Author: Mark Anderson

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Day 123: 29 September: Escaping from Perth for a recovery weekend

Author: Mr A

From: Perth

To: Lane Poole Reserve

Distance: 98km

Catherine had a rough night, awake for hours with a mix of jet lag and pain from the operation. I made her a nice pot of herbal tea and got us packed up to head south for the weekend. I wanted to show her the Lane Poole Reserve where I had been while she was away, as I was confident she would like being in the forest with all the birds. Normally she takes 2/3 days to recover from these dilation surgeries, so some nice gentle walks and perhaps an easy paddle might be OK, lets see. 

It’s an easy drive south and inland, with the road climbing upo into the jarrah forests that surround the little village of Dwellingup. We stocked up on some firewood, and headed into the Lane Poole Reserve to our camp at a place called Nanga Brook. Yes there is…a lovely little stream there. 

It was a bit noisy with it being school holidays, two children particularly who only had one setting on their voice box…a scream. So we just turned up the music…easy. I’m so glad I ripped all of our music CDs before we left!

Mrs A had a little snooze nad was woken with another pot of tea. She has to keep that throat lubricated. I encouraged her out for a gentle walk around the camp. 


There’s a stunning walk through the forest that we ambled up, spotting birds hopping around in the trees.


 Back at camp Mr and Mrs Fairy Wren were hopping around. The iridescent blue of his plummmage just took my breath away. It was the first moment we had had together where we weren’t thinking about Catherine’s looming health issues. It did us both good to be transported back into the natural world.

We got back to the Zone and guess what, another pot of tea was made, no shortage of lubrication of the throat for madam today. Even young Tassie caught the mood and was enticed out into the afternoon sun for a little sniff about. Big, brave girl. 


To be amongst the trees again is just so rejuvenating and relaxing. You can smell the oxygen they are giving off, and the good vibes. 

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Day 121: 27 September – Mrs A in Subiaco Hospital for surgery

Author: Mr A

Location: Perth

Distance walked: 6.5 km

Life sure throws some medical curved balls at Mrs A and I.  Results from Catherine’s CT scan yesterday weren’t good – her airway has narrowed again and she needs an immediate dilation. So bit of a change of plan today from the one we had of a nice potter around the city shops, to checking into the ENT Centre at Subiaco Hospital. 


And Catherine being Catherine manages a lovely smile. She is one brave lady, although a few cracks appeared today. A strange city and suddenly you’re told your airway is back to what it was before her major surgery a few years ago in the UK. Very disappointing  – but at least this surgery should make it easier for her to breathe again so she can enjoy the rest of our trip. 

Meanwhile Tassie and I wait anxiously in the Zone. 

At least she is back sitting on my lap after completely relegating me to food and litter tray monitor duties after Catherine came back on Monday night. Mummy’s girl definitely…

Have to just add that the WA health system, of which we have become more familiar with than we expected, has been impressive. Everything has happened with little wait time, efficiently processed and beats NSW hands down on that front. Whether they can continue to afford it as their economy struggles, lets see. But if you’re going to need medical attention then Perth has our vote. 

Just rang the hospital and she is in intensive care but ok…the world turns. 

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Day 117-119: 23-25 September – A wet and wild long weekend culminates in Mrs A’s return!

Author: Mr A

Location: Pumphrey’s Bridge to Forrestfield (Perth)

We pulled up stumps on a wet and windy Thursday morning and left the little town of Boddington for a short drive inland to our weekend camp at a place called Pumphrey’s Bridge. No prizes for guessing what’s there….


Yup…but its a bridge we won’t be driving over….mind you, our VMS navigation system wanted us to. I just updated the maps before I left Sydney on this after market 4WD navigation system – I’m not sure how they stay in business because the maps are absolutely useless compared to using free Miss Google. She of course had me detour round, as every car has had to for many years. 

I had been invited to attend a club meet of the Toyota Land Cruiser Club of WA, by the organisers – our new friends in Perth, Andy and Caroline Trenfield. I was looking forward to meeting them again, and to be honest having some human company. I was talking rather a lot to our Burmese cat, Tassie.

