Bits and Pieces

Where did the week go!!!! There was dinner at the WM's place Monday and Tuesday, Gton Wednesday and today I took a student to the Dr in Mullewa. Tomorrow will be Friday again and then I have a weekend off - well, late Friday until Sunday evening. Am toying with the idea of going into town again but not sure yet.

We are having strange weather, the thunder storms have gone, but for three days there have been cloudy skies with rain on Tues and Wednesday. Am sitting with a blanket around me as I write this. Am missing the perenial blue skies but not the fewer insects about, LOL.

Had a good run into Gton on Wednesday. Have been thinking about how to describe the countryside at the moment and the word tawny came to mind. The wheat is not exactly golden, golden - it came to me that it is much the same colour as a moth eaten old lion - hence the word tawny. The good part about the rain is that I have not had to water my garden and the rainwater tank will have filled up again.

Update on the spider bites - I am glad to have provided an amount of amusement to family and friends. It took another day and then three red spots appeared on my nether regions which were itchy. I have checked periodically - they resemble LARGE mosquito bites and have no clear bubble so think it may not have been a poisonous (ex)spider after all. Telfast seems to have helped with the itch. There is no necretising ocurring so no loss of any bodily parts, LOL.

Did some more speed shopping this week and this time it was shoes. It had been getting too hot to wear boots and sox on the hot days and after the snake sighting, open toed sandles were not going to be the go. I called into Rivers which sells clothes and shoes and managed to get four pairs of shoes and 5 pairs of sox for $127. Two of the pairs are leather and all were on sale!!!! Have worn two pairs today and so far very comfortable and light to wear - and all enclosed which was the cheif criteria. Have made several people very envious and should not have to buy another shoe for at least a year!! The thing is, they are all so comfortable which is not so easy when you have a yeti sized foot, so thought what the heck, its just as well I am not a centipede, LOL.

Am having an on going saga with Bigpond who are connected with telstra re my broadband useage - I have execeeded my limit by 250% twice now as each time I have tried to increase my limit, they have made a muck up. It is such a hassle to ring them as my quickest call was probably a 15 min wait before I got an actual person to talk to. I LOATHE those computer generated questions and being told which button to press to get the next message. Am girding my loins for another round tomorrow as am hesitant to use my computer as I have no idea what costs I am wracking up in the meantime. Will probably be equivalent to some third world country's debt!!!!

And now a message for those at home. My sister, brother-in-law and their family, plus several other good citizens of Otaua (Waiuku) are fighting the fact that a waste oil plant can be relocated next to the local country school and playschool and in the heart of dairying, rural NZ. The potential for all sorts of hazards from heavy truck traffic running continuously past the school, to the worst case scenario of a Tamahere type fire is what they are fighting against. It would seem that Franklin County Council in their wisdom has designated an area right beside the school, surrounded by farms as an industrial zone. Today was the first day of submissions against this going ahead with another day to follow. There is a blog if anyone is interested and a link to that should send you to the video that was created by said BILaw. It's well worth a look.
http://www.otauavillage.blogspot.com
I know it is mostly family that read this blog but anyone else feel free to read and then check you own locale to see what your council will allow.

It is less than two months to Christmas!!! As of tomorrow we have 38 days left of school with the students here and the year is done. My tickets were booked today, I pick up the details tomorrow as I left it in the hands of our office lady. Christmas decorations etc are everywhere in the shops though are vying for space with halloween bits and pieces. Have never got into Halloween so no urge to spend there, LOL.

I am ready to head to bed so will sign off for tonight.

Snakes Alive!!!!

OMG, I have seen my first live snake!!!! And I think I was bitten by a spider of some sort last night but more about that later. Back to the SNAKE. I am happy to say it was not a big one, in fact stretched out I guess it would not have been longer than 50cm (it was in full s bend snake mode, slithering when I saw it). We had just come out of Mass and I was stood on the chapel steps when someone saw it slithering along the ground. It was orange and black in bands and was about as round as a fat pencil!! One of the Brs who had been at Mass nudged it along the path and it slithered in front of us again, and then he nudged it off onto the grass away from the chapel. No one knew what sort of snake it was, Br had not seen one like it before and no one knew whether it was poisonous or not. That was all well and good but I was wearing sandles on my feet and feeling a tad uneasy. If that was a baby snake???? whether was mother!!!!!! I have to say, most eels would be bigger than what I saw, but I am told even a dead poisonous snake can kill you if you get venom on you. It was the suddeness of it being there that was the spooky bit. Note to self - purchase waders for the spring to summer footwear, LOL. Seriously, I will be spending some money next week on a very comfortable, summer breathing pair of sneakers/runners and they will not come off my feet until I get to NZ!!! I am sure expiring of the heat will be easier to deal with than a snake bite that may kill you in less time than we can get medical aide out here.

Speaking of the heat, I am sitting here with my jumper on again -it is a grey, windy day and the temp is down to 20o. We have had three nights of spectacular thunderstorms and it poured briefly yesterday afternoon and rained heavily the day before. The farmers are now wringing their hands over the possibly ruination of the wheat crops should we get much more bad weather. On Wednesday there were hail storms in Queensland and snow fell somewhere else (missed exactly where). I was told we are heading into the cyclone season!!!! Good Oh!

