Before reading this post I’ll point out that the ‘ow’ at the end of lifeofriley stands for ‘on whatever’. That means that my posts don’t follow any theme. It means I’m free to write, right here in this blog, about whatever I fancy writing about. This post is written (albeit written with trepidation) predominantly for middle aged women only. Of course, younger women and men are welcome to read it to, if only to give them an insight into a very embarrassing ‘wee problem’ some of us middle aged women experience.

I don’t mean wee as in little, I mean wee, as in pee. It’s one of those unmentionable problems that some women experience, and I’m one of them. There, I’ve admitted it to the world. Of course I’ve admitted it to some people before. Paul is well aware of the urgency I feel when I often scan the horizon for the nearest public conveniences. He’s all to aware of my sometimes unsuccessful rush to get there, and the embarrassment I feel when I get there and find every door with an engaged sign showing red, and realise I’m too late. This isn’t because I’ve left it to late to start heading towards the loo, it’s because the loo is further away than it takes for my over active bladder to start reacting to the message my brain has received telling me it’s time to think about going. Yes, I have a bladder that throws tantrums like a two year old, “ I wanna go, and I wanna go NOW!”

Lots of things seemingly contribute to the problem of urgency. Giving birth, particularly to big babies or difficult deliveries, hormonal changes, excess weight, the foods we eat, and the fluids we drink. My first baby came out weighing 8lb 7oz after a 45 hour labour, I’m post menopausal, I’m 20kgs overweight, and I’ve been eating and drinking things that trigger an over active bladder.

I’ve been to the appropriate physio’s and learnt to do my kegal exercises correctly, and I regularly do them. I’ve been to GP’s and been prescribed medication which works for a short time. I’ve even had Botox in the bladder that worked wonders, until it wore off. That was expected, and repeat doses are possible, but every Botox shot, administered under general anaesthetic, comes with the risk that it’ll work too well. If that happens it becomes a real problem. This happened to friend of mine so I’ve been reluctant to go for a second round.

I seem to remember that each of relevant specialists have briefly mention things such as being over-weight, tea, coffee and alcohol. I don’t recall any of them making any big deal about though. Recently I had two glasses of sparkling mineral water before going for a walk. I went to the loo before leaving and less than 20 minutes later arrived at the beach front desperate for the loo again. Phew – made it with barely a second to spare. Thank goodness the loos weren’t all occupied. We walked around the rocks on the beach for a further 20 minutes, then I had to go again. This time the loos were all occupied, and I had an embarrassing walk home, hoping I didn’t run into anyone I knew.

I came back to the caravan feeling old, frustrated and angry. I looked to Dr Google. All of the solutions I’ve already tried were mentioned, along with the mention of excess weight, food and drink. I took time to read the food and drink recommendations thoroughly, and in anger and frustration vowed I was going to abstain from from the recommended culprits. Of course,I didn’t expect it to be of any help, because if it was as simple as that, wouldn’t all the specialists have made more of it! Wouldn’t they have had me keep a food and drink diary before prescribing treatments! To be fair, they did get me to record quantities of fluid in, and quantities of fluid out. The types of fluids were never emphasised.

Alcohol, coffee, tea, fizzy drink including sparkling mineral water and soda water, orange juice, pineapple juice, lemons, and acidic foods such as tomatoes, oranges and pineapple are all stimulating to an overactive bladder. Plain water is best, and seemingly it’s important to sip drinks slowly. Green tea, and some herbal teas are ok in moderation, again sipped slowly.

What had I got to lose by giving it a go. Of course, the excess weight can’t be tackled overnight, and given that, that’s been a lifelong losing battle for me anyway, perhaps I’ll never know if that will provide a solution. But the food and drink, well perhaps that’d be worth a try.

One week ago today I gave up coffee, and allow myself two cups of tea at most a day. One is usually normal black tea, and one is herbal. I allow myself one or two alcoholic drinks a week. No soda water and no sparkling mineral water, just plain tap water chilled or on ice, and all drinks sipped slowly, I’m having about 1 1/2 litres of water a day, on top of the two hot drinks, and I’ve had two mango smoothies through the week. I’m not eating oranges, and I’ve cut right back on tomatoes. The difference the first day made was incredibly encouraging. The water was initially an uninteresting drink, but it only took two days and it actually developed a fresh taste and became very appealing.

