Windy and Cold Wellington :)

On the day school finished (Wed 16th) No1 GS, his Mum and I went to Carols in the Park in Wellington. We took a picnic dinner with us and sat down on a blanket in the crowd while it was still daylight and waited for the show to begin. No 1 GS was in a rocking mood hence the "Chopper (of tv bike customising fame) look with the new sunglasses that he just had to have, lol.

The evening started with all the old favourites with some more modern classics as the evening wore on. You will note the glow stick around said GS's neck - there is a story to that. Wellington, being somewhat windy, is not the place to take candles to light to enhance the evening, so I bought three glow sticks which in turn donated money to hospice so a seasonal win win situation. As the evening drew nigh and it turned to dusk, the GS's mother and I looked at each other and wondered how to get the sticks to glow. I have never ever used one of these weapons before having attended most concerts in my life lit from within rather than without, heh heh. His Mum suggested we shake them which we proceeded to do but they did not seem to change much in brightness. Luckily a woman who was watching from behind us called to us and told us to bend the stick in half which breaks the inner bit and consequently the stick glows like a glowing thing, lol. Two very sheepish people complied and hey presto - let there be light!






This is not a trick photograph, I kid you not. Santa did several twirls around the park in the Westpac helicopter before appearing on stage. I got this shot as the copter was banking to circle the second time, lol. The evening was very family orientated and seemed to be enjoyed by most, but without the star impact the the Auckland version appears to have. At 9pm we left the park and strolled along the waterfront to go see the Telecom Christmas tree in yet another small playground, come park, nearer the center of town. These photos do not do it justice as the lights lit in waves down the "tree" and varied hues of colour as it shimmered down and around. No 1 GS and I then went under the Christmas tree and lay down looking up which is the second shot. There were a whole lot of bean bags on a tiered seating sort of set up, though we just lay down across the seating and looked up. It was a wierd experience as the lights hurtled down towards us and was like being in a star wars movie or star trek as you race towards the point of exit of a galaxy far, far away, lol.


We missed the bus as we got to the main road and because we had one wilting boy, caught a taxi back home.
On Thursday morning I baked for our donation to the Church Christmas boxes they were making for those on their own over Christmas or who were known to be having a tough time. I use the word bake in its widest sense as used the melt the butter and add honey ricebubble recipe again putting the mixture in patty cups which went down a treat. I had some time to kill waiting for James to finish at his holiday program so helped with the packaging at the church office as well earning myself a cup of coffee for my contribution. GS and I stopped at the library on the way home to pick up a couple of DVD's for the following night when it was the GS and myself, as his parents went out to their work do's. We got the cartoon version of the Sword and the Stone and Red Hollow 8 - a story set in medieval England with cartoon mice, badgers, wolves etc - a find as the lad has seen 1 - 7. Both were hits and watched numerous times over the next few days.

Saturday with a wind chill factor somewhere in the minuses I am sure, at 8.30am I was at cricket (Nana will come, - oh, the implicit faith of grandchildren, lol and of course, Nana would be delighted to go rather than curl up with good book in the warmth of her bed, laughing lots). Had four layers of clothing on and could not believe you could play cricket in such wind, lol. Thought I would just watch, but oh no, after said GS had batted, he wanted to do more practice in the nets at the side of the grounds - so off I tottered and bowled and batted for the next 45 mins :). Son was in full winter coat and commented you have to love Wellington summers, lol. Got back home and had the gas heater on for the rest of the day.
One of the coolest things was seeing the cable car go up the hill behind the park where the boys were playing cricket. I had not seen it before and once again seeing it against the backdrop of so much greenery it made me realise how unique our capital city is. I love the houses hanging off hillsides, not so fussed on the narrow roads all through the area and glad not to have to walk many of the hilly parts whilst staying down here. Do not have to feel like a mountain goat in Karori where the family live which is great.

Once again the grandson in full bowl.

Over the weekend, preparations for Christmas were in full swing and will follow up on Christmas Day in my next post.

Howzat!

