Day 103 – Bunbury to Cowarmarup – “Cowtown”Nov 1, 2009
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Big slide - Small boy - no fear
Got calls to make people
The view from our van
Cows and kids
As we went to sleep last night we were conflicted as to whether to listen to the race caller calling the horse races at the track opposite us or the ring announcer who seemed to only have one word, “woohoo”, when commentating on the circus to the side of us. Either way they both either shut up or we fell asleep.
The circus was the Great Moscow circus. I am not sure how great it is if it is playing to the massive crowds of Bunbury.
Fortunately the boys gave us a sleep in this morning and after a drive around Bunbury to have a look (not a lot to see) we hooked up the van and headed south. It would have been a very uneventful drive except for the wind. It felt like someone had put three masts and full sail on the caravan roof. To say it was swinging in the wind was an understatement. It was a challenging drive keeping it straight.
Arriving in Cowaramup, (it’s too hard to pronounce so the locals call it cow-town) we set up in our van park. This would have to be one of the best van parks we have had for us and the boys. Not only are we across the road from the playground and jumping pillow, the van park itself is located on a working cattle and sheep farm so they do animal feedings every afternoon.
For the adults there is an access gate on the southern side straight to a winery and an access gate for the Margaret river cheese factory to the north, both in walking distance. We started with the cheese factory.
There are a few residents in this van park that concern me. The first was the couple setting up who were brushing their tent pegs to clean them before putting them in the ground??? And the other site that had its own lawnmower. I really worry about some of our fellow nomads.
Once we had lunch it was time to start exploring the Margaret River. Unlike last time we were here (1997) we have to balance off wine tasting with keeping the boys amused so we started with a visit to the Cape Naturaliste lighthouse. I managed to forget the camera so there are no pictures but we were allowed to climb to the top of the lighthouse for some stunning views of the ocean, Geographe Bay and even some whale spotting as they passed close to shore. This thoroughly amused Evan.
Then adult time started with a visit to Happs winery. Happs was one of our favourites last time and it did not disappoint today - a box got sent home (including some for my sister) and a couple to enjoy in the van. In fact one (a 2001 Shiraz) has almost disappeared tonight in the company of the cheeses from the cheese factory next door to the van park.
Ev was a champion at Happs so we rewarded him with a visit to Simmo’s Ice cream. As well as the great ice cream (44 flavours!!) this place also had some great signs around the shop/playground. My personal favourites were
1) Unattended children will be given a double espresso and a new puppy ;
2) Unattended children will be sold to the circus;
3) Ice cream eating Emu – It has a long neck and is not afraid to use it
Apparently the first two were idle threats as we tried for both of them. There was no doubting number three. As you can imagine Aaron was again fascinated by the emus at the risk of losing a few fingers.
One more winery on the way home and we made it back in time for the 5pm feeding of the farm animals. One horse and two each of cows, sheep, goats and donkeys kept the kids amused for a while until they wanted to get back on the jumping pillow and the playground.
Tonight Ev got a present for his good behavior - a watch, specifically a ‘Cars’ watch with Lightning McQueen on the face. There are two purposes here. Firstly Ev needs to learn to tell time on an analogue watch and secondly we are sick of answering “how long till we get there” questions.
Now we get a running commentry on the time. "The big hand is on the 5", "the big hand is between the 5 and the 6", "The big hand is on the 6", "The big hand is............... You can imagine this will be a lot of fun on a long drive.
