Wagin and Stirling Ranges 25th Feb to 1st Mar 2013

Wagin

Left Perth for Lake Towerining to visit Ian and Theresa again. We have just got a phone call from John and Wil and have organised to meet up again, I am sorry liver but they are good fun.

 

 

We have decided to meet up at

the Stirling Ranges. So we head south east and head toward the Giant Ram at Wagin.

 

We came across the pioneer grave of John Marsh near the town of Williams. These pioneers were absolute heroes for what they went through. We pulled into Wagin with the view of having a look around and then just pulling up on the side of the road somewhere between here and the Stirling Ranges.

Went to see the historical village, more tractors and it seems that it doesn’t matter how many of these thing you go to you will always find something that you haven’t seen before.

It was funny the caretaker came out from her office and said, I bet you that I can show you something that you would never have seen before. OK I will take you on, she then points out a magpie nest that is made entirely of fencing wire. Apparently a farmer had watched two magpies over a series of weeks go off and retrieve lengths of fencing wire to build the nest.

They would weave and bend the wire to make the nest. It had hardly been finished when a storm came through and dislodged it from the tree, the farmer had then donated it to the historical village. One of the original buildings is the National Bank building which was built in 1927 and only ceased operation in 1989, it is still set up like it is due to open up to customers tomorrow.

 

As we drive around town looking for somewhere to park the van we find a caravan park which was put in by the local council, it is immaculate and only costs $20 night, this is where we are staying tonight.

 

Next door is the Giant Ram, it is 9 times the size of a standard ram but I am sure his Cajunas are double that. It is 13 metres long and 9 metres high weighs 4 tonnes and took 8 months to create. The park in which it is housed has been created by a combination of work for the dole, local community groups and council, they have done a great job. Communities are so strong in all these small towns, something that is missing in the cities.

 

Wagin used to be a very busy town but like many other small towns when the railway stopped so did the town. Katanning has taken a lot of residents away from Wagin.

 

We went for a walk around Wagin, quite a large town with the older section to the West of the railway line and the newer to the East. Having a look at the lines, trains have not passed through here for a very long time. We packed up and headed to Katanning on our way to Stirling Ranges.

 

We Meet Up With the Costellos Again at the Stirling Ranges

 

We headed towards Stirling Ranges Retreat to catch up with John and Wil, the range just rises up out of nowhere, it is very spectacular. It was fantastic to meet up with John and Wil, we spent the rest of the day catching up on stories and having a few drinks.

 

Not far from camp is Bluff Knoll, we planned to leave by 9.00 am to climb this bloody tough hike. Trice made the summit, she nearly gave up numerous times but kept going. This climb was rated moderate, MODERATE are you kidding me!

The only way this thing with a couple of thousand steps could be rated moderate is if you were a mountain goat with legs like a marathon runner. Can you imagine what it would be like to climb continuously for 2 ½ hours with most of the climb being steps.

The problem with the steps was that they were not well formed steps they were logs, rock and anything else that could resemble a step.

 

It was a 5 hour round trip, legs were dead and we could not wait to get back. You look up at this knoll and wonder how the hell you are going to do it.

 

Then when you are up there and look back at the starting point, you wonder how the hell you are going to get back.

That is where we came from over Trice's shoulder in the photo to the right. The hardest part had to be the last 500 metres, you can see the car park, your legs are screaming and you head downhill only to get an uphill climb at the very end. All Trice could do was lay down and die.

Ian and Aileen are the owners and Ian gave us some gear to go yabbying, we walked about 500 metres only to find the dam was dry with a dead kangaroo rotting away. We came back to Ian and he took our bait and put it in his private dam. Over 100 yabbies, cooked up and yum.

 Still getting over the sore legs, buggered knees, slow start, Johnie did a walk and Trice and I did a flat walk but only 3 1/2 klms. Did a drive. Dirt road was very rough so we turned around. Ian came back with another 100 Yabbies, so we cooked garlic yabbies for dinner.

 

Another sad farewell to some great friends, we pack up today with the intention to head to Parry Beach, very windy and likelihood of rain. We had a change in plans and decided to head to Albany to restock. Weather is crappy so I get to watch the touring car racing.

 

Very quiet because of the weather so we use the time to do a bit of shopping.

We read that Parry Beach is now limiting the height for bigger vans but a local tells us that we will have no issues. Off to Parry Beach we head.

 

Preparing For Our Trip to Brisbane 7th - 25th February 2013

Perth to Brisbane and Back Again

It is the day before we fly to Brisbane to surprise the kids, we have been planning this for weeks without telling anyone, I was busting but I am now known as “The Vault” unlike Johnnie Costello.

 

Trice got me to colour her hair once again, not getting bad at this stuff.

 

We headed off to the airport for our midnight flight, now that I am not a member of the Qantas club we are stuck sitting around a cafe drinking coffee and talking to people. We did meet one fellow who has invited us to join him in Perth when he goes out to the aboriginal communities, he is a negotiator. It would be a great opportunity to see what life is really like so we will have to see what we can co-ordinate.

 

Flying into Brisbane after not sleeping all night from a combination of being cramped and excited what going to be a task. We had only taken on hand luggage so we could get a quick get away from the airport as we were landing at 7.30 and wanted to be at home before the kids left for school.

 

We caught a cab and got him to drop us off at the bottom of the driveway and off we went up the 200 metres of driveway. Two weary passengers with backpacks on sneaking up to the house hoping not to be seen. There was strange car in the driveway so I got Trice to wait and I was going to creep up to the door and ring the doorbell. I was almost there when I remembered that the door is still broken from the break in so spun around to go down the side. Unbeknown to me was that the visitor was Tess a friend of Michelle and they were on the deck at the back talking, Michelle with her back to the front and Tes seeing these strange people creeping around the house. Tess panicked as she thought we were burglers. Michelle spun around and saw Trice’s hair, realizing who it was, came screaming and crying around the house, this was the start of a beautiful 2 weeks.

 

It didn’t take long for me to hurt myself. I was on the trampoline showing the kids how much of an expert I was. Cohen was trying to bounce onto his back and back onto his feet. Let Poppy show you how it is done, famous last words.

I bounced too far back causing me to bite my bottom lip with my eye teeth instantly becoming a vampire look-a-like.

Between setting up to surprise people, Teneal finding us hiding in the laundry, Jeff just going into a state of shock, Shell Noonan thinking that our Shell was an expert in Photo shop when a photo was messaged to her. Even Sam had a tear in his eye. We painted, gardened, had a few drinks, fixed things participated in ther lead up to Coop's birthday and generally just enjoyed being with the family for 2 weeks.

 

Flying out was very sad but we had an adventure to finish so we flew out ready to hit Perth at midnight Perth time.

 

We were very fortunate to find out about the 7^th Day Adventist Church camp ground in Perth, were able to leave the van on power and car in a secure area for $6.50 a day, pretty cheap parking if you ask me.

Perth may be on the water but the sign doesn't paint a very good picture. It was very windy and the wind surfers were having a great time.

After a good night sleep we went to our nephew’s house for lunch, Luke and Benny were perfect hosts and it was great to be able to catch up with Trice’s sister Gail who had also flown in from Brisbane.

We had a HUGE lunch and a very enjoyable visit and were heading back to camp when we received a call from our favourite camp host Milly.

Milly wanted to know if she could give us a tour of Perth that night so off we went.

I have never heard someone talk continuously for 5 hours. Milly was fantastic once again, we got to see many aspects of Perth and the party area of Fremantle.

It has been a very long time since I have gone into areas like this and I was amazed at what girls now 'almost wear' when they go out, doesn’t leave much to the imagination.