Tuesday 26th April 2011

Easter was pretty much a non event with the weather being miserable for the most of it. I took the opportunity of updating my travel blog with our Western Australian adventure photos and reports which took up a lot of time.

Butch & Anne called in on Saturday, Butch having a game of golf with Pete & they were lucky that the first two holes were wet and the rest of the day fined up. It was good to catch up with them & hear about their recent overseas trip and news of the family. Nicholas & Carla have a new baby daughter (3 weeks old) Phillipa (Phippi) so that is great news. Heather & Matt's wedding plans are on cue.

Sunday Shane, Rod & Joel came for breakfast. We went to golf at 12.00 as the day had fined up nicely. I managed to walk Joel to the railway to see the trains which he loves.

Our golf partners were Bert & Annie Brink & we had a very enjoyable day in nice sunshine. The club bistro was shut after golf so we went to the Wyoming Thai Restaurant for dinner with Annie & Bert and Mark & Anne Stimpson.

Monday it rained all day so my plans for working at the club gardens were cancelled. I spent the day working on my travel blog & got the bulk of the photos on. I only have the Indian Pacific Journey to add and the job is finished.

Tuesday (today) we had another bad weather day. Rod bought Joel over for the day while Anne was at work. It fined up enough to fit in a walk to the railway to watch the trains which is becoming a ritual when Joel comes to visit. Joel was good all day and I enjoyed looking after him.

A very quiet Easter this year but at least I got a good opportunity to get my blogs up to date.

Thursday 21st April 2011

I came home from a rather hectic three week Western Australian holiday to have a rest !!!!

It has been a very full on week leading up to Easter so now I am planning on having Easter off.

Wish me luck!

Thursday 14th April 2011 I spent the whole day in my gardens at home that had got very overgrown in just the few weeks that they were left unattended. There has been plenty of rain thankfully so watering was not a problem. We had a quick visit to see Joel in the afternoon as we had not seen him for three weeks.

Friday 15th April 2011 the heavens opened and we had steady rain all day so I had a chance to catch up on some of my photos. Friday evening we went to the Golf Club as Peter was on raffle duty and also to celebrate Mark's birthday once again. .

Saturday 16th April 2011 the rain continued. Shane called in and stayed for breakfast & it was good to catch up with him. He and Sam have just come home from a weeks camping. The course was closed as the course was too wet. Three and a half inches in the two days.

It seemed a good opportunity to go shopping for a new camera as my old one had died from exhaustion. I bought a reasonably simple camera - Fujifilm XP GPS which does not take quite as good crisp photo as my old lumix but it is dustproof, waterproof and shockproof which is a big advantage when I take my camera everywhere I go including into the garden. I am still learning to use it properly so hopefully I will have better photos to come.

Sunday 17th April 2011 We were up early to go over to Rod's new house to see Joel, Anne & Rod in their new townhouse in Lisarow before going to golf. The golf competition was cancelled in the morning as the course was still very wet. The day fined up and social play was allowed in the afternoon. Doug & Robin Incoll who were to be our competition playing partners were keen to play so we had a social 16 holes before beer o'clock. There was a wedding in the wedding garden that day & they were very happy that the weather cleared up. It was just as well that there were wedding guests at the club as we four were the only members still there at 6 o'clock.

Monday 18th April, 2011 we were at F-Troop at 7.00 am for a full day of work on a stump removal program . While the boys did the hard yakka I worked on the gardens and acted as a gofer for them taking out morning tea & lunches so they could work right through the day.
It was a huge day but we got a lot of work done.

Tuesday 19th April 2011 it was more of the same. The stump removal project was over two days and we were lucky enough to get good weather for both days. I took some time out and attended the girls presentation day which gave me a bit of a break. We were very tired at the end of the day but it was very satisfying to get all that work done as it was a major project.

Wednesday 20th April 2011 I did not wake up until 10 o'clock. Those of you who know me would have thought I was dead. I must have been very tired and needed the rest. I had an easy day to get back into routine.

