11th July 2015
Today we reverted back to a long morning walk, about
an hour, and backed it up with another half hour walk in the afternoon after
doing about half an hour of gardening.
This was followed with Barry taking his first drive around our local streets
to test out his legs response and knee’s ability to cope with emergency stops,
and it looks like he will be back in the drivers’ seat again.
With Barry being slightly out of action and Merry
attending diligently to his needs, plus some surprising rain in the order of
60mm, the weeds have gone mad. There are
also a lot of old dead lettuces, beans and sweet corn stalks to remove and soil
to turn over before replanting. The
relatively new raised section of the garden appears to be producing some healthy
broccoli that hasn’t succumbed to caterpillars or Avid. This may be because this area is circular and
we used three fibreglass tent poles to form a dome shape and covered it with
curtain netting held down with rocks.
This kept the white cabbage butterflies out.
12th July 2015
We started out on our long morning walk but soon
gave it away and settled for a short morning walk as the breeze was directly of
the Antarctic and cut straight through the extra jumpers we were wearing. When the breeze dropped in the afternoon we
embarked on our long walk for the day which Barry chose to extend even further
to put his knee to the test. This meant
walking down to, and along the beach, so about a quarter of the walk involved
soft sand plus clambering back up the sand dunes back to the footpath and then
the uphill grind back home. This walk
took 1.5 hours and was fairly gruelling but we both survived.
19th July 2015
We are still walking twice a day so that Merry
achieves 10,000 steps according to her Fitbit gadget that counts the
steps. She actually tries to achieve
17,000 steps which is supposedly the equivalent to 8kms. Today only produce one walk but was a hour
and a half walk which took in the beach.
This was in the reverse direction to the last time we did it with the
same exhausted result. The beach which
used to be firm to walk on has changed dramatically since the high tides we
have experienced and is now very soft and saps the strength out you. This doesn’t help the next few kilometres of
steady uphill struggle to get back home, whichever way round you choose to
go. This time we came off the beach
slightly previous to our usual exit which unfortunately had a much higher,
steeper sand dune to negotiate. The type
where your front foot slides back to where your back foot is planted as you try
to move upward which nearly beat Barry’s new knee. However, he did eventually make it but it took
a while, and just for a change is the first time Merry has had to wait for
Barry in these situations.
20th July 2015
We did a similar walk to yesterday but used the
coastal road rather than the beach which reduced the effort required and saved
some energy for the uphill drag.
24th July 2015
We only took one walk today as we had to go shopping
but the walk we did take was one of our longer treks. Merry had a visit to her
specialist for the results of her colonoscopy only to be told exactly what he
told her in the hospital recovery room. This
presumably is the specialist’s way of extracting another heap of money out of
you by charging a huge gap over the top of the regular fee.
25th July 2015
We didn’t do any walks today as we were busy getting
ready to drive to Perth tomorrow. We
will be staying at Colleen and Craig’s place but in our caravan that is still after
Richard used it for his contract at the Mint.
He is currently on some other shutdown contract at one of the mine sites
with another one following on from it.
Merry has an appointment at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital on Monday for
her six monthly throat check up which proved to be okay and now only has to
have 3 yearly checkups for that end of her body.
28th July 2015
We drove into Midland and bought a LED light fitting
for our kitchen. We noted that Colleen
and Craig had new lights in their Kitchen and Family room and quite liked them
so bought a similar one (not the same design) to replace our old kitchen fluorescent
light.
29th July 2015
We travelled back to Geraldton with our caravan
which included a stop off for a cuppa at Nilgen’s Lookout that we have passed
many times but ignored and it turned out to be a pleasant view with a short
walk to the viewing area looking out over Cervantes and the ocean in one
direction and rolling farmland in the other.
It also had a longer loop walk through the newly blooming
wildflowers. August through September
will be a good time to visit if you happen to be in the area. We also stopped at Jurien Bay as usual for
our lunch break. Diesel fuel in
Geraldton is currently $1.38.7 but interestingly the same fuel in most garages
around where we stayed in Perth (Lesmurdie) cost $1.41.9 with variation down to
$1.36.9. We found a garage on Orrong
Road in Welshpool selling it for $1.31.9 where we topped up twice. However, on the way home we topped up again, about
2 thirds of a tank, in Leeman in the middle of nowhere for $1.29.9. Until recently diesel has always been about
10 cents cheaper in the city so I guess times are changing.
