One more Sleep-Merry Christmas

Our lonely little Christmas tree

Hello everyone, Just popped in to let you all know that I have been busy preparing for Christmas. Our family is joining us for Boxing Day this year and along with our son and his family from Qld the total number will be 25. Looking forward to the little ones opening their presents. Christmas is pretty special for kids. We will be all singing the Aussie Christmas Song that Julia mentioned in her blog. We alter the words to suit the family.

A happier Christmas Tree.

I would like to wish all of our family and friends a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope 2009 proves to be the best year yet.

Talk again soon Jan

Home at Last

Ye Ole Quindanning Inn

I bet you have guessed by now that we are home for the Christmas break. We arrived home last Monday after a lovely five days at Ye Olde Quindanning Inne. I arrived home in time to surprise the girls on their sewing day at Gwen’s. I actually started knitting socks on that day why I don’t know’ because I can I suppose. After we left Goomalling we ventured over to Popanyinning via Beverley (which is another lovely character country town) where we caught up with some very dear friends for dinner. After we left Popanyinning we made our way over to Quindanning to our annual Christmas dinner weekend with our chapter of the Motorhome Club

Happy Hour with friends

. We arrived on the Wed and left the following Monday. We had our usual Disc Bowling Competition and some of the locals chose to join us. We also indulged in some rather unusual activities I won’t divulge all but I know someone in our house dressed up in a bra and lace G-string and it wasn’t me. The photo is too hot to publish and besides my life wouldn’t be worth living if he found out. We had a lovely dinner on the Saturday night and we had our usual gift exchange.

Our camp spot

Bill & I received lovely matching cups. I spent today making shortbread, brown sugar biscuits, Baileys fudge and an Icecream Christmas cake, it was very hot in Perth and whereas most people spent the day on the beach, I of course chose to bake. Duh! I probably won’t be blogging much over the next couple of weeks as I will be busy with Christmas and family. Please call in from time to time as I may have some things to add. I am looking forward to family coming over from Qld for Christmas. Hello to you all over there see you soon.5 more sleeps.

Talk again soon Jan

Photos of Goomalling

The Wheatbins (The locals call these "Dolly Partons"

Scrap Metal Sculptures

More scrap metal sculptures.

Ceramics of local history

Main Street of Goomalling

Goomalling Hotel

Goomalling Farmers Club

Parked in caravan Park

Please read early posting. Tomorrow we leave and head for Beverley or Poppanyining we haven't made up our mind yet.

Talk again soon Jan

Goomalling & Kellerberrin

Kellerberrin Post Office

The Main Street of Kellerberrin

We arrived in Goomalling about 2pm on Friday and met our new neighbours from Whyalla in SA Carole & Terry, and then it was off to SIS & BIL’s farm for a catch up and dinner. Saturday saw us catching up with the locals in down town Goomalling. They have a very nice coffee shop here and they also do a hot white chocolate equal if not better than you can buy in Perth. Sis came over in the afternoon and I whipped up a batch of biscuits which we all test tasted. Not bad seeing as I had to improvise on some of the ingredients. Evening saw us around the BBQ with the other residents for a meet and greet. Sunday we were up and at em and off to Kellerberrin which is about 120kms east of here. Now you may not know this but I was actually born there just a few years ago LOL. Called to see another SIL and Bro (don’t worry there isn’t many more) whom I haven’t seen for quite some time.

The new baby colt

Now they have a few horses on their property as they do a bit of Harness racing. In fact Bro was trialling a horse as we arrived. We took some photos of one of their horses who had just had a baby colt. SIL loves animals and makes a home for some stray cats. There is a photo of one of the wild cats that has just had kittens.

Mother cat

The rest are of the main street of Kellerberrin and the Post Office. I bet you can just imagine me roaming the streets as a little angel of a child. (Tongue in Cheek) On the way home we took a photo of the Ettamogah Pub in Cunderdin.Talk again soon Jan

Ettamogah Pub- Cunderdin

Morawa

The Town Parking area featuring Murals and Morawa Town Hall built in 1939

Morawa 26th and 27th November.- Morawa is mainly a farming community situated in the heart of wildflower country in WA’s mid west 178 kms from Geraldton. We have arrived too late to see the wildflowers as they have finished flowering for the season. Although we went to dinner last night at the “Everlastings Restaurant” and there were some everlastings still green and blooming. It was Alan’s birthday so we celebrated with a nice dinner, conversation and a couple of drinks. We were joined by his lovely wife Lillian and Dennis and his other half Wendy.

Morawa's St David's Anglican Church built in 1932

The Koolanooka Minesite was reopened in 2004 by the Mid West Corporation and has been moving iron ore fines stockpiles through the Geraldton Port. Shipments are mainly sent to China. The first 1,000.000 tonnes have already been shipped. The Caravan Park is operated by the Shire of Morawa and I can highly recommend it. It is beautiful clean and shady, nice showers and BBQ areas and excellent (and cheap) laundry facilities. It is one of the best Parks we have stayed in so far. Tomorrow we are headed for Goomalling which is 268kms from here. Watch out Sis we are coming to town.