I did some speed shopping for myself on Wednesday. Raced into Target and tried on several pairs of jeans/pants and bought two 3/4 length nice denimy fabric pants and a pair of brown long pants that will roll up to 3/4 length in a light weight fabric. My other clothes I have been wearing to work are getting a bit shabby now. I also got a small canvas type bag to use for taking my clothes etc to and from work instead of the three of four carrier bags that I have done with to date. Hopefully that will make transporting bits much easier. I had stuff to get at Bunnings for school and BCF is right next door (camping shop) so bought a 'camel back' - it is a back pack with a bladder in it that you fill with water that you can drink out of an attached hose whilst hiking *gasp* or horse riding!! I also got one of those cans that emits insect repellent every few minutes for the accommodation up at school. Have spent several nights fending off insects with normal fly spray and trying to dodge inhaling the stuff myself.

Have not been on skype a huge amount this week. Atmospherics and work got in the way. Am at my place typing this today with the wireless arial stuck in the window for reception, LOL. I am sitting at the kitchen table looking at a couple of bananas that need to be turned into muffins and getting up the energy to do so. I am working this weekend and on Sunday will be going to Gton all day for basketball.

Back to the spider bite!!! After watching a couple of programs of 'Outrageous Fortune' series three last night, my eyes were starting to droop and it was just about midnight so headed for bed. Because I was cold, fished out the wincy pjs I had ironed earlier in the day, put them on and jumped into bed. I was so tired, I decided I wouldnt even try to read and went to close my eyes when I felt what was like a prickle in in my butt on the left side where the seam of the pj's rested. I rolled over and tweeked the pj's into a more comfortable situation but the prickling was still happening. About that time, the message from the neurons to the synapses suggested that there are no prickles near the clothes line on the porch, or near the clothes line outside, what else might cause this sensation, oh, I don't know, maybe a SPIDER, maybe a POISONOUS spider. At that point, I leapt out of bed, dropped said tweeds on the floor and leapt about trying to see if anything was attached to my rear end!!!! Couldn't see any puncture marks,(couldn't), jumped back into bed, and thought oh well, I will wait awhile to see if I feel strange at all and must have gone straight to sleep. Luckily, I woke up this morning, though I did have some very strange dreams during the night. Brain in better gear this morning, I thought I would shake outthe pjs that had lain on the floor all night, and lo and behold, a small, squashed spider did indeed fall out. It is currently lying on my bed waiting to be sucked into the vacuum cleaner. I rechecked for marks on the aforementioned area this morning and still could find no mark, though can feel where it was. Note to self: shake everything and do not depend on agent orange can of spray currently set up in my bedroom to emit spray regularly, obviously to kill every insect in the house!!!!!! Also, thank goodness for those few extra pounds I am carrying at the moment - I am hoping any residual poison, reaction, whatever, got absorbed in the fatty tissue, LOL.

Back to the snakes, one was killed down at the boys dorm yesterday and our groundsman saw one about 1 1/2 mtrs long down at the chook house. It was a black one that he saw, and again, no one is quite sure what sort it might be as the most common one here is a king brown - which is totally poisonous. Welcome to the Outback joys of spring, LOL.

We're having a heatwave,,,,

Yes, winter is over, am down to one layer and worshipping air-con, LOL. Seem to have had a busy few days. Worked Friday night, Saturday I had 5 mins notice to go to town. The WMH was going in to buy shoes for one of the boys so got a stand up ironing board, new single sheets and some supplies for dinner that night. I am over using the ironing board that will sit on the bed, as I want to be able to watch a DVD when I iron - I tell myself I will be more productive that way, LOL. The sheets were because the last week of school, I put my foot through the old winciette ones I was using from school supplies, so they are now dusters. I went to look for some Egyptian cotton ones and Target had 1000 count King size and Queen size, but the best I could do was a 300 count polyester/cotton mix in single sheets - so am slumming it at work, LOL (do people sleeping in single beds not deserve 1000 count cotton sheets). I know, I am a sheet snob (when I can be, LOL).

We had a big roast pork dinner up at the WM's on Saturday night which was very yummy. I had planned on making a pavlova as I had bought strawberries for 95c chip and some cream earlier in the week. As it transpired, I was too hot and tired from the trip to fit in cooking it before dinner, so skipped the pav bit and had fruit salad and cream instead. If I had been thinking, I should have bought some merangues or mini pavs and cheated, note to self: buy some tomorrow when I do the vegie run to keep in the cupboard for emergencies and when it is too hot to cook.

Sunday was horse riding day and we went for a good ramble - came back nearly expiring even though this time I had taken water out with me - the temp by the time I got back was 38o on my verandah in the shade. I turned the aircon onto warp speed and lay like a beached whale until I cooled down. Had been using the fans prior to that but that was only moving the warm air about.

Along with the heat, the ANTS are back. Luckily, I had pkts of bait left over from last season so have left them liberally placed about the house and hoping they will deliver mega death to the nests from whence they came. There is also an insect I have spotted that is orange and wasp looking but of a size you could throw a saddle on and ride them. I have had someone tell me they are a wasp, and then someone else tell me they are hornets - will have to do more investigation on that.