I was first to arrive, of course, and “Norman No Mates” here parked up and sat in the Zone watching the rain hurl itself at the windows. Soon the other club members starting arriving, all sensibly in caravans or campers given the shocking forecast for the weekend. However, the venue had been chosen not just for its falling down bridge, but it had a lovely old hall that was rented to us for our stay. I was soon mingling, and what a lovely crowd of people., I was immediately invited down for a brew with one couple, he was mid 70’s and she mid 80’s. They are both very active four wheel drivers and gad about in their caravan having a blast. Several other club members were in their late 70’s or early 80’s, and I just was so blown away by how “young” these people are. Is there a direct correlation between owning a caravan and longevity? I bloody hope so! 

We trooped into the hall and Caroline let me light the fire. Little does she know my history….but thats another story. We soon had a roaring blaze, the wine was opened and food was cooked and shared. What a great atmosphere. It’s so depressing to think that you need to behave a certain way when you get older. I watched a “ladies shooters” event kick off. They were sure having a lot more fun than many much younger people I’ve hung out with! Of course I had to show the girls how its done…


A projector was produced and we watched Bran Nue Dae, the 2009 Australian movie with a very young looking Jessica Mauboy, Missy Higgins, and Ernie Dingo doing his thing. The comments from the audience had me in tears of laughter on several occasions. It was hilarious and a cracking evening. The club members supposedly recognised every shot of old pub and stretch of dusty road, and if they didn’t, they just made it up I reckon. 

The weekend carried on in similar vein: eat, drink, laugh, repeat. It was a mainly indoor event given the very ordinary weather, but it was very cosy in the Zone at night with my personal hot water cat. She seemed OK holed up in the caravan, with regular brushes and cuddles, and the occasional brief night time exploration when it wasnt raining. 

All too quickly and it was Monday morning and time to head back to Perth, and the Discovery Parks caravan park adjacent to the airport, ready to meet Mrs A off the plane.

And here she is, looking far too glamorous for someone who has just travelled for 24hrs. 


\Wow…so great to have her back. And someone else is pretty happy as well…


Now that is a happy look…honestly….and determined to plant herself in the middle of unpacking…just to make sure there’s no ignoring going on. 

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Day 114-116: 20-22 September – (Australia) Quality time with a Burmese in Boddington

Author: Mr A

Location: Mandurah to Boddington

Well WA is certainly getting us back for all those months of blue skies in the Kimberley. Three consecutive days of solid rain, gale force winds and temperatures almost in single figures at night, have meant some very quiet times holed up in the Zone with my little furry mate, Tassie our Burmese cat.

Heading off from Mandurah after nearly a week there. I was ready to move on and Tas wasnt so keen on going for walks with all the activity around on the caravan park. Somewhere more bushy was called for. I have been kindly invited to the Perth Landcruiser Owners Club meet this weekend and decided to head out towards the venue for that.

The trip started well, climbrting up though the forested hills south of Perth, but then, a warning light pops on. Now, I have been bragging that the cruiser has done 12,000 plus km from Sydney with not a spot of bother, and given I’d just put it through a major service, I was a little peeved. It turned out to be the indicator for a fuel filter complaining about that mucky diesel its been forced to drink from those out of the way fuel stations up north.

A quick phone call to Mandurah Toyota revealed that the fuel filter doesn’t appear on the standard checklist, even for a major service – a trick for the novice bush driver like myself. I asked when they could look at it, explaining I was travelling through and on a bit of a timetable, but reconciling myself to the Sydney answer of “Oooh we’re really busy at the moment, how about the second Monday after the next leap year mate”. But no, the Mandurah answer was “Right now sir if you’d like”. I was gobsmacked and headed back into town, dropping the caravan at the ever helpful Mandurah Caravan park on the way.

I was greeted by a smile and “Ah…fuel filter sir?” Did I look that much like a stranger? I guess. I was settled down by a very perky young thing who made me a hot chocolate and generally fussed over my well being. This was amazing, and actually exactly the same quality of customer experience I had at Perth City Toyota and Geraldton. Talk about chalk and cheese from Mosman Toyota in Sydney who have provided me over nine years with the Faulty Towers model for the car service industry. (Perhaps my younger readers will need to Google that reference!). I popped into the office of the young service manager and recounted how amazed I was at the terrific service.

An hour later and I was back on the road, complete with Mandurah Toyota cap to complete the experience…bless them.

I collected the caravan and noticed hot chocolate foam all round my nose. My opinion of the service manager shot up even further when I realised how well he did at apprearing to take a man seriously with his last drink splattered round his straggly goatee.