Who would believe it, I am actually playing cricket (I use the term in its broadest sense, lol) and have the bruises to prove it. No1 grandson has chosen cricket as his sport, so for the last two days have spent a good amount of time on the front lawn - which is kind of flat- by Wellington standards, lol, either bowling or batting with Mojo (the dog) acting as fielder at times. So, the last time I had a go at cricket would be about twenty years ago and pre wearing glasses. I wasn't sure whether I would be able to guage the ball as I seem to be unable to play tennis since wearing glasses, but it has been all good :). In fact I am doing 4's and 5 1/4's (No1 Gs's scoring, lol) when batting and have been able to bowl numerous 'outs' which means I have bowled to the edge of the concrete path without the ball being hit. The bruise is spectacular, lol, and covers most of the left knee and is the result of some fielding when I dove sideways for the ball, sliding on the grass a la a rugby slide. Who knew it could result in such pain and damage? but there has been heat coming off the bruise and knee is tender to move and was excruciating when knocked against the table. Can only put it down to the aging process which impresses me not, lol. Last night was very exciting when No 1 Gs caught the ball on the full when I hit it. I don't know who was more surprised but I am sure the whole neighbourhood enjoyed the shrieks of excitement from myself heh, heh. (His Mum inside preparing dinner thought major damage had occurred). On Sunday afternoon after a bout of practice on the lawn, we went to 'real' cricket practice at a local park as No1 Gs is in a cricket team.






In true Wellington spirit, it was windy and cold, with cloud halfway down the hill behind the park! We got back home and put the gas heater on - in the middle of summer. I naturally had multi-layers on and resorted to sox as well. In keeping with the temperature, we had a very mid-winter type dinner - Lambshanks cooked gently in the oven in a wine and herb mix, with boiled potatoes, fresh beans and asparagus. The meat fell of the bone and was absolutely delicious.

We had started Sunday by going to Church where No1 Gs attends Sunday School. It is a very ordinary looking building from the outside but a beautiful old wooden building on the inside, with huge wooden beams and wooden ceiling, with old darkend wood pews stained and stained glass windows. We went to the family service where many of the children were in a nativity play with lots of audience participation, interspersed with some good old belting carols, followed by a sausage sizzle on the vicarage lawn next to the church.


We got back here and I had to charge the video camera up while No1 Gs found numerous leggo people and animals from his collection, and before dinner, I had to film his version of the nativity story. (Peter Jackson need not be too afraid yet, but watch this space, lol). We did the nativity story which then segued into Jesus as a teenager hanging with the shepards and wise men with a superhero overlay and heaven knows where that would have gone except we were called to come and have dinner. All good fodder for the 21st birthday, heh heh. I have a suspicion there will be more movies made yet.

Yesterday I walked No1 Gs to school with his Dad (he caught the bus to work along the way) and got introduced to his teacher before walking back here. (Walking and cricket, I hope you are all taking note, lol). I came back via the supermarket - managed to buy some strawberries - $1.99 for a large chip, mangos $1.59 each woohoo (they are Australian ones and cheaper here, go figure), and bananas $1.99 bunch. I am loving how cheap this fruit is. Also went to the Salvation Army shop as I needed something to read and managed to pick up four books for $10 so that should see me through the next 10 days.

It has rained during the night but I see the sun struggling to come through. The temp is meant to be around 14o Celsius today (put Celsius for the benefit of those who read this who are still using farenhieght and Centigrade). Not sure what today is going to bring, but am going to watch No1 Gs who is going swimming after school - they have a heated pool for children so is used all year round. We are in the midst of doing Christmas cards so if there is any energy left after dinner, I guess we will do a few more :).

Land of the Long White Cloud

It is now 10 days since I landed and as per usual time is swooshing by. Of these days I feel like at least six of them have been pouring with rain and cloudy, or with rain imminent so yes, do know I am back in NZ. I seem to be in perpetual motion and once again am covering some miles as I get to catch up with family and friends. The first week was spent in Waiuku for the first half and then down to Waihi to see No 2 son, daughter in law and grandson - who is now 9 months old. Apart from the weather, I am totally noticing how hilly Franklin and the Waikato areas are - verging on mountainous in places. The colours are so different to WA, with blues and mauve's of the hills (grey days, lol) and green vegetation everywhere - pine trees, pungas, flax, and a host of other fauna. Landscapes I have lived with forever seem brand new and I wonder what I noticed before I went away, lol. Traffic is another thing. The days when three vehicles on the road signal a busy day are over. Auckland traffic is ghastly - not so bad as you move further on down the island, and everything seems much smaller - no road trains, and less FWD type cars about but the traffic is much heavier in volume.

