BRIDGETOWN & PEMBERTON

Giant Reflections

Gloucester Tree

Into the Heart of theKarri

Beautiful Bridgetown



While at Maranup Ford we drove into Bridgetown to visit our friends and old ‘neighbours’ Rod and Rita and their beautiful old dog Rebel. R&R have recently built a lovely new home in one of the little developments that have sprung up around this picturesque township. Their home was predictably lovely and the outlook from their back veranda quite delightful, overlooking a large spring-fed dam and plentiful jarrah forests. They have accomplished a great deal in the short time they have been there and have already made considerable inroads to establishing a garden. We were made very welcome by our hosts and they spoilt us terribly with a delicious meal eaten with a nice drop overlooking their new kingdom. Just beautiful!


The township of Bridgetown is in my opinion one of the prettiest spots in WA. It is only 3 hours drive from Perth and is set pretty much in the middle of the Blackwood River Valley. The country there is steep and green, and is one of the very few places in WA where you can actually enjoy beautiful autumnal colours at the change of the season. The town has a distinct ‘village’ feel to it and most of the buildings there have been either built or decorated to fit that particular vibe. It does have the dubious reputation of being the coldest spot in WA and we were amazed to see, only a couple of days after we left there, they enjoyed a minimum of 4 degrees while the rest of the state pretty much sweltered.


Priceless Pemberton


From Bridgetown we delved yet deeper into the South West and wandered down to the beautiful little town of Pemberton nestled deep within the Karri forest. For those of you who haven’t experienced our Karri forests, it is worth knowing just a little bit about this wonderful and stunningly beautiful part of the world.


The Karri trees of the SW forests are incredibly beautiful and amazingly tall trees, soaring high above the Jarrah and Marri which also grow in abundance. Karri timber is super strong and sadly that made it a wonderful subject for railway sleepers and the area was heavily logged in the ‘early days’ and in fact right up until not so long ago. I believe the timber is still logged today but a little more assiduously (I Hope). There has been much action to protect the ‘Old Growth Forests’ and many of the old timber towns have now been re-directed towards tourism as a means to survival. Of course the South West is also now a Mecca for gourmet foods and wines and even truffles are now grown in this region. The area is also dotted with a plethora of little studios displaying and selling a wide range of arty/crafty stuff from paintings, to pottery and glassware and so much more. I must confess, we have never really done the ‘tourist thing’ here as DD is (like most men) pretty adverse to wandering around these little boutique style venues. I think truth be told he is even more adverse to having his pockets ‘picked’ by the outrageously priced stuff that is sold by some of these establishments. The sad thing is that a great deal of the products really are very good, but they will overprice to capture that tourist dollar, leaving the rest of us in the cold. Can’t say that I disagree with Doug on this one!


There are many really good tourist drives through the Karri forests and many of these feature particularly large and impressive individual trees. One of the most famous of these is the ‘Gloucester Tree’. This was one of the original fire spotting trees where they built a platform at the pinnacle of the tree where resolute and brave individuals would sit and watch for the first ominous signs of forest fires. The Gloucester Tree sports 153 rungs which spiral up the tree to a platform 60 meters above. The rungs are really just steel pins protruding from the tree. There is some rather flimsy looking wire protection wound around some of the tree to protect climbers from falling from their precarious steps. The Gloucester Tree is a favourite climb for tourists and there are surprisingly (in this day of litigation mania) very few rules pertaining to the climb. The reason I am telling you all this is that around 5 years ago when DD was just a lad?!! We took we took some friends of ours on a brief tour of the SW and of course stopped to see the Gloucester Tree on our way through. Now our mate, Peter, is one of those folk who can never pass by a challenge and he was bound and determined to climb the tree. Not so, my sensible and staid man, who being of saner mien, maintained that nothing would induce him to do anything so radical. Well, girls, this is to prove that men will be boys and peer pressure is alive and well at all ages and intelligence levels. When we arrived at the place of the tree, DD parked the car and he and Peter went over to survey the monster tree, whilst Jenny and I followed at more sedate pace, well..........by the time we arrived at the base of the giant, what do I see but Peter well and truly on his way to the top, and hot on his heels who, but my sensible sane Douglas!! They both climbed to the top where a surreal moment in time occurred when Peter’s mobile rang and being the business man that he is, he paused to conduct a business transaction whilst 60 meters above the forest floor! Needless to say, this time around nothing could have induced DD to do anything so foolish and considering his (and my) state of unfitness it is a very good thing too.


The Pemberton Caravan Park is very good but sadly not dog friendly. It is set right amongst the Karri and is rather euphemistically described as the prettiest park in WA.

