Beth and Cliff

Bethany and Cliff decided a few months ago to book to see Slava’s Snow Show.  They weren’t sure exactly what it was going to be…. it had received rave reviews in sell out seasons across America and the UK.  All I knew is there were clowns and snow so I went with an open mind.  Mitchell and Bethany’s friend from Canberra (Carlos) came with us to the Regal Theatre on Wednesday night to see it.

When we arrived at the theatre it was filled with smoke from a smoke machine and it was pretty dark.  The theatre is old and small and quite personal and there was ’snow’ (made of white paper squares all over the floor, chairs and stage)……the lights dipped and the show started at 8pm.  Just one yellow clown, Slava, appeared…. during the show another 6 green clowns joined Slava.  The show was quite simple

Slavas finale

with slow movements, no words and things were funny because of the slow, deliberate movements made by the clown in the context.  The audience became more and more in awe as the show went on.  The ’skits’ again were all simple, but we were just spell bound.  It was funny in its simplicity and very hard to explain to anyone who hasn’t witness the show.

The audience was mostly adults in their 40s with many younger couples with children of around 10 or 12 and teenagers.  Snow fell during the show… lots of snow.  We had a blizzard so ferious it felt like it was real… wind howled at us… snow came straight at us so thick we were covered with piles sitting on our laps.  It was just amazing…. people were just stunned.  People laughed.. and cried they were so in awe of what what happening.  There was a lot of audience interaction.  The clowns came into the crowd walking over us balancing on the back of audience members chairs.  We were rained on.  We had a huge spider web that was a thin, white layer of kapok or something (like the man made stuff that is inside pillows) that covered the width of the stage and then enveloped the audience from the front to the back.  We passed it over our heads to the audience beind and the entire place was covered all at the same time with the stuff.  Cliff put his arms up through it and got all tangled up.

The show finished and the yellow clown sat on the edge of the stage and huge balls, filled with helium came out onto the stage and were pushed and hit up high into the air by the clowns.   There were about 10 huge

Slava meets the gang - Tues 15 Sept 2009

balls…. so large that 3 of us could reach up and push the ball up above us… there were dozens of huge helium filled balloons too.  Snow fell down on us, the clowns danced around, the yellow clown just sat on the edge of the stage smiling watching the audience lose themselves.  The audience sat there laughing, talking, crying while the snow lightly fell, the music played, the balloons and balls bounced up and down moved along by the audience…. this lasted over 1/2 hour.  Eventually people started standing up to leave.

People filed past the yellow clown, still sitting on the edge of the stage, and thanked him and shook his hand… I’ve never seen that before (an audience just so happy and so in the moment that they were impelled to thank and shake a hand).  The feeling was just so over whelming…. we all felt like we’d spent two hours like a child, 2 hours inside a magical, snow globe, 2 hours inspired into a magical, amazing and innocent world.  People slowly left.. the snow continued to fall…. the snow was everywhere and went out into the street where people were still hushed and smiling.

I have got to say this was the most magical, amazing two hours I have spent in a theatre and I would recommend every adult sees it and every teenager or primary school child.  Mitchell (18), Bethany (21), Carlos (23) all felt the same… the it was the most amazing thing they had been part of.  Slavas Snow Show 2009

Indy - the puppies dad

For the past 18 months, since we left our Piesse Brook property, Mahli has spent most of her time at Bethany’s rather than being our dog.  So although Mahli is at work during the week, outside work hours for the most past we have been dog-less during this time.  We decided late last year that we would let Bethany keep Mahli (though we will have dog-sitting rights) and put our name down for a puppy.  We had been on a labrador waiting list for 6 months but got sick of waiting.  So we decided instead to look at Labrador Retrievers.  We made contact with a breeder in Southern River who had two females due in September.

We visited both females last Saturday - Bonnie was an older female who’d had 3

Bonnie

litters before and was due any day.  Camry was a 3 yo female pregant with her first litter.  Camry already had pre-sold 4 female puppies so we decided, as we wanted a female, we would put our name down to wait for one from Bonnie (as she had only pre-sold 2 females).  As it turned out just two hours later the breeder rang us to say that Bonnie had given birth by caesarian to 9 puppies - 5 females and 4 males.  So…. we difenitely have a puppy!

It may be a co-incidence that Cliff’s mum’s dog is called Bonnie and my parent’s new black lab puppy is called Bonnie… and the mum our new puppy is called Bonnie?

