What a week it has been for family and friends at home.  The fires continue to destroy lives throughout NSW and QLD.  It feels like the whole country is on fire as there are also fires in the NT and here in WA.  When will it all end!  Whilst we are comfortable in the cool temperatures of the Southern Ocean coast you poor buggers are sweltering.  Mother nature is cleansing herself.

I think I’ve said it before but I have to say it again, the government needs to listen to the aboriginals when it comes to the fire management of this country.  We had firsthand experience of their cool burns in the Northern Territory where they use a mosaic style of burn.  Burn one section this year, another section next year and then a further section the following year.  This leaves areas for wildlife to find sanctuary and the fires don’t rage they just burn quietly along giving the animals time to move ahead of it.  I sat in the car talking to Ash on the phone whilst one of these fires burned in the paddock only three metres away from me.  I was not concerned about it and when I eventually turned around and went back to camp, I drove between two fires and waved to the Aboriginal Rangers who were making sure the fire didn’t go too far. It also doesn’t destroy the microbes in the soil like the fires that are burning and destroying everything in their path in the east at the moment.  The mosaic fires see the vegetation regenerate quickly to provide feed and new seedlings but the types of fires that are burning in the east will not see life for many years.  We saw how these raging fires destroy everything when we lived through the fires in Canberra.  The bush was silent and still for many years after the fires, no birds, no animals, no life, pretty sad.  Listen to the first nations people, they’ve managed it for thousands of years successfully.

Now I’ll hop off my soapbox!

Monday, we left Wave Rock and drove to Fitzgerald National Park.  On the way we passed through Ravensthorpe and Hopetoun.  The drive along the coast in the National Park was simply spectacular.  The rugged coast line together with the beautiful turquoise water was stunning.  

The flora in the area is strange to say the least, you’d think we stepped back in time and were now mixing with the dinosaurs.  There is a species of banksia (we think because it looks like banksia features) though it looks like the prototype of the current plant.  Only this one grows straight up with leathery leaves with spikes on the ends and the seed pods are hidden right down amongst the leaves, maybe to stop dinosaurs from eating them.   They appear all over the place in one section of the park and they give a very ancient feel to the place.  We felt like we’d stepped onto a new emerging planet.

There are other plants that are peculiar as well.  There is a species we spied, that looks like one from the Time Travellers guide to Australia series.  It appears to be a fern at first glance but it’s not, and I could go on about more plants but I’ll bore you. Suffice to say it is a very strange place indeed, but very beautiful.

• 

• 

We stopped at cave beach and you can see the rock strata very clearly where it has been pushed upright and it also appears to be torn.  The signboard says that this place is a good example of where Australia ripped away from Antarctica many moons ago.  The sea was 80 metres higher than it currently is and only the tips of the mountains were above water.

We stayed for a couple of nights at Hammersley’s inlet, a National Park camp.  The first night there were quite a few of us but the second night there was only us and one other couple.  There’s a lot of wildlife here, kangaroos feeding on bushes outside our van and even a Mallee fowl that wandered through camp on the second evening.  It was so quiet; it didn’t care that we were there and Ian following to photograph it.  The bird life was abundant and really nice to hear the different calls.

• 

• 

On our second day we drove down to the inlet to have look and drove out onto the sand.  There was a Kangaroo not far up the beach standing looking out to the water, a sight you don’t see too often.  Were we were camped was at the end of the bitumen road and a dirt road that will take you across to the highway, but between where we were and Bremmer Bay to the west, there is only wilderness.  We drove up to the lookout on the dirt road and the view was amazing.  Wilderness spread out in front of us.

We visited Caves beach as mentioned before and Hammersley’s beach and a couple of other beaches to view the coast line.  I wasn’t feeling so good that day and was completely exhausted by 9.30am so we went back to camp.  I slept for two hours, had lunch and read in the sun and then slept for another two hours and then dinner and back to bed.  I was feeling similar on Friday, I’m hoping like hell I don’t have the Barmah Forest Virus which is a bit like Ross River virus.  I think I’ll have to go back to work to get healthy again, I’ve never been so unwell as I have in this past 10 months. Now Ian possibly has it, so must just be a virus we picked up somewhere, not to hard to do when you’re travelling.

• 

• 

On Wednesday we filled up with water at Hopetoun and took the Southern Ocean Road towards Esperance.  It was bitumen for some of the way and then a rough dirt track (we took the wrong road Grommet).   After bouncing along for about 50 kms and not finding the camps we were looking for we made a turn that took us across to the road we were supposed to be on, but still couldn’t find the camps.  We saw country the we wouldn’t have seen otherwise and the wildflowers were beautiful to see growing on the sides of the road.  Wildflower season is a lot later down this way and the flowers are quite different altogether.  

• 

• 

So, a change of plan again.  We headed for the highway and turned towards Esperance.  About 80kms west of Esperance we turned toward the coast on another corrugated dirt road and drove 7kms into Stokes National Park.  What a lovely park.  There is dense foliage and each site is very private – separated by thick scrub.

The camp hosts were Des and his Vietnamese wife Tanya, what a live wire Tanya was.  She thought I was European for some reason.  They were a lovely couple and we joined them and other campers every afternoon for happy hour.

The inlet is a vast body of water that gets blocked off from the ocean from time to time and it was blocked off whilst we were there because the waters edge came up above the tree line leaving the poor melaleucas up to their knees in water.  It makes for a very pretty sight though.  The fishing is good here we are told and Tanya raved about the place and all the fish you can catch.  She caught a couple of massive crabs one morning and had a photo taken with them, she had her arms in the air holding on to the nippers and the body of it covered her abdomen.  She told us where to go to be guaranteed to catch a fish, but we didn’t fish, Ian can’t bring himself to kill the poor things, neither can I.  We took a drive up to the area she told us about to have a look on the Thomas River.

• 

• 

On the second evening before going to happy hour I told Ian I was going to the loo and wouldn’t be long, well I was back faster than you can say Jack Rabbit.  I was walking up the path through the bush and came to a dead stop because just in front of me about two metres away was the biggest brown snake I’ve ever seen, curled up.  I said “Oh X*$&##…” and took two steps backwards then turned and quickly walked away.  The guy in the camp next to us heard me telling Ian so he went and threw sticks at it to get it off the path.  Ian though, he was champing at the bit to get to it and photograph it, but I forbid him. 

The next morning I wasn’t going to walk to the loos on my own so I had Ian come with me and I was showing him where the snake was, I was about a foot away (and I had my Japanese riding boots on) and I spied the snake with its head sitting there watching us, this time I quickly took Ians arm and moved at lightning speed far away.  I’m told it was a King Brown and everyone agreed that it was massive.  They said if it had bitten anyone you wouldn’t have stood a chance.   So – what does Ian do, when I’m busy back at the van he takes the camera and sneaks back to take photos, what is wrong with him, is he on fast forward to the grave or something!  First its crocodiles he can’t keep away from, now its snakes.

Being national parks, you can’t kill them.  Ian reckoned it had a belly full of babies and so Des said he thinks he’ll have to do something about it.

We spent a lot of time painting here, it was so peaceful and quiet.  The little birds would flit around and come visit and whilst I was outside quietly painting on Thursday two stumpy tail lizards crawled into camp and came right over near me to eat some bread Ian had put out.  They weren’t the slightest bit scared of me.  I was able to get up and go inside for stuff a couple of times and they didn’t care they just kept on munching.  I watched them for ages, they shared the food and there was one that was obviously the leader and the other followed along.  They were so cute.

• 

• 

Friday we moved to Esperance and set up camp at the Council caravan park right on the water and it’s not expensive.  The tap water is foul to taste, so for the first time (after enduring crap water and becoming dehydrated as a result) I insisted that we buy bottled water to drink. The park has Great views and cool breezes coming off the water.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t well again today so I spent the day in bed sleeping.

Sunday dawned hot, 40 degrees today, but its not like 40 degrees at home, there’s no humidity so its reasonable.  We decided to do a loop drive along the Southern Ocean drive.  My god, how stunning!  The beaches to the west of Esperance are something you’d expect to see in heaven.  The colour was sublime with the gorgeous sparkling turquoise on white sand, there aren’t enough words to describe the beauty of it.  I can see now why everyone raves about the beauty of Esperance.  The water is so inviting you just want to jump in.  Some people were swimming but there are signs everywhere warning of sharks, we didn’t see any but the water is so clear you see them coming a mile off.