It was Kay (sister) and Mark's 30th wedding anniversary last Tuesday. We were discussing what did 30 yrs signify the night before, to which Kay's quick response was - a miracle, lol. I googled anniversaries to find that 30yrs traditionally is a pearl anniversary, however Kay had received pearls for their 13th one and they decided to go to dinner instead. I was involved in a mission by Viv who had made them a beautiful quilt with 25 hearts on it for their 25th anniversary, to take it out to her on the day so she could add 5 more hearts. After searching the house high and low, finally dawned to check behind the couch it usually reposes on, where it had fallen to the floor. Under the pretext of going out to lunch with Viv, I got it out to her and mission was completed by the time I was headed back. I stopped on the way at the local supermarket and put together a small bag of goodies, namely pearl barley, pearl soap,hand wash and a refill, pine nuts (pearl like), aolie and garlic dressing (again pearly), a packet of greek yoghurt mix (keep going with the theme) and put it all in a gift bag plus a bottle of champagne type wine (again colour was the issue here) which was received with much laughter as Kay unpacked it.

Wednesday I headed down to Waihi buying a new charger for my NZ cell phone and new windscreen wiper blades for the car on the way. I stopped just out of Waihi as there were several vans on the side of the road selling fruit and veg and got 3 bunches of asparagus, 10 avocados, 3 chips of strawberries and a bag of nectarines for $20 - be still my beating heart. No2 son and family are living in a cottage on a farm where he milks 280 cows and does other various jobs about the farm. No2 grandson is crawling, has two bottom teeth and getting top teeth through. I only took 95 photos the first day I was there, lol.

The local Plunket group was having a fundraising cake stall on Saturday so I did some baking for it after a quick mercy call to Mum for some of her melt the butter and add recipes. Friday came all too soon and a return to Waiuku to get ready to leave for Wellington the following day. I left with several heads of brocolli out of son's garden which I shared about the family as they were better to be eaten fresh. By the time I was heading to the outskirts of Hamilton, I realised I had left my new ph charger behind!!!!!! No worries, I will use the oz one which was getting calls and txts except, oh dear, it had run out of funds on it. Went to recharge it but will not let me in from NZ - so worse than useless, though I still have the charger to that and it will receive txts and calls when charged so maybe marginally useful after all. Could have spit tacks about the nz ph charger, arrrgggh.
Saturday started drizzly and overcast which did not bode well for the local Santa Parade. Went in to Waiuku for a coffee with Viv and Kay (as you do) and then a few quick jobs about the place. I had some charms I wanted added to my silver charm bracelet and two chains for necklaces needed to be repaired so called into "Richardson Jewellers" in Waiuku, which is one of the town's original shops. It is a treasure trove of jewellery, clocks, china and crystal and most of our important gifts given and received over the years have often come from there. It is a family business and as I went to school with two of the older children in the family, it is always nice to drop in for a catch up as well. I was assured that what I wanted done could be done by Christmas and if the shop was closed, just to give a ring at home and I could pick the bits up from there. You do not get service like that in many shops these days.
By the afternoon, thankfully the weather had lifted so after packing bags into the car for trip to the airport to Wellington, went in to view the parade.
Mum and her mob of Red Hatters, with 2nd Prize - they have won a prize every year they have entered - I think this is the 5th year.



New Zealand Icon, the buzzy bee, done by Sandspit School and now the float is famous throughout NZ as well.