Off we went back to Pinjarra, and climbed up into the jarrah forests once more. It really was a lovely drive, the road winding though the trees and the occasional shaft of sunlight bringing the colours into sharpness. After my recent eye test I had got a Specsavers Special and a new pair of glasses and sunnies for an outlay of $75. You wont be seeing photos of them but the scenery sure looks sharper!

We arrived in the small town of Boddington mid afternoon and headed to the Memorial Park where good old WikiCamps had recommended a free camp getting 4 stars. It really was a lovely spot, given it was in a town, with a view of the river, toilets a short walk away, and an occasional bit of free town wifi when no one else was on it.


Then the rain started and basically hasn’t stopped since. Two solid days and we’ve barely left the van, which isn’t too onerous given I have all the necessary ingredients for a enforced inside stay: a warm snuggly cat, endless choice of T2 teas, some junk food, and plenty of digital content to consume on video and Kindle! Oh..and did I mention the very warm, cosy, snuggly cat?

It’s time to hit the road once again…

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Days 107-113: 13-19 September (Australia) – One small cat arrived; one only slightly larger still away

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….

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Day 101 & 102: 7-8 September – The solo micro adventures of Mr A – packrafting and bikepacking galore!

Author: Mr A

Sept 7th

From: Perth

To: Lane Poole Reserve

Distance: Driven – 120km  Riden 15km

When the cat’s away…Mr A gets to play with his toys…on this occasion his packraft and fat bike. Mrs A is in the US and Miss Tassie (our Burmese cat) doesn’t fly until next Wednesday. I had a few days to go off exploring. I had read about an area a 90 minute drive south-east of Perth that had some white water paddling and also great off road biking tracks.

I headed off in the car with camping gear as the Zone is getting some repairs done in Perth. The landscape changed dramatically, forested hills and lush valleys. I’d booked a camp site in the Lane Poole Reserve, 50,000 hectares of outdoor playground with a river winding through jarrah trees and miles of walking and biking trails.

Up went the “Norman No Mates” little hike tent. and I jumped on the bike to scope out what the paddling would be like. Wow…some stretches of flat water interspersed with rapids of varying sizes. This looked interesting! I’d not taken the packraft out on anything like this before.

Sept 8th

From: Charlie’s Flat, Lane Poole Reseve

To: Yarragil, Murray River

Distance: Driven 8km. Paddled 12km. Cycled 20km

It was time to test my metal in some white water. I drove upstream and parked the car, the plan being to paddle down to my camp, jump on the bike and ride back to collect it. I was soon in the water and heading downstream at a fair rate of knots in the strong current. My first little rapid and all was good. I had decided to leave the spray skirt off, trading ease of egress should I be tipped, with the downside of getting some water in the boat. Following the paddling map I soon heard the roar of the “only for the experienced white water canoeist” rapid, and decided as I was on my own, with no helmet, I better portage this one. With a 3.5 kg boat that’s easy. The next rapid was pretty bouncy, but the little boat just bounced over the white water like a wild thing…great fun…some adrenaline released!


I only saw a couple of other boats on the water, and watched a family coming down the rapid behind me…no one looked in control and sure enough dad and his son tipped in. I rushed over as I hadn’t seen the son come up, he was trapped under the boat briefly and then popped out not a happy little chappy. I helped get him out of the water and calmed him down. He probably won’t take a deep bath for a while. And so that’s how people drown, no skills, no risk assessment, just jumped in and went down with no clue how to keep the boat going the right direction.

I was at camp by lunch so drove down steam and left the bike and then paddled down, deflated the raft and strapped it on the rack and cycled back. These boats are so flexible, people just don’t know about them.

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Day 100!: 6 September – Preparing for the send off!

Author: Mr A

From: Karrinyup Waters

To: Country Comfort Hotel, Perth Airport

Distance driven: 23km

Well how timely, 100 days together marks the end of Phase 1 of this tour. Tomorrow Mrs A flies out in the morning for her round the world trip, and I “head for the hills”. After a 3 week interlude while she travels to the US and then the UK, Phase 2 will commence when she returns to join us. Yes…us…by then our fur child will have joined the adventure, the lovely Miss Tasmania, blue Burmese and a camping cat. So today we had to dash off to Pet Barn and buy all sorts of goodies to accomodate her every wish (eat, sleep, poo, purr, repeat). 


