! Time is flying by. It is hard to believe that our three week adventure with my parents is coming to an end. We were all wondering about our ability to spend three weeks together:) Just kidding, it has been great! We will miss them. We still have three days left though. My dad has recovered and is back to his old self. He is currently doing push-ups on the railing of our current residence. We arrived in Fremantle on the 4th. I am so happy to be here. I love this town. When we arrived on the 4th, we showed my parents and the kids where Chris and I lived and the place we met. We then bee-lined it to the Sail & Anchor restaurant/bar, which is where Chris worked as a bartender. Chris and I introduced my mom to Redback beer, which is our favorite beer in Australia or I would venture to say in the world!

I need to back up though and expand on our time in Margaret River. It is a beautiful, quaint town on the Western side of Australia and is located right on the coast with some amazing beaches. Chris' business partner and our good friends, the Lennons', allowed us to stay in their beautiful vacation home. It turned out this was good place for my dad to become ill, because they had a small hospital right up the street and a few pharmacies in town. Chris and I took the girls to Mammoth Cave and the beach on our third day here. We also walked to town and got gelato on a few occasions. I love to walk everywhere, the girls not so much. I am finding that I have to bribe them with treats to get them to join me. Not sure this is such a good thing:)

On the 2nd of January, my dad was feeling better so we decided to explore a few more caves. My parents toured the Mammoth Cave and then we all toured Lake and Jewel Caves. All three were unique in there own way. Mammoth Cave is very large and spacious and it is an audio tour via headphones. Lake Cave, has water inside of it which makes for beautiful reflections from the columns formed in the the cave. Jewel Cave, my personal favorite, had different formations throughout the cave and it was the longest of the three. After caving we drove through the karri tree forest and these trees are unique to this area and are 1000 years old. We then drove to the Leeuwin Lighthouse in Augusta, which is where the Indian Ocean meets the Southern Ocean. Unfortunately we were 5 minutes past the
last tour time, so even with Nana's sweet talking, we could not make it in. Chris, the girls and I decided to do the more adventurous route and traveled over the rocks in order to get our lighthouse pictures:). Along many of our drives we stopped at many beautiful oceanside areas where we climbed amazing rock formations and explored the beaches. The area reminded us a lot of California coastline, but with very few people to be seen.

On January 3rd we decided to try a wine tour. Besides caves, and beautiful beaches, Margaret River is also home to many of the world's best wineries. Given my love for wine, I couldn't pass up visiting a few. My dad and the girls reluctantly joined:). We started of at Leeuwin Estates which is where Chris stayed twice with his study abroad groups. We were immediately met by a swarm of flies. For some reason they favored my parents so we skipped walking the grounds and headed in for wine tasting. We started up a conversation with the people next to us who turned out to be Notre Dame grads. The daughter had met and fell in love with an Australian while she was studying abroad. She was introducing her Michigan native parents to her boyfriend's Australian parents. Made me glad that although I met Chris in Australia, he was from Iowa. Much easier! Anyways, the kids and my dad became a little restless, so we decided to head back to our homestead, and my parents kindly suggested they take the girls swimming while Chris and I go to another winery. It took all of 1 second for us to agree. So Chris and I headed to Voyager Estates and had a wonderful lunch there.

On January 4th, my mom and I headed to the local laundry mat to do all the sheets and towels, and treated ourselves to some alone time and a nice breakfast. We really enjoyed this time even if it was just a short hour. We then left Margaret River and made our way to Fremantle, which is where we will remain until the 9th, at which time they fly back to the states and we head to Thailand.

We are staying at the Quest apartments, directly on the harbour in Fremantle. It is so beautiful. We can watch the boats come into the harbour from our balcony. Yesterday it was very hot here so we decided to be outside as little as possible. We toured a few museums, the Shipwreck and Maritime, which my parents both really enjoyed. Last night we headed into Perth and had dinner with the most amazing couple, Betty and Alan, and again met up with our friends the Lennons'. Chris met Betty and Allen 20 years ago when he was studying in Fremantle. Betty used to come to the Port Lodge, (the place that the US students lived) and she would cook all the kids two homemade meals a week. I think she and Alan also became pseudo parents for many of the kids, including Chris and Sean, during their time in Fremantle. They are now retired, she in her late 70's and Allen in his 90's. She made the most amazing meal I have ever tasted. She could have fed close to 50, with all the wonderful food she had. The girls enjoyed hanging out the with Lennon boys, Harry and Charlie, and teaching them how to play Ghost in the Graveyard. Needless to say it was a very special night for Chris as he has not seen Betty and Allen in a long time and the rest of us so enjoyed getting to know them! They are a beautiful gracious couple!

Today we are laying low this morning and then plan to go to the beach this afternoon when it cools off. My dad said he needs to get in the ocean so he can do his arm exercises:)

Enjoy the pictures. Love and miss you all!