Landed in Wellington to be picked up by No1 son and family with one very excited grandson who at 7yrs was able to take my bag to the car without help!. Next post will update the Wellington news :)

On The Road Again

I must be back in NZ as it has done nothing but rain almost since I got here, lol. It was a group effort to leave Tardun as we were two hours late from estimated time of departure. Thanks to Janette and Jude for helping me with the last minute stuff and for morning tea :) :) which actually was my breakfast. Had cleaned everything else out of fridge etc and packed the rest. Once we finally got going we left via Wandalgu as Marinus (bloke who had been helping with harvest) had something to pick up from there and so we headed out via Canna. I drove the Brs car and Br M and Marinus were in the very overloaded station wagon. It was good cos it meant I could have the ipod up at nose bleed levels, lol. Anyhoo, also got give a walkie talkie so Br M could stay in touch with me, but was told to turn it off to save the battery between chats!!!!!! Naturally I did not turn it off as otherwise, how would I know he wanted something LOL. Zoomed through Morawa and took the rd to Perenjori which ws apparrently the wrong rd to take, however all good and still got to Carnamah. Stopped at Moora - and Br M then decided to do the next bit with me. I do not think he trusted my ability to keep on track with them. I had stopped being the lead vehicle much earlier on as the station wagon was over heating and apparently I was driving too fast. In fact, strangely enough I was doing the speed limit only, but did not argue heh heh. Got delayed at one point as after missing numerous opportunities for some great photos, I did stop and take one of a row of silos that caught my eye and got to Moora several mins behind the stn wagon.
From there we drove to New Norcia and Marinus wanted to get something from the Monastry - we arrived 5 mins to late, but omg, what an amazing place with these amazing buildings in the middle of nowhere. There are two old schools and a monastry that were built in a Spanish style after the monks that went there to settle. I want to go back now and poke around and take more photos :) :) :). We then headed for Bindoon to leave the station wagon behind and to catch up with who ever was there. Met the Brs that Br W and Br M will be living with next year. Not having been to Bindoon before it was great to see it and now have a picture in my mind of how it is all laid out. It was amazing standing on top of the hill where the Brs live and to look down and across the valley planted with olive trees and then to see the statue in the distance. I got a few photos but have not looked at them properly yet. We then drove to the dining room and got to see three ex pupils. I caught up with one of our girls from the Kimberley who was in good spirits and says she has passed maths, english and hospitality and has been getting good marks. She plans on returning next year and in fact wants to go to Year 12 !!!!!! So, who would have thought.

Got to Wembly (another Brs home type set up) and dinner was there for the microwaving of. More Brs turned up as we were about to eat and hosted us very well - seemed an OK bunch. At 9.30pm we left for airport to discover Marinus and I were on the same flight to Sydney after all that, lol. Didnt have a long wait and as soon as I got into my seat, I think I fell asleep. Missed dinner but when I woke, one of the stewards asked me if he could get me a meal which was good. I was wearing Tardun jumper and he reconised CBs insignia from boyhood days, so think that stood me in good stead.
The plane over to Sydney was very civilised, individual screens in the back of seats for movies etc, friendly staff and reasonabe comfort. Made it to Sydney with no problems.
Sydney was a longish day. Poodled about shops and looked for power plug outlets for laptop and to charge ph only to discover I did not have charger in my hand luggage while Aussi phone slowly went dead and of course have lost nz ph charger so was incommunicado until late afternoon when I finally found powerpoint for laptop and then only managed to get a few messages out trying to tee up my pick up in NZ. I seem to be the Typoid Mary of catching planes at the moment as for some reason, the next one was delayed for over and hour - I was feeling extremely weary by then so dozed with foot through straps of back pack and sitting around handbag so nothing could be moved without me knowing, lol. Was not impressed by next leg of journey. The plane seemed smaller and was tackier to say the least. No individual screens but screens in the aisles, so no choice of own movie or games etc. Found music instead and slept with that in my ears which was good. I was sat by a window and next thing was no blankets or pillows provided like there was the previous flight. I asked one of the staff for a blanket and was nearly dead with hypothermia by the time I had to ask yet another one to fetch me one!!!!! Not impressed. Arrived an hour late to Auckland. It was beautiful fine and sunny with a pinky glow to the light above the cloud and then we began the descent. It becomes obvious why NZ is called Land of the Long White Cloud as you near land as there was cloud EVERWHERE. It changed from being puffy lambswool type cloud to grey, horrible and nasty and then rain. The temp was 14o lol on landing. Got through customs ok and went through one duty free thinking I would wait and find trolly and look for stuff at the next one but arrrrgggghh there was no second duty free or third one. Somewhere in the last 9 mths, they have reduced things to one duty free shop and I had missed it by then. Rediculous at yr major airport to not have a choice!!!!! Not impressed. Had a wait as Kay and Vivienne were at a staff dinner and just as I was wondering what to do next, I spotted a friends son (as you do) who happened to be waiting for his wife to return from Melbourne - so had a good catch up with him. Love the jungle grape vine as his mother had already rung him to say to watch out for me as I might be there at the same time as him. I knew I was back home then, lol. Trackers already out heh heh. In fact it was nearly 11pm by the time Kay arrived. I was feeling hypothermic again and was starving, so had just got some Maccas, turned around and there was Viv.
The drive home was horrendous, pouring with rain with the glare from all the street lights, traffic lights and cars bleeding into the darkness so difficult to see road markings and road works in the mix as well. There were two accidents on the motorway in the space of 20ks and we were diverted on the way home as there had been a fatality between the motorway and home. I think we averaged 48k the whole trip. It was nearly 1am by the time we got to Kays and was great to get inside, have a hot drink and then I decided to have a hot bath to ease out all the kinks. As it was raining so much, filled the bath to my throat,bubbles galore and a book to read while soaking - bliss.

