ON THE ROAD

Well, doesn't it feel good!! We finally managed our escape from the city on Thursday the 28th Jan. I must admit to a touch of nerves - it was to be the first time we travelled, towing the van and fully loaded. Girls, I really do mean fully loaded! Yes, even the kitchen sink.
I have to say a thank you to our friends who gave us some very sensible directions for getting out of town. Thanks to their instructions we took a very straight forward route and managed to avoid major traffic conjestion in the van. Good for us and for everyone else on the road too. TBBITW found the going reasonably easy - he is very pleased with the car (Zed) which seemed to pull the van with reasonable ease.
As we were compelled to take Albany Highway which is very hilly and windy our speeds varied from 60k to 90k most of the way. We were travelling in tandem with a couple we met at Forrestfield. I will tell you more of Andre and Indi shortly - they are more than worth a couple of paragraphs in their own right.
I was impressed with TBBITW who of his own volition suggested we stop to stretch our legs and have a snack - we would have only been some 100ks down the road at the time!
Most uncharacteristic I can tell you. I usually have to almost bludgeon him with my handbag to make him stop, even when I am threatening all sorts of plumbing breakdowns.
We left the park at 9.15am and arrived in Kojonup at around 1.30pm. What a beautiful little park. Tucked away, just 1k from the PO in rural WA. Neat, tidy, clean, pretty and well maintained. In addition to all of that, cheap as well. They were very quiet - their busy time is around mid spring when the hords come to see the wildflowers. The 'camp kitchen' featured some amazing timber benches & chairs. Obviously the work of a local word-working fanatic!! The current managers/owners have been there for a few years and have had their work cut out cleaning up and improving the place. They certainly have done a great job.
As we had just left Perth which has been super hot of late, we were thrilled to find that Kojonup was more than a few degrees cooler. We ate at the camp kitchen that evening and then sat out under the stars and moon for a few well earned vinos.
It was a bitter-sweet evening as it was the last we were to spend with Andre and Indi. Every so often in your life you bump into folk who have a dramatic impact on your life - this was the case with this couple. Andre is an Australian citizen, but they are both from Switzerland. Poor Indi had only been here for some 6 months and had spent a good part of that in the heat in an un-airconditioned caravan - she is a brave soul. They were a little reticent at first to become friendly, but little by little we came to know Andre. An absolute character it turned out, with a wonderful and quirky sense of humour. Indi took a little longer still as she had not been speaking English for some 30 years and was a little nervous. Once she made the decision to speak only English however, there was no stopping her. Apart from being truly good people, it evolved slowly that they are also very spiritual. Now, the odd thing here is that both TBBITW and myself have in the past had parts of our lives (seperately) that were spiritually inspired. Since we have been together, some 7 years, I had continued to be moderately spiritual, but him indoors had really not been there for quite some time. We had of course discussed the subject and all good intentions on both our parts was to re-visit our spirituality at some time. When I was packing for our trip I included some books which I wanted to re-read and had for some time been badgering him to read - this with the intention of re-kindling our souls. I had actually told him that the plan was to make the journey one of spiritual re-discovery and learning as well as one of fun and pleasure.
As we all know, there are no co-incidences, and it was perfect timing for Andre to enter our lives. It is a bit of a peeve that all my talk over the past 7 years has not re-awakened any spark in him indoors, but one hour talking to Andre and he was alight! Oh well, the main thing is that he is keen. Andre leant him a couple of books which he actually read. In addition to this, I had bought him a copy of "The Celestine Prophesy" for Christmas as he had never read it. He also read this - I am 'gob-smacked' - this is the first time I have seen him read an entire book, aside from stock market info. etc. Andre also recommended some authors for me and I have since read Caroline Myss's "Anatomy of Spirit" and am spellbound by her writing and have purchased another couple of her books to read. In addition to the reading material TBBITW took it upon himself to go and buy a pendulum with which to do some 'dousing'. Now girls, had I suggested dousing to him indoors, I would have been ridiculed as a nutter, but as it was suggested by another bloke - it was OK to try! Men!! The truly sad thing about this for him is that when he bought the pendulum back to the van I (of course) had a little try and it responded incredibly strongly to me. I must say it is a beautiful pendulum, made of crystal and I think, copper. As he didn't achieve the same strong response, we all decided that the pendulum had 'chosen' me. He was so very good about the whole thing and very graciously made me a gift of the pendulum. He has since purchased another one for himself but is still having a little difficulty getting a strong response. To be honest, he really hasn't put in a big effort yet.
Anyway, we had many wonderful conversations with Andre and Indi - it really is wonderful to find like minded people who don't think you are nutters if you want to discuss matters spiritual. We said a sad farewell to our new friends on Friday morning. They were off following a dream and we were off to Albany. I am sure our paths will cross again!
We left Kojonup around 10.30am and reached Albany early afternoon. Once again the car and van travelled well and we had no probs. We have booked into 'Rose Gardens' caravan park and are situated right on the ocean front. Talk about a change of weather, the weather here ranges from 13 at night to mid 20s during the day and IT RAINS!!!!!!! We are enjoying the spoil - it has been quite some time since we have had real rain. Doubtless as we leave here we will return to the warm dry weather to which we have become accustomed. Since being here, we have had a lovely rest. We have visited this beautiful port town many times before and are familiar with most of the beauty/interest spots. We did go for a river cruise yesterday however, on the Kalgan Queen. Anyone visiting Albany would be well advised to do the cruise time allowing. It was a delightful relaxing morning complete with wine tasting and savoury hot damper. Today we took a run out to the Porongorup National Park to check out the van park there. It was very nice, but not what we had imagined. We have decided not to spend any time there this time around. It would be amazing, I think, in the spring. I mean, the area is beauiful in the extreme at any time, but it would be better still when green.
We will stay here until Friday when we will leave for Bremmer Bay. We are looking forward to that, as it will be the first place we are to stay where we have never been before.
Once again, we met great folk here too - a lovely couple with a beautiful Labra-doodle named Bastian (Booboo). Of course we made friends with the humans too, but we 'puppy-sat' Booboo while his owners went sight-seeing. What a great dog - wasn't happy to be left out of his people's plans, but finally settled down when I let him into the van. Checked out all the bench-tops then settled down to look woefully out the door until his owners returned. This couple had a large Winnebago which they were planning on taking around the country. We were told that as soon as the kids left home, so did they, before the offspring could 'come back'. The lady, Anthea, had suffered a serious work accident and was compelled to visit a hospital every 4 weeks - I admire their pluck - not about to let anything stand in the way of their plans. Anthea was pretty much in constant pain and as a means of therapy had taken up shell collecting. She was tireless in her pursuit of the best shells on the beach!!
They have gone back to SA where they need to attend to some business before heading back out again.
Well, bored you enough again for this time around. I will post some photo's next time around to let you get a bit of a picture of what we are up to. Incidentally, don't let all this talk of spirituality fool you, I do not plan on suddenly becoming demure and 'propper' - that doesn't equate to spirituality for me - I intend to be just as down to earth as I have always been - believe me, that is really down to earth. You may notice that I have listed this blog as possibly having 'adult content' - this is because as I see things so they will be related - bad language and 'the human experience' will be reported as seen & heard. Any good jokes I hear are just as likely to find their way here as well.
Until next time - think love - Steph.