There are numerous islands off the coast in the archipelago, all rocky, some with patches of green.  This is how the Fitzgerald National Park would have looked when Australia split away from Antarctica and before the oceans retreated.  Its pretty to look at.

Ian: Paint and canvas were running this week, with both of us taking the luxury of freedom and time to follow our passion for creative art. It’s really heartening and nice to see more native animals in the bush…and also in our camp! The snakes and lizards are more plentiful down this part of WA. Which of course means they hang out on pathways – just waiting for lonely women to come along and then hiss at them, to hear the terrified screams! Haha. Little known that they have a good sense of humour😊

The traveling has been quite rough for the caravan in getting here to remote Esperance. WA government don’t seem to keep up with the maintenance of their gravel roads. The increase in Roo populations is an added stressor when travelling the highways with Van in tow, because I just wouldn’t be able to pull up our 5 tonnes of metal in time, particularly when travelling at 100 Kms and of course, swerving is not an option. So, we travel only during the day and keep to a safer speed. This is something to keep in mind when crossing the Nullarbor in February…Only the grey matter challenged, would consider crossing in the hottest month of summer?  perhaps it will only be a cool day at 45 ºC!

Next week we plan to go further east along the coast to Cape Le Grande and have been told that the views a very spectacular down that way, keeping a vigilant eye on the fire situation of course.

Until next week stay safe everyone – these are difficult times.

Courage is the willingness to act in spite of fear.  –  Michael Hyatt

Greetings earthlings

Warning: Lots of photos this week!

Well, the housesitting job has finished at Cardup and we had a great time there looking after the animals and just generally recharging the batteries.  Monday and Tuesday we spent in camp painting which we always enjoy.  Wednesday we ventured into Fremantle again, this time with the battery in the camera.

We wandered around the streets marveling at all the old buildings that have been kept.  They just don’t know how to build anymore, there is no character to buildings, they are just boxes mostly.  An American cruise ship was in dock and there were lots of Americans walking around with cameras around their necks so we didn’t feel out of place. 

We checked out a bookshop that was part of the Notre Dame University looking for Christmas gifts for each other but nothing took our fancy, then we wandered over the road to a second hand bookshop that had some interesting books but they were more expensive than the new ones in the shop across the road, I think they saw us coming.  No books were purchased. 

Morning tea was at Culley’s café, the same place we went to last week.  This time there was an old guy playing guitar and singing songs from our era, he was really good and we enjoyed the impromptu concert.  I threw some coins in his guitar case as we walked past and he insisted that he play me some songs that I liked.  I told him he had already played my song “Layla” but I requested some Fleetwood Mac songs.  We sat opposite him in the mall and listened to him sing and sang along to some of them.  It was a really great atmosphere with us singing and others stopping to listen as well, such fun.

After our morning walking around Fremantle we drove over to Cottesloe beach for fish and chips for lunch eaten in the car because it was windy and cold.  We watched the council erecting the shark net off the beach ready for summer.  Not many people were swimming here because of the sharks, they are hoping that people will come back this summer with the new shark nets. 

We were heading for Kings park for another look around when we spied a “Hamptons” style interior design shop on the way so we just had to stop and have a look.  We’ve decided that we are going to redecorate the house when we get home in the Hamptons style, it will really suit our house and we like the freshness of it.  The lady who owned the shop was Irish and so down to earth, I was expecting some rich snooty woman going on the classy look of the shop.  But this lady was really nice and we spent ages talking to her and she let us take photos of her styling in the shop to give us ideas on how to decorate when we get home.

• 

• 

Kings park was nice, we went to the park for families where they have made statues of Australian animals from prehistoric times.  They were fun and there was the biggest crocodile that if you saw it in real life you have nightmares for the rest of your life.  We were naughty and had an ice cream in the shade of a tree as a treat.

• 

• 

Thursday was shopping day and packing up the van so it was busy and Friday Warren and Tracey returned from their holiday.  The dogs seemed to sense that we were leaving and were cuddling up for pats and hugs whilst we were having a cuppa and getting all the low down on their trip. 

It has been lovely looking after the dogs, and strangely enough we still have Boof with us, he shed copious amounts of fur and it gets into everything.  We will be finding fur for a long time, I think.  We enjoyed the chickens and the antics of the little horses as well.

We stayed in Brookton on Friday night, a town of only 400 people.  The caretaker of the council caravan park was very generous and wouldn’t even let Ian unhitch to go into town, he insisted that he take his ‘vintage’ car.  Not many people are that trusting.

Saturday, we headed off for Hyden and Wave Rock.  We drove through 200 kilometres of wheat country.  What a difference a couple of months makes.  When we were down this way in early September the fields were bright green and yellow with the canola, now they are straw coloured with matured wheat and hay being bailed in massive amounts, probably destined for the farmers in NSW and QLD.

On the journey out to Hyden we spontaneously took a detour through Kulin to view the “Tin Horse Highway”.  They have a great sense of humour out here, they appear to compete with each other to come up with the best Tin Horse sculpture along the road.  All properties took part with loads of sculptures along the way, unfortunately it was difficult photographing them from the car and if we were to stop, we’d never get to Hyden.  It was worth the detour and we also saw a bit of the country we wouldn’t have otherwise seen.

• 

• 

• 

• 

We decided to camp at Wave Rock itself.  It has been a really hot day, it got to 38 degrees here and they were expecting fires from the coast this far inland, but fortunately none eventuated.  We spent the afternoon snoozing and playing Chess, in the late afternoon we walked about 300 metres to the Wave Rock. It is quite amazing and huge, like massive.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We got up at 5.30am on Sunday to walk the rock, the sun was already high in the sky but the air was cool thankfully.  Hyden rock, which it is called is a granite rock that has been sculpted by water over eons of time, forming the well-known Wave.   The rock actually looks like the ancients did a heap of wood chipping and then rolled all this in mud and left it to petrify, truly that’s what it looks like. Obviously, that’s not the case, but a good imagination helps to brighten an otherwise dry subject.

The view from the top is extraordinary, way out over the wheat fields.  There is a water course still visible that was running back in the Cambrian age.  It’s very clear from the top.

We were the only ones up there at that time of the morning, except for an errant little bunny.

After breakfast we decided to go an have a look at Hippos Yarn and Magic Lake.   Magic lake is so called because when it is full the water is crystal clear with gypsum at the bottom.  Well today we found it far from clear, it was a bright yellow green, and close up it was acid yellow.   We’ve now seen lakes that were bright blue, bright pink, bright green/yellow and bright white.  This country sure is colourful. There is obviously some sort of bacteria in the lake to make it go this colour, but people still go out on it in kayaks, not sure we would.

Hippo’s Yarn definitely looks like a hippos yarn, complete with tonsils.

The Humps were another granite outcrop on the landscape and Mulka’s Cave where the aborigines painted their hands on the ceiling was pretty cool, literally, it would be about 5 degrees cooler in there than outside. The hand prints are a bit difficult to see as the ceiling is low and accessible to modern hands.  It’s a shame they haven’t protected it better.

• 

• 

Some of you may have already read this on facebook but I thought I’d repeat it here given the enormity of the devastating fires that have been raging in NSW and QLD.  The fires of the Gold Coast Hinterland, around Casino and Grafton and my cousins fighting to save their homes outside Kempsey are particularly very poignant for us and our hearts goes out to all those affected.

I love a sunburnt country, a land of sweeping plains.

But I’ve gotta tell ya mate, I like it when it rains.

The countryside is dying and there’s just no end in sight,

And just to rub salt in the wounds, the bush has caught alight.

The landscape is on fire from Brisbane to the Gong

And everyone’s asking “where the hell did we go wrong?

But we can get through this one if we help each other out,

Take care of your neighbour that’s what Aussies are about.

The rain is going to fall again, the good times will return.

But living in Australia means at times it’s going to burn.

So if you need a helping hand, just give a mate a call.

We’re all here to help you out and catch you when you fall.

The RFS, the SES, the Firey’s and police, all put their lives upon the line to help to keep the peace.

So hats off to these hero’s and thanks for all you do.

And I hope when this is over we can make it up you!