Was up reasonably early the next day -Kay opened the door at 8am - are you awake - am now (after four hours sleep). We called round to say hi to Mum and Clive and then went to friend Denise's for lunch and I stayed the rest of the day helping her to wall paper a bedroom. Yesterday, another early wake up as neice Laura was on the front cover of the weekend magazine of the Sunday Star Times re her food blog (http://hungryandfrozen.blogspot.com for those playing at home). Kay shot into Waiuku to get the paper and bought it back with fresh strawberries for breakfast - yum. Great excitement to read about Laura in print - phone calls and texts abounded. Went to Pukekohe in the afternoon to hear the local choir do their Christmas Concert. Kay used to be in it last year but with a change of schools and an hour and a half travel each day, she gave it away. It was very enjoyable - good range of traditional carols and more choral type pieces. Bonus was Mum had done roast lamb and veg for tea so called round here on the way home to be fed like pate de foie gras ducks and then back to Kays with food parcels for Mark and Julian.
I found mysef up until 3am which is only about 10pm in WA but losing out on the other end as awake and up around 8amish each day.

Have tried to add photos still but no luck with uploading. Will update further news. :)

The Last Post (at Tardun)

This is a very hurried touch base and maybe the last chance I get to write before leaving the school for good, and Oz (hopefully at the moment ) for the holidays. I want to finish off talking about Adelaide but have no time for pictures so will have to recap when back in NZ. Needless to say, it has been a crazy time since arriving back in WA. First challenge was racing from the plane when it landed at Perth to Sky West (luckily in same building) as I had 10 mins between flights in the end. Ran to the counter and the VERY helpful woman there sent someone to look for my bag while I shot through xray etc to get back to Geraldton. Zoomed along to departure lounge and straight to desk only to be told the plane to Gton had been delayed. Whew, someone up there was looking after me. Caught my breath, asked whether I should go back and look for bag but was assured all would be fine, so got out book to read, and waited. And waited. And waited. An hour and a half later, we finally boarded - apparently there was a medical emergency and the plane from Geraldton was needed to transport someone as flying drs were busy - hence the delay. Dozed all the way back but by then panicking somewhat on who would pick me up at the other end. All the staff had been in town for a farewell lunch with the Principal so arriving at the proper time was no problem. I sent txts as I could but of course, once on plane - for the hour flight - I was incommunicado. Got off the plane and saw no one, very sick feeling in pit of stomach and then as I was thinking what next, the office lady turned up - yay - as she had been doing extra jobs in town and was the last one heading back. The DP, WM & WMH and all gone on ahead, which were two respective rides that I missed. So as I was metaphorically kissing the pavement for being picked up, grabbed my bag and was off.

