Day 12 – Rain, Wine & George the Dog

We woke to the sound of rain on the roof and the wind howling through the trees - not quite the Australian summer we’d signed up for - and a fire warning in our area. We packed up and were out by 10, heading off towards Margaret River for supplies and caffeine. Anna has also been replaced by me (Louis) writing the blogs because Day 12 took her 5 months….

A stop at the bakery for a pasty and coffee quickly became more eventful than planned — Alexander decided now was the moment for a full-scale pee right at the till. It ran down my leg, onto the floor and the counter, and we somehow managed to carry on like absolutely nothing had happened. Parenting at its most glamorous.

After a little wander around town, we found ourselves in Ghanda where we picked up some new shirts, and Anna disappeared to get her eyebrows done while Aoife and I grabbed the food shopping. Then it was off to Swings & Roundabouts vineyard — with the drop in temperature, we actually had to wear jumpers (in Australia?!). Just as we arrived, the heavens opened again.

Anna and Aoife headed straight in for a wine tasting while I found a table and ordered what felt like an entire pizzeria’s worth of food. They took so long finding the notes of the wine that I was sat with three pizzas by the time they emerged. Alexander tried garlic focaccia for the first time and didn’t totally hate it, so that’s a win.

We drove north to our next stay — a cosy spot on a rural property where we were greeted by George, the friendliest dog. He helped us unpack and honestly, it was so nice to be around a dog again. Everyone crashed for a nap, even George, and a long nap at that. Apart from Aoife and I who gave a stacking game in the TV cabinet a go. We failed.

Later, we headed out to Canal Rocks which was surprisingly cool seeing these straight ridges through the rocks watching the waves crashing through. Alexander was enjoying the chaotic scenery but Anna was more concerned that I was climbing all over these rocks with a baby on me so it was time we left and called in at a hotel nearby to meet Aoife’s friends, Hester and Rich, for a drink.

Back home, I made dinner while Anna settled Alexander and Aoife knuckled down to some work for her new job in the hospital back home. Getting the TV to work was a bit of a saga but eventually after about 3 hours and a couple of new Google accounts, we got there.

We also should’ve been at a James Blunt concert back home in Perth tonight. The first year in quite a while that we haven’t seen James in concert, Sad times.