MARVELLOUS MARANUP



Rod & Rita's Lovely New Home




Maranup Crossin




Reflections



Shades of the Past




A Litte Friend Who Came to Visit

  From Donnybrook we meandered southwards and ever so slightly east to the beautiful township of Bridgetown. To our dismay, Bridgetown Caravan Park was full due to a couple of festivals and a large bike-riding event so we were compelled to find an alternative spot. This proved to be fortunate indeed as we ‘discovered’ a beautiful little spot called Maranup Ford. This is a ‘farm stay’ where the very intelligent owners have decided to make caravanners welcome. They have around 8 serviced sites in the some of the prettiest country you can imagine. They raise cattle there, although I suspect the farmer (Hugh) is probably in what you might call semi-retirement and currently only runs around 100 head. The property sits on the banks of the Blackwood River, Hugh’s ancestors having settled there many moons ago. When we first arrived we were privileged to be the only guests and were warmly greeted by one of their 3 dogs who immediately made us at home in her owners absence. The nearby bush was almost awash in bird life, particularly the beautiful little fairy wrens which were quite tame. A large and somewhat noisy family of geese wandered around happily fertilising the grass, and in the background a vigorous rooster competed for sound rights with a bevy of Pea-fowl. When Hugh and his wife Melva arrived home they greeted us warmly and we met the other 2 dogs and the 2 cats which all follow Melva everywhere she goes. We arrived there on a Thursday and by Friday evening pretty much every bay was occupied. There was no phone coverage there although DD did find that by taking his lap-top up to the top of the hill in an adjoining paddock he could just pick up sufficient signal to check the stock-market. He was an incongruous sight, I can tell you, sitting on his little stool, at a tiny table, in the middle of a huge paddock. We took some interesting and delightful strolls along the road checking out the river banks and some of the placid looking cattle grazing there.

Maranup Ford is some 18ks out of Bridgetown on the Greenbushes/Bridgetown Rd and we strongly recommend it to anyone wanting to take a bush holiday away from the hustle and bustle of city life. It was truly lovely and the amenities whilst not very pretty were more than adequate and DD tells me that the showers there were excellent. (No, it’s not that I don’t shower, it’s just that I prefer to use the shower in the van!) For all the dog-lovers out there, it is also ‘dog-friendly’.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

Karens Country Cottage

View from Karens Front Verandah

Well, what a crabby, cranky and unpleasant Old Woman I sounded in that last blog!!! I must have really been peeved when I spewed that one out – sorry folks, I will try to make amends this time.


We are on the first of those Sanity Breaks I mentioned and it is just wonderful to be back on the road and in true caravan mode again. We have been away from over-heated Perth for 3 beautiful weeks and still have another couple to go. I was pleasantly surprised yesterday when I checked the calendar and discovered that we still had 2 weeks up our sleeves not just one as I had previously (in Seniors Mode?) thought. I have to tell you my moods had been deteriorating just thinking of having to go back, but now I have more ‘unwind’ time ahead.


I have just finished writing the blog and have realised that it is much too long to put into one issue, (I know, how unusual!) so I will break it into several separate blogs and that way I can give you more photos too. I suggest that you just read one blog at a time otherwise you will be cursing me. Steph.


Delightful Donnybrook


We left Caversham on the 9th March and headed southwards to Donnybrook where my younger son’s mother-in-law Karen has recently set up home. Karen recently purchased a few acres just outside the town and has had a small one bedroom transportable home erected there. She is in the process of adding on another 2 bedrooms and an additional bathroom to the existing dwelling. She has decorated the tiny home in very pretty ‘country style’ and her little front veranda overlooks a little brook which wends its way through both pasture and jarrah forest. It is all looking quite good, but we can see that she has a great deal of hard work ahead of her yet. We left there feeling somewhat concerned for her – she has done extraordinarily well to get as far as she has in creating her idyllic lifestyle, but we feel the biggest tests are yet to come. We wish her all the best in her endeavours and hope that it all works out as planned for her. One of the reasons she is having the additional bedrooms built is so that she can start fostering children. She is of course heading for sainthood and we, being terrible old sinners, just cannot imagine doing anything so altruistic and are somewhat in awe of her plans.


Karen insisted on having us for ‘tea’ and we were well and truly looked after and treated to a tasty BBQ before heading back to the caravan park. The Caravan Park there was a pleasant surprise, having only recently been established by the local shire. It consists of several simple drive-through sites on beautiful green grassy sites. The amenities are brand new and designed to be a sort of ‘shared’ en-suite style.


Donnybrook is only a couple of hours drive from Perth, and is largely a fruit growing community. Many of our apples come from this region, along with an abundance of other stone fruits. The area is pleasantly undulating and very easy on the eye. The little town there boasts pretty much anything you would need and when necessary it is only an easy drive of 35ks across to the major centre in Bunbury. The area also boasts some wonderful taste experiences (or so it says in my little book!) which include sundried fruits, wines, ciders and an absolute abundance of delights.





FAMILY TIES



Mother 'Sharing' with a Friend



The Ferocious Daniel Off to Kindy!















 Well, Happy New Year folks. It’s hard to believe we are already into the second month of the New Year. I hope and trust that everyone is well and safe and largely unaffected by all the extreme weather we have experienced in Australia over the past couple of months. I hope too that the ‘Silly Season’ left you sane and solvent. We have downsized the present -giving dramatically now that we are not generating income anymore. We can only hope that our general monetary caution will catch on within the family and become a trend. So far so good! Mind you DD (Douglas Darling) formerly known as TBBITW (The Best Bloke in the World) could perhaps take it a little less to heart where yours truly is concerned. Oh well, it could be worse, we could be living in one of the flood affected areas and all the pressies could have been washed down the proverbial drainpipe!