We had a pit stop at Janette's Mum's on the way back. She lives directly on the main road and we had a trailer of mulch to pick up from there. Coffee and bikkies, mmmmm, just the ticket, lol. Even though we were both talking flat tack catching up on all the news, I became aware that we were not leaving the airport by the usual road as we took a detour to get onto the main road. There is huge road works as a new bypass goes through from the main road at the old airport entrance, straight to the port, for mining and wheat trucks etc. It is a massive undertaking and will make a considerable difference once completed, but very confusing in the midst of it all. We were not long on the road again back to school, when the sky began to darken and there were some amazing cloud formations. We were thinking of taking some photos (which I did but a bit too late I think) when hello, forked lightening, and hello again, more. Well, for about 60ks we witnessed the most spectacular lightening show, it was like New Years off Sydney Harbour Bridge (not quite, lol, - slight exaggeration, but you get my drift). Sheet lightening went off behind a large cloud formation so it was like turning a light on and off behind a scarf type of thing, and them whammo, every now and then a ripper forked lightening would zap out towards the ground. If I tell you one of the ones looked as thick as my wrist and and we were miles away, it will give you some idea of how bright and awesome these lightening bolts were. There had also been torrential downpour, ouch, just what you need as you begin to harvest. Finally got back to school, noticing water running along side the road in some areas, and some decent puddles lying about. We went straight up to the dining room as there was a shared meal on for the DP's birthday and farewell as he was off to Sydney the following morning. How nice, I thought, they are having a candle lit dinner (it was around 7pm by now), only to get into the dining room to be told, the power was off. Fantastic. Ate a quick bite in the dark and another catch up, in between fending off a slew of insects that had arrived with the weather. There was a heap of beetles on the table, on the floor, everywhere, - ick. Got dropped back at my place, taking a largish candle borrowed from the Chapel as only had tea lights and not sure where to put my hand on them immediately. So much for catching up on laptop etc that evening, but thank god for gas (the only time I like gas stoves, lol). The DP put a pot on at his place so went and had coffee and catch up and then returned home with nothing for it but an early -ish night. Did try to read by torch light for awhile but tiredness did catch up with me, so all good.

Got up the next day - to no power which out here means no phone, no nothing. Went up to the WM's place to hear it would not be on till later in the day, so there was nothing for it, but to play cards, lol for the rest of the afternoon. The power finally came on, about 4pm, 25 hours after it had gone off the day before!!!!!!. Apparently something like 18 poles had been affected by lightening strike (in the middle of nowhere) and it had taken ages to find and fix them all. Since then have had another 7 hour power cut Monday a week ago, and another 4 hour one on Saturday - all great fun indeed. Because the power was off for 24 hours, we are all entitled to claim $80 inconvenience money from power suppliers and also to claim for any food etc that was affected by it. Janette got us all forms to fill out for the claims so will have to wait and see how that all works.

As our time has been drawing to an end out here and there has been nothing but leave takings since I got back. First the Principal and DP a day apart, then my neighbours 10 days ago, the WM and family last Friday and now it is down to me and Br M who are leaving tomorrow for Perth after morning tea. There will be one couple, two other Brs and our cook left and only one Br and the Cook after Christmas until March next year when the place may be leased to a mining group.

Before the WM and family left, we went over to the office lady's farm the weekend before to take photos of them harvesting wheat. I got to ride in the header (think combine harvester type thingie) as her husband did a round of the wheat field. Firstly, I nearly needed crampons and a pick axe to get into the cab of this behemoth vehicle - (the first vehicle I have clambered into that you need not ask 'does this vehicle make my bum look big, lol). I sort of launched myself at the ladder on the side of the header and dragged myself into the vehicle that has enough bells and whistles to resemble a small flight deck (no coffee machine though, lol). Have taken photos which will upload next post. I did say paddock - it was bigger than our farm in Waiuku (60 acres), and the next door neighbours farm (80 acres) being around 100acres for the ONE paddock. The cutting end of the beast has a blade running horizontally about maybe 8 - 9 inches off the ground (so that the paddocks look as though they have had a no 2 haircut, lol) and then prongs that rotate, - (think croquet hoops or prongs on old fashioned tedders of yesteryear for haymaking in nz -) to scoop up cut wheat. Somehow the wheat is separated from the chaff (almost biblical sentence that, lol) and the wheat flows into the back of the header into a bin. Once that is filled, you then have a truck drive slowly to the side and just back of you, with a trailer and wheat is then transferred by a cylander type nozzle thingie into that bin, while you are both driving round the paddock side by side. The 12 yr old son was driving the truck and I was amazed at how he managed the massive vehicle (gotta love WA that you can stil do this, lol). Wheat is not as densley planted as hay with rows looking to be 3 or 4 inches apart if not more. Just to give you an idea, the school farm harvested 6,000 acres of wheat this year. The machinery is able to measure moisture content in the wheat as you cannot harvest below a certain point. Because the bins on the back are so high, there is actually an alarm that goes, when it needs to be feed off into the truck - I kid you not. The cab is airconditioned, and the view is magnificent as you look down onto the prongs rotating where the blade cuts. Chaff does not appear to be collected and is blown back on the paddock from what I could tell.