This is no miracle cure I’m sure, but quite honestly the results have been astounding, and almost as effective as my bladder’s initial response to Botox. The Botox wore off, perhaps this holistic approach won’t. I’m feeling more hydrated than I remember ever feeling, and I’m sleeping through the night with no more than one visit to the loo, but most nights not even once having to get up for a call of nature. The results are so good that I don’t think I’ll have any trouble sticking with it. I hope it works long term. Time will tell.

Have you ever noticed tiny crabs making intricate designs with sand balls in the damp sand and wondered what that’s all about? I have. I had thought maybe the designs were like the Bower Bird, created to entice a mate. Turns out it’s nothing quite as contrived. The Sand Bubbler is merely feeding.

Each grain of sand has a thin coating of nutrients, food for these little critters. They wait out the tide in a little air picket inside their hidey hole, and as soon as tide recedes, out they come. They can be seen busily sifting through the damp sand for hours, rolling the discarded sand into balls and laying it out on the sand to ensure they don’t sift the same sand twice. The longer the tide is out, the more balls they create. Seemingly the pretty patterns are mere coincidence.

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I can see dragonflies, and bees, birds, butterflies, and flowers, starfish and fish, straight lines, and even spacing between balls. It’s hard to believe they’re not deliberately making a design! There’s always something to see at the beach!

Entrance point, located on the south East of the Broome Peninsula, is one of our favourite beaches to visit in Broome. With its rocks, and red cliffs it’s a wonderful place to explore for both people and dogs. Mr Tilly romps around as if he’s in 7th heaven, running over the rocks, sniffing, peeing, exploring and doing what dogs do. He’s like a 1950s kid in a lolly shop, not knowing which rock to choose next.

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18 August, day 14 of our sun and wildflowers trip – a day of reflecting on our change of rig.

We sold our 25’ Travelhome fifth wheeler along with it’s Hi-lux tow vehicle back in 2017. We also sold our little Toyota Yaris to become a one motor vehicle household. A 2016 Prado was our choice of tow vehicle. We like Toyota, the prado is up to the job of towing a good, small sized caravan, and it’s not a vehicle that feels to big for me to drive. We decided on a New Age Caravan.

We didn’t want any weight issues, so rather than looking at the full range of New Age, we asked which models would suit our tow vehicle. The 16’ Manta Ray was recommended – 9’ less in length than our fifth wheeler. It was delivered mid 2018. So after three years, how are we finding it……

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The first thing we found out is that some caravan manufacturers take their measurements internally for the van length, and others measure the external length. The Travelhome was an external 25’ length, the New Age 16’ was an internal measurement. Our 16’ new van is in actual fact 18’ by comparison, which is only 7’ shorter. 7’ is quite a lot – right! Well, no, there’s a lot more to consider than just the length. The fifth wheeler sits in the tray of the tow ute, so there’s no storage in the tray for other things. Additionally, our fifth wheeler was shaped so as the bed was directly on the floor of the nose, and that’s the part that attaches into the tow vehicle tray, so as well as no storage in the back of the ute, there’s none of the under bed storage that traditional caravans have either. Anyone with a normal caravan will tell you how vital the under-bed storage is. Extra bedding and clothes for the colder seasons, cookware that’s only used occasionally, boxes of wine and booze, and all sorts of other things. These were all things we had to find space for in the fifth wheeler, and that wasn’t easy.

Our fifth wheeler had a dedicated pantry which we thought we’d miss. We don’t. The overhead cupboards in our caravan are more than adequate for our food storage. We thought we’d miss the two door fridge, we don’t miss that either. The fridge in our Manta Ray is more than adequate. We used an Engel for our drinks fridge previously, and we still use our Engel as our drinks fridge. Only difference is, our Engel can now travel in the rear of the Prado, it used to have to travel inside the fifth wheeler which was always cumbersome when staying at an over nighter.

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Comparing the two, I think there is really only two main things we do miss, and that’s the fuel economy, and the glossy white interior. The Travelhome towed by the Hi-lux was very aerodynamic by design, and used 13 litres of diesel per 100 kms. The Prado towing the Manta Ray uses 17 litres per 100. On a return trip to Broome that equates to approximately 200 litres of extra fuel. We loved the glossy white interior of our Fifth wheeler. It was easy to clean, and always looked bright, and modern. So we ordered a white interior for our new van, unfortunately though, we didn’t specify glossy white, and Matt white by comparison looks rather dull and flat. Never mind, We’ll live with that.

