8 August 2021

A warm evening yesterday, and no moon, so again the night sky was amazing. We looked for satellites but none appeared. We only seem to notice them in the sky when there’s a moon, maybe there needs to be some moonlight to show them up. No shooting stars either! Oh well, maybe tonight.

We sat outside playing cards by the light of a battery lamp. Being warm there were plenty of insects but the lamplight had their attention, so they seemed to leave us alone. We knew we couldn’t have a light on in the caravan to read by as those pesky little night flyers find their way around the best of insect screens to a light source. It was around 8pm when we’d had enough of card games, and starry skies – almost a late night!

There were a lot of trucks on the road throughout the night, so not a really sound deep, but being in bed for 9 hours it didn’t seem to matter. We both awoke reasonably refreshed around 5am. A cuppa in bed, and I finished my book. It was a good read, I’d recommend it – ‘Water for Elephants’. A good insight into how much progress we’ve made into preventing animal cruelty, particularly in the circus world. Also a good insight into the grimness of life during the Great Depression in America.

We were on the road again at 7.45am, Paul and I eager for the next, and second to last leg on our journey to Broome, Mr Tilly not so eager. Tills definitely showed his reluctance to get into the car. As I write this his back is turned firmly away from us as he sits in the back seat. He even refused a piece of sausage saved from last nights dinner especially to bribe him with. He’s clearly not going to be bribed.

Whilst the countryside just north of Newman is up there with my favourites, the countryside between Port Hedland and Broome is about my least favourite. It’s mainly flat and scrubby, with a few bleak looking shrubs, and barely even ant hills to add a bit of interest.

Another escort vehicle came towards us waving us for the road. Holy, moly – this one was BIG! We were right off the road, but still there was barely a metre between us and the load as it hurtled past. Certainly broke the monotony of the scenery, it was the biggest load we’ve encountered yet. That white line is the one usually on our left.

We arrived at Stanley about 2.45pm, and shared a large gazebo with a trio also travelling towards Broome. Two of the trio came from Tassie, and their place of work uses a catering company in Tassie owned by a good friend of ours. The third member of the trio lives just around the road from where we lived when we were in Perth. It’s a small world!

Entertainment for the evening was again compliments of a brilliantly clear night sky. Two definite satellites spotted, one definite aeroplane (thought to be a satellite at first), and a fourth moving light which could have been a satellite, or could have been a plane. Again, too many night fliers to have a light on indoors to read by, so lights were out by 8.15pm. Zzzzz

7 August 2021

Hamburgers, mulled wine, and toasted marshmallows kept us up a little later last night. We nearly made to 8pm! A few pages of my book and I was out to it. Not such a good nights sleep last night, sometimes I get a reaction to wine, or in fact any alcohol. I think it’s the histamines, but whatever it is, my blocked nose reaction doesn’t make for a good nights sleep. I’m not a big drinker at the best of times, but I do like to enjoy the occasional drink, especially on holiday. I only had one drink of mulled wine…….today I’m saying it will be my last drink ever. We’ll see!

Awake at 5am, I read a couple of chapters of my book, ‘Water for Elephants’. It’s a good read, light and easy going, and it has me wanting to know how it’ll finish. It’s getting difficult to put down. Shower, breakfast and dishes out of the way, and we were on the road again at 8am. The weathers definitely warming up, and I suspect I’ll be in shorts tomorrow. My Marino jumper has given way to a long sleeved t-shirt, I’m sure I’ll be sleeveless tomorrow.

We stop at a roadhouse for fuel as we by-pass Newman. After Newman comes the most spectacular Pilbara scenery, real iron ore country.

This is probably my favourite drive in WA. I’ve heard people say it’s very much like Africa. The red rock and soil, the yellow tussocky grass, the wild flowers that border the roads, the rock piles, and the crevices and ridges in the ranges – it’s all so wild, so raw, so beautiful.

We arrive at Two Camel Creek around 3pm. It was pleasantly warm, so no need for a fire. I used an hour or two to sort the van out a bit, stashing the winter bedding under the bed, and organising the cupboards.

Apologies if each days account of our trip jumps tense from time to time. I’m trying to write as we travel along, as well as taking photos from the car window. The photos are sometimes a bit blurry, but to stop for good shots would add unwanted time to our travel days. As I type the Internet drops in and out, and sometimes I end up losing a lot of what I’ve written, and sometimes I start writing in the present tense, but then it might be the next day before I have internet cover again. It makes for patchy writing. Never mind, hope you enjoy some of the photos anyway.

6 August

We could hear the big trucks from our camp spot yesterday, but fortunately they seem to get off the road early, and didn’t become active again until around 6am. A couple of mulled wines by the fire last night had us up until well after 7pm…. Lol. We struggle to stay out of bed until 7pm when on a big road trip. Darkness comes, we watch the stars come out, and then nature seems to say to us, “it’s dark, time for you to sleep”. The fire kept us up for at least a half hour longer than on previous trips, and with no visible moon, the stars were wondrous. I’m pleased we took some good burning wood with us in this time.