We were told that we can come and view Bonnie and her pups at any time.  For the first two weeks this is done through the viewing window as the puppies have their eyes closed and stay curled up with mum while their immune systems build up.  We are allowed contact with the puppies after

There is always a runt! 400grams and 2 hrs old

that time.  We are allowed to choose which female will be ours when they are just 5 weeks old.  We are allowed to visit as often as we like so may go a few times to take photos while the puppies are so tiny.  They weighed between 450g and 500g when they were born.  There is a little runty male one who needed bottle feeding the first few days.

We are trying to decide on a name.  We had chosen “Shimi” (a Japanese word) a long time ago but we aren’t sure if this will suit this puppy.  Cliff and Mitch like Jay Jay (JJ - as our old retriever was called Jessie James too).  I kind of like Shimi still because it is unusual.  I’m sure the kids will come up with lots of new names once they see the puppies.

Termite Mounds, Coral Bay (CLICK on each photo for larger view)

We left Coral Bay at 8am and headed out on the road north towards Exmouth.  This being the start of the farthest north I have ever been within Australia. Large termite mounds cover the ground, to our left and right, as far as the high could see all along this road.  All of them constructed in exactly the same shape and the same orange/red color.  They must be built in a fairly waterproof way because these have stood exactly like this for years and withstand all the winter rains. It is hard to know what these termites would be eating as there are no trees anywhere along this 100km long road, just low, grey shrubs.

At 2.30pm we arrive at Panawonica.  Panawonica is a mining town.  In fact, the mines seem to own, and operate, everything in town, including the service station where we must abide by their OHS ruling of allowing a safety clothes wearing person to re-fuel our

Panawonica Roos

car for us. The town is tiny, just a mess hall, dongas and workshops, a school and a shop.  We stop at the shop and buy a couple a chocolate bars and some milk to take to Millstream with us as there are no shops, or anything for that matter, after this point until Roeburn!

We head east out of Panawonica on the 100km long gravel road (the side way in) to Millstream.  This is not the most usual path travelled into Millstream we find as travellers usually travel up or down into the park rather than the way we have come.  We have come in this way due to the weather front that we have been out running for the past 4 days!  We had been told that this gravel road was rough but we find it in extremely good condition with no corrigation at all.  In fact… this 100km stretch of road is the most picturesque section of road that I think I have ever seen.

One of many wild horses at Panawonica

Everywhere looks green, well grey/green (which is the green of the Aussie outback) from afar it looks like the earth is covered in lush grass but on closer look in fact it is covered with millions of clumps of spinifex.  This little plant may look harmless but it has an extremely nasty bite as its ‘leaves’ are actually spines.

Amongst the spinifex you can see the red earth.  The red earth from Panawonica and north & east of there is the darkest, most beautiful red earth I have ever seen.  The orange/red earth of Kalgoorlie/Kambalda doesn’t come close to this beauty.  I don’t know what it is about the red earth that I love so much, I just found it amazing and can’t get enough of it!  Amongst the spinifex clumps different types of soft leaf wattles grow.  These are all in flower.  There are small clumps of purple wildflowers and grey leafed red flowering natives.  There are small hills made

Campsite Millstream

completely of rocks that just appear out of nowhere on the left and right intermittantly.  We pass huge tabletop hills that loom out of the ground which have spinifex on the sides and red earth tops. None of these words can impart just how beautiful this area is.

There are huge flocks of corellas and finches flying everywhere.  Several types of butcher birds and willy wagtails have also been in all the areas we have stopped since Perth… they seem to thrive up here just as they do in the metro area.  The only birds which have totally changed are the types of eagles we see.  Up until Coral Bay the eagles were all wedgetails but north of that they are a smaller eagle which is brown (almost pink) in colour with a creamy underside to their wings with black feathers at the wing tips.  These eagles do not feast on road kill (as we saw the wedgetails doing) and seem more timid also, preferring not to land at all when cars or people are close.

Several of the flock of 1000s of Corellas, Millstream

At 4pm we arrive at Millstream and pay the gate fee of $10 for entry into the park.  This is a self service where you fill out your details on a small envelope and place it in a metal box before following (the poor) signage to the “homestead” where apparently we get more directions to where we are able to camp.  On arriving at the homestead we find it all open and unattended.  They invite you to look around in the homestead which has displays and notes about the rotten treatment of the aboriginal people (which seems to be the same story everywhere we go!) and that we should proceed to one of a couple of camping sites that are still open.  We choose the no generator site of Crossing  Pool and take Snappygum drive which has two small river crossings to get to camp site.