Morawa's main street.

Talk again soon Jan

Dongara

Irwin River Mouth

Dongara is situated on the mouth of the Irwin River and was settled in the early 1850s. There are still many old buildings from this era.

The Anglican Church

The name originates from the aboriginal word “Thungarra” meaning the place of the fur seal.

The main street of Dongara and the Moreton Bay Figs

The main street of Dongara is lined with Moreton Bay Fig Trees which were planted in 1906. Dongara sits across the river from its twin town Port Denison.

Port Denison Beach

There are several beaches in the Dongara, Port Denison region for swimming and fishing. Many people holiday or retire here. We stayed with friends Glen and Julie and visited other friends Chris and Joe. We stayed here two days leaving on Wednesday and heading inland towards Morawa, where we are catching up with another couple we know. After that we are heading down towards Goomalling so Beth watch out we will soon be at your back door. Today I am fondly thinking of my dear Mum on her birthday. RIP mum.

Talk again soon Jan

Kalbarri

Pelicans waiting to be fed

Hire boats ready for the day's patronage

The water from the lookout

A boat enjoying the water

Monday 24th November Kalbarri. How do I describe Kalbarri? It is a beautiful place lovely and clean with lots of pristine water. We were lucky enough to be there when the pelicans were fed at at 8.45am.

Feeding the Pelicans

They are truly a beautiful creature and one of them was named Mr Percival, now he was the biggest and greediest of them all. Again Kalbari is renown for its seafood. Lots of lovely restaurants with lots of lovely seafood. Lots of waterfront villas and resorts. There is a bit of tourism but not enough to mar the beauty of the area, I came here about 1996 on our way back from visiting the kids in Kununarra and loved it and I must admit I still like what I see. We didn’t spend too long in Kalbarri, and we were on our way again by 10 next stop was Northampton. This is a historic town nestled between three pubs affectionately called top middle and bottom pubs. We didn’t spend long here and were soon on the road again heading for Dongara. We arrived in Dongara about 1pm.Talk again soon Jan

Ajana

The Shearing Shed now used as Community Hall

Saturday 22nd November we arrived at Galena about 1 o’clock after two short stops at Wooramel and Overlander Roadhouses for morning tea and lunch. We unloaded Jimny and explored the nearby River.

The Local Ostrich

The Riverside Sanctuary has short stay accommodation. They have converted the shearing shed into a community room and the nearby quarters as backpacker accommodation with a few cabins dotted throughout the farm and plenty of space for Caravans and Motor homes.

The Pet Emu

Apart from the usual farm animals they also house a resident Ostrich an

d a couple of Emus.

The Local Lizard

There are also many Kangaroos in the surrounding paddocks. It is still a working farm and they only finished harvesting their grain that morning. A bus load of backpackers joined us in the evening and they enjoyed a meal of beef and kangaroo shepherd’s pie. They left us about 8am and we left not long after.

The Murchison River

We called into Ajana a few minutes later to visit a farm that Bill used to work on in his misspent youth. We ended up going to their son’s house for lunch a bit further up the track and about 4 o’clock we continued down to Kalbarri and have parked up just outside of the township near the information centre for the night. Talk again soon Jan

Carnarvon

Gascoyne Hotel Carnarvon

Thursday-Saturday
Carnarvon is renown as a great fishing spot, Bill has been here fishing with his mate several times. It is also home for Norwest Seafoods, and they have been trawling for prawns and scallops up here for yonk years. Many moons ago Bill went out on the trawling boats whenever we holidayed up this way. Carnarvon is often referred to as WA’s food Bowl. It produces a remarkable mix of tropical fruits and wholesome vegetables and is particularly known for its golden ripe bananas. They have some lovely restaurants we dined at Harbourside Cafe and the Gascoyne Hotel whilst we were in Town.

The Quobba Blowholes

Friday we drove 70km north to the blow holes. The blow holes form a natural spectacle as waves are forced through sea caves before exploding out through holes in the rock. The enclosed photo probably doesn’t do it much justice as they are an amazing sight as they erupt in a whoosh of water and air. We also visited Carnarvon’s heritage one mile jetty which was built in 1897. There is a quaint train that travels to the end of the jetty. Unfortunately they had a fire on the jetty not long ago so part of it is burnt near the middle.
We packed up and left on Saturday morning and our planned next sop will be Riverside Sanctuary near Galena Bridge.

Quobba Coastline

Talk again soon Jan

On our way at last leaving Port Hedland

Loaded and ready to go.