We read a page or two before lights out, and I don’t remember anything else until 5am this morning. We awoke to really cold morning, one where you just want to stay under the covers a bit longer. So we did.

We had our cuppa in bed, then dragged ourselves out of bed, and by 8.15am, we were on our way again.

We seemed to have left the worst of the winter behind. The skies are blue, pasture land has given way to desolate scenery.

Friends, on their return trip from Broome, met us in Meekatharra for a coffee at the coffee van. Jill and John were to fly up to Broome four weeks ago. However a snap lock down prevented them from flying out of Perth airport. So, on the spur of the moment they got in their car and drove instead. Now that’s gutsie….. They didn’t know if they’d find accommodation on route, so they bundled a couple of pillows and blankets into their car, and were prepared to sleep in their little hatchback if necessary. Gotta admire their sense of adventure. I’m pleased to say they did manage to find a bed at every stop on the way.

A great little catch up and were on our way again, arriving at Gascoyne river south at 2.15pm. Mr Tilly still had his winter coat, so with a few hours of light to spare it was time for that to go.

Gascoyne River South Branch is one of our favourite roadside camps. The camp area is spacious, and we usually find a bit of water in the river. The river gums are an artists dream I’m sure. There’s usually a few cows around, so it’s always a pleasure to hear them during the night.

And now the night air is drawing in. Paul has set the fire, time to get it lit I think. There’s a mulled wine nearby with my name on it……

5 August 2021

A long driving day today, 729 kms. We left at 6.50am just as the sun was rising. Mist lay low in the fields to our left from Busselton through to Bunbury. To our right the sun was rising, but still low in the sky, flashing through the trees like a strobe light.

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We by-passed Perth, missing a turn as we journeyed along. The missed turn didn’t add a lot of kilometres to our trip, getting stuck behind two big loads added a bit of time. We remind ourselves we’re retired, and a bit of delay is of little consequence. Besides, it’s a great experience to watch the co-ordinated effort of police and multiple support vehicles controlling the traffic so as to allow these heavily laden beasts to travel safely at 80kms an hour. We followed behind them for close on an hour before they turned into a roadhouse for fuel.

The fields are full of crops, green wheat beside golden canola – just gorgeous.

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Another support vehicle, this time coming towards us, signals for the road train in front of us, and for us to move to the verge and stop. A police vehicle follows to ensure we’ve understood. As the massive loads approach we’re only to happy to oblige. The road train in front of us on the verge was notably large, yet it looks like a matchbox toy compared to these beauties.

We arrived at Kirkalocka at 4pm, found a lovely campsite, and set about lighting a fire. An hour or two of lovely sunshine to wander around and stretch our legs. Then we put a brew (mulled wine) in the billy over the fire and settled in to watch the stars come out. A long but pleasant days travel done.

August 4th

Tomorrow we will be heading off on our biggest road trip of 2021. My plan for this holiday is to keep a record each and every day of what we’ve seen, what we’ve done, and where we’ve travelled. I realise following along daily may become tedious so please don’t feel any obligation. My main purpose for recording on a day by day basis is to prompt me not to waste days, and prompt me to keep my eyes open to my surroundings. If I know I’m going to have to write something, and show some photos, then I’m going to have do something, and I’m going to have be alert to photo opportunities.

I used to write more frequently than I have been in recent years. Everywhere we travelled was new, so photo opportunities were plentiful, and the recording of our trips with both words and photos seemed to enhance every aspect of our lives. In recent years recording our trips has seemed like playing the same old record over, and over, and over again. My thoughts for this trip is that even though we’re covering old and familiar ground, ground much travelled, there will always be new things to see and new experiences to be had. It’s just up to us to notice them. Every day is different, and every trip will be different in some way to the trip before.

The caravan is now fully packed, the outdoor chairs have been brought inside in case of strong winds. The pot plants have been moved so as the reticulation will water everything should we get a dry spell. Paul has rigged the reticulation up to a Be-hyve controller – brilliant technology. It means he can turn the sprinklers on or off as needed from wherever we are. Honestly, this truly is the best thing since sliced bread.

It’s now 6.30am on the 5th August. We’ve been up for over an hour as we have a long days driving ahead of us today. We’re waiting now for first light to leave (we don’t like driving in country areas with the caravan when we can’t see clearly for kangaroos). Mr Tilly looks at us as if we were bonkers for being out of bed whilst it’s still night time. As you can see from the photo above, he’s not to happy.

And now I’d better get moving again or the Mr will be leaving without me.

The move went without a hitch. The furniture is all in place, the boxes unpacked, and the pictures hung. Whilst floor space is reasonable, built in storage is less than we had in our previous house. We’ve managed to find spots for most things, albeit some in temporary cube storage until the right piece appears.