I am waiting until 2pm which will be 7pm NZ time to ring the No 1 Grandson for his 6th birthday. Went to go for a ride this morning but a couple of horses had jumped the fence into the paddock with the mare and foal, and the horse we are still treating and after sorting all that out it was time for morning tea. We have a couple of the honcho's here today and have just had a very interesting conversation re planning for next year. No worries about my job at all it would seem.

It was 42o in Geraldton yesterday so that would have meant at least 45o out here if not more. We had a spectacular thunder storm Sunday afternoon but no rain. The sunsets over the last two nights have been spectacular - orange, deep pinks to red with black clouds, lightening and rain in the distance. Am going home now to water the plants and to have some lunch. I think I may have let my mushrooms dry out too much but am getting two or three cheery tomatoes each day and trying to encourage my next lot of spinach to grow.

Catch you later.

Vanity, thy name is Skype, LOL

Was lying in bed this morning with my nose in a good who done it, when the phone rang. I leapt to answer it thinking it might be the WM but is was an ex-Waiuku-ite, now living in Sydney ringing for a catch up which was a lovely surprise. Read a bit more after the ph call then thought, I could be on line checking to see who might be out and about on skype. So still in pj's put the computer on and then thought - I will move the kitchen table properly to set up computer so not I am not jammed into the wall all the time - and then I noticed the wall I sit in front of needed a clean. Cleaning completed, corn beef on to cook I checked to see if anyone was on line - and yes there was, so before I answered I quickly threw water over my face to look a bit presentable before answering, LOL. That conversation finished, I thought I might get a quick shower in and just as I was getting out, beep, beep and then silence with a note from my sister to say she had left the camera and microphone at home, but was just letting me know she was leaving school and would talk to me later. Phew, as I was stood there with a (large)towel about my personage thinking, I can answer this but I will not turn the camera on until I am dressed as there is only so much the eye of the beholder can take, LOL. Oh bother, had better iron a decent shirt and not look like something out of the rag bag, so fished a shirt out of the ironing pile, put water in the iron and hey presto, dressed and ready for action. For some reason, today I could not get any pictures of people who talked to me but in all cases, (apart from sister kay's first call) everyone could see me. Will now have to get up half an hour earlier each day so I can have my skype face ready, LOL. I must have got the timing wrong this afternoon because after waiting some hours in case anyone was on line, I went out onto the verandah for a lie in the sun and a bit of a snooze and when I got back in I had missed several people contacting me. Skype is becoming as addictive as playing mahjong on the computer, LOL.

Am back in the staff room again typing this. I may have to change my email address to my big pond address as that is all free to read as is a whole pile of big pond sites. Read that today in some of their information. Will investigate a bit more tomorrow when I sit down and read through everything properly again. Mass has been changed to Thursday nights for the next three weeks so came up for that and then went and had coffee and the WM's place and watched tonights 'Home and Away' and 'Supermodel' - keeping up with the fix of trashy tv for the week. I finished my murder book - its the third one I have read by Tami Hoag, a writer I had not read anything by until last week. Have "enjoyed" all three stories but was pleased to work out who done it before the end of the story today, heh, heh.

Following on from talk of the moon last night, it was just coming up tonight at about 8.30pm after chapel and another magnificent showing. It was huge and orangy - I remember it being called a harvest moon I think when it is like this but I thought it was more November?? Maybe it happens in Oct and Nov, will take note next month. Of course it was the one time I didnt have a camera with me and now there is cloud everywhere!!! Will be walking home in the dark tonight.

Had the announcement yesterday that the boss and family will be moving at the end of this year and that one of the honcho's who delivered this news will be the acting Principal for 2009. It was confirmation of what we already had heard in the wind before the holidays so we now have something concrete to work with and as of next week there will be more visitations with planning for next year getting underway.

Am about to head home for the night so catch you all later.

Just another Wednesday.

It's Wednesday night and am sitting in the dark, in the staff room catching up on some email. Why, you ask, when I have the new, whizzo-bizzo laptop - well, it's because Bigpond tell me I have used all my amount of usage until Nov 7. I went into a Telstra shop today and was told to ignore the email I had received from Bigpond because they always get it wrong - you can see why dealing with either of these companies is enough to bring you out in a rash!!!

School has begun and I had half the girls back on Monday evening and should have a full complement by next Monday. I spent most of the day cleaning as nothing had been done over the holidays and it was me or nothing. With the help of two other staff to take away the rubbish, do the laundry and clean the bathrooms, I got the rest done just as the first girl back was arriving. Everyone was settled down by 9.15pm and thus began the new term.

Today I did the vegie run and several errands for other staff. I got a new TV for the girls to replace the one that imploded last term. In the two major shops I went into, there were only two analogue tv's to chose from as I was told today, from 2013 all TV here will be dgital. I was looking at getting a 29" screen and in one shop an LG, flat screen was going for $547, the competition had the same thing at $445 and a brand called TCL beside it for $329, which was reduced to $300 so I got that one. The TCL brand also came with a three year guarantee whereas the LG brand only came with a 1 yr guarantee. I figured with a year to go for the school, with a three yr guarantee, we were on to a winner.

