First Family Road Trip

This past weekend we took our first road trip for a weekend away in the Margaret River region of Western Australia.  For those unfamiliar, Margaret River is a town about 3.5 hours south of Perth.  The name 'Margaret River' is also used in general to refer to the winemaking region around the actual town.  The website for the region just says it's a 'very special place', a statement with which I tend to agree - not only because it's a gorgeous part of the world but also because it's where Mick and I were married.

At any rate, Mick had a work meeting last Friday in the region, which was going to take him all of an hour so instead of driving down and driving back he decided to pack up the whole family and make a mini-vacation out of it.  After our recent move, a little getaway was just what we all needed.  Except Bodhi, who had to stay home this time because there isn't all too much dog-friendly accommodation down that way.  As luck would have it, we met an absolutely fantastic neighbour who offered to look after Bodhi while we were away.  Bodhi went to stay with neighbour Margaret, who spoiled her rotten letting her on the sofas and even sleeping in the bed with her.  Lucky, lucky Bodhi who has never had to stay in a kennel and, as long as Margaret's around, will probably never have to again.  Margaret and Bodhi had a great weekend, so much so that Margaret was disappointed to see our car in the driveway a day earlier than we'd said we'd be back.

Augie managed the road tripping just fine.  He got a wee bit cranky near the end of the trip down but nothing that couldn't be cured by a few rousing choruses of The Wheels on the Bus and a bit of entertainment by Mom, who jumped into the backseat.  He was an absolute champ on the way back and managed everything else on the trip very well, taking it all (sleeping in a portacot in a whole different house, eating food out of a jar, etc. etc.) in his little stride.  We enjoyed gorgeous weather during our weekend, stayed in a nice little cabin on a 'lake' and visited a few wineries, stocking up our wine supplies.

Here are some photos and a video from our weekend.

cherry blossoms and our backyard lake

smiley Augie on the banks of the lake at the back of our cabin

a goose on our doorstep - he made the rounds of the cabins every morning

Prevelly Beach - Margaret River Mouth Surf Break

Margaret River Mouth

the Margaret River

Xanadu Winery

if you're a fan of Calla Lillies, then this is the place for you...they grow wild and they are EVERYWHERE

see what I mean...

the boys making some fire

a shoulder ride from Dad

smiley with Dad

this creek was a stone's throw from our cabin...Augie enjoyed putting his little hands in the running water.  which really shouldn't have come as a surprise to me since he prefers to play with his water rather than drink it after every meal

We had Saturday lunch at Leeuwin Estate Winery.  Mick had duck, I had marron and Augie had shepherd's pie out of a jar.  So two out of three of us ate like kings...but Augie didn't really seem to mind, as you can tell by this video.  He did enjoy a bit of special service when I asked them to heat up his meal.  They brought his little dish back on a nice plate, complete with black linen napkin and little teaspoon.  He wasn't fussed by any of it and really just wanted to munch on the table.