As you will notice in the photos below of the kitchen, there is a reasonable amount of drawer space but there isn’t a lot of bench. I found a spot for my Thermo-mix beside the stove, but there’s no room for the kettle or coffee machine. The hallway that runs passed the end of the kitchen is certainly wide enough to accommodate a coffee station, so we’ve made use temporarily of some cubes for that purpose. When we get home from Broome we’ll see about getting a permanent coffee station built in to match the rest of the kitchen.

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With the lovely Marri floors throughout the living area we decided to veer away from seaside decor, so have opted for a more earthy look. As always though, you’ll notice from the modern white coffee table and entertainment unit, our taste can be eclectic to say the least – what can I say, we just liked those pieces. Our excuse is that we think all wood would have possibly looked dark and gloomy.

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The RAC caravan park in Broome now allows a limited number of people to bring their canine companions. It’s a very popular park, and difficult to get a booking there. Once you have a booking the same dates can be secured for the following year.

We have a booking there this year from 9th August to 1st September. Having moved house less than a week ago, we intended to cancel this years booking, but we wanted to do it close to the time so as to be able to secure the same dates for next year. Our plan instead was to spend a month or so settling into our new home, then do a wildflower trip around our south west in early spring.

However, yesterday Paul mentions he’d still like to go up to Broome for some of the reliable sunshine that attracts us back year after year. It’s been miserably cold down here! Damn, I thought, I had been looking forward to seeing the wild flowers. He asked me to think about it. It didn’t take much thought – I’m always keen on caravan trips. An hour of thinking and the answer was yes, followed by a question, “can we tack the wild flower route onto our homecoming journey”.

Paul was up at the crack of dawn today planning the journey. The plan is to leave Busselton on the 5th August and head up the Great Northern Highway to Broome, three weeks of sun and relaxation, then back down the Great Northern Highway to Cue. One night roadside stops each night all the way. Once we get back to Cue we’ll start spending a few nights in places as we leave the main Highway for the wheatbelt area where the wildflowers should be prolific.

Of course, the way Covid and it’s associated lock downs is spreading around country faster than wild fire, our plans have to be subject to last minute changes or cancellation. But all going well we’ll be almost in Broome a fortnight from now. And what a pleasure that’ll be.

Not Covid rules, we know any Covid rules are in our best interests, so we stick to those like glue. Not that there are any Covid restrictions in WA at the moment.

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The song Turn, Turn, Turn, written by Pete Seeger and sung by The Byrds became a hit in 1965. However an earlier version was recorded in 1963 by Judy Colin’s, and it is the Judy Colin’s version that I often hear in my head at times like this when I’m wondering if my timing is right.

As I mentioned recently Paul and I will be on the move again soon, in fact, in eight more days we will no longer own our little cottage by the sea. Instead we will have moved approximately 1km up the road, and about 100 metres further away from the sea, into our new home in a retirement village. Here’s a sneak preview of the new building.

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We have a friend that often says that people leave it to late to downsize and move into a home that will see them into their twilight years. When we bought our little coastal cottage we thought we had bought ourselves a house that would see us well into our old age. As it turns out though the cottage takes up more of our time than we had anticipated, and it’s become clear to us that when one of us leaves the other behind (and let’s face it, that will almost certainly happen one day), this little cottage is going to be too much work for one of us to maintain alone. The market is currently good, and we stumbled upon a house in a retirement village that is plenty big enough for two people and a dog, but not to big for one person on their own. The village has a lot of things going on to interest the two of us at our current stage in life, namely bowls, heated swimming pool and a well equipped gym. But it’s what it has on offer for us in years to come that causes me to think that one day we’ll be thankful we took the plunge at a time in our lives when we were still young enough to both cope with the move, and to adapt to retirement village life.

A little bit more about my current theme song, Turn, Turn, Turn (to everything there is a season). Although Pete Seeger is credited with the lyrics, most of the words actually come form the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes (3, 1 – 8). Very little change was made to to the biblical scriptures apart from adding Turn, Turn, Turn, and repeating the words of the chorus.

Here are the lyrics:

Chorus

To everything, (turn, turn, turn),
there is a season, (turn, turn, turn),
and a time to every purpose, under heaven.

A time to be born, a time to die.
A time to plant, a time to reap.
A time to kill, a time to heal.
A time to laugh, a time to weep.

Chorus

A time to build up, a time to break down.
A time to dance, a time to mourn.
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together.

Chorus

A time to love, a time to hate.
A time for war, a time for peace.
A time you may embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing.

Chorus

A time to gain, a time to lose.
A time to rend, a time to sew,
A time for love, a time for hate.
A time for peace, – I swear it’s not to late!

Is our time right, is this the right season in our life to move? We’re both only 66, are we moving to early? Who knows, no-one knows what’s around the corner for any of us. We know we haven’t left this move to late, but are we moving to early? Time will tell. But for now i’d better go and pack another box…..