Snappygum drive is very winding and is very narrow.  The scenery is much harsher than on the road from

The desert Pea (Sturt)

Panawonica which surprises us.  10 minutes later we pull into a treed area next to a billabong type area of the Fortesque river.  We meet the ‘camp hosts’ who tell us to look around and choose from the two remaining sites available.  There are only about 10 groups here and they are set up very close to each other and we choose a site next to a small tree to put up our tent.  It seems so strange that we have travelled 1500kms into the middle of nowhere to camp in such a tiny space with a dozen couples (including kids) which is hardly what I had been expecting (I had expected someone to point along a long vacant river bank saying set up wherever you like!).  We set up in between to camper trailers which we are told will both be moving on the next morning.  After setting up our tent the neighbour tells us that the correllas in the trees overhead are constant visitors.  Until this moment we are so tired we have not noticed the noise, which now we are made

Canoeing on Fortesque River, Millstream

aware, is quite ear piercing.  Literally thousands of corellas litter the trees above us and on both sides of the river.  Worse than the noise however, is the mess, which there is no avoiding.  A thousand corellas make for a huge mess and in the two nights we are here our tent, cooking stuff, chairs and car (particularly) are covered in corella poo!

At 5.50pm the noise of the corellas reaches it peak and they seem excited about something.  The neighbours tell us that this happens every night and at around 6pm they ‘flock off’ and peace is returned.  At 6.05 this happens…. it is quite spectacular!  The next morning the flock returns to spend their day pooing on the campers before leaving at 6.05pm again on the second night.  Obviously their ‘country time’ is more precise than the humans… you can set your watch by them.

We decide on Wednesday morning to drive to the gorge.  It is still overcast and, like the photos of previous days, not the perfect weather for photography.  Once at the top of the hill where the cliff gorge is we realise

Millstream Gorge

that although we seem to have travelled a long way (and have over winding roads in various directions) actually the cliff is just a little further up the river and opposite our camping ground.  The view from the top is nice, but nothing special.  We find Geocache WANOZ03 “Millstream Cliff” and take photos of the view, a cute little lizard who blends in with the red rocks very well, and the river.  There are greyish native palms everwhere.  Snappy gums are prolific and seem to reach the same height (smallish) and tall paperbark trees line the river.

We decide to take up the offer of the ‘camp hosts’ and borrow the ranger’s canoe to go up the Fortesque river to where we can view the cliffs from a low vantage point.  The sun shines for the first time in days and it is very peaceful and quite beautiful paddling up the river away from the other campers.  There are many types of birds - heron, shags, kingfisher, corella and other small chirping birds.  There are a lot of brilliant blue and also red

Water crossing, Millstream

dragonflies amongst the bullrushes but they prove elusive when we take out the camera.  The red cliffs are certainly more impressive from on the river but both Cliff and I agree that we are not impressed at all with Millstream, in fact we are very disappointed and we wonder if this will be the same for Karijini.

We are dirty and dusty after 2 days on the road and decide to take a swim in the cold waters of the Fortesque River.  We have been told that it is frowned on to use soaps or shampoos anywhere near the rivers in the outback but we decide to overlook this (the ton of corella poos bombarding the water here each day would surely do more damage than a handful of shampoo?) and we quickly wash our hair while taking a swim while hoping no-one notices any frothy bubbles around us!  We are grateful for the swim and feel quite refreshed.  We talk to other campers, all who are from interstate, and they tell us that Karijini is amazing and that Millstream also is a disappointment after the hype of brochures.  This is encouraging news.

Down the goat path at Mt Herbert, Chichester

We get up and have breakfast at 7am on Thursday morning (2nd July) and by 8.30 are on our way out of camp stopping at the first water crossing to scrub our car of corella poo (until other campers leaving push us through) and then at the 2nd water crossing to wash off the mess after losening at at the prior waterering hole.  Other campers moving past obviously think we are simply washing our 4wd (which would be ridiculous in the circumstances, in the middle of the red dirt) what they don’t realise is that bird poo actually eats through your paint top coat in just a couple of days and seeing as there was about 1/2 ton of the stuff on our car we can put up with the looks of the passers by!