31st July 2015
We are still experiencing rain so there will be now
outside activity today other than trips to the shed or garage as required for
various items. Barry has removed the old
fluorescent light in the kitchen that was looking very unstylish and has filled
the mounting holes, sanded and painted the area where it used to be so that it
doesn’t show, in readiness to mount the new LED light fitting. There is one more coat of paint to go on and
the light should be fitted a bit later this afternoon.
1st August 2015
The light fitting is now in use and is much brighter
and more efficient than the old fluorescent light fitting, plus looking much
more stylishly up market.
6th August 2015
Richard returned to Geraldton (us) this afternoon.
He has just completed two mining shutdowns downs and now has a five day break
before flying out to the next one. The
day he was flying out of the last job he was asked to fly out the next day to
another job but had to turn that one down as he is committed to moving his
processions from here and Colleen’s home to a room he is now renting. This is at the same place in the Perth suburb
of Wilson that he rented some time ago.
This will make him more accessible for the shutdown job offers as they
seem to be coming thick and fast currently.
We have borrowed Nigel and Mary’s trailer once again to take his gear to
Perth on Sunday which gives him some of Sunday and Monday to settle in and then
fly out on Tuesday to his next job. We
will deliver Richard and his processions to his new address, go up to Colleen’s
and collect the stuff we left there when we removed the caravan, and continue
to Ann and Ashley’s to spend the night before heading home again. It makes life easy having such great friends
in the Perth area to call upon when a bed is required.
8th August 2015
As a precaution Barry regreased the trailer bearings
as the trailer is old and we have no idea when they were last serviced, if
ever. We then loaded most of Richard’s
processions in readiness for an early start in the morning.
9th August 2015
We did the final packing which took up the back seat
as well as the trailer which meant Merry couldn’t travel to Perth with us. We then checked that the trailer lights did
the thing before leaving and found that they didn’t. We have to use an adaptor to convert from the
trailer socket to our car plug and have found in the past that we have to
jiggle the plug and socket to get things to work, but as time was at a premium
Barry took a chance and headed for Perth with only a right hand indicator, no
left hand indicator and stop lights.
This was not a problem for the bulk of the open country journey but
dodgy in the Perth area. Barry checked
them again at Rick’s new address and discovered nothing was working at all so
dropped the trailer off after unloading
Rick’s gear and went to Colleen’s for his other stuff. After dropping that off with Rick, Barry went
on to Ann and Ashley’s hoping for the best and made it alright without police
interference. He disconnected the
trailer and went into the nearby shops and bought a new socket for the trailer
cable.
10th August 2015
Barry fitted the new socket to the trailer cable and
the lights now work as they should and also are much brighter, probably due to
an improved earth connection, but it made the trip back to Geraldton more
relaxed knowing that you are now totally legal.
11th August 2015
Barry returned the trailer to Nigel and Merry after
confirming that the lights are still okay and explained that Nigel will need to
check that they are okay when connected to his car. They should be okay as they
are wired exactly the same but he has never mentioned a problem with them, but
my never have checked.
26th August 2015
Nothing of significance has happened lately other
than we have been enjoying the benefit of our home grown cauliflower, broccoli
and carrots. Richard has had several shutdown jobs to do and has more lined up
so moving back the Perth area has proven beneficial so far. We are both still
walking reasonably walks to make sure we will have built some stamina for
walking around in Singapore in a few weeks time in their humid conditions.
29th August 2015
We drove 98kms inland to the small town of Mullewa
where their annual Agricultural Show is in progress, however, we didn’t go
there for that event but for the annual flower show at the town hall. We visited this event about 18 years ago as
one of the main attractions is the wreath flower which is only found in this
region in disturbed soil such as old quarries.
Unfortunately they are becoming scarce now as people are visiting the
area and removing them in the hope of them growing in their gardens, despite
the risk of a $2000 fine for any picking, or removal, of wildflowers. We had forgotten how small the town hall is
and were somewhat disappointed with the very small display and the ridiculous
entry fee for so little. We visited the
local church as it is a local attraction and then walked two of the wildflower
walks, each about an hour long, as the wildflowers are in their element at this
time of year.
6th September 2015
Still not a lot happening other than packing in
readiness for a drive to Ann and Ashley’s in Perth in three days times and then
fly to Singapore the following day.
Meanwhile, here in Perth we are still walking a fair bit, especially
Merry, and we have harvested a ten litre bucket of potatoes and started to pick
Brussel sprouts as required.
