Somehow we all slept until 9 this morning. Millie got into our bed at 5 and then we were snuggled and cozy until 9. I was shocked when I saw the time.

We had to be out of our Airbnb at 10 so it was a bit of a scramble, but we made it. We hit the road and started our drive south towards Margaret River. It was a 3 hour drive and Nick found stops for us along the way, as he does.

The first stop was to see the Thrombolites. This is a word that I did not know before today but he has been very excited about. They are living rocks made up of microbes, and this is one of the only places in the world you can see them. Thrombolites are one of the earliest living things on earth—these were here before there were even plants. His enthusiasm was contagious and I got into them, but Millie did not. She whined the whole time. Note the extreme moping in the photo below.

The thrombolites were in the middle of nowhere but shared a parking lot with a brewery that was full of families having lunch. We stopped and agreed it felt exactly like being in the Central Texas Hill Country. All day today we kept saying “this feels like home”. Nick and I even shared a smoked brisket sandwich for lunch. The weather was beautiful. The only thing that was different were the birds.

We continued driving south. Our next stop was Busselton Jetty, which is one of the longest jetties in the world. I didn’t expect much but we ended up spending the whole day here.

After we parked we stopped at an amazing playground, designed like a pirate ship and a whale.

She played for a while here and then we made our way to the jetty. There were people on the beach and of course Nick and I just remarked over and over how nice it is here.

We noticed there was a train on the jetty, so we bought overpriced tickets to ride it out to the end. It was a 45 minute round trip, that’s how long the jetty is. It was… exactly what you would imagine taking a little train to the end of a pier might be like.

Millie started waving at a little girl on the train who looked exactly like her best friend Louise from home. When we got off, they continued smiling at each other and then decided they were best friends, even though she was German and didn’t speak much English. Our families ended up going to the same large brewery for dinner, and they played for 2 hours straight.

We have been annoyed by the level of helicopter-parenting in Australia so far. Every kid on the playground seems to have a chaperone / adult playmate, which makes it harder for Millie to make friends. So it was a treat that the Germans were chill and let their daughter run wild with Millie. We all sat and enjoyed our food while they went to the playground just outside of the restaurant.

This brewery was huge and beautiful. I noticed the high end furniture and Nick noticed the high end brewing equipment. I want to know how everything is funded and if it’s profitable.

As then sun started to set it was time to go. We left at the same time as the Germans to make the separation easier. Millie gave her new little friend an aggressive hug and we drove the remaining 45 minutes to Margaret River.