Father of the Year! ~ Pemberton

So before I outline my nomination for father of the year, let me fill you in on a little background.  We packed up in Margaret River and headed for the hills with Little Bird sleeping in the back (the whole way - yes - THE WHOLE WAY.  ASLEEP!!!!).  We cruised down quiet highways, soon having that familiar West Australian feeling of being many miles from anywhere, only instead of being surrounded by desert, we were plunging deep into massive eucalypt forests.  The tall Southern Forests of WA are pretty impressive, not quite up there with the giant forests of Tasmania or California, but very close behind.  They've been the scenes of big environmental battles and occasional wins.  The little timber village of Pemberton sits in the middle of it all, wreathed in rain and mist (in May anyway). 

We had decided that it was time to leave the camper packed up for once, and to check in to some real accommodation.  We booked a cabin at Foragers, a small property just out of town with a restaurant and kitchen garden.  We had four beautiful days there wandering the gardens and the nearby forests, eating delicious food and spotting birds.  The gardens were well planted with natives and turned out to be a bit of a haven for little birds: fairy-wrens, firetails, thornbills, honeyeaters and robins were all easy to see along the driveway.

So my self-made nomination as Father of the Year is based on a little incident when I drove my girls into town for a bite to eat, and then out to the Gloucester Tree, a sixty one metre karri tree with a fire spotting lookout at the top that you can climb up to.  With impressive foresight, I had packed a spare nappy in case a change was needed while we were out.  So when Little Bird had a big heavy wet nappy in town, it was no drama, just straight back to the car for a change.  Nice one dad.  Score - Dad: 1, Other Dads: 0.  I was feeling pretty chuffed as I swaggered about with my baby at the Gloucester tree - "check out the dad who takes his tiny baby for forest adventures on a cold and rainy day!"  Then I heard and felt a squelch.  A big one.  No drama, just straight back to the car for a change.  Nice one d... oh... yeah... the only nappy in the car is that big heavy wet one from town... and that squelch has exploded out of the nappy and soaked it's way through two layers of clothes, and... "didn't you bring any spare clothes?"  Well, I did bring a jumper.  [disapproving frown].  So anyway - here's a photo of me and little bird in the forest.  She's the one wearing a freshly applied wet nappy and a jumper and socks.  Of course, she thought the whole thing was hilarious.  Score -  Dad: -1, Little Bird: 1 000 000.



Other photos:
~ exploring the gardens at Foragers.
~ still exploring the gardens.
~ karri forest.
~ mel and little bird, as seen from the top of a karri tree.