The landscape has changed unbelievably over the past three weeks. There is bare dirt starting to happen in some paddocks and hilly bits and green is becoming a thing of the past. It was a warm morning - I knew this because two lizards were out crossing the road by 9.15am this morning. It was cloudy by the time I got to Gton and a bit cooler in there, I did see a temp sign outside a shop saying 22o but that was across from the tide and in a breezy spot. I had planned on looking at getting some new clothes but once I had bought the TV, I realised I could not just leave it on the back of the ute and head away shopping, leaving it sitting like a gift for someone else to carry off, so my shopping was curtailed in a big way.

I tried to take some photos on the way back of some ducks on a pond and a baby pied stilt and then some white cockatoos and green budgies but everything was very skitterish and flew about so I go several sky shots before giving up. I need to head back to this particular place and be able to stand or sit and just wait to see if anything settles close enough to get a good shot.

I was doing some sums today and worked out that I had driven 4,000k in the 10 days of the holidays from the time I left here for Perth until I got back again. Not a bad effort I thought.

Am starting to yawn, its 11.48pm. I had dinner with the WMH tonight which was heaven sent after my trip to town and no lunch. We are planning a dinner again on Saturday night - my turn to cook - as it is my weekend off. Am thinking pavlova for desert as I bought strawberries and cream today and that would work together, LOL. Not sure about first course yet. It's a full moon tonight so should be able to see to walk home. Catch you all later. I haven't proof read this tonight so please excuse any mistakes. Caio

The Great Race.

Was reading a few pages of a book when the WM rang at 7.15am yesterday to say the race at Bathurst was to start in 15mis. Flew out of bed, dressed for riding, grabbed my bag and shot up to her house and what a start. Pole position car stalled on the track and dropped to 24th! Half the house was up and half still asleep so had to be reasonably quiet in our enthusiasm, LOL. A muffin, a cup of coffee and an hour later, I was off again to go riding - just a quick one I thought - and 3 1/2 hours later.....

We turned left as we left the horse yards and went down through the property, across the road, past the cemetary and quite a ways up the track before we decided to go through some closed gates in an effort to find the salt lake we could see from the top windows up in the boarding house. We found ourselves in a wheat field which was really two together with some wheat already golden and another lot still green. We started to ride round the perimeter of the field which went on and on and on and on, looking for a gate to head in the direction we still thought we should be going in. At last after riding around what seemed to be 3/4 of the area we finally came to an opening in the fence and ended up in scrub and what appeared to be river bed and the salt area we were looking for (which happend to be at the back of the shearing shed which we could have ridden in a direct line too and taken an hour instead of two!) We eventually ended up on the track we had ridden into the paddock on and headed back to school having done a complete circle and 15 - 20k. Saw lots of birds and finally a small kangaroo leapt across the path as we headed back, though we saw heaps of tracks out in the wheat field. I did see a tiny brown lizard scurry into the undergrowth and only because it was scurrying at speed and the movement caught my eye.

For the first time I rode with a fly veil over my helmet and I will not be without one now. I had already swallowed two flies and nearly breathed one in (and think I only spat one out!) before I had even got on the horse yesterday so was completely over the whole fly issue by then. I must get a photo of me when they just settle on you like a blanket. They were our constant companions on the ride and every so often there would be a huge swarm you would ride through other than the hundreds who wanted to be your friend on the whole ride, LOL.

It was reasonably breezy to begin with but by 12.30pm when we got back, there was some warmth (30o again) to the sun. Some of the staff children wanted a ride so left the horse at the yard and fast walked back to the WM's to watch the remainder of the race. It felt very wierd watching in during that part of the day and was great to be able to see the end of the race without being cut into by the news (would have finished about 7.30pm in NZ last night). It was nail biting stuff as Murph passed Steve Richards with very few laps to go, especially as his car was starting to overheat through being so close behind SR's car. Barely breathed over the last 9 laps in case something happend to Murph's car and it was great to see him get 2nd place after the hassles at the beginning of the race that had him way down the field. The WM reckons we will all have to see it live next year so who knows, LOL - it is on my list of things to do.

Shot home for a shower and more talking on Skype and then it was back up to the WM's for a farewell dinner for her parents who have left this morning to return to Philip Island which is where they live. They have been over for just under 6 weeks. We watched 'Dancing with the Stars' which had been off last week for Telethon and this time Stefano of NZ fame was eliminated. He was partnered with 'Martha' from 'Home and Away' who had improved a lot but did not appear to be inherently a dancer. Stefano seemed very stoical about being eliminated but you could see it was hard after the success he had had previously. The smile was dimmed somewhat, nonetheless, there was still a smile or was it a grimmace, LOL.

Am about to cook myself mushrooms (my own) for breakfast to fortify myself for the day ahead. A good amount of the girls will return later today and I will be up at school by 8am! so had better get a move on. It was cold last night and put a blanket back on again - crazy spring weather I guess and it is windy again this morning. Will be up at school before the heat comes up.

I love Skype!

Is this the best thing to happen since sliced bread or what!!! Am now able to SEE and TALK to family and friends in living technicolour, LOL. (Yes, I know there are some that would say that is not such a wonderful thing hheh, heh.) You can even have three way conversations without pictures ( in fact you can have up to 24 people in a conversation at once but that would be like bedlam I should think). So, to date there are 8 people I can instantly see and talk and spend hours on the computer with. All you need is a microphone and camera gadget and you are good to go. (and a hairdresser and makeup artist if you are fussy about being seen in your natural state ie how you look when not expecting visitors,LOL). I had people comment on my new hairstyle today. Noooooo, that would be because I have washed it, LOL. The difference from my horse riding hair to a clean and blowdried look.