25th September 2015
We arrived back from Singapore late afternoon on the
23rd and drove back to Geraldton on the on the 24th. The Singapore flight takes about the same
amount of time (5hrs) as the drive to Geraldton. We retrieved Foxy from Pamela and Ron across
the road who where rather reluctant to let her go as they have all become very
attached, including the small parrot that they acquired recently. When it is
let out to fly around in the house and lands on the floor it has a nose to nose
chat with Foxy, and when it is in its cage Foxy sits and watches it most of the
day with quite a lot of chat between them.
We had a great time in Singapore although Barry in particular would
never consider living their permanently as there is too much noise and too
crowded for his liking. Neither of us
liked having to duck and weave around people looking at their smart phones
rather than where they are going, and avoiding a multitude of Selfie
sticks. We were very impressed with the
rail and bus services as well as the tourist attractions such as the Gardens by
the Bay with the Super Trees and their light show. The Zoo, the bird sanctuary, China town, Raffles
Hotel, the Chinese Gardens, the Botanic Gardens, Sentosa Island, the old Changi
village and the airport are also great attractions. Unfortunately in September, Sumatra burns off
their forests to make way for crops and the smoke drifts across Singapore to
Indonesia which makes photos rather hazy and not so good for breathing. We also happened to pick a time when the
Formula 1 race was on which meant some of the roads were closed off, which
interfered slightly with our plans. On the brighter side Barry’s knee was no
trouble at all during the 133 kilometres that we walked during our 11 day trip,
so the walking we did prior to the big event obviously paid off. The humidity was exceptionally high so we melted each time we went out but it was worth it and was probably why we both lost a couple of Kilos. Garon and Sue’s apartment is in a somewhat
upmarket 24 storey high highly engineered skyscraper. It is one of three in a group known as
Reflection on Keppel Bay and they stand out from the crowd due to the curved
shaping, as per the photo that highlights Sumatra's smoke haze. Garon and Sue are on the fourth
floor which looks out over the ponds that virtually surround the buildings with
views of the wooded hill and the cruise ships as they enter and exit the
harbour.
28th September 2015
We drove down to the landing area for the tenders
that come into Geraldton from the cruise liners to meet Jill and Steve (yes,
another Steve). They are a Tasmanian
couple that we met in the departure lounge at Perth Airport waiting to board
the plane for Singapore. They were going
there to join the cruise ship ‘Legend of the sea” to take them to Fremantle via
Kuala Lumpa, Phuket. Bali, and one or two other Asian ports, before heading
south to Broome, Geraldton and Fremantle.
On the way down they were unable to call into Geraldton as it was deemed
too rough for the tender to bring them ashore buy were able to achieve it on
the return journey. Other people had
arranged regular bus tours but Jill and Steve were happy to have us as their
guides. We took then for a drive through
the town centre which was very deserted as it was the public holiday for the
Queen’s birthday and then up to the memorial for the HMAS Sydney which
apparently they could see whilst still out to sea. It is the best war memorial we and they have
seen. Interestingly, we met several
volunteer tour guides who apparently come out of the woodwork whenever a cruise
ship arrives and bus tours visit the Memorial as part of their itinerary. We then took them for a quick look in the
impressive Catholic Cathedral and a drive south to the Greenough Heritage
Hamlet. We met another bus from the ship
on our way out but then took them where the buses wouldn’t go, to the Hampton
Arms as the wooden bridge over the Greenough River is too narrow and probably
not strong enough. The Hampton Arms was
a really quaint pub when we were here 15 years ago but unfortunately has
declined and the amazing bar with a rabbit head with antlers has been totally
cleared out, as has all of the other bars which been turned into a second hand
book shop. The dining room still has
Singer sewing machine treads for the legs of the tables and still has rooms for
quest available, and naturally is still claimed to be haunted. It wasn’t quite what we thought we were
taking them to but both Jill and Steve were impressed. On the way back we stopped to take the
mandatory photo of the bent Greenough trees and a short diversion to the
Greenough river mouth before continuing to the Old Prison Gaol which has a
great history (from the volunteer guides again) and is unexpectedly different
now as many of the cells are used as craft shops. From there we went for afternoon tea and then
the Museum which is a short walk from where the tenders depart which enabled us
to send them on their merry way. We also learnt that on the return trip their
ship would not be calling into Broome, but into Port Hedland instead. If that were us we would be asking for our
money back as neither Port, or South Hedland, has anything to offer tourists
other than iron ore dust.
3rd October 2015
Nothing exciting happening since the Geraldton
visitors on the cruise ship but we are now enjoying warmer weather and plenty
of our home grown vegies. We haven’t
been walking as Merry developed a slight problem with one foot so we have been
allowing it to rest as much as possible since returning from Singapore, but
took a sensible length walk today as a trial and didn’t seem to upset anything.