By Troy Gerdes

Ian: The weather all over our sunburnt country is showing the adverse effects of the earth’s climate changing in our life-time. Whether you believe in a natural cyclical event, or that we are all responsible – or not; the fact is, many species are going to disappear in your lifetime! – Just this morning, we saw some more really sad sights of mature trees and shrubs dead or dying through excessive prolonged heat, salinity, stress related diseases (eg Pytophera) and over cultivation…so distressing….but then, geological/ice records show that it’s all happened many times before? (Antarctic ice core records for instance)

In stark contrast to the bush, I will be so glad to finally get down to the southern WA coast again, where there is always abundant birdlife, cool breezes and lovely Antarctic cold front swells, sending large waves crashing onto the shore-line; I can truly appreciate what all the Surfies love!  So then unsurprisingly, we are both looking forward to our Christmas stay at Albany. 😊

The flies …once again, are horrific here at the rock…even more so than around the horses at Cardup! They must all have small iPhones and contact/text each other whenever a humid-human is in their territory – they seem to swarm out of the vast ӕther… #**&%^#$!! Fly nets are back on our hats again.

As Leila iterated, Freemantle is quite a town! It’s very well preserved by a forward-thinking gaggle of people…so obviously not a council project 😊; a large proportion of the city is kept and maintained with the love and care of a meticulous Antiques Collector. A lot of us Ozzies would have had great/grandparents who had landed here, being the first Australian port-o’-call after departing Britain and Europe, back in time when beautiful sailing ships rounded the African Cape and headed out into the windy Indian Ocean, with only 6000Kms to reach the Quokka infested islands of the WA coast…….sorry about the sea-sickness Squire! Hehe.

I marveled at the beautiful old sandstone and granite buildings adorning the narrow streets of Freemantle town. Somehow it captures the imagination and I could see tall sailing ships in the busy dock with men hauling goods on to the wharves along with horse drawn wagons, dogs barking, the strong smell of the sea amongst other less savory odours!  The streets uptown would have echoed the sounds of cart wheels grinding along cobbled pavement, the old retired sailor playing sea shanties for a coin on his concertina (possibly not in concert pitch) along with children running amuck on the rough footpaths. Ladies in their crinolines not noticing the 40ºC heat! A busy place it would have been and very foreign to the new-folk from cooler climes in the northern hemisphere. Of course, there was always a convict ship mooring with it’s cargo of poor unfortunate wretches, who were sent to labor in the sun with chains chinking, building infrastructure for the more privileged; what a strange lot we humans are? Either way, the end result for us the modern generation of Australians, is that we can now enjoy and appreciate the fruits of our ancestors labours.      

So until next week folks, stay safe and cool and we hope the fires are out soon with no more loss of life or property.

Even the darkest night will end and the sun will rise.  – Victor Hugo

Greeting devoted blogites

Not much happening again this week, just hanging around the farm mostly.

Monday, we decided we’d go into Fremantle and take some shots of the beautiful old buildings in there.  When we arrived, I asked Ian if he had put the camera battery back in the camera because I know I didn’t.  The answer was no, so there are no photos to show you this week.

We did however go ahead and explore the town.  We made good use of the two free bus lines that Fremantle offer.  There is nowhere to park in the city and if you were able to find a park it costs a fortune for a small amount of time, so we parked right at the end of one of the lines and caught the bus.  I had an interesting conversation with a couple on their way to the hospital to get their meds, they were a lovely couple and I learnt all about the lady’s family history.  It was really nice to interact with them, most probably wouldn’t but I decided I would.  Such pure spirits who have become a little troubled in this crazy world.

Everywhere you walk in Fremantle there are old old buildings from the days when it was a bustling port for all sorts of things from exporting goods, to receiving convicts for prisons or to build the state.  A great use of a lot of the old buildings is the Notre Dame University, they utilize a lot of them.  Your free to walk around just as if you were there for shopping, they even had Uni shops that were available to the public, great way to recycle. 

We visited a couple of galleries in town and then took the bus to the Fremantle Arts Centre which is the old Lunatic Asylum and supposedly the most haunted place in Australia.  We didn’t feel anything there, but it was day time.  We were told that some people come through the door and turn around and leave because it is too much.   There were a lot of mums and bubs picnicking on the lawns of the facility, it was a great spot to just come and enjoy the day, but if there really are so many spirits floating around I’m not sure I’d bring my very open young children here.

Most of the week was just spent looking after the animals and painting.  Ian mowed the lawn around the house and the shed because I saw a brown snake moving flat out across the gravel about three metres behind the chair that Ian was sitting in outside our van.  Boof spied it at the same time as I did and immediately got up to chase it, fortunately I was able to call him back, but Ian leapt out of his chair and took off after it, god knows why.  The term Hero is just a tongue in cheek title, it’s not real Ian.

We ventured into Armadale for some shopping and stopped by a local Art hub where the people were really welcoming.  We spoke to a lady who is known for her abstract paintings of the Kimberly and she showed us her work in progress and told us about her process.  There were a couple of very large pastel paintings on the wall by guy (can’t remember his name, but he’s a local), that were so good you feel like you just want to step into the water of his coastal scenes, they were amazing.  We had a cuppa and a piece of the most scrumptious hemp and ginger cake, it was so good, no THC in it though thankfully, we would have had trouble getting home.  I’m writing about this little shop because the experience and interaction with the shop staff was so profound.  We’ve been finding that of late, people really engaging with us and being really friendly and speaking of the most out there stuff.

Saturday we went to the Armadale Art Society’s annual exhibition.  Again we met some amazing people and had some great conversations.  One of the ladies who was selling hand painted programs and who we had engaged in conversation, came up to me and gave me one with a painting of Rottnest Island for free and told me it was to remember our holiday here.  How lovely is that.  The paintings on display were a mix of beginners to experienced artists and some of the work was simply outstanding.  We both voted for a painting of the Kimberly with boab trees and the wonderful skyline of the spectacular landscape.

After that we decided we’d visit the home display village in Byford to get some ideas for our place.  Well, it took us an hour and half to view four houses.  Every sales person in each house we met struck up a conversation with us and we talked about everything possible except buying one of their houses.  One was a girl of 19 who has already packed a couple of careers into her life.  She has completed her electrician’s apprenticeship which she started at 16, started a midwifery course and is now successfully selling real estate for developers, what a together girl she was, an old soul I’d say who has much to achieve before she’s finished.

Today has been quiet, the sun is shining again after a week of rain that made the place into a quagmire, the good thing about the sandy soils here is that it all drains away pretty quickly.

• 

• 

Well that’s it for this week, not sure what next week will bring, the housesit is supposed to come to an end next week but we aren’t sure whether they want to extend or not so we may be somewhere else next Sunday when we post.

Cheerio and stay well.

Forget about dancing like no ones watching, Dance like a toddler.  They don’t even care if there’s no music.

Greetings all

Monday I caught up with an old school mate for lunch in Mundijong tavern.  Mick and his wife Mickey were a delight to share lunch with and catch up with Mick. 

Mick’s sister is Patricia, so I think you will know who I am talking about Stephen, I think you went to school with her (Trish).  I don’t like to publish people’s surnames because this gets posted on the internet for anyone to see, so a riddle for some.

Mick was one of the large group of friends I had in high school and we were a close-knit group.  It’s always great to catch up with one another.  We spent four and half hours over lunch and a few beers, Ian joined us after lunch for about an hour, it was a very enjoyable afternoon.  Mickey asked us at one stage how long we have known each other and we both said since third class when we were 7 or 8 which makes it 50 years, we were amazed.  We will be getting together again in January when we are housesitting closer to their place.

Wednesday we were able to spend the whole day at home and we had a great day painting.  I completely finished one painting in a day which is a first for me, I usually take much longer, and I’m rather pleased with it.  Ian started painting a portrait of Chester and he’s doing a great job of it as well, it’s beautiful.

­Thursday, we went to meet the owner of the next house-sitting job in January, this time in the north of Perth at Jane Brook.  It’s a beautiful property and we will feel very pampered living there in the heat of January.  More on that chapter next year.

We also went to Curtin University so I could speak to Student Services about reenrolling next year.  It is a huge Uni with some really interesting buildings.  Some were very modern built at odd angles and the School of Medicine building was a beautiful white and glass building which would be a joy to study in.  The Administrative area had a number of buildings that looked particularly medieval.  There were loads of students and uni activities going on, it is a very vibrant and happening place.  I got the news I wanted from them and I’m on track for starting study in Fine Arts again next June with the units I’ve already done being still honoured and counting towards the degree.

The microwave in the van packed it in this week which triggered a trip to Rockingham, a sea side town about half and hour from here.  The beach front is pretty across from the shopping area but when you look north you can see loads of gas refineries with wharves going out to sea to huge buildings built out there.   Across from the town is Garden Island.  We thought, oh great, lets go and have a look, there were plenty of cars coming and going across the long causeway and arched bridge but when we rocked up to the checkpoint they told us we couldn’t go out there because it was a military base.  Stirling Naval base to be exact, darn, we had to put our tail between our legs and crawl back the way we came.  We have been told that China or North Korea (I can’t remember which one) has a nuclear bomb pointed at Rockingham due to the base being there.  I hope like hell that doesn’t happen, particularly whilst we are here, lol.