As a sucker for punishment we went riding again this morning. Set the alarm for 5.45am to get up to the horses at 6am, as we thought we would go in the cool of the morning - which also happened to be a little windy as well. Yes indeedy, it was a fun morning. No stepped on foot this morning for me which was a plus but the wind put a little something into Chance and the WMH did a very good rendition of Cowboy Sam as he managed to stay on as Chance decided to pig jump and rear for the first minutes the WMH was on his back, (and again at the end of the ride). Misty tried a few rears but I had a good thwacking stick which was promptly used and she settled down smartly. Had a great ride over the cross country run that the students do - down a dirt track for some time, over a huge amount of open land for the next bit, and then through bush on a barely marked track that is uneven, and got bits of scrub down over it. It was interesting enough on the horses and would probably be outlawed in NZ if you had to do a risk assessment on it for edn outside the classroom. Saw heaps of tracks that kangaroos were around but no live ones today. The ride was over 6k which was the course and then we did another 2-3k as we went down the road a bit more and up through the farm. In a pavement kissing moment, I got to use an English saddle today instead of the usual stock saddle!!! What utter bliss and comfort, I barely knew I had been for a ride, LOL. I will not use a stock saddle again with any luck! (as in I will knock over the eldery and small children to get dibs on it each ride, heh,heh). The WMH was feeling a little tender towards the end of the ride after his cowboy antics and has declined a ride tomorrow morning using the excuse of going to Mass in Mullewa instead. I weighed up a Godly moment v a ride and then Bathurst and will have to have a private word with upstairs tomorrow on my own time (in commercial breaks, LOL and will need to put a word up for Murph if he is racing). Mind you, when you are out riding on horses that want to stand on their ears, and your are riding through scrub that something may leap out of at any moment, one tends to be having a running conversation with God during the whole proceedings (as in God let me get home in one piece!)

I note today that my mushrooms have grown from just over pinhead to eating size in three days so may harvest some for dinner tonight. I see another cherry tomatoe ripening on the vine as we speak - 31o today and yesterday though there is a good breeze still - enough not to need air con or fans on today.

Have just finished another conversation on Skype and have finished my latest book so will wander up to school and stop procrastinating anymore re getting the place set up. Will try and check out on the telly up there who the top 10 for Bathurst are tomorrow. Catch you later.

A scorpian in my bathroom!!

Well, that is what I think it was. This morning while seated on the throne, I noticed an insect looking thing crawling along the plastic of my mushroom farm which is growning under the bathroom basin (as you do). I thought it was a wasp sort of thing as I thought I had seen one fall off something the day before but had not taken a lot of notice. I asked the WMH to have a look when he came to pick me up to go horse riding and he couldn't see anything.

Small commercial about the horse riding. The decision was made at dinner last night to go for an early ride so at 8am we walked probably a mile there and back to the back of the furtherest paddock (of course) to catch the horses! I found a birds egg on the ground, (it is white and about the size of what I imagine a pigeon egg to be) and I managed to get stood on, on the back. A good start. Managed to get on with reasonable ease today, leaping from the side rails of the pen I had Misty in and then the fun began. She hasn't been ridden for over a week and was feeling her oats I think. She decided rearing would be fun along with some bucking until a good swat with a twig and a boot from me and she settled down. It was only a two hour ride today which felt long enough given the flies were out in earnest and I felt out of practice. Got home feeling hot and sticky so had a shower, went to the loo again and as I went to flush it - there was the scorpian in the bowl!!!!!!! Now it was not a huge thing, about two inches long with pincers and very thing, not like I had always imagined a scorpian to look like (had always thought they were the size of a small crayfish, LOL) so immediately flushed it to perdition. But then, HOW did it get there... Had it been upon my person at anytime.... or had it committed sillicide (new word from the game balderdash)looking for water. Am now wearing shoes inside all the time and shaking everything in sight. Have put a new can of insect death in the squirter machine and will be using liberal amounts of hand held spray can death just in case.

Have been a bit slack with my postings for two reasons. I now have Skype and have been able to chat to family and friends while I have had reception. Therein lies the next hassle - reception has been fickle at my place. Have sat squashed between the kitchen wall and the table with the window open with just the screen across to get two bars of signal. When that didn't work, I moved onto the verandah but got eaten by mossies and midges. I lost an email I was working on three times as I tried to write it and then nothing would work this morning at all. Have finally rung Big Pond and what I had to do was to turn everything off and turn it on again. They must hate me and have four stars by my name as it is the fourth time I have contacted them in a week.

The day after I got back from my trip I went into spring clean mode, mainly because the WMH wanted some frozen pastry, thereby causing me to defrost the fridge, clean the food cupboards while I did a whole pile of camping washing and washing all the cutlery etc we had used to return to school. Luckily, there was a birthday party to attend that afternoon which caused a holt to that crazy carry on.

Tuesday was spent in Gton. Took the WM into an apt and met up with the rest of her family for lunch. Got a few chores out of the road and back for the Tues TV session and dinner once again. Stocked up on groceries for the next week with some treats for the rest of the hols.

