August 17th to 21st: Tom's Trip to Kalgoorlie

Purpose built Two-up gambling hall

Betting on the local game, "Two-up"

The inside of a Flying Doctors plane is outfitted like an
intensive care bed at a hospital

The Super Pit gold mine is one of the biggest open-pit mines in the world.
It is 6km long, 3km wide, and almost 1 km deep and growing!

See the dumptruck descending into the Super Pit?
The speck behind it is a Ford F250.

Gold fever

Tom left us for four days to head off to the "Wild West" of Australia - Kalgoorlie. They mine for gold there and you can still head off into the bush to try to find your own gold nugget or two. Tom didn't come home with any nuggets to fund our early retirement but he did have an interesting experience there. Along with some of the other teachers on exchange, he got to tour some of the establishments that put Kalgoorlie on the map. I will pass it over to him to share some details...
East of Perth some eight hours drive: red dirt, flies, desert and gold. Kalgoorlie is a frontier town founded on mining and is the last town of any size before you arrive at the true Outback. Desert to the east, desert to the north and desert to the south. Kalgoorlie itself gets all its fresh water pumped via pipeline from Perth. Although it receives four inches of rain a year, the evaporation rate is upwards of 85 inches a year, which means that year-round surface water does not exist. There is a massive aquifer under Kalgoorlie, but it's filled with water eight times saltier than the ocean. We went there to get a taste of the challenges of frontier living.

Turns out parking this baby is not as hard as you may think.
Since buying it, I have never been towed.

$500,000.00 worth of the "colour"

Local desert denizens

 While there we toured the School of the Air, a correspondence school built to service the needs of indigenous and non-indigenous children who live too remotely to have access to a traditional school. We listened in while the teachers taught Indonesian over the internet and by CB radio to those who were out on the land. We also visited an Aboriginal school where many of the students are transient. They may come for a couple of days, a couple of weeks, and sometimes even a couple of months before evaporating back to traditional homelands. We checked out one of the Flying Doctors' outposts where four doctors and four pilots provide medical services over a squillion square kilometers of desert, and went underground to experience life at a mine site. Prospectors and locals are still finding surface gold and as recently as 1995 an 895-ounze nugget was found sitting on the dirt within 30 kilometers town. In our leisure time we had a chance to taste a fine Australian drink called "beer" at a couple of saloons complete with skimpily-clad servers. Friday night we got an escorted tour of Lilly Langtree's brothel, one of three in town. There was a cricket room filled with cricket paraphernalia donated by a number of famous randy batsmen and bowlers, a boxing ring with a bed in the middle, a Roman orgy room, and a race car with a bed whose windshield wipers would swing whenever passionate sounds got above a certain decibel. The madam and a couple of the ladies answered all kinds of racy questions and the place seemed to be thriving. At $350/hour it was clear that miners get lonely and have more than two coins to rub together. All in all Kalgoorlie was an interesting place, but the surfing sucked.

An old time prospector's cabin

Pouring gold.

August 26th: A Visit with Laura, Leigh and Devon

Tom getting acquainted with Wallace and Bilby

Wallace

some crazy huge beautiful flower in their garden

enjoying a post-dinner bonfire

We headed out to the Swan Valley last night to visit and have dinner with our friends, Laura, Leigh and their daughter, Devon. They live in an area where almost everyone has a horse or two and/or other farm animals. Laura rides horses for a living so no better place but to live amongst them. They have their own horse and pony that are currently housed at the barn she works at until they finish the new fencing. When we arrived, we became quickly acquainted with the furrier members of their family - Barlow, half Jack Russel and half Chi-hua-hua, and Wallace and Bilby, the goats. I am not usually a small dog fan but I fell in love with Barlow. He didn't make a peep the whole time we were there and he showed no bouncy, overly-energetic traits of any other Jack Russel I have met. He was just gorgeous, as the Aussies would say. By the end of the night, he was curled up in my lap. Then we met Wallace and Bilby - a pair of beautiful, very friendly goats. They loved a good pat and they followed you, or should I say, Laura, everywhere. They got them from a petting farm when they were babies - Laura fell in love with them and had to have them. I have to say, I was convinced of their merit as family members by the end of the night. However, they wouldn't fair well in our coyote/wolf inhabited neighbourhood back in Canada. We had a wonderful visit and the kids didn't want to leave. I think being in the country side reminded them of back home. Thank you for sharing your lovely home, Laura, Leigh and Devon!

Rein and Silka - a rare moment...

