Back at the beach!

We spent another 10 days by the beach and thoroughly enjoyed our time at Dongara.  It's a really lovely little place.  We were able to walk nearly everywhere and also took the bike out a bit too.  Every morning we'd go for a long walk alongside the beach and then follow up with a surfing/boogie boarding session :)  I don't know if I mentioned that we got a boogie board for me to use and Bun said the kids would have been amazed to see me in the surf lol.

We did have a couple of days with drizzly weather but overall it was lovely and warm, if a bit humid sometimes.

There was one day that I didn't venture into the water as there were blue-bottle stingers floating around.  They were washed up on the beach over a few days so I was cautious.  As Bun said if anyone was going to get stung and have a bad reaction, it would be me!!

I tried taking some shots of the marina at night but I think I need a lot more practice.  It would probably help to use the timer on the camera so that I don't move it when pressing the button down!

We left Dongara on Monday morning and went through Mingenew and stayed at Morowa overnight. The photos below were in Coalseam Conservation Park.  We stopped for a walk around but decided that we would move on rather than stay with the flies overnight.

As we got out of the truck here, I spotted a HUGE monitar lizard going up the cliff at an amazing speed, considering the steepness of it!!!  I'm sure if Bun hadn't seen it too, he would have said I was dreaming.  He reckoned it was probably a couple of metres long!!

We drove alongside the rabbit proof fence for quite a while.

Bun told me to get on top of the truck for a better view...............

Not so sure about the better view??

We stayed overnight in Beacon, a very friendly little town.  The caravan park was lovely and so quiet...we were the only ones there :)

It was very cheap too, $20 for a site and they give you a $10 voucher to spend anywhere in the shire!!

Kara sent this photo, she's encouraging Kasiah to crawl :)

More of the DELICIOUS cinnamon donut bliss balls!! They really are amazing and actually good for you, got to love that :))

I worked out that we have been away for about 9 weeks now and in that time I have used a pan ONCE!!  Obviously we've used the BBQ but other than that, the Thermomix RULES!!

Sylvana, that one's for you hahahaha

I can't resist this one either!

For those people who've been reading this blog for a while....Jenny Schober found this little TROLL and sent me a picture hahahahaha

Apologies to any vegetarians but this made us laugh!

We climbed rocks a lot this week.  We've been at Beringbooding Rock and Elachbutting Rock amongst others.We had an overnight stay in Westonia and met a couple from Albany.  We'll probably try and catch up with them when we get down there as local knowledge is so good!

We went through Merredin and did some stocking up at the supermarket.  Bun said that it was a Walmart moment.....in fact it was probably a Walmart hour!!  There are some funny people in town :)

Although we met this beautiful boy!! He was so well behaved and just lay outside the shop until his  human came back, then he figured it was okay to come over and talk to us :)  He's a Bull Mastiff so I'm not sure if that's what Bronson (Megan's dog) is but he is enormous!

We stayed near Roe Dam last night and we are now at Wave Rock near Hyden.  We're doing a catchup on the mountain of washing this morning and as soon as it's all hung out, we'll head off and do some of the walks here.  Apparently it's spectacular at sunset and sunrise so that's what I'm aiming for.

We have been able to organise where we'll be over Easter, we will be at a park in Rockingham, just below Perth, from 16th-22nd.  Hopefully we will be catching up with David and Nat who are going to be in Perth leading up to Easter.  Also seeing Peter and Bev, cousins to Fi, as well as seeing Megan and getting to meet Bronson! Megan's not sure if her boyfriend, Shane, will be around, he works away.  We have to get contact numbers for Pip and Fletch and Max to see if they will be around while we're in town.

We have also booked in to a park close to the airport and are able to store vehicles there for $3 a night while we fly back to SA!!  That was a bargain find as most of the caravan parks charge about $40 a night for a site which would have made it costly. 

Once we get back from Winkie, we hope to start heading north as it will be getting quite cool by then and we all know Bun doesn't do cold very well.

I think the 3rd load of washing is ready to go on now so I'll disappear and do the chores....such a shame that there are always chores LOL

Cheers
Anne

We're back at the coast again!

Dot and Ray were happy to have Bun working on upgrading the irrigation system for the garden and hopefully it will make life easier for them and whoever else gets to look after things for them.

It was a lovely 3 week stay and we might get to call in there again when we head north.

There's a lot of salty country out that way!

Dustyn!  This photo is just for you :)

Bun is very happy to be back surfing again, it certainly didn't take him long to become addicted!

We're staying at Port Dennison/Dongara again.  The caravan park is lovely and quiet at the moment and right by the beach.  We've been going for a morning walk each day and then having at least a couple of sessions in the water as well.  We should be fit after this!

The water sure feels 'refreshing' when you first get in but it doesn't take long to get used to it.  The weather has been in the mid-30's each day so we're enjoying the warmth while we can.

We have put in applications for a couple of jobs, Bun for a loader driver for a month down around Kojonup and me for a temp office position at Toodyay and Northam.  Who knows whether either of them will pan out but both are ones that would work out for us time-wise.  Other than that, we'll just plod along and see where we end up.  We had a couple of hours this morning chatting with Ron, the owner here at Dongara Tourist Park.  We now have a bit more of an idea on what we would need to know before applying for work at caravan parks so that was really helpful.  

Lunch today was at the local pub, they won the 'Best Steak Sandwich in WA' for 2013 so we thought we should check it out.  It was pretty damn good too :)

If we don't hear anything about jobs, we will probably stay here until the end of March and then head south until Easter and Anzac weekend.

