Author Archives: Mel

Day 2: Albany long weekend

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Mel

Today we started off with the free breakfast at our bnb – the name of this accomodation is Beach House by the Bayside. The brekkie was delicious! They even made me a small one as I wasn’t too hungry. We then set off to play tourist for the day – and take lots of photos.

We started at the mounted memorial at the top of Mt Clarence.

From there, we drove back down to the National Anzac Centre. We visited the newer part (which is paid entry) and also did the free one hour tour up the hill to the gunner mounts.

The views were spectacular there and it was such a lovely morning (glorious sunshine) you could see way out into the bay. After our visit here, we drove about 15 mins out of Albany centre to Monty’s Leap Winery. We did a wine tasting and enjoyed their vineyard platter for lunch. They are quite an expensive option for a meal but the food was really good – they were also totally booked out even for a Friday lunch so worth planning ahead. We also bought some wine mmmm wine.

After lunch we visited a bunch of the natural tourist sites including the gap, the natural bridge, misery beach and the blowholes. The blowholes weren’t blowing sadly so we will have to come back again to that one on another visit.

Tonight, we booked dinner at the top rated restaurant in Albany – it’s called Majuba Bistro. The food was amazing. So good in fact we missed a mains photo. Delicious local wines accompanied delicious food. Definitely book ahead for this one as they were booked out all weekend by the time we arrived on Thursday night.

After dinner, we had a nightcap at Liberte Bar (best walk in sign ever) and then were in bed by 8pm. We booked a ride home with Albany Taxi Cabs and even though it was a busy night they were on time for our booking and the service was fantastic.

Tomorrow, we change accomodation and are off to a farm stay (WITH BABY MINIATURE GOATS) halfway to Denmark.

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Day 1: Albany long weekend

Posted on September 22, 2022 by Mel

We drove from Perth to Albany today with a few stops along the 4.5hr drive at Riverside Roadhouse (mmm pies) and Kojonup. The drive was a fairly quiet one despite the unexpected public holiday for the Queen.

Our first two nights here we are staying at Beach House by the Bayside in Middleton Beach. It’s a lovely little bnb with a 2 min walk to the beach, 5 min drive from the main restaurant strip and a spa bath in the room.

Tonight we opted to walk down the beach (which took about 30mins) to have dinner at “WAs best fish and chips” Hooked on Middleton Beach Fish and Chips. The walk was just lovely along the dog beach. Plus….dogs!

Our walk brought us down to Rats Bar which has some…interesting….google reviews. We thought the service was good and they had all local wines which was lovely. It was quiet while we were there but had definitely picked up when we walked back past at 6pm.

The fish and chips for dinner was delicious! You definitely need to book as they were almost fully booked from 6pm and the only reason we got in was because we were quite early. They also use home made tartare sauce which was nice and thick. Yum.

Now I’m off to drink champagne out of a water glass while I sit in the spa.

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Day 7-8: Monkey Mia to Geraldton to Perth!

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Mel

We left Monkey Mia around 9am and headed for the Ocean Park Aquarium in Denham. I had booked the visit here on the theory we would get into the shark tour with a booking but they don’t actually allocate booking times so lesson learned…no point booking ahead for this place. Instead we arrived at 8:30am and had a great breakfast before their first tour at 9:20am. The breakfast views were next level.

The aquarium tour was amazing! Probably one of the best aquariums we have been to and I saw a tiger shark for the first time ever! His name was Boof. Best shark name.

We then drove the 4.5hrs to Geraldton with a short roadhouse stop at Billabong Roadhouse again. Our accomodation in Geraldton was at the Ocean Centre Hotel as I picked something easy, quiet and with an attached restaurant. We arrived in Geraldton around 3pm to an easy check in at a lovely ocean front room.

The attached restaurant was actually shut due to easter so I booked dinner at Skeeta’s which was a 5 min walk from the hotel and had amazing tapas and cocktails with a view of the marina at sunset. They were busy though so you definitely need to book.

We had breakfast at Dome on the beach and then left Geraldton around 9am for the 4.5hr trip to Perth on the inland road. Apparently the coastal road is nicer but for us inland was a slightly shorter trip – about 25 mins saved. We stopped at Badgingarra as the halfway point to stretch our legs (great pies, gross toilets) before being reunited with the fur babies!