We head east through Millstream then North towards Roeburn which is only 200kms or so away.  We decide to head to Mt Herbert and  Python Pool on our way out of Chichester.  The

Mt Herbert Summit Rock Building

drive to Mt Herbert again is more scenic that actually in Millstream and there are dozens of rocky peaks on both sides of the road.  They are all covered in spinifex but by far the most amazing this is the fact that they appear to be made solely from individual red rocks.  All of these rocks are squarish and you would think that each hill had been made by a helicopter dropping out a pile of rocks from a height.  Mt Herbert is a small hill really and we park at the bottom and climb the goats path to the summit and the view is breathtaking.  Cliff builds a small rock tower (as everyone seems to do around here for some reason!) and the trip down the rocky path is more trecherous than the trip up was.

Python Pool is not far away and the winding road up and through the small hills to get there is very nice.  We pull into the small parking area and it seems nothing special but on walking

Python Pool, Millstream

the 100 metres through the head high scrub we come up on the most beautiful water pool with a huge rock face.  The water looks very inviting.  The sun is out just at the right time for some great photos.  We stand there in awe for about 20 minutes taking photos and chatting to another couple that have turned up who had been at our camp site at Millstream.  By far Python Pool has been the highlight of the entire two days at Millstream Chichester National Park (and the canoe!).

At 11.30 we head off on a tarmac road (amazing for out here where everything else is gravel) between red rocked hills and spinifex.  Brahman cattle graze at the edge of the road along the way.  There are two cattle stations on this stretch of road - it would be very strange being a farmer out here where the cattle roam free and graze on

Python Pool, Millstream

whatever it can find growing amongst the spinifex, for surely they could not eat that prickly stuff (that prickles through jeans and even shoes!).

We arrive in Roeburn at 1pm.  What a totally woeful place Roeburn is.  Cliff has been here before and tells me that all/any building had bars or shutters on it last time he was here…. and this is still how it is.  There are 3 indigenous groups living here and their areas are marked by signposts and a mass of tin looking buildings about 250mtrs from the road.  The town would have once been quite beautiful.  The buildings quite European looking and all the same era… but, time has stood still in this place and it is un-inviting, and quite spooky really.  The police station has about 6 patrol cars parked at it and surely is the most used building in town.  Roeburn prison is at the Northern end of town a couple of kilometres away from the end of the other buildings.. probably because it is too much of a pain for the

Brahman Cattle on route to Roeburn

aboriginal locals to walk.  The walls are high on the prison, probably not to keep the prisioners in but to keep non-prisioners out.  I imagine it is like with the Kalgoorlie prison where they have to head count each even to weed out the ‘extras’ that have come in for a free meal and bed for the night!

We have no desire stop anywhere in Roeburn and head north up the point to Cosack.  The signage there is depressing stating how the Enlish arrivals in 1885 (who were shipwrecked off the coast) incarcerated the local natives to use in pearling and prostitution.. however, other signage say that the total population of (non natives) including the pearling men was just 31 people.  It appears the entire area of Roeburn has decided to dwell on the past of over 200 years rather than do anything for now or the future.  We walk for 5 minutes up to the Cosack museum and have a quick look around and read the story of a 19yo English woman who was brought to Cosack in 1885 by her new husband (a very harsh life) before quickly heading back to the car and high tailing it to Karratha.

Lizard, Millstream (click for larger photo)

Karratha is just 40kms away and we decide rather than setting out our camper trailer we will find a motel that has a washing machine and dryer so we can wash our clothes.  The motel “Great Western” is almost fully booked they say (though it is deserted when we arrive) and we check in to a ‘delux’ room which we pay an extra $50 for so we can have the washer/dryer.  By 7pm there is not a space in the carpark which is now full with miner/workers vehicles…. extraordinary considering it would cost them $1750 a week to stay here… but then houses rent here for $2,500 a week!  We decide not to sightsee late this afternoon and have a long awaited shower and propertly washing our hair etc.

Irwin River Esturary, Dongara

The Irwin River Esturary is at the Northern end of Dongara and is very picturesque with treed banks and the ocean in the background. We left Dongara at 11am and headed north to Greenough.

Greenough is one of the windiest places we’ve ever been too.  It is so windy that it is renouned for trees that grow across the ground rather than up.  There are paddocks of trees that have their trunks bent over just a foot or two off the ground with all their branches towards the east.

