Author: Mr A
Location: Mandurah, 70kms south of Perth
If you are not one for cute cat photos, then I suggest you move to the last paragraph of this post rather quickly.
Last week our beloved Burmese cat, Tassie (or Miss T to her friends) was packed off by her loving step-parents Rosemary and Richard, for her flight from Sydney to Perth, a not incesequential flight time of 5 hours. A number of other anxious fur parents were waiting for those crates containing our loved ones to be unloaded and distributed amongst us. It was the 13th – I am superstitious.
After what seemed an age she was delivered in her little yellow crate (sorry no pictures was so stressed I forgot!) and had arrived safe, in need of a brush and a cuddle, but otherwise in good spirits. Once I had her installed in the Zone, her tail was up, water was drunk, food was consumed at a rate of knots, and the brand new litter tray christened. All the boxes ticked.
She has been away in the caravan with us a few times before, so familiar smells put her at ease, and she was soon resting up. She does a lot of that, around 23 hrs a day by my estimate. Well she’s no kitten any more, ageing gracefully at 13. We left the Discovery Parks site by the airport, which was pretty good actually, and headed south to Mandurah, Perth’s second largest city and growing fast. We rocked up at Mandurah Caravan Tourist Park, and were guided into our tight spot (site 13….) where we stayed for 6 nights.
The days have flown past, with plenty for me to do, mostly cleaning and maintenance on the car, caravan and bikes. Miss T has adjusted pretty well, enjoying the ever changing view from the Zone’s big windows. Birds, dogs, ducks and a miniature horse (yes you read that right), all have occupied her from the viewing platform of the queen bed. Occasionally she even ventures to the door to keep an eye on things and make sure all is in order.
We have discussed sharing the housekeeping load, but bed making was frankly dismissed with a haughty shrug.
To be honest, life with a cat in a caravan is pretty good. No heating up a hot water bottle, no need for comedy programmes as she attempts various improbable manoeuvres to find the sunniest spot in the Zone. Mind you, I have been relegated to Chief Brusher, Tempting Treats Chef, and the queen bed doesn’t seem quite as roomy now. Yes that’s me buried at the back, one hint of a photographic opportunity and I’m toast. 
Now you may think that’s a grumpy look…and well…it often is. For instance if the temperature falls below 28.5 degrees (yes centigrade) in the Zone (thank goodness for the insulation), approporiately chilled freshwater has not been added to her bowl in the last 15 minutes, the Coles roast chicken isn’t basted quite to her liking, or heaven forbid the mayo forgotten. The latter requiring at least 7 minutes brushing to restore the honour of her deigning to sit on my lap.
Just one more photo then I promise I will stop. I came home from shopping today and couldn’t find her. Searched everywhere and anxiously ran through my locking up process – did she escape somehow? All the windows have strong fly nets, no escaping there. Now in an 18 foot 6 caravan you’d think there was only so many places a cat can make you work to find them. But really, she had me going. Finally, I saw my thick goosedown, winter sleeping bag by my bed, having omitted to pack it away after sorting out yesterday. I went to lift it up, and it felt unusually heavy. She had climbed right inside.
Now, I admit the sun isn’t shining today, but its 23 degrees for goodness sake.
So now let’s turn to Mandurah, and some impressions of this place I’d frankly never heard of. Well its not a wine region. I’ve done some cycling around, and super impressed with the dedicated infrasctucture for riders. Paths are everywhere, along beautiful foreshore, canals and lakes, which Mandurah is graced with in abundance.
The marina area is very swish, restaurants line the waters edge, boutique shops are open for business, it was really buzzing, even on a Monday.
The canal side housing looks tempting, and a friend assured me that with the highest mortgage default rate in the country, bargains can be had!
However, you move away from this area and it soon looks pretty shabby. I was warned to keep alert, I checked the crime stats, Mandurah has the highest number of robbery reports recorded in the greater Perth area. I’ve certainly locked everything up tight at night.
One of the great things about the caravan we like over our camper trailer is that security of being able to lock all the external hatches and the door. Mind you I do have that fearsome looking Burmese on guard. Imagine coming face to face with that look on a dark night. If they can wake her….
LOL! Mind you, she is born and bred Ozzie. And when you grew up with a big, warm, white, furry belly to sleep on all day and night, it takes a bit of adjusting to stay warm…but she is adorable!