The following two days I made myself have and enforced rest, you know, lying about, reading two books back to back with a token effort of more washing and tidying as my eyes were starting to bleed. Which brings me to the scorpian moment of today. Am just about to play a game of Buzz with the WM's family so will sign off for now. Hopefully I have this wireless thing sorted and will be back on a more regular basis as the term begins again.

Back to Base

Have arrived back at Tardun to dinner with the WM's family once again. Left Rockingham at 12.15 and got back here about 6pmish. After dropping the lads off on Friday I got back on the Canning Highway and went down to Rockingham to visit friends from Rotorua/Hamilton days. Shelly and Morris with Joel have recently emigrated from NZ and are staying with Mo's cousin and family who have been in Oz for 28 yrs. They were wonderful people and opened their home to yet one more kiwi, allowing me to pitch my tent (still in camping mode, LOL) on their back lawn. We had lots of news to catch up on so Friday/Saturday morning was fairly relaxed. I did a quick trip to the Rockingham shopping centre on Friday afternoon to get some more sox as it was a lot colder down there. OMG, it was like dying and going to heaven, as it was a humoungous mall, acres big and all under the one roof. Got my sox and some mags for holiday reading and decided to head back again the next day for a hair cut. Had begun to resemble a St Bernard and could barely see out of my fringe.

Had a bit of a window shop on Saturday which felt like nourishment for the soul, but weirdly enough bought very little. Seem to have got out of the habit, LOL. Did have lunch with the troops who had turned up while I was getting my hair cut and then we all went for a drive along the beach front and environs. Rockingham is right on the coast, underneath Freemantle, so white sand beaches and beautiful clear, blue water going to deep blue. The seafront looks as though development has begun in a serious way with massive appartment blocks next to a few older bach type houses, with the odd empty plot that has been cleared. The beach front has a strip of green with playgrounds, toilets, barbeques, etc like Geraldton has. It was blowing a living gale so did not linger too long and headed back to the house.

This morning went for a look at the markets - a car boot type affair in a carpark next to a park. Again resisted most things except 1/2 doz books of authors that I read, that I had not already read. Back at, Bronwyn and Bill's place, I tried to get some video footage and some photos of two kookaburras that were nesting in a palm tree on their front lawn. Woke up both mornings to hear them calling in their distinctive way - a very ozzy sound LOL. Speaking of ozzy sounds, while the ozzy lot continue to give me stick about my NZ accent, the kiwis are telling me I am developing and aussie one!!!!!!

Am very impressed with my ability to get back to Tardun this afternoon as I went on yet more new roads. This time I came up the Leach Highway, onto the Tonkin highway and finaly onto the Great Northen which then is all the way back. Only had one small glitch when I came off the Tonkin highway two roads too late but a quick check of the map and it was all good again. I did this with mostly right turns too but only because they were all with the lights, LOL. So, its goodbye to Perth and environs for the time being. I liked Perth as a city, with a good navigator, LOL, it's an easy place to get about. Many of the highways go through built up areas so the speed limit is 60k, 70 or 80k depending on how built up the area is. The highways are more like travelling the Gt South Rd from Ak downwards rather than being on the Ak motorway. It is a much more comfortable speed to drive at and the traffic seems less scarey, perhaps because of that (unless someone is telling you to cross three lanes of traffic to a turnoff, LOL).

For the last 200k today there was very little traffic either way, I would go 40k some times before seeing anyone else. Stopped at the Bindoon bakery on the way back (couldn't find it last time) and got a beef and guiness pie for lunch and an eccles cake (fly cemetery). I actually asked for a fly cemetery and had to point as I had forgotten the correct name. Got a bit of a strange look and had to have a wee laugh. Both were very good.

Was gobsmacked this morning to open the Sunday paper to see Paul Newman had died earlier in the week. Once upon a time, a star of his stature would have meant days of back to back movies and biopics of his career. And if that wasn't enough, Robyn then told me Rob Guest had also died, of a stroke!!!! I saw him on a morning program when I was home at Easter, promoting the latest musical he was going to do - a prequel to Wizard of Oz. I understand he did a show and had a stroke afterwards. Will have to google both him and Paul Newman to catch up on the news. Robyn and Bill have Foxtel (another glimpse of heaven, LOL)so had a very quick look on the news segments (brief) but was in the process of packing up so that was all I caught up with.

Foxtel is like Sky but seems to have more choices. Bronwyn and Bill also have a TV the size of a small football field that I had very covetous thoughts about, so watching a program on it was almost like being there. It was lovely to do a bit of blobbing before the telly, very holiday like behaviour indeed.

Have been writing this at the WM's table as we were showing off photos to each other and then we both went on line for different reasons. Battery is about to run out so will sign out for now.

Near Death by Kangaroo!!!