So.......to bring you up to date – my son Brett, his wife Nom and their two sons Daniel and Jack are all doing well. Nom is still recovering from her ordeal, but largely coming along quite well, Brett had his leave extended until the 17th Jan and was able to support Nom through the first few weeks at home and Jack is now more than twice his birth weight. He is quite a chubby little one in fact! Daniel turns 4 on the 7th Feb and we went to his birthday party yesterday. He continues to have a few behavioural issues but started Kindy this last week. Hopefully that combined with a few different parenting/disciplinary measures will sort out any bumps. He is such a bright kid; it would be a shame if he didn’t reach his potential as a result of being naughty. Of course, despite all attempts to the contrary, he is suffering the usual first burn’s anxiety/jealousy problems as a result of Jack’s arrival in his world.


I had my first turn at baby-sitting with Jack last week when Daniel had his first day at Kindergarten. I have to say I was a bit scared, not being used to such a tiny bub any more, but Jack and I sailed through the experience with ease and I now feel quite comfortable with him. He seems a placid little thing and seems to fade into the background far more than his brother did as a baby. Perhaps that is just how it is for the second one along these days.


My younger son Troy and his family are all doing well. I spent a delightful week looking after Chloe (8) and Cooper (6) during their Christmas holidays. Kids of those sorts of ages really are a delight. They are so interesting and so easily entertained at that age. Of course, I suppose if I saw more of them, I wouldn’t be such a novelty and perhaps they would be a little more fractious. They did wear me out tho’. I took them out to an amazing place called Chipmunks where we met up with Nom and the ever ferocious Daniel. I don’t think my ears will ever recover. For the uninitiated, this is one of those ‘for children only’ places where an enormous space has been simply filled with climbing, sliding and running mechanisms where kids just literally run riot. As you arrive the kids simply disappear into one of the cavernous mouths leering from the front of the colourful paraphernalia – it took me a little while to realise that Coops was directing me to look for his blue shirt – this is largely the only way you can keep an eye on the little darlings once they have bolted. You just watch for the blur of blue (or red or whatever) to race past on one of the several levels spread around the barn-like building. I had to laugh when I first heard some child call out the magic word ‘Nanny’ – around 20 frazzled older women looking much like myself did periscope type manoeuvres frantically trying to see which and from where their small charges called. Apart from around 10,000 kids at least and several dozen very good grandmothers the place contained a goodly portion of young mothers, all looking like they had just left primary school, dressed in an array of floor length sexy numbers, exposing unbelievable amounts of bare skin all lounging around drinking Lattes and exotic de-tox type juices and looking for all the world as tho’ they were enjoying an exotic spa experience. Obviously nature has devised some sort of audio-block-out device for young mothers who only seemed to be able to hear the gossip from their girlfriends and none of the manic screeching around them.


Now to Mother! We were planning on renting the other side of her duplex, but as best laid plans often do, this one turned to muck when the owner decided he is no longer going to rent the place out. He is instead going to sell it vacant. Poor bugger has had it on the market for the past 12 months and due to difficult tenants, poor marketing and a plunging real estate market has not been able to shift it. The agent who I had been dealing with did ask if we would be interested in buying the property but we just cannot see the logic in this idea. A) the market, we feel, has still a way to go down before it bottoms out and B) the duplex on that side is next to a Homes West house which is so obviously run down and semi derelict that it would definitely be a problem when it came time for us to sell. So, back to the drawing board. It is obvious to me (if not to DD) that mum needs help if she is to continue to live independently. The Caravan Park here is 9 ks from mums by road and so we have decided to stay here for the time being and for the foreseeable future. I have agreed with Mother (and I thought also with DD) that I would give Mum 3 days a week. Monday take her to her Library Group, Wednesday take her to have her hair done, pick up library books and shopping and Fridays to be a Mother and Daughter bonding day where I write down her life-story as she dictates it to me. On Fridays DD was going to do a weekly clean-up at Mum’s while we worked. Sometime also I need to help her out a bit with the house and ironing and such. Yes, I know, it is quite a bit of time and effort, but really, there are not too many desirable alternatives. The big thing here is to get Mother off the roads, as in all honesty I really don’t think she should still be driving. I am leaving her to drive to her fortnightly garden club as that is just around the corner from her home. DD also believes, and I agree, that we must leave her some effort and responsibility or she may throw in the towel prematurely. Whilst Mother is supremely independent on most fronts, she is more than happy to lean heavily on me as she deems it to be my duty to support her in every way. She is not always a joy to be with and does stretch my patience in many ways, but then of course, so does DD! In essence, I think I have become a nasty, impatient and crotchety old woman, finding fault with all those around me. I am making a conscious effort to overcome my nastier tendencies folks.


