Dunsborough - Side Trips!

 While in Dunsborough we tried to alternate beach days with trip days where we got to see some of the surrounding region. One of the first things we did was go lookin' for kangaroos at sunset. Now I was under the impression that to see a kangaroo we would have to go to a wildlife preserve or zoo or something. Not so. All you have to do is drive around the more rustic areas of town at the end of the day and they are EVERYWHERE!!! I was sure we were not going to find any the first time we went looking but we hit about 10 different groups of them on the first day alone. They are awesome. They remind me of a cross between Meercats and Deer. Meercats because they all stand up and look at you with their little front paws hanging down, and deer because they are all over the place and eat your garden when you're not looking.

 These guys are not too sure about us....

 I made a kangaroo movie:  Click Here

The next day we went for lunch to the Eagle Creek Brewery. I had a Kangaroo Salad. It was yummy. Don't hate me.... those things are adorable but they're like rabbits. Everyone's gotta do their part I tell ya. Here was our view at lunch. You can just make out the ocean in the distance.

Here's my buddy and I having a beer sampler:

And on our way out we saw our first epic spider. AIEEEEE!

A few days later we went to Ngilgi cave. Here we are heading into the depths!

The kids had an absolute blast. Part of the cave had a tiny tunnel you could crawl through to get past one of the tightest spots. They must have done this about 10 times!

Team Stolasz in the cave:

Our whole gang:

This was the way Teddy looked on our way back from every outing:

And after the cave we stopped here and got free chocolate samples. It's hard to beat an afternoon that includes caving AND free chocolate!

A few days later we went to this epic maze. Whenever someone is on Survivor or one of those shows where they have to complete a maze challenge I'm always like "Oh C'mon, how hard can it be???" The answer is pretty darn hard! The goal is to enter the maze and make it to all 4 towers in the correct order without cheating. It took Jeff, Teddy, Jamie and I a good 20 minutes. There were times where you had to go waaaay in the wrong direction to make it to the next spot. It was SO FUN! I want to build a maze....

Jamie, Teddy and I make it to Tower #4. We did it!

After that we went to lunch at a winery. We had a great meal and got to taste some wines as well.

This whole region of Western Australia is a lot like the Napa Valley. There are tons of wineries and they also grow olives. We stopped at an olive place to taste their wares. No idea why olives = patchwork cow but the kids just went with it.

A few days later we went to an ice cream place that had a circus camp set up behind it. Ice Cream + Circus stunts??? Fantastic! The kids all tried to walk the tight-rope first...

Then they went on a trapeze:

Fly Sasha fly!

Parental therapy. When your kids get on your nerves you can put them in these thing and bash them into stationary objects and each other. I need one...

Then Teddy and I got into a HUGE one and went up against Sasha and Em.

A few nights later we went to an actual drive in movie theater. The kids played while we all waited for it to get dark. As usual they had a blast. They were laughing their heads off. Check out the video clip!

We saw the movie "Red Dog" Which was excellent but a little sad. Teddy burst into tears at the end of it and was barely consolable!

Once we got back to Fremantle we also took a side trip to Rottnest Island. They have these little kangaroo-like rodents called Quokkas. They are everywhere and I have to say they're pretty darn cute. All the stores have Quokka gates or the things would go right into the shops and restaurants.

We went to an area called the Basin where you could snorkel and swim. It was beautiful!

This guy was pretty epic the whole day. First he had major stomach issues and I thought he was going to puke on the ferry and then it was one thing after another with him. But we all have off days and when you're vacationing with kids it's all par for the course I guess. We made it through the day with the big guy in a bike trailer because him riding a bike around the island was just not going to happen.

Sasha and Em find another Quokka:

So as you can see, our amazing tour guides did a fantastic job exposing us to to Western Australia. We got beach days, chocolate, breweries, wine, mazes, wild animal encounters and a whole LOT of fun. Thanks so much Zoe, Julian, Em and Jamie, for being such amazing hosts!