One year I took Luke and Ryan to a historic mining town called Kalgoorlie that is about a 6.5 hour drive East from Perth. We explored quite a bit of the town and its surrounding areas that gave us some first hand look at mining operations including blasting on the surface and drilling deep down underground after descending in a very small industrial elevator. While we were driving, we saw a golden eagle sitting on the head of a dead cow and we pulled over and watched it for awhile. Our accommodation was an A-Frame hut in a campsite and it was a bit challenging to go out for dinner due to the fact that most of the restaurants had strip tease shows for the miners! The boys were a bit too young for that so we wound up going to the fast food restaurants instead.
Another incredible place that we traveled to on occasion was another port town of Albany located due South of Perth that is about a 5 hour drive. There are pristine beaches right at the edge of town that the kids enjoyed swimming in but Mimi and I could not as the water was way too cold. The best we could do was go in about knee deep. For many years, Albany had a very active whaling station that processed whales and unfortunately attracted many great white and other large sharks. The whaling station is now a museum however the sharks are still there and there are many sightings. Albany is surrounded by cliffs and blow holes and is spectacular. Just outside of Albany is another coastal town called Denmark and although this is a sleepy little town the beaches are amazing with so many rock coves that protect swimmers from massive waves and sharks. One morning I was taking photos at sunrise and there were so many locals out for their daily swim at that time. I was dressed for the cold weather and here they were in nothing but bathers.
We drove further from Denmark to the forests of the Karri Trees in Walpole and then on to Pemberton. Breathtakingly beautiful forests line the highway and there are many hiking trails that allowed us to see these trees up close and personal. Pemberton is another Australian historic town that has many wineries and galleries filled with incredible wood work from well known artists. Their wine tasting experience at our favorite winery called Salitage was great and when Ryan was young, we shared some wines and he went around telling everyone that he preferred the Salitage wooded chardonnay!
Long Hair Surfer, Scarborough Beach, Western Australia Photo by Barry Epstein
Canola Field, Albany, Western Australia Photo by Barry Epstein
Yellow Truck, Jarrahdale, Western Australia Photo by Barry Epstein
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