Thursday 21st April 2011 (today) I spent most of the day catching up with my holiday photos of which I have hundreds. I am intending to get my travel blog up to date over Easter so I spent the day sorting and editing my photos so that the updating of the blog will be straight forward (I hope).

I will let you know when there is something ready for you to look at on the travel blog.

Wednesday 13th April 2011- Our Indian Pacific Adventure

Our Western Australia holiday has come to an end with the last three days experiencing the epic Indian Pacific train journey from the Indian Ocean (Perth) to the Pacific Ocean (Sydney).

During this three week holiday I have ticked off some boxes on my "Bucket List"which is always a good thing to do.

I loved the city of Perth, Mandurah, Albany, the Margaret River region of Bunker Bay, The Vines and our train journey home finished the trip off nicely. We were lucky enough to have perfect weather the whole time we were away - experiencing the Freemantle Doctor on the day we visited the WACA.

The train trip was a very interesting experience in particular the crossing of the Nullarbor Plains. There had been a lot of rain in the weeks before we crossed and there was a lot of vegetation and even some wildflowers which was a nice surprise. I was ready for miles and miles of red dirt and little else.

We caught the train at East Perth Railway station and it was a huge train with about 29 carriages (the train had to be broken into two pieces the let the passengers off at Central Station.

Our carriages were very well organised with a comfortable bench lounge during the day that converted to double bunks at night. I was the one who got the short straw & had to go on the top bunk (not at all recommended for anyone who does not have good balance or is frightened of height). The staff would convert the cabin while we were at dinner each night & then tidy it back to a lounge while we were at breakfast in the mornings. The shower was quite an experience - but it worked. The area was not as small as it looks but a large person would find it rather squeezy. The toilet & wash basin fold down from the wall which really was not that much of an inconvenience. The dining carriage was very nice & sociable and the food was exceptional. We were not offered the same meals twice during the whole journey and the choices and quality were very good. I was not all that impressed with the lounge area. It was a bit restricted if you were a party of more than four and we could not find a comfortable place to play cards as the tables and floor space was too small. Apart from that everything was good and I found that the train movement made me sleepy and it was easy to doze off while watching the scenery.

The scenery was something else, changing as we moved through the different areas.

Sunday 10th April 2011.

Our first stop was Kalgoorlie and we arrived there at 10.00 o'çlock at night. We went on an organised bus tour that took us to see the Super Pit which was an amazing place. We could look right down into the pit & see the workers doing their shifts right through the night. The big trucks looked like matchbox toys. We also toured through Kalgoorlie town checking out the historical places and the famous brothels in the area.

Monday 11th April 2011

We continued on to Adelaide SA stopping at the little Ghost Town of Cook SA where there are only four permanent residents. It is a changeover of staff for the railway workers and they are building some accommodation for them there.

Tuesday 12th April 2011 we arrived in Adelaide at 7.00 am. There was a two hour stopover so we hired a cab and toured the city stopping at Glenelg for a coffee and breakfast. We were back at the railway by 9 o'clock so we did not have time to see a whole lot of Adelaide. We headed from Adelaide to Broken Hill during the day. Unfortunately we were held up with track repairs etc so we could not leave the railway station to have a look at Broken Hill as the train was well behind schedule.

Wednesday 13th April 2011 I woke up just before we got to Lithgow and was able to get a few photos before we got to the Blue Mountains and then into Sydney - two hours later that scheduled. That did not worry us too much as we only had to move along a couple of platforms to catch the country train to Gosford which we did with good timing arriving home about 3.30pm.

I was happy to have done the whole trip just to be able to say that I had done it, however if I planned this trip again I would have got off the train at Adelaide, had a few days there and a couple of games of golf and then flown home to Sydney. The Nullarbor Plains was the big attraction for me and the best part of the trip I thought.

Now it is back to reality, catching up with everything that has happened at home while we have been away. We are all on diets as we put on so much weight from all the good food and not a lot of excercise.