• 

• 

• 

• 

There was a sculpture festival being held in Rockingham over the weekend and we were there on Friday whilst they were setting up.  Its in the same vein as Sculptures by the Sea held at Currumbin every year, only not as big.  We sat on the foreshore watching them set up and the goings on on the water and the beach for a while.  Some of the sculptures were really good, I particularly liked the Boab tree and the ducks.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The chooks are on to us, the girls always lay their eggs in one spot and I made the mistake the other day of not feeding them their wheat and greens before getting the eggs and they met me at the door.  They narrowed their beady little eyes as I stole their eggs, five in all.  Today when we went to get the eggs, there were none in the nest, but one was on the floor, hmmm, something fishy was going on here because we heard five of them laying eggs today, where were they hiding them.  As a sleuth I went on the search, surprisingly I found one in the other laying box where they haven’t deposited them for some time, hmm, where are the other three?  I looked deep into the hen house and spied three beautiful glowing eggs buried deep in the hay in the far side of the hen house.  I tried to get them from the outside, but no go.  I went inside the small hen house and tried to get them from the tiny door, but to no avail.  The chooks have beaten me, they outsmarted me, which I find difficult to believe.  I left the chook house to the sound of sniggering ringing in my ears.   Look out chooks, you haven’t won yet, tomorrow I’ll pull out the big guns and slide your sneaky eggs out. Hahahahahah!

Crazy chook Woman! 🙂 – its good being here for a while and enjoying the ‘farm’ I am catching up on some of the maintenance at last. The poor old caravan finally had a bath, after nearly 9 months and many thousands of miles of water famished caravan stops!! The bull-dust seems to have found its way into every nook and cranny, including all the sealed sections of our van and truck.

Its 35ºC + here at Cardup today and we are spending the afternoon sheltering in our air-con. I suppose we have to expect a hot summer over here, especially when the usual easterly (like today) blows in off the desert! Really, I can’t complain because I’ve had a fairly cool run since leaving Victoria; why people wish to travel around Oz clockwise, through here and up to the Territory beats me? because they are forever travelling into the heat! So instead of being in Fitzroy Crossing in June with comfortable 25ºC weather, they would be there now and sweltering in 45 -50ºC humid heat-waves!…..and then moving on to steamy Darwin… Crock-Town, ‘where the ducks fly backwards to keep the dust out of their eyes’!…why? Its been a hell of a year all-round in our broad country; I hear some towns are now running out of water!…so, maybe the Tugun ‘white-elephant’ water desalination plant in Queensland, will finally be taken out of hibernation and get to work for Brisbane and the Gold Coast? 😊

Next week we will be doing some more exploring so more stories than in the past two weeks to tell.  Stay tuned, see ya next week.

I never lose, I either win or I learn.

Hi there great bloggers

This week has been fairly uneventful, but we shall record it anyway.

On Monday we decided to move from the free camp at Marrinup Townsite because the couple who were living there were behaving in a very peculiar fashion late on Sunday afternoon and we heard some loud banging coming from their van during the night.  Intuition said, ‘get the hell out of here’, so we heeded it and left for another free camp in Jarrahdale first thing Monday morning. 

The Jarrahdale camp was on an old sawmill site, very clean on the edge of the town.  There were quite a few vans in so we settled in for a quiet day and night.

Tuesday, we arrived at Cardup where we will be housesitting for the next three plus weeks.  We spent the next couple of days going over the routine with the owners Warren and Tracy before they left on Thursday.  They are a lovely couple who clearly love their animals.

All the animals are rescue animals of some description;

“Boof” is a cream coloured Labrador of about 7 years old.  He is a lovely old dog, very affectionate and follows me around everywhere. Boof is an ex companion dog whose owner lived in a very unsuitable environment for such a large dog.

“Panda” is a border collie of about 8 years old.  Panda is constantly on alert; he is the security detail of the family.  A beautiful dog who enjoys a good cuddle. Panda was rescued from death at the vets at the very last minute, they were ready to inject.  I can’t imagine why anyone would want to put down such a lovely dog, particularly when there was nothing wrong with him.

“Cherry” is a miniature pony who only comes up to my hip.  She is a funny little thing who likes her food and will guts it down quick smart. Cherry had some severe health problems when they got her but she is much improved with the loving care she has been receiving.

“Charlie” is a miniature horse, who also only comes up to my hip, who lets Cherry walk all over him to the point where Cherry will steal his food if he doesn’t finish before her, which is most of the time.

“The chooks”, there are five chooks, three brown ones, a lovely speckled brown one and my favourite, the black chook who’s feathers have either a green or purple sheen to them when the sun hits the glossy black feathers, depending on which way she is facing. All the chooks are ex battery hens who are now allowed to live their lives peacefully and happily pecking away in a huge hen house.

Warren and Tracey are good souls taking in these animals that no one else cared about and they all have such lovely personalities and are a delight to care for.

This lot keep us pretty busy with their feeding regime and then there is the watering of the garden to attend to.  Its not hard work and its enjoyable, so no complaints from us.  The only thing is I have discovered that I have a severe allergy to hay, I can’t stop sneezing and my eyes continually water so its antihistamines for me.  I can’t handle the hay so poor Ian has to do that part of the feeding whilst I prepare their bucket food.  Ian has also developed a bit of an allergy but he has been sneezing at all the pollen over here for a while now.

The horses are funny in that they know when feed time is and will stand at the fence looking at us until we bring the food over.  Ian made the mistake of putting down Charlies feed bucket and then taking the hay to their shed the other day, well, Charlie didn’t know which to get to first.  He ran flat out towards the hay then stopped half way there and looked back, realizing there was something good in the bucket so he ran back, but oh no, the hays better so he turned and started running to the hay again, but the bucket won out.  It was funny to watch his indecision.

Ian and I have had doctors’ appointments this week now that we are settle for a while and blood tests.  Ian was able to get his tooth that he split fixed on the bulk billed dental plan over here.  They bulk billed 75% of the bill which was great, it saved us heaps and he got in the day after applying for it.

Well that’s the lot for this week folks, next week there may be a bit more to tell you, until then, stay well.

In my dream world, art supplies are free and painting makes you thin. – Colour in your life.

Greetings Bloggites

This week we have done very little.  We left Woodman Point in Fremantle on Monday morning and drove back down south to Mandurah. I have been suffering from a cold for the last few days so I was not feeling too energetic.

We visited a huge shopping centre called “The Forum” which was close to our camp to stock up on some supplies and couldn’t believe the sheer size of the place.  It was three blocks long and you walked up one strip and then down the other, all indoors.

Mandurah is a rather wealthy town, there are lots of canals and every house that fronts them is mansion.  Huge houses everywhere, not just on the canals.  Mandurah sits on the estuary of the river so there are lots of bridges from one piece of land to the other.  The foreshore of the town is on the estuary not the beach and it has been developed beautifully.  The estuary feeds Peel Inlet which is said to be twice the size of Sydney harbour.  We didn’t believe this until we went for a scenic drive along the estuary and yep, it’s pretty big.

On that same drive we visited Lake Clifton to see the “Thrombolites” these are the fresh water equivalent of Stromatolites.   Ancient living beings so rare in the world that they are only in a few places on the earth and most of them are on the west coast of Australia.

• 

• 

Friday, we ventured out to the Caravan and Camping show which was a waste of time mostly.  We did purchase a new reversing camera for the car because Ian fried the original one when he came near the camera at the back.  He has lots of electricity jumping from his finger tips all the time and often blows things by accident with just a tiny spark.

The rest of the time we have been sitting round the camp at the caravan park.  We got our art things out whilst here, always guaranteed to attract the curious.  Quite a number of people came to speak to us to see what we were doing. Its interesting how painting is attractive to most people.

Ian has been splashing paint around for a couple of days trying to paint clouds and on Friday afternoon we were sitting having a drink discussing what he’d done.  He wasn’t very happy with it so he turned it upside down and ‘voila’, a miracle happened.  His entire world opened up because what he had painted in the positive was exactly what he has been striving for when turned into the negative, a very surreal painting of another world, or under the sea, or a swamp, you could make anything out of it.  Now he has it, he intends to develop the technique.  It’s really cool.