The additional storage room in a caravan the same size as a fifth wheeler must be phenomenal. I think we have more storage in our van that’s 7’ shorter, and that makes van life a whole lot easier. Of course the big American rigs with their huge boxy front and multiple slide outs are no doubt completely different too, but I’ve never had first hand experience with them to compare.

There are two things I repeatedly hear from caravanner’s. The first is that the bed is hard to make, and the second is that the seating isn’t comfortable. Both of our rigs haven’t proved to be any exception to this. The queen island bed in our Manta Ray is marginally easier to make than making the bed in the fifth wheeler, but the seating is considerably more uncomfortable than the seating in the fifth wheeler. We had a big cream leather club lounge before, it looked gorgeous, but it still wasn’t particularly comfortable. Now we have a small cafe setting. The seats are overstuffed, and too close to the table. The table is over the wheel arch, so although the seats are big enough for two people on either side of the table, there’s only enough leg space for one. Realistically only two people can sit at the table, and that’s with knees almost touching.

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If we were choosing again, I’d still buy the 16’ Manta Ray. It’s a very good van, and is big enough for the two of us. I would specify glossy white for the interior, and I think I’d choose single beds. I think the singles would be easier to make, and as caravan mattresses don’t tend to be made with pocket springs, I think we’d probably get a better nights sleep on our own single mattress without feeling each other’s movements throughout the night, as we do now sleeping on the normal queen innerspring mattress. Plus, single beds give a much better feeling of space in the van. The salesman we bought the van from did actually recommend single beds for smaller vans. We didn’t listen!

The two main choices for the seating in small vans seems to be either cafe style, or L-shaped. I think the L-shape would have been a better choice.

We’re happy with the bathroom. The washbasin and bathroom storage is adequate, and the shower a good size. We’ve removed the shower door though and replaced it with a shower curtain. It just works better, plus the door weighs 20 Kgs. That’s a good weight saving. The wall mounted front loader washing machine is ok. It tends to cause quite a lot of vibration, and it won’t take anything as heavy as jeans. However, I can wash two towels at once, or one queen sized sheet. We’ve found the bed easier to make by using two single doonas instead of a queen, so the machine will take one single doona cover at a time. That’s a lot of money saved by not using the parks washing machines.

So that’s the inside of the van. The outside of both vans is much the same. We did have an annex for the fifth wheeler, although we rarely used it. We use privacy shades on our roll out awning now, and they’re great. As well as privacy they also provide shade. Our ground sheet though is getting old, and is to small. When we get home after this trip we’re going to replace it with one that’s considerably bigger. The shade screens can be extended to create a much bigger roof space over our outdoor area, but we find the area we actually use, regardless of roof space, is governed by the size of our caravan ground sheet. We’ll let you know how that works out.

So, have we regretted switching our 25’ foot travel home for the 16’ Manta Ray. Surprisingly, no, not even a little bit, and that’s mainly because storage is so important when you’re on the road, and storage space was something badly lacking in the fifth wheeler. We’re still living the Life of Riley in our little Manta Ray. It’s always a pleasure to get away.

17 August, day 13 of our sun, and wildflower trip

Three months of each year, during the dry, winter months, the full moon rises over the mudflats on Roebuck bay creating a natural, spectacular phenomenon aptly called, ‘staircase to the moon’. I’ll show you some photos of that when it occurs later this month. Today there were two children enjoying play on the mud flats created by the low tide.

With the town heaving with tourists during the season in which the Staircase to the moon happens, thousands gather and try to get the best vantage point to watch the full moon rising. In past years there was just no-where to sit. The shire has now landscaped the whole area, creating lawned terraces in the upper levels, and rocked terraces leading down to beach area. Empty now, but when the full moon is on the rise over the mudflats next week, these terraces and rocks will be fully utilised as seats to watch the spectacle.

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More thoughtfully, created rock seats amidst the beautifully landscaped gardens, as well as barbecue shelters with tables, have created great places for a quiet rest, or family picnics at any time. I should imagine one will need to be an early bird though to secure a barbecue shelter and table on staircase nights.

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The kiddies haven’t been forgotten. There are several playgrounds dotted around the large area. There’s mini trampolines set at ground level, slides, swings, climbing frames, and a wooden boat to climb over. The eggs had me intrigued, I’m sure the littlies know what they’re for. There’s even a basketball court.

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The jetty is currently cordoned off as work is being done to extend it. Once completed it’ll make a fantastic place for fishing. The photo below also provides a good view of the size of the tides. Currently, close to low tide it’s a fair trek to reach the water. At high tide the water line will cover the rocks at the shore line, and will be deep around the jetty pylons,

They’ve done a fantastic job with the area. I can’t wait to get there next week to find a great spot to see the Staircase to the Moon. Sometimes the bats are flying as the moon rises, and will fly in front of the moon. We’ve tried many times to capture a shot of one, but so far haven’t had any success. Maybe this will be the year….

16 August, day 12 of our chasing sun and wildflowers trip

We drove over to Town Beach on Roebuck Bay this morning and while there had a walk around the tiny pioneer cemetery. There are only a scattering of graves, but wandering amongst the aged headstones did wonders for my imagination.

In the early 1900s Broome was a thriving town built around the pearling industry. We talk about multiculturalism in Australia today, but Broome in her heyday was a real melting pot of multiculturalism long before the word even came into existence. Sea faring captains left their high sea commissions and bought up pearl lugging fleets in Broome – there was money to be made in the pearl industry. Most of the money came from pearl shells for the manufacture of, amongst other things, buttons. Any pearls found in the shells was a coveted bonus. Chinese, Malays, Japanese, Dutch, and goodness knows how many other ethnic groups journeyed here to get their share, plying whatever supporting industry they could offer to the booming town. The less savoury part of the early history was the practice of ‘black birding’, the capturing of aboriginal folk to use as slaves on the pearling luggers. Yes, Australia has done a lot worse by our native land owners than stealing a generation….. and the practice of black birding was long after the abolition of slavery in the southern states of America.

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I wonder what the love story of Alfred and Ruby Morgan was. There’s no mention of children, I wonder if they died childless. Ruby was 18 years younger than Alfred, did he treat her with kindness.

This headstone had me intrigued. What did Phyllis Everett McDaniel do that warranted, “a valiant woman” to be engraved on her headstone. I’m sure there’s an historical/fiction story that could be inspired by such an inscription. I briefly looked to see what facts I could find:

Phyllis was married to Master Pearler, Daniel McDaniels. They moved to Broome in the early 1900s, so I’m guessing Phyllis must have been a teenage bride. How hard must that have been – I’m presuming she would have left her family and friends behind to move to Broome. Without the comforts we have today, would she have felt lonely and found Broome to be ‘a God forsaken place’, or would she have been welcomed into to bosom of Broome society and would she have fallen in love with this unique and wonderful land. Did Daniel cherish his teenage bride, did she love him in return? I’m gathering she must have at least called Broome home by the time she was widowed in 1955 as she continued to live here for a further 24 years. Passing away at the grand old age of 90, I wonder what went on in her long life to warrant the inscription of “a valiant woman”. I can’t think of anything grander than that for a tombstone epitaph, can you!

15 August, day 11 of our sun and wildflowers trip

As we spend a lot of time on the beach, a comfortable beach chair is a must. Our old chairs gave up last season in Broome, so Paul did some on line research, and bought us two new ones for Christmas. He thought these, Tommy Bahama chairs looked pretty good. When they arrived they exceeded expectations by a country mile.

The frame is Aluminium, so extremely lightweight. Folded down they’re very easy to put on our backs, and being so light, we hardly know they’re there.

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If we’re driving to a spot on the beach this isn’t so important, but if we want to swim near the life guards on Cable Beach, we have a bit of a trek from the car park to the area on the beach where dogs are allowed. Lightweight, and easy to carry is a must.

They have lots of pouches, two on the back that hold towels, books, drink bottles and more, and two hanging from the arm for phones, glasses or whatever.

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They unfold (and fold up easily), and once unfolded, they can be adjusted to various positions from sitting upright to completely laid back.

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The bar on the back serves as a towel, sarong holder, or a support leg if we decide we want to lay our chairs flat.

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The biggest problem when going to the beach is lugging enough stuff there so as you can be comfortable and shaded. With our towels, phones, books, and drink bottles stowed in the chair, and the chair easily carried on our backs, we have our hands free. I take charge of Mr Tilly, who must remain on a leash until we get to the dog area of the beach, and paul carries our beach umbrella. We get quite a few envious comments, and I understand why. As far as beach chairs go, they’re the best we’ve seen, and so easy! Thank you Paul, a wonderful Christmas present that hopefully will keep on providing comfort for many years to come.

