203 266
MARGARET RIVER
203
February15
Our children don’t bat an eyelid at a
lion in the zoo, but they scream bloody
murder when confronted with a garden-
variety chicken, so we thought it time
they got their hands a bit dirty. Thus we
found ourselves at Sunflowers Animal
Farm, where border collies Chilli, Lilli
and Dizzi sent our eldest fleeing up the
bunk bed in our unit within seconds of
us arriving. We’re city folk, okay?
The original 100-year-old farmhouse
has been converted by Steve andDebbie
Jones into four self-contained units,
each facing a different direction. We
checked into South, a two-bedder with
a small kitchen, an open-plan living-and-
dining area and a verandah overlooking
the playground and barbecue area, with
laundry facilities round the back.
This ain’t five-star stuff. Instead, it’s
a self-catering, early to bed and early
to rise, pull on your muddy wellies and
track down your children in the rabbit
cage type of place. Heck, there’s not
even Wi-Fi – but there is a magic DVD
library, every flavour of Simmo’s ice
cream you could dream up, a 10-acre
animal farm (open to day visitors too)
and over 350 animals to pat and feed.
We’re talking ducks, kangaroos, pigs,
ostriches, llamas, emus, alpacas, guinea
fowl, goats and even a talking long-
beaked Corella parrot!
Our daily routine went as follows:
morning shot of Lavazza coffee while the
children had a pony ride atop Basil, the
Shetland pony; bottle-feeding the baby
orphans; distributing the contents of
our buckets of animal food to the farm’s
greedy residents; chatting to the parrot;
and petting the baby chicks. Then we’d
go on a day-trip, taking in a wine farm or
two, before stopping at the supermarket
in Margaret River town centre, a few
Leg 1:
Sunflowers Animal Farm & Farmstay, Margaret River
minutes’ drive away, for supplies. But we
always made sure we were home for the
big event: the tractor ride!
Twice during our four-day stay, Farmer
Jones hooked the trailer up to his big
red tractor, and everyone piled in for an
adventure across the 315-acre property.
With children hanging precariously
from the back and the dogs along for
the ride, this would never pass health
and safety in the UK, and all the better
for it. As if it could get any better for
our preschoolers Benjamin (4) and
Rosie (2), Farmer Jones would pull up
alongside a riverbank for marshmallow-
toasting and toy-boat races downstream.
One of the fellow families on the
tractor had been coming to Sunflowers
for seven years, and I think we may very
well be seeing them there on their eighth
trip this year!
sunflowersfarm.com
Greg Rowe Photography
Greg Rowe Photography
Greg Rowe Photography