Managed to get everyone plus belongings in the ute to leave at 6.32am yesterday for Perth - which was well done. Our destination was actually Freemantle to see the jail!!. Spotted three kangaroos between the school drive and the Wandalgu/Morawa turnoff and thought good oh, should be Ok now as it was very light, but still was keeping my eyes peeled when, hello, out of nowhere (it seemed) a huge kangaroo leapt in front of us. Foot carefully applied to the brake and the guardian angels working overtime, it continued to leap, meaning we missed it by less than a metre. To my mind, the kangaroo appeared to be shoulder height with the windscreen (as it was leaning forward in its leap!!) and has assumed mythical proportions since in the retelling of the tale. It happened in the blink of an eyelid and was quite a surreal experience because of the lack of warning before it was there - in the windscreen. It certainly has provided a lot of conversation since, LOL. Tim and boys very impressed with my apparent lack of histrioics at the near death experience, (I think I was in shock for the next 100k, LOL) Anyway, a miss is as good as a mile they say and we had 5 more hours of driving to go, so got on with it. Stopped at Mora for loo and coffee and continued without a break until I spotted new flowers along side the road, then a flock of white tailed cockatiels in a field of canola and an old truck - as we headed towards Bindoon and a stop for petrol at Bullsbrook. Made it off the Eastern Highway onto the Canning highway without incident and then finally got to Freemantle.

Had a picnic lunch in a park, once we had identified that some of the parks on the map, were in fact football ovals and therefore not suitable for our impending repast. We were in front of the dock area with the Esplanade Hotel to our backs and up a bit for those who know FM. Food out of the way, we decided to leave the ute where we had parked and walk to the jail, which was not as close as I initially thought. Got to go past the Esplanade Hotel, past the Freemantle Markets and the Freemantle Oval (Home of the Bulldogs) then up the walkway and we were at the Jail. We did a tour through it which was very informative. The jail was built in the 1850's and was used until 1987, the last person hung in the jail was in 1964 (we got to see the gallows and that was a fairly freaky thing to see). The last person flogged was in 1943 - there is a frame still there that was used. It was interesting to hear how many common sayings have originated from prison culture. Toe the line comes from prisoners having to stand with thier toes on a painted line in the prison yard at line up time; letting the cat out of the bag refers to the cat of nine tails being kept in a bag in the captain's quarters and you did not want to do anything to provoke it being 'let out of the bag'. Not enough room to swing a cat is self explanatory (and I have always envisioned a 101 uses of a dead cat cartoon version of a literal cat being swung, LOL) and cat got your tongue refers to the intensity of pain taking ones breath away as the flogging occured. From the time the jail was first inhabited until it closed, the men (and women) only had a tin bucket with a lid on it for their toilet - remember, it was 1987! Health and Safety would have had a field day and in the end, a goodly amount of H&S was what brought the jail to a close.

After a small discussion about the return route, we went via the Stirling Highway to Kings Park for the fabulous views of Perth and so the boys could climb the DNA tower as it was too wet last week when we were there. Everything was fine until we went to leave the Park, and my co-pilot made me do a right hand turn into peak traffic with two lots of traffic to contend with taking right turns towards me. Imminent death by kangaroo was a piece of cake by comparison, LOL. The extreme duress caused me to become a trifle sharp and one or two very descriptive words were uttered while everyone else fell about at my great indignation at having to do a right hand turn (having become famous for my favourite left hand turns which inevitably got us lost, - but were not across traffic!!!!) while my vision was being blocked by two asian tourists trying to cross the road in the face of one lot of oncoming traffic!!. Being right about the road to turn down to reach our hotel did much to restore my equanimity and an evening of thin lippedness was narrowly averted.

After an ablution stop and regrouping we set forth to have dinner in town. Luckily, the hotel being in the middle of the CBD, no further driving was required, LOL. We walked several blocks until we found a Belgian food restaurant (beer was served in 1/2 litre goblets!!) where the servings were of Brunhilde proportions. I picked pork loin chops with a apple and pear salad with a blue cheese dressing (yum) and that pig did not die in vain. We thought we would go back to the hotel and have a desert, but that restaurant was closed by 8.30pm. There was nowhere else in the near vicinity open so finished up with desert at McDonalds.

Managed to get the lads out to the domestic airport this morning without incident, only had to go round the carpark twice to get the right entrance, LOL. Found we were indeed at the right airport (as opposed to the international one)which was a great relief. Once the lads had checked in, I left them to it and then headed to where my friend Shells is living in Rockingham, which is further down the coast than Freemantle. Managed to get all the way here without incident which was another minor miracle. More tomorrow as I need to sign off for now.

Kay & Viv: Forming pictures that need fingers in the ears while singing la, la, la, la - thinking of your gym experiences, LOL but go the girls for fitness!

Mum: Are you any closer to getting organised for Skype, or in fact anyone out there in cyberland. I now have it sorted from my end and it is great.

But wait, There's More...

Where to start - am beginning to think I may need to swap my role from boarding supervisior to tourist operator. I have to chuckle at the picture of this Kiwi, taking three Poms/kiwis on a camping adventure in North West WA. We have had the best time and seen more animals, birds, insects, reptiles etc than you can poke a stick at (and Tim did try to poke several things with a stick today!!). Before I continue, must give you an update on the wafer thin 'mattress' thingie. Did actually sleep the 2nd night in batches (although another 4pmish walk) and managed better by lying on my side - less coverage, body to wafer ratio, than lying in the coffin position to sleep, which meant bits went over each side. I also added two towels under the feeble pillow I had taken which was a trifle more comfortable. Last night, had a good amount of wine and was so tired by the time I went to bed, I slept through the night (until 5.30am which was a lie in, LOL). But I digress.