There are lots of old buildings in Greenough most built in the late 19th century.  Many of the buildings were built by prisioners and although there are lots of ruins, there are also many buildings that are still standing and have been repaired to a usable state.  The Central Greenough Historial Settlement has a group of a dozen buildings.  Three of them are beautiful churches, several small homes, a hall and a larger white building

Central Greenough Mill

which orginally houses a store, post office, old police station and the old gaol.  The goal is quite eerie and dark, the air musky, and all the cells incredibly small and lacking in light with a tiny, high window the only respite from the dark.  The cells are lined up down the left side of a long hall with incredibly high ceilings.  At the end of hall is a tiny exercise area with walls built of rock, no roof, a tiny toilet room.  the excercise area is about 5mtrs square.  Being a prisioner of this place back in the 1880’s would have been very nasty.

Of course, like with many of these historical places, they rely on public donation to keep the buildings in repair so there is a $6 entry fee per person and one has to enter (and exit) the site through the ‘gift shop’ in case one wishes to partake in one of the locally made giftwares!  It is very strange weather and dark clouds quickly blow overhead and light rain falls followed 10 minutes later by brilliant sunshine and no wind (jackets on, jackets off, jackets on!!).

Church, Central Settlement, Greenough

We head down the road to see the “Leaning Tree” which is a perfect representative of how so many of the trees of Greenough are.  It is one of the bigger, and closer to the road, versions and a plaque is proudly errected at the site.  Unfortunately they fail to advise site seers of the prickly plants which line the car park and I gain a dozen spikes that go through my jeans and into my left knee.  They make me very ichy but luckily, on pulling up my jeans, I find them easily visable and easy to pull out.

At 1pm we reach Geraldton.  Geraldton is a nice port city.  Cliff used to live here when he was in grade 5 and still remembers where his family’s home is.  We drive up the the HMS Sydney Memorial and as we get out of the car the rain pelts down.  We take photos of the memorial, which is quite uniquely designed with a dome of artistic metal

Inside Church, Greenough

with a marble floor.  The view to the ocean is good from here (what appears to be the highest point in Geraldton) and we can clearly see harbour port.  There are several huge ships anchored off shore.

We head towards Northampton and arrive at 2pm.  We follow the scenic drive to Kalbarri through another coastal area called Leyton.  On the hills overlooking the sand dunes there is an old settlement ruin.  There is a tiny limestone home, several others that only have footings remaining, another building which is just one large room and behind that yet another old gaol.  This goal is very dilapidated but you can still clearly make out the cell walls, tiny windows and just how tiny the cells would have been.  It is unlikely that a prisoner of this goal would have even been able to lie down in their cell as they are merely a metre and a half in dimension.

Grey Co Greenough

On the flats, north of the buildings, is an old graveyard with two tiny graves and a larger grave.  The headstones are made of limestone and we are unable to make out any of the engraved text.  There is also an unmarked grave that is only marked by a circle of stones.  As we turn east we see, at the top of hill, we see “Ron’s Memorial” which is noted on a sign nearby.  The memorial appears to consist of a dummy sitting on a bicycle looking towards the ocean and we can clearly make out a grave stone.

On the hill the other side of the settlement is our first Geocache.  Cliff finds the cache fairly easily as it is hidden under a pile of rocks, 2 metres from the base of a tree over looking the settlement.  He writes on the log inside the cache container (which is an old army ammunition one) and we remove an old half penny marked 1961 (one of two inside) to take to another geocache that we fill find later.

Wesley Church, Greenough

We arrive in Kalbarri at 4pm and although at this point it is sunny, it is incredibly windy.  The Kalbarri settlement is far more sprawling than I remember from when I visited back when I was 18 (25 yrs ago).  Cliff too had holidayed here once before over 16 years ago and we head towards the Murchison caravan/camp ground at the far end of town.  When we get there the place is fairly full, with the exception of the first row of sites closest to the ocean.  It is very clear to see WHY these sites are vacant - the horendous gale!   We pay our $56 dollars for our 2 night stay and drive to site number 19.  While I head off to check the shower block Cliff sets about parking the camp trailer.  He asks a nearby camper what the weather has been like and is told that it has been so windy the past few nights that their caravan rocked back and forth all night so much he thought it was going to blow over.  We decide to reconsider our decision to stay here and drive back along the main road to see if there is a vacancy at a motel.  As luck would have it there The

Old Goal, Central Greenough Settlement

Murchison Motel has a vacancy of a top storey apt facing the ocean.  Unlike staying in Perth, we are not required to give any details or pay any money when checking in!  The apartment has a lounge, kitchen, bathroom/laundry and two bedrooms.  It is quite homely and clean.  As the night wears on and the wind increases we are glad that we are not inside our flappy tent….. there will be plenty of time for that in the next 12 days but as we head up the coast and then inland we hope that the wind will reduce to make camping more pleasant (though if it does not we will be camping anyway).

