Day trip to Jurien Bay

Do you know how hard it is to do a coast to hills transect with three kids under 12?

Not that hard actually if you go with their interest levels.  I would have liked them to observe how the vegetation and soil changed as we went from the eastern outer metro to the coastal part of the Wheatbelt.  They were mostly interested in getting to the beach so we just ended up pointing out sand dunes that were covered in vegetation and having quick chats about why the vegetation is important for holding the sand together, and how the soil colour changed from browny-red clay to sand to white sand.

We brought the dogs with us this time.  JJ had previously not wanted to bring them as every time we have taken the dogs out in his car, Tali has attempted to jump out of the boot into the main part of the car, and he also wanted to put one of the kids in the boot so they would have a harder time fighting with each other.  However my smaller and deeper boot seems to have been advantageous in this case as there was no attempt whatsoever by Tali to jump into the front.  Maybe he just felt cozy back there as I'd thrown in his dog bed (requirement for my boot as there are a couple of large metal rings sticking up out of the floor for the fold down retro-fitted extra seats).

Whatever reason the dogs were very quiet both up and back (2.5hrs each way) which has increased JJ's confidence in taking them out with us more often.

As we got into the actual town of Jurien Bay, I asked JJ what the purpose of the town had been.  Cray fishing, apparently, though our very light further research indicates it started life as a pastoral area with a jetty that people fished off.  We dropped in to see some of JJ's relatives in the area before hitting the beach.

It was a glorious day for it.  Kids, dogs and JJ had a great time.  I had a great time taking photos.

The kids will be doing swimming lessons again in the coming term and we'll hopefully be hitting up a few more swimming spots now that the weather is warmer.