As I said in my previous post, we were to stop at Eagle Point on the way out of Denham as Tim wanted to see if we could see an actual eagle . There was a bit of a walk along the cliff top and as the boys went ahead, not only did they see two eagles but also a couple of kangaroos. Then if that wasn't enough, we read at the top of the cliff that in summer you could often see sharks, stingrays etc swim below in the clear water, when in fact that is exactly what did happen!!!!. We had not hoped to see anything because the water is not that warm yet, but could definitely see the shadow of several smallish sharks and then two stingrays. I had not been to this place before and opted for this stop rather than some other great outdoors place with interesting fauna and flora up the road. My thought was, we would see plenty in Kalbarri - which we did. We stopped at the Overlander Roadhouse this time for a coffee as we left Denham and then went all the way to Kalbarri. We decided to go to the Hawkshead lookout and the Ross Graham lookout, neither of which I saw the last time, before we got to the township. Both were very good. New wild flowers to take photos along the way, the boys seriously out spotting for me.

Hawkshead lookout is so named because there is a rock in the shape of a hawks head in the middle of the gorge. Ross Graham lookout is named after a teacher in Kalbarri who died young, in recognition of his approach to conservation in the area. There was a walk down into the gorge to the river which we took. Tim got sidetracked taking a photo of some spider (large and therefore I went nowhere near it) so followed the boys and I down. I am thankful to say, at no time during these walks down rocks etc did I see a snake though nearly got whip lash from looking around so much to check every step I made. Only went off the path once to take a photo of a flower, but could see clearly where I was heading, LOL. It was getting to 1.15ish by then and we were all feeling a little famished so decided to head to the campsite for lunch before doing anymore.

Setting up camp this time was a little challenging to say the least, as it was blowing wind at a great rate of knots (being near the sea again!!!) We still had no hammer so juidiciously placed the tents around what appeared to be a roomy site, so part of each tent could be tied to a tree, when Chas noticed we appeared to spread over two sites rather than one! Rather than take everything down, we just pulled the tents with the tarpaulins under them to their new positions with tempers getting a little frayed by now as we had to take everything off the ute to put in the tents to hold them in place. Finally, we got things set, had lunch and all was right with the (windy) world again.

Decided to head to Rainbow Jungle after lunch which is where endangered species of parrots are being reared in captivity. It seems a little tough to see these birds in cages with concrete walls but some of the breeds are very aggressive and it seems they would not do well with others in the same area. There is one area in the middle of the complex where you go through three gates to an enclosure however, where an amount of parrots are able to fly free - there was an amazing variety of birds with some spectacular colourings. However, the biggest coup, was when Tim (now chief wildlife spotter, LOL) saw two geckos, under a bush. Took several photos and videos of them plus the birds.

After that, we headed back to the gorges again to go to the Loop where the rock called Nature's Window is a feature. More treacherous rocks to clamber over though a decent path most of the way down. Fabulous views and more photos taken. The sun was setting and we were the only ones left in the park so decided to finally head back out. Saw a large grey kangaroo bound off into the undergrowth on the road out and then got a photo of a kingfisher sitting on top of a black boy (plant) before calling it a day. Everyone ecstatic at another successful day indeed. Got back to camp to find someone else indeed had arrived to use the campsite we had previously spread across and with their tent of bedouin (sp) proportions, it made a brilliant windbreak, plus the wind had died down to nothing. By now we were able to laugh at the previous exploits of setting up camp.

Decided on steak for dinner so whipped up dinner in the camp kitchen and barbeque which is placed cunningly close to the TV room. They boys were tired after so much fresh air and sun so had an early night. I managed to get the beginning and end of All Saints (though have got back to Tardun to find the WMH has taped it for me (yay) as I tried first to get the channel right and then to turn the volume down only to lose the whole channel both times!!!

We had a leisurely breakfast this morning and managed to drive down to the beach just in time for pelican feeding (as you do, LOL). Chas got to feed a pelican and we heard all sorts of interesting facts and figures about them. It was then time to head out of town but with two further stops. First was to Jakes point, the local surf area for a quick look at rock pools and a walk along the beach. This is where Tim decided to poke a stick at a couple of very large crabs as they scuttled under rocks at our approach. These were orangey coloured crabs with front legs as thick as my fingers - looked good enough to eat, LOL. There were other smaller dark crabs that also scuttled for cover as you approached the rock pools and I always thought crabs were aggressive creatures!. The next place we stopped at was Red Bluff Point and here was the piece de resistance... It involved a small walk of 800mtres along up to the edge of the cliff and along a bit ( a mere walk in the park, heh, heh) When the cry went up, WHALES, and there below us were three whales just rising to the surface, blowing out water occassionly. This stop again was a spontaneous stop and not planned and we could not believe our luck. A local person said they were most likely humpback whales, so we were totally blown away now by how amazing our luck had been all trip. (Forgot to mention sighting of a feral cat the day before and a goat both in scrub on the side of the road).

It was then back to Tardun via Geraldton where we went to the War Memorial for the HMAS Sydney after the best fish and chip meal I have had yet. A quick grocery replenish and we were at last back to where we started with heaps of news for the WM and her family. They wonderfully offered their place for dinner again so we shared corn beef and vegies (theirs) and chicken roll ups (ours) as we debriefed our trip. We are all packed and now head off first thing tomorrow morning for Perth so will sign off and get to bed.