Trip 40 – part 1 – A lot of not much

It’s that time of the year again when the Budge clan pack up our stuff and head south for cooler climes and Christmas cheer.

Over the years, we’ve managed to extend and accumulate more days for our site and this year, we were booked ‘down south’ from the 19th of December to the 6th of January.

While it’d be great to brag about all the cool things we did and all the new experiences we had, we literally spent most of the time chilling out at the campsite, drinking coffee or alcohol, reading books and having nanna naps. Yep, there was a lot of not much this year, and we loved it.

Actually, we had a car conversation one day, discussing how we Aussies are great at conversing in short-form negatives. For example, if someone asked us about our holiday, I suspect the conversation would go something like this:

What was your holiday like

“Yeah, it wasn’t bad”

Cool, so what did you guys get up to then?

“Aww, not much”

Did you do anything super exciting?

“Nah, not really..”

Whilst an observer of the above conversation would likely draw the conclusion that our holiday was in fact ‘crap’, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Augusta turned on some great weather this year, with only a few windy days overall. Most days the temperature sat in the low to mid-twenties (C), which is hot for Augusta, with generally light winds. In fact, there were a couple of nights where we didn’t even need to put the sides up on our gazebo as the wind was so light!!

It wasn’t a complete ‘laze fest’ though. We did manage to muster up enough enthusiasm credits, they’re a thing, to do the following.

  • Walk from Flinders up to the town jetty and back
  • Have a couple of lovely lunches at the ColourPatch restaurant
  • We got out swimming, five times this year!!!
  • Did a wine tasting and cheese board at one of our favourites, Mr Barval wine
  • Visited the Boranup Forest to see how it is recovering after last years bush fires
  • Did some hikes for sightseeing and/or photography
  • As a group had Devonshire scones and tea at the Berry Farm
  • A wine tasting at another favourite, Firetail Wines
  • As a family, had more Devonshire scones and tea at the Ragged Robin
  • With Puts and Tuts, did our annual degustation lunch with paired wines, followed by cocktails, at Hay Shed Hill Winery
  • Quade and I took the yak out from Dead Finish chasing King George Whiting. We got one and plenty of pretty wrasse, all returned to swim another day.
  • Won some money (thanks Beres!) up at Jimmy’s on the Perth Cup
  • Bushy and I got out to take some sunset pics of the lighthouse
  • And plenty of group chats at the campsite over a coffee and/or bevy

So, rather than rabbit on about it, here are some pics to enjoy.

Harry opening one of her many Christmas presents
Putter – enough said
The local King Skink we had wandering around our campsite
Blue Fairy Wren at our campsite
One of the many dopey “hoot ducks” (Bronzewing Pigeons) at our campsite
A focussed stacked macro shot of a Cicada shell after it had molted
Harry catching some zzz’s
George and Harry
Cheese platter and wine tasting at Mr Barval
There were heaps of bees in the grevillea at Mr Barval
The crew in Boranup
Boranup forest, regenerating after last years fires
Boranup forest, regenerating after last years fires
Boranup forest, regenerating after last years fires
Boranup forest, regenerating after last years fires
George, Jules and me at ColourPatch for lunch on a perfect day
The Leeuwin Lighthouse
The Leeuwin Lighthouse
The Leeuwin Lighthouse
The Leeuwin Lighthouse
The Leeuwin Lighthouse
Looking back along the coast (north west’ish) from the Leeuwin Lighthouse
The Leeuwin Lighthouse
Beach flower
P & T and us at Hay Shed Hill winery
P & T at Hay Shed Hill winery
P & T at Hay Shed Hill winery
Us at Hay Shed Hill winery
Us at Hay Shed Hill winery
Us at Hay Shed Hill winery
George and Harry at The Berry Farm
The crew at The Berry Farm
Sunflower and bees at The Berry Farm
Mulberry at The Berry Farm
New Holland Honeyeater at The Berry Farm
BJ at The Berry Farm
A Llama at The Berry Farm
Harry and Bushy chilling at Firetail Winery
Feather at Firetail Winery
Can’t get more Aussie than this, frog on the dunny at Firetail Winery
Frog on the dunny at Firetail Winery
Vines at Firetail Winery
Natural coloured bark at Firetail Winery
Vines at Firetail Winery
Cowaramup
Street art at Cowaramup
Street art at Cowaramup
More beautifully coloured bark in Cowaramup
George posing in Cowaramup
A Christmas Beetle in Cowaramup

There’s a rat in the kitchen, what ya gunna do?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *