Rotto May 2011

The boat ride across to Rottnest Island on the 20th May 2011 was horrendous!! Personally I dont get seasick, but the rest of the lower deck obvious did! Their were whole families chucking their guts up... babies, mums and dads, and that stinky clammy sea type of smell pervaded everywhere. No-one in our party was sick however George was certainly looking pretty green!

What a holiday though! Pretty close to being the best ever I would have to say! And so close to Perth. Maybe its because of how simple it was, don't know, or perhaps the wonderful company we had for the 9 days we were there! We went with Hamish/Bec (and kids), Neil and Pip (and kids) and Lucy/Ian (and kids) . Each of the kids were just beautiful little people, it made it easier that there were so many of them. We settled into a routine every night where the dinner was served for the kids (all 9 of them) then we settled them down for a dvd on a laptop and the adults had a very civilised dinner and recounted the day. There was a lot of miles put in on the road by all of us, notable exceptions were Robyns running campaign which she suggested to the girls to do a triathlon on the last day?? Neil's 2 and a half hour Cliff Young style jog out to West End and back? And our wee Georges ride across the island on training wheels...... he did 12k's that day, he must have been knackered the little guy!

We played with the stingrays in Geordie Bay and Neil took me to his secret spot and I caught the biggest King George Whiting you will ever see! I am still showing people the photos, amazing! I fed 8 of us one night! I had a fantastic 44th birthday on the island also..... All in all, an exceptional holiday, we have booked to do it again next year in May! Perfect time of the year, nobody goes and it is great riding weather, next year the kids should have their trainer wheels off so it should be a different vibe again!

Bob & Marg visit - April 2011

Bob and Marg came up for a visit with the Grandkids, and us, it was pretty hectic while they were here and it was great to get a few days off and relax as a family. Rob certainly needed it, we went to Exmouth for 4 nights and stayed at the Exmouth Escape Resort. I wasn't overly impressed with the place but it was clean and tidy and served a purpose. George had a view of some 'Nemo's' and a stingray underwater at Turquoise Bay.... Magnificent sandy beach! Rob and I walked into town for dinner one night and had a great time together walking back to the resort, I didn't complain too much! The weather wasn't flash in Exmouth but the islands off Dampier were stunning for the two days we took the boat out. I took Bob for a tour of Parker Point before they left and George wanted to spend his pocket money buying a plane ticket at the airport when Bob and Marg left..... very cute! Sam has been in Perth for about 10 days and Jo went to Adelaide to spend time with her family. Good break for everyone in the house!

Binningup for Mat and Staceys wedding

I never thought i would see the day when Mat would get married!! Here are the pics to prove it, glorious weather, old friends I haven't seen for years and Stacey looked gorgeous! AND Mat in a suit, I didn't think he would! What a switch too, Mat looked more nervous than Stace. George was just George, and Rosie thought the bride was a beautiful princess and danced with her all night long, she couldn't take her eyes off of her. Very sweet. George fell asleep on the floor near a pot plant and we carried them both home at about midnight. Up spritely the next morning for a cooked breakfast then into the car to the airport for sunny Karratha.

Our finest!

Not enough we get dolled up these days but I reckon the bird on my elbow is a bit of alright!! I tried to pull off my best James Bond, but everyone laughed at me!!! How rude!

Our wee blossom.

Because I think she is beautiful!

George turns 3

Well, fitting enough as it was, George wanted a pirate ship for a birthday cake! And Robyn shone again as always in the cake baking department. I have to say, its not a relaxing experience this whole cake making journey Rob has embarked on, we are only up to #3 on our youngest cake pathway through life!!!! George made an excellent pirate however curly wurlys and green icing in a Karratha park can only last so long before either the kids or the heat get to it..... I think they came at the same time. I had to hide the cake behind a limestone wall as the sun was melting the railings and the smarties to technicolor.... What i didnt realise was where i hid it from the sun was an excellent hiding spot for the kids to hoe into it as well... Rosie's reaction when she got caught with green icing all over her face was priceless, needless to say the cake was eaten before the BBQ. He received a Malvern Star bike as well as a load of spider man gear and of course some wooden pirates thanks Marg!!

Video Snippets from the last year!

Just a few quick video clips of our journey over the last year up here in Karratha. There are a couple of others before we moved up, but mostly all of these were completed here. The kids grow up quick... all of them! This movie goes for just 3 minutes!

Truck stop

Every Saturday morning, Rosie, George and I head out to the truck stop on the North West Coast Highway to get the paper. It arrives into Karratha about 6am and this is the first place it arrives into. We often just grab the paper, an iced coffee and the kids get an Anzac biscuit or something like that. We have a couple of rocks we sit on while we have our 'snack' breakfast while we watch the road trains and trucks roll past. This morning there was a Hitachi digger on the back of a float that the kids wanted to check out so I put them on the trailer for this shot.... Still in pyjamas mind you as well....Noice

Island sleepover?

Our first attempt at using the boat to 'stay the night' was a disaster! There was a storm brewing to the south which missed us however we had to make sure we had a mooring and were settled just in case! The tide inside the bay at West Lewis Island was about 5 metres from top to bottom and we nearly bottomed out at the mooring. And hot, wow, we thought the breeze might provide a bit of relief, but no.. we even bought a fan before we went out. We had DVD players for the kids, we had a lovely dinner from the weber on the back and a couple of beers. Sounds just splendid! But sheesh, the heat inside the cabin even with all the windows open and the fan going full blast couldnt get us to sleep. We sucked the life out of the first battery reasonably quickly, we started to drain the second and by 1230am Robyn and i had changed beds about 6 times each. The kids weren't coping much better. A decision was made to start the boat, untie the mooring and head in to the Boat club. It was pretty easy going on the way back in under lights. Lucky I am get used to the area as there wasnt a lot of moon. But the shipping port and starboard markers certainly light up the channel! We arrived home at about 230am and the kids were totally knackered, and we were pretty happy to have a decent nights sleep. We need to rethink the next time, maybe in the cooler months, but it is do-able with the littlies! No sharks except the nutter who swam up to our boat and introduced himself to us while we were trying to have dinner. He got both the kids in the water for a quick swim and told us there had been a large hammerhead in the bay that morning.... then proceeded to swim back to the beach. about 250m, just before dark? What the!

Python Pool

Today, we took a day trip out to Python Pool which is down the access road towards Tom Price. The waterfall was amazing and the drive was spectacular! What a difference some rain makes, we had a great picnic lunch beside the waterfall and drove back to be back by 4pm. The kids were pretty good rock hopping over the old creek rocks and had a great time with their Wahu's swimming in the waterhole.... Ahhhhh the Pilbara! 40 degrees again today.... in between cyclones!

Summer rain.....

When we arrived here, everyone told us it was the desert! It was, and still is, people were proud to tell us that Karratha had 4mm of rain in 18 months! Well, thats a myth, this year so far we have had 450mm of rain with 200mm of that in the last week. Our back lawn resembles something like seaweed at the moment and the last 2 days have seen the grass poke out into the sun again! The water was about an inch under our back sliding door which makes me think that another 100mm rain event wont be very good for the house, being a tin house, the water will get into every crack etc, so the doors are only a slight concern! We had some really nice rocks out the front, being good neighbours we gave them to the people down the road courtesy of the river that ran down our street. The drainage here in Nickol West is not the best, so good to have a rain event like this to iron out the bugs etc. Well, I best go out and tie the boat down, TC Carlos is knocking on our door and will be here Tuesday. Thats about number 5 for the year that we have had to prep for.