Now our decision to stay here in this CP for what will most likely be the next 12 months while I asses just how to deal with Mum has some problems. There is a ruling, Australia Wide as far as we know, that says itinerant travellers (us!!!) cannot stay in a caravan park continuously for more than 90 days. I really must explore this as we have encountered it several times before as well. The management here will not budge on that ruling at all. We have heard that other parks will and that it has something to do with a government ruling about GST not being chargeable after a 90 period. Now in itself this is not a problem as we will use it as an excuse to take 3 monthly, 4 week ‘Sanity Breaks’. In other words we will bugger off somewhere for around 4 weeks each time our 3 month period is up. The only drama is that the first 90 period is up on the 2nd March and I have a long awaited Dr’s appt on the 8th March. As I said the management here will not budge or attempt in any way to accommodate us for that week. I am not happy! Customer Service as you and I know it really seems to be defunct these days. Anyway we will either go, and stay in another metro CP for that week or I will once again defer my Dr’s appt and we will leave a week earlier than planned for our Sanity Break.


We have loosely planned 3 breaks for this year, the first being in Busselton in the South West where we will join the Supreme Owners Group for a week before moving on down to Augusta and surrounds for another few weeks. The second one will be early July and Kalbarri whilst the last one for the year hopefully will be Esperance around October. Augusta, Kalbarri and Esperance are all favourite haunts of ours and will present a lovely getaway for 2011. Not quite the same thing as being footloose and fancy free travelling around Tassie and the East Coast, but hey, it could be much, much worse.


Why am I calling these getaways ‘Sanity Breaks’, oh well, that’s because THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT THEY ARE GOING T BE – ALRIGHT!!!!! My dears, we have had more blues and spats here in the past 2 months than we have had in all of our eight years. Living in a caravan 24/7 whilst travelling and having fun is one thing, although even that can be a little testing, but 24/7 with Family Ties and not much fun is another thing altogether.



NEWEST GRANDPUPPY - SONNY!

 

CHLOE UNDECIDED!




COOPER & SONNY CHILLING!

 

The van has become DD’s office 24/7 and I have become the Annoying Interruption. I have also become the proverbial meat in the sanga, trying to do my dutiful thing for Mother and trying to Do The Right Thing by DD at the same time. It is testing. I am fortunate in so much as I have a couple of dear friends who I can go and have a cuppa with and let off a bit of steam and of course I have my writing and now of late, also my painting where I can disappear into my own space when I have the time.


The issues here are complex and I guess NFP but suffice to say Sanity Breaks are a necessity. Incidentally, perhaps I should add here that I do what I do for Mum not out of the DUTY she so fervently believes in, but out of Love for her. Sadly, I don’t think she will ever believe that is my motive. The good news is that from all of this I hope a readable book may be born dealing with the eternal problems and often hilarious dilemmas which are integral to Mother-Daughter relationship around the world. The frustrations and resentments sometimes resulting in biting retorts and nasty remarks to DD are also born of my unrelenting Love for him and the difficulty inherent in being caught between two people I care so deeply for. The added spice to all of this is the odd request from my much loved sons and their wives for a little grandmotherly help. The kids are the sugar! Even ferocious four year olds!


The other sugar for me suddenly, is painting. Through a convoluted series of events I found myself the owner of a fair size canvas and some Acrylic paints. I had never tried to really paint before, apart from a very brief afternoon spent with some water-colours and I was surprised at the results I was able to achieve with the acrylics. A have now completed 2 canvases and am keen to do more. My attempts are amateurish but not tooooooo bad, so hopefully there is some hope for me as a budding albeit ancient artist. DD has been super supportive and has managed to smile thru’ my purchases of an easel and more painting apparatus. Perhaps he really still is TBBITW!


Sorry about the photos, we will try to get some good Swan Valley photos taken to show you, but for now you are going to have to put up with some family photos and some shots of my new hobby. DD has a brand new You Beaut camera and is keen to get some practice so you should be in for a few treats in the not too distant future.


I won’t be back probably until we are on our first Sanity Break, so you won’t have to wade through another one of these for quite some time. Lots of Love for now, please be kind to each other – Steph.







The Three of Us - DD in Reflection!








Jack surveying his Kingdom



Jack finds the whole thing amusing!



Coop's Box of Secrets



A Birthday Dinasoar No Less!



Second Attempt



Nasty Crotchety Old Woman

  


My First Attempt

 

HAPPY HOMECOMINGS

Hello, hello, hello – sorry to have been gone so long! I know, it’s been a welcome relief not to be getting Steph’s Bloody Blog Reminders every other day but guess what, here I am again. The good news is that once I have ‘blogged this blog’ you won’t be getting the frequent notifications you were before. Now that we have completed (albeit prematurely) the first leg of our odyssey, I will just be blogging the more mundane day to day life events and the photos will probably be more family orientated. I will however have DD (Douglas Darling) take some nice shots of Perth and surrounds as our movements dictate so that all you poor souls who live on the East Coast can see what you are missing out on. Once we are back on track I will recommence the notifications.

If you are interested in our doings, just log on from time to time to see if there are any interesting developments. In the meantime, I felt it would be appropriate to do a little summary of the now completed first leg.