Whilst we were cooking dinner one night a bandicoot was in front of our car eating some pine nuts that we threw out.  The Kids in the camp were most intrigued with it.  Saturday morning the bandicoot was out in the morning sunshine finishing up the nuts, most unusual to see it out in the daylight.  It was rather chunky, it seems he’s well fed here in the park.

Saturday morning we moved camp to a free National Parks camp at Marrinup Townsite Campground.  Its in the bush and there isn’t any actual town, we think it may have been the site for a temporary townsite in the second world war because there is a POW site just nearby.

There were a lot of people camped here last night which was really nice.  A number of camp fires burning and dinners cooking on them.  It was really cold though, too cold to sit outside. I don’t know how the people in tents get on, it was freezing.  We had the quilt I made and our Canberra woollen doona on the bed and it was only just enough.  We’ve been meaning to buy a thermometer this entire trip and still we haven’t done it.  I think yesterday and last night have to be the coldest we’ve had it yet.

Most campers were packed up and left before we even woke at 7am so Sunday morning is rather peaceful.

Sunday morning we hear the sound of a steam train echoing through the forest, there’s nothing quite like it, the camp site is only about 500 metres from the railway line.  We could get down to see the train in the morning but when it came back in the afternoon we took off when we heard the whistle the first time.  It was a lovely old steam train that was cheating a bit with a diesel engine behind the locomotive to help push it.  I was only talking to Rodney a day ago and he requested some photos of trains, well this one’s for you Rodney.

Ian: Cold spring it is this year, the temperatures are quite low here for this time of year!…although we spoke to sister Doodee this morning and it seems to be cold in the northern rivers as well? We left our site in the bush at Marrinup this morning and ventured on through the Perth foothills enjoying more wildflowers on the roadside; we have been very fortunate to have followed the flower trail for months starting up north at Karatha. The wildlife is still scarce in this region! It seems they have struggled to survive recent heat, food and water shortage – even though (here) its green and cool here now?

This last week, the paints and pencils have literally flowed! And we have achieved a little more for the portfolios😊Its not easy being a Gypsy and keeping the ‘tiny house’ tidy, with canvases and books all over the van! When its warmer, at least I can work outside under the awning and spread out tripod, palette, paints and associated stuff. Leila generally hides inside (only when it’s cold). I can’t believe how we took our massive Banora house space for granted! How spoilt we were/are to have enjoyed so much room.

This next week house/animal sitting at Cardup is going to allow me to catch up with general vehicle maintenance and fitting the new reverse mirror/camera. I find it difficult seeing behind the elevated truck tray when backing, due to a huge pile of stuff obscuring rear vision and also the high-rise suspension fitted. The new camera kit is supposedly compatible with the Colorado CANBUS (car computer) system? – ‘Good old GMH’ want to charge a fortune just to plug into their factory computer!! ….#**^%^##*….not to mention further costs for parts! ….Gee, I wonder why they failed in the motor industry? Hence our decision to retrofit.

That’s about it for a relatively quiet week living this nomadic laid-back life on the road😊We hope to see you again next week from Cardup just down the track.

• Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and yet the life of the candle shall not be shortened; Love and happiness never diminish by being shared.     Gautama the Buddha

So Rodney, here are the train photos I promised and a few trams thrown in for good measure;

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

Greetings Blogger Friends

Look out Quokka island here we come, and what a beautiful day it turned on for us.  Calm seas, clear blue skies and lovely warm weather.

Rottnest Island is about 19 kilometres off the mainland, you can see it from Fremantle beach but not from our beach at Woodman Point about 10 kilometres south.  It was once connected to the mainland but when the sea levels rose it was cut off leaving the Quokkas stranded.

There are colonies of Quokkas on the mainland in the southwestern corner of WA, but the Rottnest Quokkas can’t be introduced to increase the populations due to genetic changes that have occurred in the population that would kill the mainland Quokkas.

There is no fresh water on Rottnest so the Quokkas have adapted to obtaining all their water needs from the plants that grow there.  Not a bad adaptation really given the dry hot conditions that can hit in the summer months.  They have no predators on the island also, its Quokka paradise.

They have to be the cutest little creatures I’ve ever seen, like tiny kangaroos that have this perpetual smile courtesy of the shape of their mouths.  They are really quiet and will come right up to you hoping you have some goodies to feed them.  We were lucky with our timing because a lot of the babies are big enough to be outside the Mumma’s pouches and if cute could be any cuter then these little guys are.  We watched some grazing on the grass and others still suckling from mum.  They have no fear of humans, a lot of these activities take place in the main plaza under tables and where people walk, but they are pretty cool, just ignoring the lumbering humans.

Ashleigh had a field day and took heaps of Quokka photos in an attempt to get that elusive smiling face.  She did manage to get a great selfie with one little guy which I love.   Ian and I didn’t get a selfie because you have to practically lie down on the ground to do it because they are so small and our knees wouldn’t support us getting back up again so easily.

We took the hop on hop off bus around the island, twice.  We jumped off at a stop early on the first round to admire the beautiful bays and boats moored in the shallows.  Then we walked around to a favourite swimming beach called Little Salmon bay which was just glorious and lots of teenagers hanging out playing music.  It was a public holiday in WA the day we went out there. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

After a walking tour to view the Quokka’s back at the main town of Thompson and some lunch we jumped on the bus again to head up to the very outer tip of the island to a place called Cathedral Bay.  There were seals and sea lions basking in the shallow waters with two flippers held up in the air.  It was a peculiar sight and apparently, they do this for fun.

By the time the last boat left at 5.30pm we were pretty tired, but we all enjoyed our day immensely.  It was Ashleigh’s early Christmas present to Ian and I and it was a great one, thanks Ash.

On Tuesday we drove up to Two Rocks which is a little town right on the very northern tip of Perth.  The Two Rocks were interesting in the gorgeous turquoise sea but the most interesting thing we found was the Atlantean ruins, complete with a giant statue of Neptune, dolphins, dugongs and more.

• 

• 

It was an abandoned theme park that Alan Bond started up in 1980 and abandoned in 1990.  There was a lot of overgrowth of plants but we could still find the paths and partly broken walls and statues.  We weren’t supposed to be in there because there were “keep out private property” signs everywhere but people had smashed down the wire fence in places and there were some well-worn tracks through it so I thought, why not, let’s have a look.  The old entry building, gift shop and aquarium buildings were still intact and are now being used as a supermarket and other village shops.

• 

• 

Tuesday night we drove into Perth for Ashleigh to take some photos of the city from the southern foreshore.  Perth city is absolutely beautiful at night!  Its not a big city, much smaller than Brisbane and even the Gold Coast city area but it is so clean and neat and very pretty.  The Swan River is a beautiful harbour on a par with Sydney harbour, except the land is flat and houses and parks line the shores and lots of sailing boats moored in different places.

Ash and I went back into the City on Wednesday for a look.  We took the train from Fremantle which deposited us right in the shopping district.  We had a look around the shops, finding a little laneway that had been transformed into a remake of an old English shopping lane, very pretty.  We walked and walked and walked, doing in excess of 11,000 steps, my poor knees, they’re the first to go but my feet held up well in my favourite joggers.  Those joggers have traversed the world walking on all sorts of surfaces and have had the soles re-glued twice on this trip.  They are too good to throw away, the leather is so soft and comfortable and in excellent condition.

• 

• 

We’ve been to the beach twice in late afternoon for Ash to photograph the sun going down over the sea.  It’s a novelty when you see it for the first time.  The beaches were full of interesting characters, I didn’t take my camera the first night and I’m still kicking myself because I could have captured some great scenes and people for prospective paintings.

• 

• 

On Thursday we visited Fremantle Prison, very interesting tour.  It was only closed in 1990 after the inmates lit a fire and destroyed the internal section of Division 3.  The stories of inmates in the 1800’s was riveting, with one guy constantly escaping, he even dug a hole through the outer wall in full view of the guards over several days.  The stone is limestone and easy to dig through.  Well he had been digging for a couple of days and the pile of stones behind him was getting bigger and bigger so on the final day he took off his hat, shirt and trousers and put them on his pick and the guards didn’t think anything of it because they could see his hat, but one got suspicious when the hat didn’t move so they went to investigate and discovered that he had dug a hole through the wall and escaped through the superintendent’s garden.  You’d have thought they would have looked a few days earlier to see what he was doing wouldn’t you.