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Day 6: Monkey Mia Resort, WA

Posted on April 14, 2022 by Mel

We started the day very early! Lots of people had said feeding the dolphins at Monkey Mia is super crowded and adults rarely get picked (especially in school holidays) so it would suck. Instead, we were advised to head to the jetty well before the first 7:45am feeding time and enjoy the dolphins swimming in peace. Then when everyone crowds in for the feeding….go to breakfast! This turned out to be excellent advice as due to covid they actually aren’t allowing guests to feed them, which they didn’t mention at all until just before feed time.

After our dolphin visit we went to brekkie at the local boughshed restaurant and then prepared for our marine reserve catamaran cruise on “Aristocat 2”. This is the only your vessel around here that is legally allowed to enter the conservation zone twice a day. After researching online, it was highly recommended that the morning tour be taken over the afternoon one as you are more likely to see wildlife – although as with all animal cruises they can’t guarantee anything. I was pretty disappointed with this experience to be honest. They obviously can’t control the wildlife but watching the skipper talk to customers for most of the time and not look for any wildlife to point out to us was….disheartening. Letting people ride in the boom net was also a 45 min waste of time that could have been better spent hanging out with some animals! In the end we saw 4 dolphins and 2 dugongs. Photos are terrible.

Dugong mum and calf

After returning, we did some napping/souvenir shopping/people watching/dolphin spotting before having dinner at the Boughshed. i had to book ahead for dinner as they fill up pretty quickly apparently.

Tomorrow: 4.5hrs to Geraldton for a one night stop then another 4hrs home!

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Day 5: Kalbarri to Monkey Mia, WA

Posted on April 13, 2022 by Mel

We left Kalbarri with the intention of stopping at Hamelin Pool to walk the boardwalk. Unfortunately this has still not been repaired since the cyclone smashed it apart in 2021 and without the access to the walkway you can’t see much of anything – instead we stopped at Billabong Roadhouse for a delicious toastie and leg stretching.

Then we travelled through to Shell Beach. There is only one other beach in the world made up of billions of tiny shells instead of sand! The shells all come from one specific animal and the beach is close to 100km long. That’s a lot of Dead tiny animals.

From Shell Beach we drove another 20 mins into Denham (to stop at the IGA for supplies) before continuing on to the Monkey Mia RAC resort. We had booked an ocean view cabin when the option came up to stay here. We can see the beach and ocean from our balcony so could watch dolphins frolic on the shore and emus roam around.

I had booked a scenic flight (flight option 2) with shark bay aviation, paying the extra for a private flight. It did not occur to me that this meant we would be in a tiny 4 seater plane!! Eeek. The views were amazing though.

We made it back to Monkey Mia with about 5 mins before sunset and then enjoyed a gorgeous hour long sky changing colour while drinking moet on the balcony. We also watched a pod of 4 dolphins swim back and forth in front of our room!

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Day 3 + 4: Cervantes to Kalbarri, WA

Posted on April 11, 2022 by Mel

The drive from Cervantes to Kalbarri is just over 4hrs with no stops. I planned for us to stop at the Pink Lake in Gregory (Google pink lake lookout) which is about 40mins before you arrive in Kalbarri. We got lucky it was sunny (unlike yesterday) so the pink was quite noticeable, apparently on overcast days it can be a little disappointing.

Our accomodation in Kalabarri is an adults only air bnb opposite Blue Holes beach and it is veeeery nice….even comes with a plunge pool on the outside deck! A cold plunge pool I didn’t even want to put my feet in haha.

We checked in to the air bnb at 3pm and then wandered over to check out the well known Blue Holes beach which is apparently great for snorkelling. It was a bit too rough for us to get in the water.

Dinner was booked at the Kalbarri Edge Restaurant which was a 20 min walk from the air bnb along the Melaleuca Walking Trail. The walk along the Murchison River mouth was lovely.

The restaurant food was good but the service was absolutely terrible. We tried to be understanding they were short staffed but once they seated a walk in group of 10 in reception – when they were already full and struggling – my sympathy waned. I do recommend the chicken supreme and the churros though.