If you have not been with us from the start, we left Perth late January this year stopping overnight in Kojonup and then on to Albany. The travelogue went something like this, Kojonup, Albany, Bremer Bay, Esperance, Duke of Orleans, Fraser Range, Madura, Fowlers Bay, Smoky Bay, Elliston, Coffin Bay, Arno Bay, Whyalla, Woomera, Coober Pedy, Yulara, Kings Canyon, Alice Springs, Wauchope Wells, Daly Rivers, Mataranka, Katherine, Bachelor, Litchfield, Darwin, Jabiru, Pine Creek, Katherine, Adelaide River, Timber Creek, Lake Argyle, Kununurra, Halls Creek, Fitzroy Crossing, Derby, Broome, Eighty Mille Beach, Exmouth, Coral Bay, Carnarvon, Kalbarri, Green Head, Home (apologies for spelling errors and/or omissions). We moved in a leisurely fashion and took roughly 10 months to cover this ground.


If we had to choose a favourite spot (as we have been asked so often to do) we have decided it would be impossible as so many factors go into the enjoyment of any location. Health, prevailing weather conditions, stage of the ....moon, my mood, DD’s mood, neighbours, news from home, caravan site, you get the picture. All of that aside, I think Mataranka would be one of the favourites for both of us. The park itself was pretty different (dusty, shocking ablutions) but provided good restaurant and entertainment qualities and the wild-life was spectacular. The thermal springs where we soaked ourselves for a couple of hours each day were also a major attraction of course. Other than that, DD just loved the Eyre Peninsula and I fell in love with Kununurra. All in all, we had no bad experiences and there was nowhere we disliked. We found all the caravan parks acceptable, some more so than others. Being fairly positive folk, even when one thing was wrong with a park, we always found other positives.


The scenery up through the middle was breathtaking, but I think my favourite for sheer beauty and colour must have been the stunningly beautiful and striking Adelaide River- the morning palette there was outstanding.


We met and made some wonderful friends and people on our travels. It seems ironic that we had to leave home to meet up with 3 sets of existing mates some of whom we would rarely connect with at home. New mates were everywhere and I consider myself to be very blessed indeed to have made some friends who I know will now always be part of my life. No names, no pack drill as they say in the classics. What classics, oh well bugger me, I don’t know, that IS what they say tho’, isn’t it??


We were extremely fortunate and suffered no major set-backs with either the Land Cruiser or the van. Both held up very well. The only real problem we encountered was losing the sky-light and having to fork out something around $600+ to replace same. I have to tell you we NEVER leave the hatches fully up anymore. Ironically, we had only been back 1 week when we picked up a bolt in one of the Cruiser’s tyres and DD had a lovely time (not) getting that remedied. It turns out that when we had the beast serviced in Alice, some nice apprentice did the wrong thing with the studs on one of the wheels and they had been cross- threaded - not an easy fix apparently as the fellow at Good Year did not have the wherewithal to fix the problem and DD had to resort to Shanks Pony to traipse around Midland trying to source the studs. It has just occurred to me that we had perhaps better check them all, just in case!!! It would have been a real drama had we flattened a tyre ‘out there’ somewhere.


Health-wise all was good, as long as you don’t count a couple of colds and stumbles. In retrospect, I should have had my knee ‘done’ before we left. I was fairly well restricted in what I could do and that in turn inclined me to avoid climbing up and down the caravan steps (quite high), and that in turn exacerbated the already bad weight condition. Of course none of that stopped me from noshing on during sundowners etc. and the weight did indeed go on, and on, and on!!! I have to say I was not alone in this dilemma; the extra couple of beers each night at those same sundowners have promulgated the further development of the very shady veranda DD now shelters his manly bits under. For some odd reason, DD who always had a long brisk walk every morning at home, gave up this habit completely while we were away, hasn’t touched a golf club, and like yours truly, has not subjected his bod to much physical exercise at all. Needless to say, when we met up with a good friend on our arrival home, we were greeted with “Well, you both look very well nourished!” – hmm, I don’t think it was intended as a compliment. Now that we are back and firmly enmeshed in family affairs, our feet rarely touch the ground and the excess weight will start to melt away somewhat. Of course, the good knee has now gone out in sympathy with the crook knee so my once elegant gait is now something akin to a duck waddle – oh well................! Nothing wrong with a good duck! On the subject of crook knees and such, for those of you similarly afflicted or simply suffering the inequities of having acquired a few years under the belt, before I left home I purchased a good walking stick (not one of the old lady types, but a young trendy type) and it proved to be invaluable. Any uneven surface which would normally pose a real problem was easily overcome by the wielding of the trusty stick – highly recommended.


For those of you considering taking the plunge and undertaking your own odyssey, the best thing I can say to you is that it is horses for courses. Not everyone likes the same things, but girls, I have yet to meet a woman who would turn her nose up at having her own shower and loo. From my perspective it is a must. DD doesn’t care about such things and has never used our shower and only resorts to the loo during the odd middle of the night foray. Moi, who needs about a million or so visits to the loo during the dark of the night, just love not having to stumble my way thru’ a dark caravan park. I also love not getting wet strides whilst trying to balance on one leg in wet and well bleached ablution blocks whilst wondering what the person in the shower next to me is putting in the communal drain that so often runs along the back of the shower recess. Believe me when the ankle biters are about, anything can turn up in those drains! We only have a standard loo, (not one of those up-market vacuum jobs) so we only use the loo for tinkles and still have to make the trek for anything more involved.