Solitary confinement was pretty gruesome and a lot of the inmates from that section would end up in the lunatic asylum which is now an Art gallery which we intend to come back and visit.  Their idea of curing the inmates was to lock them up in a completely dark cell so they didn’t know if it was night or day, gee, that would have helped a lot, it would serve to send them even madder, the poor buggers.  It is said the asylum is the most haunted place in Australia, it could be an invigorating visit.

• 

• 

• 

• 

In the afternoons when everyone is tired or sleeping Ashleigh and I have been playing giant chess near the camp kitchen.  Not surprisingly Ash kept flogging me as I haven’t played in about 30 years.  I wasn’t such a challenge for her so we got Ian to come and have a game, he is a more strategic thinker and rose to Ash’s challenge, however, having not played for as long as me Ash was able to thrash him too but not without a long drawn out game.  Ian and I have bought ourselves a chess game for the van and we will play it regularly so that when we get home Ash will have a real fight on her hands to win.   You’ve been warned Ash!

Friday is forecast for stormy weather with strong winds and lots of rain, and I tell you when they get weather over here, they really get pummeled.  Really fierce winds, 100km hour with roofs blown off and trees down.  We were lucky as our van was tucked right in behind a WWII bunker and the facilities block so we had lots of protection.  Others didn’t fare so well; tents were blown down and Ash was kept entertained watching a canopy across from us leap into the air and pulling the pegs each time a massive gust came through.

Just on a personal note, it would have been my mums 80^th birthday on 2^nd October if she was still with us.  Happy birthday mum, love you.

• 

• 

Saturday morning was spent at the Fremantle markets having a wonder around and Ash and I playing chess (with the board we bought) in the afternoon.  Ash met up with an old school friend for drinks Saturday evening before we headed to the airport for her trip home.

We discovered on Sunday morning that the Scottish Highland medieval fair was on at Armadale in the Perth Hills so off we went to check it out.  It was great, heaps of people there and it was set on both sides of a creek that runs through a park, very pretty.  We visited stalls and talked to people about Celtic jewelry, a woman painting painted manuscripts, medieval fighters, chainmail makers and a woman making hats and socks using a thousand year old method of knotting wool.

• 

• 

• 

• 

There were Scotty dog competency course competitions, Celtic dancing, Scottish Clan information and genealogy, Hammer throwing and bag pipe bands to name just a few.  The bag pipes were amazing and so talented, we spent a bit of time listening to them.  The hammer throwing was great, all these muscular blogs with kilts and no shirts, a delight for the eye girls and even better if they had a Scottish accent, throwing a heavy iron hammer over a 14 foot high bar.   

Watching the knights fight with swords was fun.  They took it really seriously and one guy ended up with a broken hand, one with stitches, they really go for it.  Its clear that the sword fighting you see on Game of Thrones etc is a load of wishful thinking, you would be dead or injured in minutes in a sword fight with an army unless you were extremely lucky.

• 

• 

It was a great afternoon which the whole community got involved in.

It was a good week with lots of exercise and interesting things to see and do.  Ian and I will be coming back to Fremantle to look around ourselves in a few weeks when we are house sitting.  There were things we were interested in but Ash wasn’t and we had already decided that this was Ash’s week.

It was great to see Ash and spend some time with her, she said she enjoyed her weekend and that she really likes Perth and would definitely come back if the opportunity arose.

Well that’s it for the week bloggers, see you next week from the Great South West.

Trust the wait, Embrace the uncertainty, Enjoy the beauty of becoming, When nothing is certain, anything is possible! – Mandy Hale

Greetings

This week has been fairly quiet, we haven’t done much.

We left the farm on Monday, we both feel that it has been one of the best camps yet and we may return there for another week prior to Christmas, who knows.

Bunbury was our next destination and we arrived and set up on Monday, then we headed for Bunnings, Ian needed his men’s shed hit.  Actually, we had to get some items to put together a bed for Ash when she arrives on Saturday. 

Bunbury is a big town, one of only a few in Western Australia, we have discovered.  We came with the expectation of a lot of places being big, that is a large population, but there are only three that we’ve discovered so far, Busselton, Bunbury and of course Perth.  I believe Albany is rather large and we are yet to experience Esperance.  Apart from these, towns are rather small.

We’ve had a drive around Bunbury, it is an affluent place, many huge houses, particularly down by the sea.  The coast if pretty ordinary with long sandy beaches, although Koombana Bay is pretty.  It is a large circular bay with a narrow opening and the waters are quite tranquil, well they were the day we were there.  Bunbury certainly takes pride in its waterfront and they have spent a lot of money making them attractive and family friendly.  In the part near the dolphin centre there is this magnificent sculpture of an aboriginal man’s head all made out of steel that was obviously laser cut but looks like it could have been 3D printed.  It’s a stunning piece of art.

Wild dolphins apparently frequent this bay every morning, probably attracted by the goings on at the dolphin centre.

We spoilt ourselves and went to the movies on Tuesday to see the Downton Abbey movie, it was fantastic, we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Wednesday, we drove back to Busselton for a walk along the pier which is 2 miles long, the longest wooden pier in the southern hemisphere.  The water way out there was a gorgeous emerald green and very clear.  You can visit the aquarium at the end of the pier and take a small train out and back to save your legs, but we decided we only wanted a walk.

Friday morning, we followed the heritage trail around Bunbury.  There are some lovely old buildings and the Art Deco architecture of the 1930’s. We visited the regional art gallery which has utilized the old Sisters of Mercy convent.  Its quite nice but not as good at the Tweed Regional Art Gallery, a bit parochial aren’t we.  We enjoyed some of the exhibitions and particularly enjoyed the umbrellas.

Ashleigh arrives on Saturday night and I’m really looking forward to her visit.  She has kindly shouted Ian and I a trip to Rottnest Island on Monday as our Christmas present from her so next week’s issue will have lots to talk about.

We found these interesting facts at the Bunbury museum on how teachers, particularly women, were strictly controlled in times past, a good thing I wasn’t around then, nor a teacher.

Rules for Teachers at Bush Schools

(My comments in brackets)

A bush teacher would be expected to;

1. Wall paper the residence with newspaper to keep out the winter winds and snakes.
2. Stay fresh all day from a weekly swim in the dam. (Yes, that will do the trick!)
3. Teach a class of children aged five to fifteen.
4. Ride a horse side saddle four miles to school and maybe carry a couple of pupils.
5. Fight off swaggies who attempted to camp in the school.
6. Keep the school property free of goats and cattle.
7. Set a broken leg in a crisis.
8. Patch the shingles on the school roof. (Will there be workers comp if I fall Off?)
9. Cook lunch on an open fire. (What!)

Rules for Female Teachers 1915

1. You are not to keep company with men. (Now there’s a thought!)
2. You must be home between the hours of 8pm and 6am unless attending school functions. (Otherwise you might be keeping company with men, tut tut)
3. You may not loiter down town in any of the ice cream bars.
4. You may not travel beyond the city limits unless you have the permission of the Chairman of the Board.
5. You may not ride in a carriage or automobile with any man unless he is your father or brother.
6. You may not dress in bright colours.
7. You must wear at least two petticoats.
8. Your dress must not be any shorter than two inches above the ankle. (When I was at school it was 2 inches above the knee, mine ended up about a foot and a half above the knee by the time I finished, it was the days of mini skirts, I don’t know how the nuns let me and others get away with it really.)
9.  To keep the school neat and clean you must;
   1. Sweep the floor at least once daily
   1. Scrub the floor at least once a week with hot soapy water
   1. Clean the boards (chalk boards) at least once daily.
   1. Start the fire at 7am so the school room will be warm by 8am

(we kid’s had to do these jobs after school, except lighting a fire in the classroom)

Rules for Teachers 1872

1. Teachers each day will fill lamps, trim the wicks and clean chimneys. (Good thing we have contract cleaners to do this today, otherwise it’d never get done.)
2. Each morning teacher will bring a bucket of water and a scuttle of coal for the days session.
3. Make your pens carefully.  You may whittle nibs to the individual taste of the pupils.
4. Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they attend church regularly.  (Blimey!)
5. After ten hours in school, the teachers may spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books. (Well that’s fair.)
6. Women teachers who marry or engage in unseemly conduct will be dismissed. ( I didn’t realise getting married was unseemly!   Although I was asked by my first boss if I intended working after I got married, then he had to gaul to bail me up in the corridor and demand to know what I was doing to stop having children!)
7. Every teacher should lay aside from each pay a goodly sum of his earnings for his benefit during his declining years so that he will not become a burden on society.
8. Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barber shop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intention, integrity and honesty. (god forbid you be clean shaven)
9. The teacher who performs his labour faithfully and without fault for five years will be given an increase of twenty-five pence per week in his pay providing the Board of Education approves.    (Whoopee)

My how times have changed!