Day 2 in Kalbarri started with a visit to the Kalbarri Bakery. We then drove out to the Kalbarri sky walk and natures window – about 40 mins inland. I’m reasonably unfit, managing spinal pain (and scared of heights) but was able to manage both of these walks! I couldn’t do the Z bend one which is a lot steeper and 2.4kms return.

No filter! The colours were insane

At 4pm we walked down to the local boat ramp (15 min walk from our accomodation) where our river cruise up the Murchison River was scheduled to depart from. We went with Kalbarri Wilderness Cruises and were able to bring along some cheese and crackers to nibble on and buy some drinks on the boat. Worth noting the cheese and crackers were a challenge due to no table so definitely pre-cut and store for the trip! We saw a white bellied sea eagle though which was very interesting.

After the cruise we managed to sneak into a fully booked Finlay’s (recommend you book if wanting to eat here!) for delicious fish and chips and fish tacos.

Tomorrow: off to Monkey Mia! With a stop at Shell Beach along the way 🙂

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Day 1 +2: Perth to Cervantes + Nambung National Park, WA

Posted on April 10, 2022 by Mel

Cervantes is about a 2.5hr drive north of Perth along the Indian Ocean Highway. It’s quite an easy drive although a very twisty road with lots of black spots so patience is key.

Approx 17kms before you hit Cervantes is the turn off for Nambung National Park and the Pinnacles Tourist Drive! It costs $15 for a day pass into the park, viewing all the limestone pillars is worth it though. Amazing.

Nambung National Park – The Pinnacles
Nambung National Park – The Pinnacles
Nambung National Park – The Pinnacles
Nambung National Park – The Pinnacles

We then kept driving another 10 mins and arrived in Cervantes. We are staying at an air bnb for two nights here which is next to the RAC holiday park so has all the walkable conveniences (beach, park, lobster shack, food) with less of the screaming children. This is opposite our accomodation and less than a 60 second walk away.

Cervantes Beach

Day 2 started with birthday presents for B!!! Yay!! We started the day early and walked across the road to Seashells Cafe to grab a breakfast bacon roll. The weather was shocking (grey, raining, cold) so we drove to Lobster Shack where our sea lion tour was scheduled to depart at 9am. It was cold and pouring rain but we arrived for our early check in anyway figuring if it was cancelled we would just go back to bed.

We still ended up going and getting in the water! It was a bit chilly but we swam with big papa, mum sea lions and babies! B even duck dived with them and played chasey in the sea weed. Very cool to interact that closely with wild animals. I have minimal photos as I only took my phone and it rained most of the time.

The boat stops just off the sea lion colonies home and the seals are encouraged to come and play….no food bribes though as they are protected

For lunch we had the seafood basked at Seashells Cafe and it was….average. I’ve had better, but the convenience of it being across the road was pretty good. B then had a birthday nap while I watched the sky be all moody and grey for the afternoon. Around 4:30pm we drove 4 mins to Lake Thetis. We did the full 1.5km walk loop but there is also a 300m paved boardwalk section for accessibility.

Last nights dinner was at the country club (local bar and lawn bowls club) which was quite tasty and about a 7 min walking distance from our air bnb. Tonight we were going to try out the Bar + Bistro but it’s closed. Then we thought we would try the motel restaurant which serves pizza….but also closed. So, back to the country club it is!

Tomorrow: off to Kalbarri for 2 nights!

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Next holiday booked for Bs birthday!

Posted on January 23, 2022 by Mel

I’ve been on a waiting list for Monkey Mia for aaaaages because we can only travel in school holidays and the RAC park books out literally a year or more ahead. I know we could stay somewhere else but if we are only going for a few days I want to be at the location where all the tourist stuff actually happens. I got notified two days ago they had a 2 night vacancy over Easter 2022 due to a cancellation. BAM! DONE!

We are going to do a week long visit over Bs birthday and plan to go perth – Cervantes – Kalbarri – monkey Mia – back down via Geraldton (TBC). I’ve already booked a nature catamaran cruise and a special surprise for Bs not-quite-40th birthday.

Dolphins!!!

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Day 7: Injidup Beach and home tomorrow

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Mel

From our resort accomodation there are two options to get to Injidup Beach – walk down the cape to cape track (about 1.6km each way) or drive to the small car park about 2 mins down the road. We drove today as it was already 30C at 9am.