We managed to do all of those ks without once stopping at a ‘free-park’ – this was not a planned thing, in fact, we always intended to do some free-parking, it just never quite happened. As we travel with a pretty full freezer DD was a bit concerned about food defrosting and such. Our nice quiet little generator was only started four times and then only to make sure it was OK! We took much too much stuff with us as predicted by all and sundry, however as the original plan was to be out there for a couple of years, there is still not a lot we would have left behind. Perhaps the most notable item to remain with us, untouched, for the entire trip, was the bag of wood The Bloke insisted on carting with us everywhere (oh, and the chain saw with which to obtain more of same very important wood!).


We discovered several hitherto unknown things about ourselves. DD is much more sociable than me – he stops to talk to everyone whereas I sometimes have been guilty of skulking around to avoid talking to someone. I really value time alone, DD seems to be able to manage quite well without that commodity. We have had a couple of rather frosty times in the van when we have worn each other’s nerves a little thin, but by and large considering the confined space 24/7 we did OK. DD has become a bit of a fisherman, which bit remains to be seen! Sorry, he is quite a good fisherman, but thankfully, not obsessive as some we have seen. I have finally discovered my absolute love of writing and hope now that I have started not to quit until I have a couple of books under the belt. I have started with a Children’s’ Book which I now have to do something about (publishing that is) and plan to do a couple of grown-up ones next. Our love affair with birds has intensified and although we are by no means real ‘Twitchers’ we do sometimes do a rather good facsimile of those rare creatures.


I have just asked DD what he has learned during our journey and it appears that he is now a fisherman of legendary quality, can tow anything on wheels, park it anywhere, can set anything alight, can forage for wood in dangerous and snake infested forests, swim raging rivers, leap tall buildings and oh, why did I ask?


One thing which we really do recommend is travelling with a laptop with a Telstra modem and of course having a ‘free-hour’ on your mobile phone plan. These things have been invaluable for keeping in touch with family and friends and also of course for plotting the market etc. It seems that everyone has a horror story relating to Telstra customer service, but there is no denying they are the only ones with the coverage that counts once you are out of the metro areas.


We have met lots of lovely dogs on our travels, but have to say that if you are planning on travelling with the faithful hound do be aware that many caravan parks do not allow dogs and that you will not be able to take them into National Parks thus limiting where you can go. Having said that, we prefer to stay in dog friendly parks, so that we can indulge our canine fancy and enjoy OPs.


Now just to bring you up to date on what brought us back to Perth – my son Brett and his lovely madcap wife Naomi are now the proud parents of new baby Jack, brother to almost 4yo Daniel. For anyone who hasn’t heard, we very nearly lost Naomi in the process as she had major probs with her immune system and her platelet count dropped way down – this situation was further complicated by severe gestational diabetes and general ill-health. All of this culminated in early hospitalisation and then a very close thing indeed on the operating table. Nom continues to improve now almost 2 weeks after the birth of Jack having had a couple of sever set- backs in the meantime. Jack was born at 36 weeks and weighed just over 6lb in the old weight and I think it was 3.2 ks in the ‘new’ language. He also gave us a fright when he had a regurgitation problem and turned a lovely blue colour much to the consternation of all concerned. He appears to have weathered that storm well and although still a little under his birth weight, is now doing quite nicely. Nom is still in hospital and poor old Brett is doing it pretty tough looking after Daniel (the ferocious almost 4yo) and traipsing in and out to the hospital which is a bit of a drive from their home. We have of course been involved in helping with the minding of Daniel, but in truth, probably not nearly enough to make a real difference. Sorry to say we have no photos of Jack as yet as each time we have been to the hospital it has been a problem of some sort and we just haven’t thought to take a camera with us. For those of you who love those baby photos I promise I will get some soon.


The other over-riding reason we came back to Perth early was the seeming decline of my mother’s health. It ‘s very hard to tell from phone calls just how bad someone really is, but certainly from the tone of the calls we made to mum, it did seem that she was on a downward spiral. Once we arrived home and advised her that we would only be travelling to Tasmania and then returning she was overwhelmed with relief. Since then we have had to revise even the trip to Tassie and now will wait to see just how she is before we move on.


Mother in her own inimitable style has informed me that this will be her last Christmas and that if we were to go to Tassie, we would need to be back before May 26th (her birthday) as she “will be dead by then”! This certainty has been fed by a year of very ordinary health and then by the disembodied voice of her Aunt Mary telling her that “they are waiting for her”! Hmmm, when she told me, all the hairs on the back of my neck stood to attention. I am not one to scoff at this type of thing and am more inclined to believe that than her own self diagnosed health probs.


It’s a tough call folks – mum and I have had our differences over the years, as have most mothers and daughters but I do cherish and love her very much and am not about to allow her to spend the last part of her life alone and frightened. Oh, my mother would never admit to fear of any kind, but realistically there must be fear of dying alone, even for mum. Anyway, all of that aside, I just simply won’t let her do it alone. So for the immediate duration at least, we are back in Perth. The very loose plan right now is to stay here in this park until the end of Jan/Feb and then to look for a rental still closer to mum’s. That way we can get our stuff out of storage (never should have put it there in the first place) and sort thru’ it discarding anything that we cannot put to good use.