Ian:

Ahh yes – the good old incredible (Victorian) days! Its difficult to comprehend why the government policy at the time took such a harsh standpoint? What were they afraid of? The wrath of big sister Queen Victoria…or their own inhibited secret yearning😊

The weather god is being very kind at the moment – giving us beautiful days and cool nights. I really don’t know how we are going to manage heat and humidity back in our villa on the hill at Banora! I must admit that I am beginning to miss my home and workshop back home in the Tweed Coast, where I can simply walk out the back door and go into my cave/shed where there is an adequate supply of tools and materials! It’s a little frustrating here in our van, attempting to maintain, construct or repair things around the Maison du’Mobile😊

Leila and I have both been active drawing and painting our individual projects.

Ash arrived late on Saturday night and on Sunday morning we went to Kings Park in Perth to have a look at the last day of the wildflower show.  We could have saved all the effort of running around WA looking for wildflowers and waited for this show because they were all here together.  It was a very pretty sight, they really do make a gorgeous annuals garden.

Kings Park is 400 sq hectares, that’s a lot of walking, I think we will do in bursts.  It is a lovely park with spectacular views of Perth City and the Swan River. 

Ash has been active with her camera snapping away, it’s a pretty serious camera, it takes better shots than just snaps.   Lunch was fish and chips at Cottesloe beach on this glorious warm spring day.  The air was clear the sea was a spectacular blue and there were loads of people out enjoying it.

It is an early rise tomorrow morning to catch the ferry to Rottnest Island, until then stay well my friends.

To be happy, pay attention to what you like – The Afterlife of Billy Fingers

Greetings from the farm!

We cruised into the Margaret River region on Monday choosing to stay at Big Valley Campgrounds about 12 kilometres south east of the town.  We decided we’d stay a week and branch out from here to visit the region.

Our site is a beauty backing right onto the Long Paddock which contained a lot of sheep and an Emu.  The Emu is wild but it appears to come here for food from campers, we’ve seen it on a few days.  Its lovely to sit and watch the antics of the lambs and listen to the mums calling for their young at the end of the day.   

Ring neck Parrots (Port Lincoln Parrot) are in abundance and really quiet.  There is also the western rosella where the male has a lot of red and the female a dirty green.  They are a lot smaller than the rosella back home and not as colourful.  It’s a real bucolic scene with the rolling green hills, trees, sheep and birds, and all is peace here.

We went for a walk through the Long Paddock the other afternoon and watched the owner round up the sheep to get them into another paddock.  It was a nice walk down by the creek which starts at a spring at the top of the hill and provides permanent water for the farm and camp, lovely sweet water it is to. 

After the paddock walk, we decided to have a look at the rest of the farm and came across dozens of guinea pigs running wild with the rosters, and feeding together.  The owners grown up daughter likes guinea pigs so she started them here for the kids who visit, and guinea pigs doing what they do best have now started expanding exponentially.

Tuesday, we took a drive along the caves road that goes all the way up the coast to Cape Naturaliste.  We stopped off at a couple of beaches on the way, Gracetown and Yallanup.  The coast is beautiful along here but with big and dangerous waves and currents, not that it was a concern for us.  At Cape Naturaliste you had to pay if you wanted to see the lighthouse up close, just the same as at Cape Leeuwin.  Don’t get Ian started on that subject, he quite rightly rants about having to pay just to walk to the end of the headland which belongs to us anyway, it seems everything is value added these days. Lunch was at Dunsborough then back to camp.

Domestic flowers have become feral around here, it must be their ideal environment.  Arum lilies grow in their thousands under trees and even in the national park.  There are also some other lilies that are prized in gardens that have tall spikes of pink, white and yellow bell-shaped flowers and they grow in their millions along the sides of the road and in the bush.  They are just coming into flower now; it would be a spectacular sight when they are all in bloom together.

We passed a lot of wineries, didn’t go into any of them.  Some are really impressive with the elaborate cellar door buildings.  Vines grow in the paddocks but I have to confess that I don’t think the Margaret River wine growing region is a pretty as the Barossa.  The vineyards are all bounded by bush and are more fragmented, it is pretty though. Apparently, there are 180 different wineries here but a lot of them are small boutique wineries.  Don’t expect to get cheap wine at the cellars either, the price of bottled wine here is ridiculous.

The weather forecast was for gale force winds and rain on Wednesday.  The rain started early but the wind didn’t start until the afternoon and boy did it get savage during the night.  It would come in great gusts that would just keep going, anything that wasn’t tied down would have been blown away.

Thursday started wet and very cold.  It apparently snowed on the Stirling ranges last night and I tell you the wind was testimony to that, it was freezing.  Snow filled clouds kept drifting over us all day, but in the afternoon, we decided to go into town and checkout the secondhand antique shop.  Very good prices and lovely pieces, shame its so far to home.  Antiques are really cheap over here, particularly if you are prepared to put in the hard work to clean them up and bring them back to their glory days.

• 

• 

Friday, we took another drive to Cowaramup (it seems they’ve stolen the name of “Cow Town” from Casino) then to the Margaret River Chocolate Factory and the Nougat Factory and Winery.  We were strong and didn’t purchase any of the goods.

• 

• 

We visited the Margaret River farmers market on Saturday morning, what a treat, you could do your whole shopping here if you were prepared to pay a bit more for it.  All artisan breads, olives, cheeses, meats, preserves, fruits and flowers.  We only bought some flowers, proteas and gum leaves. 

Saturday afternoon we walked from the camp up to the road a 4 kilometre round trip.  It was lovely seeing the bush in flower and seeing new wildflowers.  The sheep weren’t really pleased about us walking through their paddock, skittish little things they are.

Sunday morning, we went to the shearing shed to watch them shear the sheep, this is the first time I’ve seen that in real life.  They guy who was doing the shearing said he can shear 225 sheep per day and boy can he handle those sheep.  It was really interesting to watch the whole process from getting the sheep to shear next through to trimming the wool on the table before throwing it in the bails.  The sheep here are called “Texel“, a breed they have in Canada.  The poor sheep will be really cold now, its still getting down to single figures here overnight.

Sitting outside having morning tea this morning and there was a huge ruckus from the guinea fowl, we got up to have a look and there were guinea fowl and chooks running in all directions and the other birds were really upset as well.  Ian said there must be an eagle around, we couldn’t see it at first then here it came gliding over the trees with a flotilla of little birds harassing it.  Talk about calling out the alarm.  Its nice spending the day here at the farm on this beautiful sunny warm day and all the noises of the farm.  Farms are really noisy places, particularly when you have sheep and guinea fowl in the mix.

So that’s about it for this week, we haven’t done a lot, but we have some sketches and drawing finished, ready for turning into completed paintings – when we start our first house sitting job in Cardup in October.

The difference between a good situation and a bad one lay only in one’s perception.

Greetings Bloggites

We were still at Walpole on Monday and so we decided to take a drive out to see the King Tingle tree.  It became famous in the 1950’s when people would back their cars into the burnt-out cavity and have photos taken of themselves.  This type of behavior causes the ground to become compacted and eventually kills the trees, because the roots only grow 1 metre deep and spread out to the circumference of the canopy.  The roots hang onto the roots of other trees to prevent them being blown over.  It was this problem that caused National Parks and Wildlife to build the Valley of the Giants treetop walk, so people could experience the trees without endangering them.

The King Tingle tree is over 400 hundred years, has a girth of 20.5 metres and although it is burnt out on the inside it is still well and truly alive.  It was amazing to stand inside this massive tree.

On the walk in to the forest, it was very quiet with no wind and the only sound was the song of the woodland birds.  I said to Ian, “I could sit here for ages listening to that beautiful bird”, so he turned me around and we sat on seat close by and listened to the wonderful music these lovely birds were singing.  It was pure heaven.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We drove further into the forest to visit the circular pool.  It was a popular spot in the past, for the local aboriginal people with recreation and community activities. 

We encountered a Bardick snake; our first venomous dangerous snake on this trip, it was in the car park as we drove in and watched it slowly slither off into the bushes.  Its fair warning Ian said – and so it is, we will be more careful when out and about in the bush.

The river that flows into the circular pool is beautiful, as it cascades down over rocks.  It is dark water, from the tannins of trees along its course, and there’s a huge amount of foam generated from the saponin in the Karri Hazel trees that line its banks.  The aboriginal people used the leaves of this tree, rubbed the leaves between their hands and added water, it created soap and thus they used it to wash themselves.  It’s like a giant cappuccino in the river!