Cliff cooks our ‘camping standard’ of steak and vegetables for dinner and we sit back on the comfy sofa for the evening.  Tomorrow we will have a full day to sight see around Kalbarri.

Geocache, Leyton Ruins

View from Geocache, Leyton Ruins

Leyton Prison Ruins

Leaning Tree, Greenough

Police Kitchen, Central Greenough Settlement

Old Millhouse, Dongara

Spent the morning packing the camp trailer with check list of water, fuel, spares, bedding, food, clothes, camera, laptop, sat phone.  Finally we hitched up and headed North at 3pm towards our first overnight stop at Dongara 359kms from Perth.  With each kilometre travelled, the sky became more ominous and rain threatened.  The wind was blowing strongly by the time we reach Gingin and the rain started pouring down as darkeness came early.  We headed through Regans Ford, Mugumbar, Cateby and as we got to Eneaba the rain was coming straight and slamming at the windscreen like ball bearings and we had to travel at 60kms (instead of 110!).  Finally we arrived at Dongara at the Old Millhouse Motel at 7.15pm.  This motel is stuck in the 70’s, a very basic bed and tv with 70’s tile bathroom, as we had stayed there a couple of years earlier (on our Coral Bay

Millhouse pigeons

Camp Trip) we knew that it was nice and clean and also cheap at $88 for the night.  We had Thai takeaway from the local cafe (the same place we bought our morning coffee) which wasn’t too bad.  Certainly it was not great but was a 6/10 (and beat any normal Chinese takeaway).

The Old Millhouse Motel (circa 1894) is named such as it is positioned right next to The Old Millhouse!  There are quite a few old Mills in the area between Dongara and Greenough and they are all quite beautiful works of architecture.  They are all similar in design, square, tall with a mix of limestone and red brick in the late 1880’s to around 1940’s.  On all of the Millhouses we have seen, large flocks of pigeons are the only remaining residence.

First Mushroom Crop

Watching mushrooms grow has been amazing.  Mushrooms literally grow before your very eyes.  Even checking them at a 2 hour interval you could easily see their growth.  By day 6 they were just about ready to harvest but we waited until Sunday afternoon to do it.  By then the buttons had mostly opened up.  The first crop weighs a little under a kilo so already the yield value is greater than the purchase price of the mushroom farm.  Growing mushrooms is great fun… you can grow them inside (I grew mine in the bathroom - under the towel rack!), they don’t get attacked by bugs, they grow very fast.  I find I can be a little impatient waiting for veges to grow enough to harvest so the mushroom experience has been great!

Stormy skys over Avalon (Mandurah)

Last weekend was a long weekend.  We went to watch the Dockers play (Aussie Rules Football live) on Saturday night against Richmond.  It was a great game to watch, with the exeption of 1/4 where Richmond scored 6 goals straight.  Instead of the Docker laying down and dying they rose to the challenge and the game after this was just fantastic to watch and very exciting…. unfortunately 1 1/2 minutes before the end Richmond got the goal which put them 3 points in front.  The umpiring was very uninspiring and uneven and in the dying seconds of the game Dockers marked it in their goal square but the umpire called ‘play on’ and then the siren sounded. So another loss… but at least the games have been enjoyable to watch because they do not give up!

Sapphire Skys over Avalon

So…. we got home from the football about 10pm and thought “let’s go to the beach house”! So Cliff and I packed a few things and headed off…. we arrived at 11.30pm.  The weather took an immediate turn for the worse and storms set in the the remainder of the 36 hours we were there.  The lightening over the ocean was amazing.  The black, dark grey and sapphire blue storm clouds were extraordinary.  The thunder scared Mahli, who spent most of the weekend hiding under a blanket.  We managed a couple of walks on the beach in amongst storms (cos there is no way I would be outside when I can SEE lightening!).