Jimny goes in

Wednesday 19th November
Hello everyone, as you can see we are on our way again. We arrived in Port Hedland midday Monday and arrived at O & W’s to inspect the bus. Now after 6 weeks in PH including a month in Perth we could hardly recognize the old girl. She was completely covered in a thick layer of red dirt inside and out. After a test run of the bus and a much needed bath we were ready to roll. Tuesday AM after a minor repair and Jimny was loaded we were ready to leave. We had to wait until the girls in the office arrived so we could pay our account and they were late (nearly an hour) so we set off about 9.15am, we were heading towards Carnarvon which is 890kms south of PH. First stop was Fortescue Roadhouse and we gave the bus a little fuel as she was thirsty. Next stop was Nanutarra Roadhouse 490kms from PH and after a coffee break we decided to spend the night here. We met some people travelling from NSW, Nancy and Tony. A truck pulled in carrying a 50tonne dump truck, and you wouldn’t believe it, but it was Fred, the owner of O & W‘s in PH so we were able to let him know that we were not having any more problems with the bus. By the way I would thoroughly recommend their service, they were a wonderful bunch of guys, not only did they let us stay there and use all their facilities but they ferried us to and from the airport. We have been out of phone range for a couple of days. We left Nanutarra about 8.00am after a nice evening’s rest. We stopped at Minilya Roadhouse about 10 for a coffee break and reached Carnarvon at about 1.00pm. We parked up and settled in, the Park is situated within walking distance to the town centre. We may venture out for an evening meal but don’t anticipate doing too much today. Tomorrow should see us fresh and raring to go. We are booked in here until Saturday. Before I go I want to wish Beth and Bill a Happy Wedding Anniversary for today (I am too tired to work out how many years).

Finn I Hope you had a lovely Birthday on Monday. Miss you all heaps. Talk again soon Jan

Heading back to Port Hedland

Thursday 13th November 2008
Well it is good news or bad news depending upon who you talk to. The gearbox is in Port Hedland and should be fixed over the weekend and we will be flying back on Monday, so sorry girls I won’t make it to the Christmas party at WAQA on Tuesday. We will be able to continue our journey down from Port Hedland to Perth. First stop will be Carnarvon at this stage.
I have had a very enjoyable couple of days Tuesday and Wednesday. I spent Tuesday at Lurline’s house stitching and bitching with everybody. It was wonderful catching up with everyone and even some I missed when I went to Pat’s House a few weeks ago. I went to Roleystone on Wednesday for their friendship day and had another splendid day amongst some dear friends. I thought I would post some photos of two raggy quilts I made just to let you know that I have been productive on the patchwork and quilting side as well as crochet. Talk again soon Jan

My Birthday

Hi everyone,

Another exciting day in paradise. Just joking. Today is my birthday and I have enclosed a picture of the bracelet I brought myself (and it is silver for our anniversary). I have relented and joined the rest of the girls in aquiring a pandora style charm bracelet. I figured it would give my children an opportunity to add on for future birthdays etc. I have also pictured my latest rug I think it totals about 9 I have made or making since we left in August. Tonight we are going out to a local seafood restaurant to celebrate our birthdays/anniversay am looking forward to it.

Talk again soon Jan

Our Silver Wedding Anniversary

Today 5th November is our 25th Wedding Anniversary. It is a big one, a silver wedding anniversary. A big milestone for us as I can remember years ago we thought we would not last this long. As it was a second marriage for both of us and we anticipated that we wouldn’t last long enough to celebrate this event don't ask me why. Guess we proved everyone wrong. We had a quiet day, did some Xmas shopping in the morning and then had a lovely leisurely lunch with Brother and SIL at Hog’s Breath. We ended the day about 5 o’clock and were going to go out for dinner but have decided to leave it for tomorrow when it is my birthday. The first week of November is a busy week for us as we both celebrate birthdays and our anniversary is in the middle.

The photo enclosed was taken on our wedding day signing away our lives. Don't we look young?

P.S.The latest news on the gearbox is that the parts have arrived in Australia from China and are in Adelaide so here’s hoping it won’t take them too long to get them to WA and we can be on the road again.Talk again soon Jan

A day on the farm at Noggerup

Monday 3rd November,
Today is Bill’s Birthday and we have nothing planned just a quiet day at home and I promised I wouldn’t nag him today because it is his birthday but all bets are off tomorrow. Its hard to imagine but twelve months ago today we were in Houston and all the ladies in the restaurant for breakfast sang happy birthday to him.
Yesterday we drove to Noggerup to our friend’s (Farmer Dave & Gail) Farm. It is nestled in a truly picturesque setting overlooking lovely valleys and is a true tree change. We were joined by Dave’s parents and enjoyed a beautiful BBQ lunch. After catching up on all the gossip we donned boots and went for a pleasant stroll into the bush to look for the wildflowers growing in abundance. We were joined by a very shy racehorse goanna who when he spotted us coming zipped up the nearest tree. Gail and I settled down on a log amongst the blue leschenaultia to admire the view and Bill snapped us with the camera. We also took photos of the Kangaroo Paws growing nearby and some purple wild flowers we were unsure of the name. During our stroll we were met by a mother with two lambs, Bucky the resident horse and a group of black faced sheep. We jumped into the ute and went for a drive and again took some lovely photos of the farm from a hill that overlooked the property. Altogether a lovely relaxing day and we loved catching up with Gail & Dave. Thanks again for a lovely day. Talk again soon Jan