It’s a surf beach so the waves are pretty crazy and there was a surf school beginner class practicing. Other than that it was a very quiet beach, presumably because it’s a bit too rough for families.

We walked up to the little cove/inlet at the end where it was a bit calmer so I could paddle around. There was also sand dunes (pictured below) that people were heading over the top of so it’s possible it was calmer on the other side.

After our beach visit, we had a 90 minute hot stone massage at the resort. Ahhh lovely. It was very much a relaxing massage rather than a deep tissue one and exactly what I wanted for a last day on holidays.

For dinner, we cooked local hand made sausages (from our BBQ hamper last night) and eggs (from our breakfast hamper) on our villa BBQ. We then paddled in the plunge pool for awhile before watching a gorgeous sunset.

We head back to Perth tomorrow. We were going to stop at Beerfarm for lunch and for B to try some of their range but a large number of exposure sites have popped up very close to where we have been visiting over the past week. We are in the clear so far but don’t want to push our luck so are just heading straight home after check out tomorrow.

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Day 6: Margaret river winer tour with MR Pick Me Up

Posted on January 21, 2022 by Mel

Breakfast was local bread and local jam and honey eaten while listening to the ocean. It came from the welcome / breakfast hamper we were given at the start of our stay.

Today was wine tour day! So first of all – absolutely thrilled with MR Pick Me Up and his (Chris’) service. I contacted via email, confirmed via email and sorted out the itinerary and required pre-pays on my end via email as well, which is exactly my kind of service! Our original itinerary had 5 stops but we snuck in an extra one and the entire day was absolutely fantastic. Not to mention great value for a private tour.

We were collected at 10:15am from our current accomodation at Indijup Resort and headed up the road to stop 1 at Happs Winery. They have more than 40 wines to try and it’s self serve! So you just help yourself. I’ve never seen anything like it. They have a huge range of different wines and the only downfall was as they had moved their tasting stuff outside (due to mask mandates) they were struggling to keep the white wines cool. Warm white wine on a 36C day is not the nicest taste. We bought a lovely rose and Sangiovese from here though, both were very smooth and appealed to both our tastes.

Stop 2 was a quick pop in to the relatively unknown Mongrel Creek who have a well regarded sparkling red we picked up to take home. This winery and cellar door doesn’t advertise and is owner operated so it can be hit and miss on whether it is open.

Stop 3 was at Blind Corner an organic and biodynamic winery. As with any of the organic wines, the taste is always a bit different and we enjoyed the unusual flavours and textures here. Although being an organic winery, our amazing driver Chris did have to relocate a GIANT orb spider from our table before I could sit at it without freaking out. They also have an adorable 4 month old puppy on site and to be honest I missed some of the tasting notes because the puppy and I were making friends.

Stop 4 was at Aravina Estate for lunch. We did a 3 course lunch with paired wines which was delicious and we did a lot of people watching from their outside deck. In particular, 8 helicopters landed during our lunch to drop off people at the winery! By this point it was around 35C and I was starting to struggle with the heat.

Stop 5 was Goon Tycoon and Yallingup Cheese Factory. We initially sat outside (there was a dog – I couldn’t help it) but eventually the heat got too much for me so we relocated inside. Their wines here were unusual – and quite tasty – and we bought a few including a Shiraz and a Chenin Blanc. The outside view over the dam (pictured below) on a cooler day would be absolutely lovely and you can buy an accompanying cheese plate to go with your tasting as well.

Our final stop (stop 6) was Wild Hop Brewery where we enjoyed some cider and deep fried pickles. It was extremely hot here with no accessible sea breeze or air flow and both of us struggled. I think on a cooler day it would be great but by this point it was just too hot for me! Wearing masks inside and lining up for the bathroom didn’t help.

At 5pm Chris dropped us back to our accomodation where we had pre-ordered the farm BBQ pack for delivery at 6pm. It came with multiple salads, steak, chicken, sausages and delicious rolls for us to cook on our personal BBQ – which B did while I lounged happily in the plunge pool and watched the sunset. The BBQ hamper will do us for two meals but could also have been one meal for a hungry couple.

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