Cheers

Anne

Still on the farm!

We have to go into town, about 15kms away, to be able to Skype with the kids.  We managed to catch up with Ben and Callie on Saturday and went back again on Sunday to talk to Josh, Kara and Kasiah.  This precious little girl is getting quite interested in watching the computer screen and Josh reckoned that she 'was helping shoo the flies for Poppy'!!  Kara took this photo while we were talking :)   It was good for us to see what she sees!

Last Monday we went to visit New Norcia with a side trip through Moora on the way back to do the shopping.   Only problem was I forgot to pick up the camera on my way to the car so I had to use the phone to take photos, what a bugger!!

I think this picture looks like she's giving him a quilt? or is that just me?

The colours in the ceiling were beautiful.

And I loved the tiles in the entryway.

Does anyone know what type of tree this is?  They are in the main street in Moora and Bun said that he'd like one for home.

A couple of things from Facebook, I love the inspirational quotes on there and the funny ones too.

Sylvana!  This is another that reminded us of Max!

Bun decided to 'take 5' and cuddle Noodle for a bit.

Noodle loves to ride in the ute but Bun was making sure he didn't go too far out :)

What a face!!

On Sunday, Dot and Ray arrived back from the coast around midday.  I had waited until they were due back to make my first attempt at hot cross buns as I knew the batch would be too big for the two of us.  They were yummy!  

The afternoon was spent sitting outside with a drink, or two :)

Bun thought a fly might have gone into his beer so was listening to see if it was buzzing around inside LOL

The photo above was of the moon rising!

Another sunset shot, but with a difference :)

We have spent many late afternoons over the years sitting on the front lawn at home with kids and dogs eating lots of watermelon.  So we decided to do the same here :)

They have been burning off stubble around the area at the moment so the smokey haze makes for an interesting shot of the moon coming up.

Bun is doing an irrigation overhaul in the garden here for Dot.  Hopefully it will make life easier for her in the future with a bit of 'set and forget', enabling them to have the occasional weekend away without the worry of things dying. We will probably be heading off from here later in the week, once the irrigation stuff is done.  

We did a 4-hour round trip to Three Springs yesterday so that Bun could go to the dentist.  He had broken a crown back in January and our local dentist had put a temporary filling in it.  Unfortunately that broke a week or so ago.  It wasn't too bad for the first few days but then over the weekend, it started to cut the side of his tongue.  It only took about 5-10 minutes for the dentist to file away the sharp edges and he was good to go.

On the way back through Carnamah, he spotted an ad for stock take counters at the local ag store. We rang and enquired as it was only one day's work but they already had enough people.  We figure we'll just keep our eyes out for stuff like that at the moment.

It was sad to hear from Johnny last week that our old workmate Jimmy had died.  He worked for us for about 12 years and was such a character.  He had a couple of strokes last year but had recovered pretty well from those and was looking fit when I saw him in January just before we left.

A friend said to me the other day that I need to get an updated family photo with all our extras now so hopefully we will be able to hogtie the kids down on the Anzac weekend while they're all around!  Only 5 weeks to go now :))

We might end up staying in Perth over the Easter weekend to catch up with Peter and Bev, Fi's cousin and his wife.  Bun talked to Peter during the week and they are dog-sitting that weekend so will definitely be home.

It was lovely to see some photos from the Davis celebration in Sydney last weekend! The weather was just brilliant for them and it sounds like everyone had a great time.

That's probably enough for now,

Cheers!

After spending a few more days at the beach, we headed back to Dalwallinu to the farm.  It's actually nearer to Pithara, about 12-15kms from Dalwallinu.  We arrived here 10 days ago and will be here for another 7-10 days probably.  We've enjoyed the pool!!  There has been some really (42) hot weather so it has been lovely to be able to cool off.  

We went for a ride around the property the other night just on sunset so I took the camera along.

Gemma the horse and Milly the goat are always happy to see Bun in the morning and evening because he feeds them :)   He reckons Milly likes being talked to but every time I go to talk to her and give her a rub on the head, she rears up and would really like to butt me!!

This is where we are set up and you can just see the house behind the van.  

We've been into Dalwallinu and also Wongan Hills for shopping so far and next week we plan to see Moora.  We may also go to New Norcia during the week but definitely on the cards before we leave the area.  

The vague plan for after here is to head back to the coast, probably to Dongara/Port Dennison again.  I think Bun is addicted to surfing already, he's missing it!  We are kind of thinking that there won't be a lot of point in trying to line up another job before we come home at Anzac weekend, so probably just going to enjoy the time off and sort something for after that.

There seems to be plenty of seeding jobs around so we'll just wing it I think.

There's not a lot of service out here and it can fade in and out so we haven't been able to Skype while we're here.  However we did talk to Josh and Kasiah just before we got here and it was GREAT!  Kasiah was really looking at the screen and smiling when we talked to her so it will just get better each time :))

The rest of the Davis family is in Sydney this weekend at Tim and Gail's to celebrate their daughter's wedding.  Pip and Fletch were married in Perth in November but are having a belated lunch tomorrow.  We hope the weather is kind and they all have a lovely day!!

Ben has planned to drive back to SA for Easter with the family in Adelaide and has organised days off to stay for Callie and Steven's engagement party.  We are looking forward to seeing all the family then.  It's exactly a year now until Josh and Kara's wedding and I think Callie said 405 days for her LOL.

Next year will be full on wedding central for the first four months but I'm really looking forward to it all :))

Cheers

Anne