If you have any siblings, we all remember a time when we were kids when it seemed that there was constant rivalry. Or maybe you were a wonder child and you never fought with your siblings or gave your parents a hard time - yah well, I definitely wasn't that child. Apparently, when my mom came to the door back from the hospital with my brother, Steven, I was not impressed. I turned my nose up into the air and walked back into the house. My brother was one of those sweet children who adored his big sister but at about age twelve he finally figured me out. Mom nearly had a heart attack during our adolescence to our late teens when it was payback time - Steve was finally able to get back at me for all those times I walked by his playpen and wouldn't accept his toy offerings. Well, you can imagine what a teenage boy with a devilish sense of humour came up with for revenge. I won't get into any details but I remember being incensed more than once. Miraculously, we got past that and now Steve is one of my closest friends.
When I went into our room the other night - Tom is away on a trip with some other exchange teachers - this is how I found them. When I see them like this, I remember the escapades of my brother and I and I know that they, like us, will be alright.

My 7th painting

rosellas bathing

Well, I haven't stopped painting yet. I am still taking one course at the Fremantle Art Centre and I meet up with Barbara, another mom at the kids' school, to paint twice a week.
When we went to the Perth Zoo on Mother's Day, we saw these rosellas bathing in some water that was cascading over some rocks. I really enjoyed painting this one...

August 14th: A hike through Walyunga National Park

incredible carpet of green...

 As a family, we hadn't been out for a good hike for a while and Sunday seemed like a good day to get out there. My ankle is slowly improving and I felt up to tramping around in some woods for a while. Tom and I looked through some books and brochures to find a hiking trail that would appeal to all of us. Since we would normally be on canoe trip this time of year, we decided on a trail that would take us past some rapids. We were soon heading north towards Walyunga National Park.
When we got there we headed off on the Kangaroo trail (5 km round trip) that would take us past Syd's Rapids. It was a beautiful trail - it had rained that morning and the colours were vibrant. The lush carpet of green on either side of us really struck me. It was such a contrast to the black and white starkness of the trees that pushed up out of it. Also the river that flowed by was a like chocolate milk and when we hit the rapids they frothed white foam.

Syd's Rapids

We crossed a stream along side the rapids and found a trail that took us to a perfect picnic area - a rocky perch at the top of the rapids. As we ate our sandwiches we talked about what we would be doing on canoe trip right now if we were back home.

checking out the rapids

Rein thrashing through the woods

beautiful contrasts

eating lunch

After we ate, we decided to go for a larger loop because we still had a fair bit of time. Well, we ended up walking longer than we expected and up and down very steep climbs. My ankle held out - in fact, probably did it some good - and the kids were troopers. Silka didn't complain the whole way. Rein found it a bit more challenging. He complained most of the way, kicked and threw rocks, sat down stumbled a few feet and sat down again. Tom and I took turns walking with him and doing what we could to encourage him. I decided to walk ahead of him for a bit and hid behind a tree to see how he was really doing. Well, it wasn't long before he came over the crest marching along with an big tree branch - marching with no effort. I called him on it. After that, he seemed to improve a bit but would complain a bit more and sit down a few more times. What i really felt like doing is kicking his butt all the way down the hill but I refrained. We got back to the car in about 3.5 hours total feeling that good tired after a day of exercise in the fresh air.

post lunch family pic

Rein navigating across a stream

We made it to the top!

and now we go back down...

can you see the kangaroos?

Our friend, "The Professor", gets in the local paper

"The professor", Stephen Satchell, has been an invaluable resource and has become a good and treasured friend here in Perth. If there is anything you want to know about this city, even Western Australia, he comes through every time. He calls us regularly to check in and see how we are doing with suggestions of what we should see and do about town.

Just this past week he was written up in the local paper, page 3 in 13-08-2011 issue of The Voice. They are demolishing the old entertainment centre downtown (a new one is currently being built beside it). In the articles, Stephen reminisces about the good old days when he was a personal chauffeur for international stars that came and performed at the old centre. If you can't read the copy of the article below, check out the link above for the full story.

July 31st - August 8th: Uncle Steven and Theresa come for a visit

watching a big ship come in from the Marine Museum

Ahhhh....