You can tell it is harvest time, because the roads are chocka block with wheat trucks and the silos are filling up at Mullewa again and the wheat train is running. Most of the trucks are two trailers big and so after having a brief respite from the terrorists (tourists, lol) and their caravans and winnebagos, you now have to contend with wheat trucks and mining trucks at the same time. It is a challenge on these narrow country dirt roads as these trucks do not give much quarter. You spend a good amount of time trying not to hit the markers on the side of the road as you have to move off (often at reasonable speed) to let them have the right of way. Also, at Mass (I went on Sunday in at Mullewa) there was a specific harvest prayer amongst all the others. For the heathens out there, it was the first Sunday in Advent so the Advent wreath was displayed and the first candle lit during the service. Father Morrissey mentioned he was out visiting local farms to wish them well for their harvests and called out here on Monday evening. Also mentioned it was 27 days to Christmas!!

In the midst of all the above, I have been applying for jobs with no luck as yet. Tried for one in Darwin after being alerted by the lecturer from one of my uni papers as there was a job came up at his school. He rang the WM and I to apply given what he had read in our papers which was a bit of a buzz. I also tried for one in Geraldton but think I have missed out on that as well. They wanted someone with a bus licence which I do not have so not to worry - I have the consultant who employed me for here beating the bushes to see what he can find as many schools are only just advertising now.

So, the house is a tip, I have mice running rampant through the place as there is a mini plague of them happening around here. I have had "one feed kills mice and rats stone dead" bait out for a week - four boxes of it (trying for overkill, lol) and to date, one dead mouse, three playing tag in the lounge the other night and cavorting through the rest of the house as well (the whole other two rooms, lol) with no sign of impending demise. Had a very slow day yesterday and did not sight one at all and was just talking to a friend on line mentioning the same when "MOUSE", one shot out from behind the pantry and then a mate a little later, so am not well impressed. I am only loosely packing and cleaning as I go as the packers are coming in on the 6th of Jan to do it properly. The challenge will be to have a destination for them by that date - no pressure, lol. I leave Perth on Thursday night for Sydney and have several hours stop over there before arriving back in Auckland around 8pm. I am 17 hours in transit from memory.

So I need to get cracking and empty the fridge - I have had some very curious and unusual things to eat over the past week as I try to get through things without wasting food etc. Those of us who are left except the Brs are going to the local pub tonight for dinner so once I do dishes and clean up, that will be it for here. Will have bfast/morning tea up at school tomorrow before we leave.

It all feels a bit surreal (I know, thorougly overused word, lol) as on one level, it is like leaving on any other holiday, and it has not really hit home, this may be the last time I see this place. Too busy to process that bit at the moment however. The WM and family left to go back East for a family wedding and for Christmas and they are back on the 4th to move to their new house in Geraldton. Most of the others are moving there or are already there. So, this just might be me, signing off my aussi adventure until back in NZ as I have just 24 hours left here. It is fitting that it is a full moon, and will try to get some last moon photos tonight, weather permitting. It is overcaste and blowing outside today. The temps have been pretty good - mainly in the 30's with a couple of 40's. Have only had the air con on a couple of times this week mainly towards the middle of the day, and am sitting here with a jumper on this morning,as it is only 22o outside.

Will put some photos of harvest on next post plus some more of Adelaide. Until then catch ya later. :)