We drove back to Walpole for lunch and Ian was feeling fatigued, so I drove Ian up to Mt Frankland which was a lovely scenic drive. The views of the coast were amazing from the road up there; we didn’t walk to the top of the Mountain, but walked out on the lookout walkway.

It was interesting here because when we started walking, I had a real sense that something was behind us and it made me look around several times to see who or what it was, it was even making noises.  I commented to Ian that I thought it was Chester walking on the outside of me, Ian called him like he did when he was alive and I felt, and heard him move from my side to behind Ian.  I actually think it was him out for a walk with us.

The view from the lookout was amazing over the forests and into the vast distance. Up above us was the top of the mountain which was all granite stone, that slid steeply down into the forest.

On the way home we took the turn-off to Fernhook Falls and I am so glad we made that decision. The falls were beautiful with masses of dark water flowing over rocks under the bridge and cascading down the creek, we were the only ones out there.

I walked right down next to the creek to get some shots, being careful to look out for snakes, and came across a rock that had all this foam banked up behind it.  I called Ian to come and join me.  As we watched, the breeze would lift pieces of the foam and gently drift them off in the air downstream.  It looked like fairies alighting to fly gracefully away.  Always the breeze took the foam snowflakes downstream when it blew.  We were about to leave and I said out loud “Come on wind, give us a good show” and seconds later the wind picked up hundreds of pieces of foam and gently twirled them and then sent them floating straight at us. We were mesmerized, these tiny snowflake pieces looked like the stars as the starship Enterprise speeds through space, coming straight at us.  Ian had pieces of foam all over his black shirt and I had it in my hair and on my clothes and we both started laughing at the playful joyousness of the moment.  We both felt like we had just received a blessing from the universe via mother nature, how special the moment was.

We stopped off at Swarbrick Art Trail, an outdoor art installation on the way back and Ian didn’t want to go for the walk through it so I went on my own.  It was about the environment and some of the sculptures were meant to be interacted with.  It was lovely walking through the bush on my own, experiencing these works of art.  I had a bit of fun with a huge mirror at the start of the walk.

• 

• 

• 

• 

That night was kind of warm and the moon was out, it had the biggest ring around it that I have ever seen, it was just lovely.

Tuesday, we left Walpole but not before we were lucky enough to see a seal in the still waters just out from the park, how lucky were we. 

We drove through Northcliffe to Windy Harbour, which is on the coast on the great Southern Ocean.  It’s a very isolated spot and we had to drive through lots of coastal heath land that was very swampy, not for us on the road though.

It’s a tiny little place consisting of the caravan park, of which we were the only inhabitants that night and lots of beach shacks.  They are rather nice shacks and sell for quite a bit going on the for-sale notices of a couple on the notice board.

Windy Harbour is situated in the D’Entrecasteaux National Park, and we drove up to the headland lookout after setting up.  Wow, the views were amazing up and down the coast and the ocean below us was a gorgeous emerald and bottle green in colour.  Whales were breaching in the distance, only a gentle breeze was blowing and the sun was warm.  It certainly wasn’t living up to its name that day.  We hope it stays this way because there is a coastal walk we want to do, but it would be no fun in the wind and rain. 

The caretaker told us they have had an inch of rain every day for the past two weeks and it has only fined up in the last three days.  We have been so lucky with the weather on this trip, it has been perfect, even the few wet days we’ve had – we have welcomed.

We’ve done the trip at the right time as well, because we have followed the blooming of the wildflowers right from the top of WA to the south, it makes driving in the bush so much better when there is colour and green around you.  We have also been lucky to encounter the mating colours of a number of birds, we timed it all just right so far.

Well Wednesday provided us with the reason for the name of Windy Harbour.  It was howling and raining.   By lunchtime it has settled and the afternoon bloomed beautifully.  We took a drive to Northcliffe for some supplies and to have a look at the country side.

Thursday was wet wet wet so we stayed indoors, reading, sleeping, drawing and painting and I was so exhausted by 7.30 that I just had to go to bed.  Its hard work this doing nothing – who’d have thought!

Friday the 13^th we set off for Pemberton which was only about 45kms west.  We parked the van at the tourist information centre whilst we set off to look around the wonderful forests down here. The forests are amazing and its because of the huge tall trees, nothing like the forests at home, these trees tower skywards for ever it seems. 

• 

• 

We really wanted to go to a special place in the forest down here and the tourist info told us exactly where to go.  We found it deep in the forest towards the coast where very few people go and where there is no settlement, it’s all national park and we were the only humans there.  We pulled up and walked the 500 metres through the bush to find it and when we did, we were gob – smacked at the vision before us.

The place is called “Goblin Swamp” and it is full of “Snoddygobble” trees.  Yes, they are the real official names, pretty cool aren’t they.  Goblin swamp was like nothing else we’ve ever seen.  It was small but lots of Snoddygobble trees grew in it.  They are very gnarled and twisted trees with their feet well and truly beneath the water.  The water was black due to the tannins from the trees and it was perfectly still, making it difficult to see where the trees started and finished.  The whole effect was like something out of Lord of the Rings and we expected the Golem to come crawling out of the swamp looking for his precious!  It had a real creepy feeling and there were a few frogs croaking – and everything was perfectly still.

We found out about Goblin Swamp from a photographic exhibition in the flour mill at York.  Ian took a photo of the photo with the description label, so we could remember what it was called.   I can see some wonderful drawings coming out of this by Ian, he has described some fantastical creatures already.   So very glad we made the effort to find this place. 

We also visited the Beedelup Falls and after lunch another drive through the forest to the bicentennial tree that you can climb 64 metres to the top, but you’d have to be mad to do it.

We stayed the night at the Pemberton Arboretum at Big Brook Dam and were lucky enough to score a spot beneath some huge Sequoia trees, they are the big red Californian trees.  It felt like we were actually in a forest of California and parts resembled the new forest in England.

• 

• 

Saturday, we drove to Augusta on the very south-western tip of WA.  We went for a walk along the banks of the Blackwood river which was spectacular.  The tide was going out and the current was so strong.  A silly border collie was barking at a boat coming in to land and took off out into the water after it and got caught in the current, off he went swiftly towards the sea but the clever dog paddled for all his worth to the side, until he was able to reach the shore, then he took off chasing the boat again!  There were lots of pelicans, sea gulls, gannets and brown gulls in this really pretty river.  Augusta is a gorgeous little seaside place in the Margaret River region.

Ian:

Yello all, yes we have been busy exploring SW-WA this last week! and as Leila has elucidated; this part of the world is really stunning and wild. The highlight for me, has been the big timber country which has to be experienced to be fully appreciated! I have always wanted to see these amazing Karri forests since way back at high school, when my woodwork teacher at Elizabeth Tech in SA, back in the 1860s! (I’ve forgotten his name Dave…do you remember?) – he told me about the Karri’s superior qualities and grandeur – so true. We also experienced the tall forests and literally walked through the base of several 400+ year-old Red Tingle trees (Eucalyptus Jacksonii ), which were saved from the 19th century timber-getters axe because they were hollow by nature and had many bulbous burls up the trunk! These burls apparently, can give rise to new growth when the trees are fire stressed or struck by lightning. They are a majestic giant rising up out of the high canopy; they have a feeling of being very old, and…. I hear they sometimes have hobbits living under the trunk!

The Colorado is getting good use on this trip and has been absolutely faultless towing our 2.5 ton …packed full to the gunnels, 7.5 metre caravan behind it! and travelling over some of the most treacherous terrain!

After an amazing dark wet night, camping in the Beedelup National Park, among some huge creaking American redwoods – we packed up the van and after a short trip, eventually cruised into the seaside town of Augusta located in the far south west. We were fascinated by the beautiful fast flowing Blackwater river, which strangely, seemed to have followed us on our long journey down here.

Hey!….Leila actually allowed me to buy some fish n chip this morning! Of course, we both thoroughly enjoyed the delicious meal, parked down by the estuary, looking out over these beautiful glistening southern waters. We intend to explore this Margaret River region over the next few weeks and enjoy more of the wonderful cool climate of the South.

• 

• 

Stay tuned to your wireless peddle radios from this far off colony of New Holland…and we hope you can all listen in on the same station and same frequency next week for more riveting stories and tales.

The brave may not live forever – but the cautious do not live at all!  – Richard Branson