13 & 14 August

The population of Broome is somewhere around 16,000 people. Currently there are around 87,000 people up here, and during the recent school holidays that number was around 95,000. As you can imagine the internet isn’t equipped to cope with such an expansion. Doing anything at all on the internet hasn’t been easy, writing a blog post very difficult, and uploading photos, virtually impossible. Never mind, the Broome Racing cup is on today. The week following the cup usually sees a mass exodus. I think there’ll likely be a few more people here in the coming weeks than usual, but hopefully enough people will leave to allow reasonable internet access again.

The shire is trialling the use of temporary self contained accommodation in one of the beach car parks. Self contained is supposed to include an on board toilet and shower, and contained waste (an onboard grey water tank for used water).

I doubt the above vehicle is compliant with the rules, and there are many more just like this in the car park overnight. I’m told the shire is turning a blind eye, as with accommodation fully utilised in the town there is absolutely no accommodation available for transient workers. The workers have to stay somewhere, and the town needs all the transient workers it can get. There aren’t enough in town. Restaurants are booked up a week or more in advance, and a 40 minute wait for coffee isn’t unusual. Some small operators are apparently offering up some form of accommodation with a job, and many townsfolk are letting out a room in their homes.

Since Covid has started this is a story often told throughout Western Australia. I don’t know if it’s the same on the East Coast. With no-one able to go on overseas holidays or cruises, everyone is holidaying on home soil. Leases in permanent rental houses are often not being renewed because the landlords can quadruple their rents when leasing their houses as short term holiday accommodation. The short term holiday accommodation is expensive, too expensive for transient workers, and is booked months in advance.

For us on a personal basis, our holiday life is much the same though as usual. We don’t often eat out, nor do we often go out for coffee. Our holiday pleasures are predominantly simple. We’re happy spending time either walking on the beach, or cooling off in the ocean, and then sitting in our beach chairs with a book under the shade of our beach umbrella. Next week when some of the tourists have gone home, we’ll venture further afield to see what changes the town has undergone in the year since we were last here, and we’ll break up our home cooking with a restaurant or two. In the meantime we’re happy to sit back and leave any restaurant tables for those who rely on them more than we have too.

One thing we’ll often treat ourselves to is an ice cream from the beach kiosk, but we learnt last year that’s a treat we can’t rely on like we’d been used to in pre-Covid days. Last year we waited over 1/2 an hour to buy an ice cream. We’ve taken care of that this year by including a box of Ice cream splices with our shopping, Tills eagerly, and patiently watches us when we remove one from our caravan fridge. I’m sure most dogs would gulp it down in a few seconds flat, but not Mr Tilly. He enjoys and savours every morsel of the little bit we save for him, licking around the stick as we turn it for him.

He’s like that with all his food. We can put his favourite food, roast chicken, in a bowl for him. He’ll go and sniff it, then walk away and think about for a minute or two. Then he returns to the bowl and delicately eats it all up.

And that’s about all I dare write for today, and I think I’ve only been able to write this because the hoards are busying themselves at the races and giving the internet a bit of a break. The races will be over soon, so I’d better get this published while I’m able too. I’ll show you a bit around Broome in the next week or so hopefully, so watch this space…..

12 August

Dry windy conditions do nothing for ones skin and hair. Moisturising helps with the skin, but my hair, constantly blowing in my face and eyes, was driving me bonkers. A sign at a nearby caravan advertising hair cuts tempted me in. “What are we doing today?” asks Cheryl. “Something to get the hair off my face”, I answer. Half an hour later it’s off my face, it’s definitely off my face.

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We took the beach umbrella, beach chairs and boogie boards to the beach for a few hours in the afternoon. The waves were just perfect for granny’s or small children. Just powerful enough to push you to shore, but not powerful enough to dump you and roll you around like a washing machine agitator.

Then back to the caravan with just enough time to shower (and tossle my new do into some sort of mis-shape (can’t have it looking too neat), throw together the makings of dinner and we were off to meet friends for a barbecue. A pleasant night on a lovely, balmy, Broome evening. Tills is done in, up on the bed snoring. I think I’ll join him.