So, as much as we yearn for the open roads and wide vistas, we are going to have to wait awhile for the next episode. We are making the best of it I have now tossed enough tinsel around the van to make it look like Christmas, even to the extreme of having DD hang some coloured lights around the van and slowly but surely we are catching up with friends and family. As the world has pretty much revolved around Nom and little Jack for the last few weeks (feels like so much longer) we are now looking around us in mild wonder that the world has continued to spin on its axis. We have managed to see my other son Troy, his wife Shelly and the two kids once since we arrived back and yesterday finally caught up with Trent (DD’s son) and his wife Dani. As Trent and Dani are less than 1 k from the van it really has taken us an inordinately long time to do this.


Oh just before I leave you all to your respective celebrations, I have a confession to make – I am really embarrassed at the quality of WA caravan parks. When we returned to Perth, we stayed initially at the Banksia CP in Hazelmere – they were charging roughly $40 per night for a powered site (and not much less for a tent site!) and really the park simply was not that good. It was looking very sad indeed maintenance wise and the ablutions were really very sad. The sites were very good, but very difficult to access as the roadways were narrow and cluttered with permanent park homes. In fact, it really was more retirement village than Caravan Park. The only real upsides were that it was dog friendly and the birdlife there was quite exceptional. From there we moved over here to the Big 4 Vineyards CP in Caversham. The park is more our style being open with plenty of grass. Once again a high proportion of chalets and park-homes, all interspersed amongst the caravan sites. We find that by doing this they manage to destroy to a large degree the lovely social aspect that permeates good caravan parks. This park is fine and the ablutions are really quite good, but they have a power problem. That is to say, when you want to boil the kettle or run the microwave, you have to turn off the aircon otherwise risk blowing the switches which can then only be reset by park management. Remember this is in the Perth metro area and to our way of thinking really inexcusable. Obviously the capital expenditure to remedy the matter has not been undertaken for whatever reason. As we are going to be here during Perth’s hottest months it should prove interesting. Other than that it seems fine here and we are close to most of the family and on the fringe of my beloved Swan Valley. The vineyards next door bring back some wonderful childhood memories.


SO................deep breath.....................................WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS, WE WISH Y...................................................... Please have a wonderful Christmas and a safe healthy happy and prosperous New Year. Lots and lots of Love, Steph & Doug.

GUSTY GREEN HEAD

Sea Grass Beds in the Bay

Retirement/Holiday Homes Hug the Bay

Pretty Little Swimming Beach

Cray Fishing Boats and Dingys at the Je

Green Head is a tiny fishing hamlet some 300 ks north of Perth (around half way between Perth and Geraldton). The town is one of several along this stretch of coast almost entirely dedicated to Cray-fishing. There is a growing population of retirees, but sadly the exorbitant price of real estate here puts it out of the range of many.


The surrounding countryside is low growing heath-lands set on mildly undulating ground. I imagine during the wild-flower season it could be very pretty, but most of the time the scenery is rather uninspiring. Even the coastline is not particularly picturesque, BUT............ and it is a big BUT, this stretch of coast is a fishing paradise. At this time of the year, the winds do make fishing any distance from shore dangerous, but the bays still offer the intrepid dingy sailor plenty of action. Most folk living here take out a Cray-fish license along with all the other mandatory fishing licenses and during the summer and autumn months enjoy feasting on this much desired shell fish. Aside from the Crays, there are plenty of other fish to be caught. Off-shore there are Snapper, Spanish Mackerel, Groper, the legendary WA Dhufish and just about any other deep sea fish you might wish to catch, closer in there are Herring (Tommy Ruffs), Pike, Mullet and many more. Fishing is both the main work and leisure pastime here.


We are here to catch up with some old friends who have built themselves a delightful holiday/retirement home here. Steve is an avid fisherman and has taken TBBITW out every day since we arrived. As we were here for the first day of the Cray-fishing season, they went out and dropped pots and have ‘pulled’ them each morning since. Sadly, they have only been rewarded with one Cray! Oh well, never mind. Mind you, we are told they are starting at $50 per kilo this season so anyone who can get one or two for themselves will be doing well. The lads have done very well however with Pike, Herring and Squid – they have had good catches of each in the bay (just from the dingy). The winds have really prohibited a great deal of off-shore fishing.


The other draw- cards here are the Sea Lion colonies that abound on the small islands off the mainland. Whilst we haven’t been out to look this time, last time we visited, Steve very kindly took us out to visit these beautiful creatures. It is a special treat to see these playful animals that come out to the boats to have a gander at us! Many people get out and swim with the sea lions and it really is wonderful to see a child and a pup interacting. They are incurably curious and will ‘play’ with people for quite some time. If you ever have the good fortune to experience swimming with the sea lions just be aware of the bulls – they are particularly protective and aggressive, especially if it is breeding season.


