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. :)