Mandurah

Tom's partner, Michael's dad lives in Mandurah, so we driveway camped at his house while they were here for Christmas.

Mandurah - built on an estuary with canals. It's a nice town.

Crabbing. VERY popular pastime - Mandurah is known for its crabs.

We took the opportunity to replace the water pressure reducer which had been sporadically leaking. 

Nice to be back with family and cuddle some children :)

Mandurah has four timber "Giants" dotted around the outskirts. We went for a drive to visit them. Very cool.

WA sunsets :)

Nice to be somewhere to enjoy a family Christmas while travelling

I imagine there's more not-actually-on-Christmas-Day family Christmas get-togethers in WA than in other parts of Australia due to FIFO rosters.
We celebrated Christmas with Michael's family on 27 December due to this.

We drove down to Rockingham for a picnic catchup with Michael and Tom.

Michael is an acrobat btw

A visit to the Freemantle Markets of course.

The beaches around Mandurah are lovely, and have facilities to enjoy a picnic with friends and family.

Thanks Matt for the tickets to a game of cricket at at Perth's (new for us) Optus Stadium.
Padded seats... winning.

Lots of houses on the canal adorn their homes with Christmas lights and tourists like us pay to go on a variety of boats to look at them.
It's a fundraiser for the Salvos.
Some of these people go to an enormous amount of trouble.

Others not so much!

Mandurah town does a Christmas light walk. 
It's one of those things that sounds a bit daggy but is really well done.

Robyn and Emily caught the train up to Perth one day and had a day in town.

We drove up to Hillarys one day.

Wave Rock next stop