December 2016 - Exploring South Western Australia and Christmas

December started of with a lovely long weekend on Rottnest Island. It’s a beautiful little island just of the coast from Fremantle with a long history as a military base. Lovely beaches, scenery and the most adorable Quokka’s were some of the reasons Rottnest was definitely on our to do list in the WA. 

We decided to camp since the weather was forecasted to be good throughout the weekend and the island seemed all booked out for this particular weekend. Errol was doing one of his traditional Swim Throughs there so all the Barrett’s came along too and we got to spend some memorable moments together. We swam and snorkeled on the amazingly clear and clean waters of the island and bicycled around the island which was such a good way to explore the island.

Camping on Rottnest

First Quokka siting, tried to eat Oliver alive

Marveling the crystal clear waters

Bicycling around the island

Rosanna's  must have selfie with a Quokka

Errol and the boys after the swim

After swim drinks

Yet another Quokka shot

Next week we had celebratory drinks with Margie, Errol and Margie's sister Fran for Finland's independence day and Errol gave a little speech! The following days were filled with going to the beach, playing in the pool with the boys, Pavlova and watching a charity game of cricket with Adrian.

Errol's speech

Ollie's jump

Mid December we embarked on a bit of a road trip to Esperance and Albany with Margie and Fran. The goal was to drive from Bunbury to Esperance to see Margie's and Fran's brother Allan and on the way back visit beautiful Albany as well. In Esperance we visited the absolutely amazing Cape Le Grand National Park with it’s beautiful deserted beaches, climbed Frenchman’s Peak for the views and Oliver had a little swim at Twilight Cove. 

Rosanna blown up by the wind

Hellfire Bay, Esperance

Climbing up to the Frenchman's Peak

Frenchman's Peak, Esperance

Lucky Bay, Esperance

How white can sand be?

Trickery on Lucky Bay 

We had read that there are Kangaroos on Lucky Bay beach but this is the only one we saw. Close but not quite.

Twilight Cove, Esperance

In Albany we visited Two Peoples Bay nature reserve (some more absolutely beautiful beaches and nature) and went to check out the Gap. 

Little Beach, Albany

The Gap, Albany

On the drive home we made one more stop in Walpole to do the Valley Of The Giants treetop walk which goes up to 40 meters high!

The Valley of the Giants Tree Top Walk, Walpole

Don't look down...

Admiring the Tingle trees

The road trip ended up being a great success and everybody enjoyed themselves. What else can you expect in such good company?

After our road trip we settled back to the relaxed atmosphere of the Barrett household with our daily evening champagne and swims in the swimming pool. We also went to watch Errol swim with the Old Boys (something he does every Sunday during the summer) and saw Errol’s horse race (another hobby close to Errol's heart). It was the first time at the races for both of us and what fun it was!

"Champagne" by the pool

The Old Boys

Horsies warm up

At the races with Errol

Then Pamela, Rosanna’s little sister, arrived. She took a break from her travels to come and spend Christmas with us in Australia, which was awesome and made Rosanna feel a little less home sick :) We headed to Perth to pick Pamela up from Perth airport and ended up staying in Barrett's lovely apartment in Perth for a couple days. We explored Perth a bit, headed to the beach and had a couple of drinks at Elizabeth Quay.

Pamela is here

The amazing view over the Swan River

Monkey business

Next we headed back down to Bunbury to spend the Christmas with Barrett's. Spending Christmas in Oz felt weird and exciting at the same time and it ended up being totally different compared to the one we would have had in Finland! The summer weather is enough to make a Finnish person confused during Christmas time not to mention us not being with our families. Christmas is traditionally celebrated with the family in Finland but luckily we had the amazing Barrett's to spend Christmas with.

Getting in to the Christmas spirit

They're alive!!

We did our the best to bring a bit of Finnish flavor to the Australian Christmas by preparing Finnish mulled wine "glögi" and the traditional Finnish Christmas tart’s. We could not have wished for more relaxed and fun company as one probably can see from the photos ;)

Glögi time

Errol was happy with his present

Adrian's lovely dog Frank

One of Bunbury's streets is famous for its Christmas decorations which we had to see for ourselves. We were definitely not disappointed with what we saw! Quite frankly none of us had ever seen anything like it before.

Mental Christmas street in Bunbury

On Christmas day we were so happy to get an invite to spend the day at Taryn’s sister’s farm in Karridale. The idea was to camp in their huge front yard which was no problem for us since we were already experienced Aussie campers after camping on Rottnest Island. We ended having such a lovely time, again feeling so welcomed by everyone and eating delicious Australian Christmas food. 

The beautiful Christmas dinner table

Errol decided to dress up like a farmer

Glamping is the next big thing!

Taryn's sister's shouse (shed/house)

Pretending the tent behind us is ours

But this one is actually ours :D

Christmas Bull

We have to point out that we never expected to get cold while camping in Australia but in both locations, Rottnest Island and Karridale, Rosanna was freezing and in Karridale she had to even wear her Christmas hat not to freeze her brain out. One can decide for themselves if there is something wrong with her or the gear that we had...

Waking up next to this on Boxing Day

On Boxing day we woke up feeling quite hangover but managed to visit Hamelin Bay and its amazing Sting Rays on our way back to Bunbury.

Hamelin Bay Sting Ray

Pamela feeling a bit wobbly after Christmas

Back in Bunbury we joined the merry group of Errol and Margie's friends and extended family over a lovely dinner. When Barrett juniors (Adrian, Taryn and the kids) had also arrived from Karridale to Errol's and Margie's house it was time to open some presents, which made especially the kids so happy.

He's not alive, luckily!

Pressies

We were so happy to have had the chance to spend such a joyful Christmas with the Barrett's. What warmth and love they radiate everywhere around them! Such a special family. After Christmas it was time to start planning our upcoming trip to Sydney for the New Years and of course enjoy the last days before our trip with Pamela.

Pamela enjoying her stay at Barrett's