One of the reasons for the very healthy marine life here are the abundant sea-grass fields that thrive along this coast. Looking out to sea you can see the intricate reef systems along with the marine grasses that flourish here. Of course, the downside to this is the somewhat overwhelming odour that does waft thru’ the hamlets when the weed accumulates on shore and the heat and prevailing winds combine.


The recently completed ‘coast’ road from the Northern Suburbs of Perth runs alongside all these hamlets and makes them just so much more accessible from town. There are three of these seaside towns all within 50 ks of each other, Leeman, Green Head and Jurien and each of them has a caravan park. The park here is a bit stark, but the amenities are fine and it is quite close to the boat ramps. From a family perspective, there is a nice little beach where children can safely swim and I spotted quite a good playground when I was driving around this morning. There is a small general store here and also at Leeman, whilst Jurien (28ks south from GH) has quite good grocery shopping along with a couple of cafes.


This has been a delightful last stop before reaching the metro area and we are grateful to Steve and Sylvia for their hospitality and unfailing generosity. We have been spoilt rotten with stunning meals each evening along with a few hands of poker and plenty of good company.


If you sense that this ‘blog’ is not quite up to my usual sunny standards, you are right. Without going into too much detail, suffice to say my daughter in law (Nom) has been admitted to hospital pending the birth of her next child. The birth has been scheduled for Dec 3rd and we are now keeping our fingers crossed that all will be well and mum and bub will be fine. All prayers, kind thoughts and love will be gratefully accepted as we move thru ‘ this difficult stage. We leave here tomorrow to re-join our family.


Love each other like there is no tomorrow – Steph.

POSTSCRIPT TO KALBARRI

Well, our visit to Kalbarri has only confirmed my belief that it has to be my favourite place. I don’t know what it is exactly, but I am very much at home and at peace here. Needless to say, there are a couple of items in the Kalbarri blog which I need to re-address – serves me right for writing the blog too soon – oh well!

Firstly, there is only one IGA here. The second grocery shop is simply the Kalbarri Supermarket. Whilst it is much smaller than the IGA, the fresh produce is excellent and the service there is friendly – more than I can say for the opposition. I also forgot to mention there is a very good bakery here –if you are like me, this is probably information you would be better without!
The winds, since the first couple of days, have been mild – in fact the early mornings have been crystal clear and breathtakingly still – absolutely perfect for the early morning cuppas overlooking the river.
The booming waves crashing against the rocks – well, they have simply vanished – we have not seen a decent wave since we arrived some 13 days ago – I am told however, they were enormous the week prior to our arrival.
Special events? On one of our early morning drives out along the coastal gorges we were treated to a heart-warming display by a mother hump-back and her calf. It appeared mum was teaching the youngster how to ‘breach’. As we gazed in awe, she would lift her huge body from the water joyously crashing back down with an almighty splash – as soon as mum had shown the little one how it was done, sure enough, the baby would throw himself skywards – at first, not quite as successfully as mum, but after a little while and a bit of practice, he was in sync with mum and performing perfect little leaps. After a while, mum tired of the activity, but in true childlike manner the baby continued leaping and splashing until we finally also tired off the activity and went in search of a cuppa and morning paper. Yesterday as we were perusing the deep blue of the ocean for perhaps another sighting, we were treated to the spectacle of a pod of around 30 bottle-nose dolphins cavorting and hunting in the waters below Eagle Gorge – there seemed to be a meeting of two distinctly different groups and then an animated celebration of the reunion – once again a real treat.
We have also had a veritable feast of birds this time around. I have been re-united with my beautiful friends the magpies. We hadn’t seen a maggie since Alice – it seems they don’t like the Territory or the North West. A family has adopted the park here however and in true magpie style have been hanging around looking for a hand-out. In a small paper-bark right next to the van, we have a resident Tawny Frogmouth. Initially there were two of these nightbirds, but since the first day we have only had the one – each evening he leaves his perch in the old tree to hunt returning early each morning to daze away the day from his grey perch. The only time I have seen him remotely animated was when a ‘Ta Ta lizard’ came to drink at our water-bowl – the normally invisible eyes became giant amber orbs as he contemplated this desirable morsel. Fortunately for the Ta Ta our movement startled him and motivated his rapid escape to beneath the neighbours van. Aside from the magies and the Frogmouth there have been an abundance of birds of all sizes – we are woken every morning by the cheerful chatter (perhaps shrieking) of a largish flock of galahs that resides in the area – fortunately for us, they are not roosting immediately above our van and car. The antics of our neighbours who do have that dubious honour are hilarious. They (the neighbours) are bird lovers, but the bloke is also one of those men who are fanatical about his car and van. Since our arrival he has detailed the car twice and the van once. Yesterday afternoon he was out there with ‘rocket balloons’ trying to convince the galahs and their offspring to roost elsewhere. Needless to say, all he succeeded in doing was scaring the proverbial out of them (out of them and onto the van) whilst they flew noisily into the air and then back down again to the same tree.
We have extended our stay here until Saturday (the rate includes one free day if you book for a week) – I really don’t want to leave my little paradise but life calls!


Until next time – use your time wisely but leave time to dream – Steph.

My Morning Cuppa Tranquility

The Township of Kalbarri Nestled into the Mouth of the Murchison



Our Frogmouth Friend