our view from the "surf shack"

sun going down at the surf shack

We had a week on our own after our holiday up north with Shawn and Julia and then Uncle Steven and Theresa arrived. The kids don't get to see their uncle from Canada's west coast very often so we were all very excited. Also, we got to spend more time with Theresa and get to know her better. Despite the long trip, they were troopers. The jet-lag didn't seem to affect them too much - the sun going down at 6 p.m. had more impact. They had a hard time staying up past 10 p.m. every night. But then again, so do we. I think that is one of those things that comes with age and young kids. Tom had to work but we pulled the kids out of class for two and a half days to spend time with their crazy uncle. I took them to Pinnaroo Memorial Park to see the kangaroos and took them for a drive along the coast on Monday. On Tuesday, we went to Fremantle. We stopped in at the toy store there so Uncle Steven and Theresa could buy them their birthday presents and then we went for lunch and visited the Marine Museum. We also visited Didgeridoo Breath where Rein blew into a few didgeridoos and Steve and Theresa bought a couple of prints of aboriginal art. On Wednesday, I dropped Theresa off for a 2 hour Thai massage and then took Steve and the kids grocery shopping. After picking Theresa up we went to McDonald's - something Uncle Steven promised he would do. We then went home and relaxed.Thursday the kids headed back to school and I had my art class at the Fremantle Art Centre. I dropped Steve and Theresa off in Northbridge where they had breakfast and spent the morning walking around downtown and

goofin' around at the Surf Shack, Injidup Beach

Uncle Steve

bye, bye sun...

checked out the State Library and the Perth Institute of Contemporary Art. While at the Art Gallery, they suited up in striped parachute suits and jumped around in a black and white striped fun house.

the most comfortable bed ever at the surf shack

Friday, we picked up the rental van, packed up and headed out of town. We stopped in Mandurah for Australian meat pies at the Miami Bakehouse. We then drove on to Dunsburough, picked up some provisions and then searched for the Injidup Surf Shack. It didn't take too long to find it and we were thrilled with the place.It even more than what we hoped it would be. A cosy, rustic hide-out with a fantastic view of Injidup Beach and the Indian Ocean. While we were there and not glavanting around the country side tasting wines and admiring local art, we would relax and read by the fire, play slamwich (our new favourite family card game) or go down to the beach and swim or hike the dunes. Or, I should say everyone else went and hiked the dunes while I stayed back and read curled up in that huge bed by the fireplace. I wish we had a few more days there.

uncle Steve and Theresa

hanging out at Margaret River Bakery

art gallery at Vasse Felix Winery, Margaret River

tasting some wines at Vasse Felix

tasting some port at Graylan, M.R.

playing catch at Vasse Felix

wine tasting room at Hay Shed Hill

As the skipper for the weekend, I took the gang to some wineries we haven't been to before but were recommended by one of the moms from Silka's class. Saturday morning we started off at the Margaret River Bakery, of course - it was hoppin'! As we ate, I mapped out the wineries we were going to try to hit that day - Howard's Park/Madfish (the only one we had been to before), then moved on to Vasse Felix, Gralyn (to satisfy Steve's love of port), Clairault, Hay Shed Hill, Wills Domain, Lamonts, and Amberley and lunch sometime along the way at the Bootleg Brewery. Well, I think I was a little ambitious. We managed to get to most of them except Clairault, Lamont and Amberley. We did stop to have lunch at the Bootleg Brewery but we weren't impressed with their menu - too much like pub food - go figure! So, we ended up eating a fantastic lunch at Wills Domain. Tom, Steve and Theresa were feelin' alright later in the day as we headed for Simmos Ice Cream to appease the kids. I was stopped by the same cop that pulled me over the last time we were down and stayed in Gracetown. I blew a 0.00 and was able to once again keep the plastic tube as a souvenir.

Oh my god, we have the same grimace-like smile...

lunch at Wills Domain Winery

all of us at the Surf Shack, Injidup Beach

Injidup Beach

looking down from the dunes at Injidup Beach

tasting wine at Lamonts Winery

On Sunday, we ate the breakfast pastires we bought at Margaret River Bakery. packed a lunch and checked out. We went down to the beach where Tom, Steve and Rein rode the waves for a while. I climbed up to the top of the dunes and took some pictures. We then headed towards Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse where we were going to go for a short hike and have a picnic lunch. We stopped at the Yallingup Gallery to see some local art and then popped by Lamonts for one last wine tasting and to check out their art gallery. The sommelier there was quite entertaining and a bit bitter that her Canadian Visa ran out and she had to come home. She said she was ready to marry a bum on the street so she could stay. She was quite generous with her pours and Tom, Steve and Theresa walked out of there with a unexpected but pleasant buzz on. We drove on to the lighthouse and trekked the Whale Lookout path where we enjoyed our lunch and saw one early whale making its way south. We startled a kangaroo on the path.

the dunes at Injidup Beach

playing in the water, Injidup Beach

We stopped at Meelup Beach for one last swim - it was starting to cloud over so it wasn't a long swim. We got in just after dark and Tom went out and picked up some fish & chips for dinner.

looking for whales

boardwalk to Whale Lookout

The next morning it was back to school for Rein, Silka and Tom and I drove Steve and Theresa to the ariport for the next leg of their journey, Sydney.
Had a fantastic time, Steve and Theresa - see you in December!