The lightening was so severe that a passing helicopter which was flying along the beach decided to land on the nearby school oval and didn’t take off for an hour and a half when the weather had cleared sufficiently.  I wouldn’t want to be sitting in a tin can 100 metres off the ocean either during a lightening storm!

Fence destroyed by strong winds

Finally after 5 dry months we had our first wet week of 2009.  This didn’t come in the form of a mere drizzle but hit with 120km winds, storm clouds and very heavy downpours.  We certainly needed the rain badly.  Our small dam at our Piesse Brook property had been completely dry for the past few weeks which is a first in the 6 years we’ve had it.  Of course the road drains, house gutters and ground couldn’t not keep up with the deluge so there was quite a bit of flooding around.  By far the biggest damage however, was done by the wind.  An area near us (Riverton) bore the brunt of the storm and the news showed homes without roofs, huge trees flattened as well as one poor sole who lost both of their cars and their home to a massive gum tree which pulverised the lot.  We however suffered our first major storm damage at our new home, exactly one year after moving in.  During the night on Thursday 21st May, well at 3am on Friday 22nd to be exact, squawling winds hit our place.  There was lots of banging and crashing, which we discovered in the morning, was our side fence being smashed to pieces.  This fence is the divider between us an the neighbour on our left. (which is actually the RIGHT side on the top photo as I’ve take the photo from the back fence looking down to the front of our property with OUR house on the left!)

We contacted our insurance company who sent out their assessor this morning.

32m of (ex)fence

They will pay 1/2 of the 32 metres of fencing that needs to be replaced (our neighbours insurance company needs to pay 50% also).  We are hoping our neighbour will agree to replace the hardiflex (cement panel) fence with colourbond instead as this will match the other 2 sides of fence and not only look beter then the grey cement but will be far stronger as it has a cemented in downpost both sides of every panel.

We were very greatful that our guinea pigs were not in their wire cage on the grass up in the back corner because the fence fell in that direction (to the right looking at this photo towards the back fence) and would have squished them flat!

We we also glad we didn’t have Mahli (JR) as she would have no doubt done a runner with the fence down before we woke up!

We’ve had some nice cold nights in the past week that have been brought with this weather front.  Last night was a chilly 5 degrees… lovely!  Nothing nicer than a chilly night, with the windows open snuggled up with someone you love and your fluffy doona!

It has dawned on me that our planned trip to Karajini is now only about 6 or so weeks away.  The trip from Perth to Karajini (North and slightly east of where we live) will take about 17 hours by car.  This would be an impossible trip with children and is one of the reasons we are doing it without children!

Cliff decided on New Years that we should have no less than 6 camp trips this year with our camper trailer.  To date we have had one to Dwellingup with the kids and one to Marvel Loch with the father-in-law so Karijini will be the half way mark and leave us an easy 5 months of spring & summer to fit in the final 3.

We had a 2nd, industrial type, isolated battery put into our car that has an outlet into the cargo hold in our 4wd.  This means we can simply plug in 9v appliances (lights and other things that we attach to our 9v converter such as computer or phones to charge up) directly and not worry that we are draining our main battery (always a good thing if you are hours away from civilisation!

We also had a nice set of spotlights professionally installed to our roo bar (much neater cabling and internal switch than a DUI job!).  They should be helpful in avoiding the kangaroos, emu, goats and other wildlife along the way although, we do try to not travel at night (when the wildlife is more likely to be near the road and end up road kill!).

SO…… I sort of getting quite excited about this trip.  The kids are totally sorted out so I don’t have to worry about that (yay for adult children and family!) and that just leaves planning what we are taking and deciding where we are stopping on the trip up, the trip down and where we are planning on going whilst we are up in ‘the top end’ as we tend to call it.  Cliff lived part of his childhood in Port Hedland as well as working there 10 or so years ago and we hope to have time for him to take me to see this area while we are up there.  The colour of the red dirt up and the emerald sea are sights to behold in person as photos do not do them full justice.

After a year of slowing turning blonde I have decided I am ‘over  blonde’ and am contemplating going back to being a brunette.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, blondes do have fun but I think as I was born a brunette and having lived 42 years as one (and 1 year as a blonde) and can say without any shaddow of a doubt I prefer life as a brunette.  Now, just to convince my hairdresser!