This afternoon we took the caravan in for a few bits and pieces to be fixed up at a repairer Zone RV are using for several other customers, thankfully giving us a much better reception than our last attempt in Exmouth. So we waved goodbye and headed off to our motel for the night near the airport (well…almost a night – Catherine has a 3am alarm call…shudder).


A send off dinner was had at a local Chinese. A veritable mountain of prawn crackers was delivered to the table followed by humungous dishes of great seafood. Feeling rather replete. Tomorrow we both go our seperate ways  – a little sad – but also both excited by our respective plans. Watch this space…

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Day 92: 29 August – A touch of civilisation

Author: Mr A

From: Kalbarri

To: Geraldton

Distance: 150 km

The storm raged in the early hours of this morning, the rain smacking against the van roof and reminding us again how pleased we are to have swapped the canvas of our beloved Ultimate camper trailer for the Zone RV’s fibreglass! A wet pack up with canvas…yuck.

It was an early wake up today with 17 German very close neighbours on the next pitch to us. They were all travelling together in this “unique mobile capsule hotel” (http://www.uniqhotels.com/rotel-german-bus-hotel)  – a bloody great bus. So just after 6am it was clashing pans and cooking a breakfast for their hord of hungry folks (yup…that’s a lot of sausage). I listened in on one conversation between the English speaking driver and a passenger who was complaining how she hadn’t really enjoyed the trip because…Australia was so big!  Mmmm..bit of Googling beforehand might have helped when booking. Imagine sharing a bus for 3 months with 16 other fellow passengers 24×7. My idea of hell but it takes all sorts!

We pointed south down the coast, sadly the rain was pelting down so we didn’t get to enjoy the incredible scenery we had passed yesterday on this stunning road. Surely this area is going to explode with tourism in the coming years, it has so much to offer. 

We arrived at our park in Geraldton at lunch and headed into town…our first “real town” since leaving Sydney at the end of May. We parked on the front and immediately noticed a wifi network….logged on with low expectations and WOW!!! We had several episodes of Suits downloaded in a flash…rather than the hours/days we normally take at the speeds we have seen on caravan parks offering “free wifi” since leaving home. Brilliant…we love this town already! Apparently its provided by the local council. 

Then this guy who has just parked next to us lowers his window and says “It must be Catherine and Mark?” Well…we wondered if he was a Council ranger about to arrest us for not just web browsing but downloading a TV series….but no….he had been following our blog and recognised us. A little spooky right. Australia is a big place but you can’t hide 🙂 We felt nearly famous!

We head into the shops…everyone is super friendly and helpful, and there’s so many choices of places to buy things from….could those two things be connected? I even got excited to walk through a Harvey Norman store…all that stuff for sale. It feels like we have been an age away from that world.  


Coles was our next treat. Oh so much choice, They even sold Scotch eggs (minor addiction). I even got a haircut. I’ve been trying to find someone to cut my hair since Broome, in the intervening 1,916km not one town had an appointment that involved waiting less than a week for a quick trim. If we start running short of cash I’m going on a hairdressing course and our Zone will become the Cutting Zone.


Well then it was back to camp, we’re staying at Sunset Beach Caravan Park, and it lived up to its name. One sunset to order for Mrs and Mr A as we wondered along the beach, pondering how this trip is changing us, because it is. I’m going to save that for another day. I have a big event coming up tomorrow which could change everything again anyway….so lets hang fire on those thoughts until we get that out of the way…

  

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Day 90: 27 August – Exploring Kalbarri National Park

Author: Mr A

Distance hiked: 10.5km

Flights climbed: 24 floors

Kalbarri National Park is 40km out of town, but a world away from the coastal scenery we had seen here. Towering walls reared up from the Murchison River. 


We set off on a walk called the Loop – yup – no one way stuff for us today. The river looked so pristine below as we peered over the edge of the sheer cliffs.It was a fabulous walk, one of the best day walks we have have done on this trip. Only a kilometre from the crowded car park and ‘Nature’s Window’ and we were alone, only seeing one other family during the 4 hour walk. 


After heading along a ridge line we climbed right down to the river. 


A game of swans (yes that’s right – look it up) sailed regally along the river. The cygnets just picture perfect.

We followed the river as it bent around, eventually leading us back to almost the same spot we had started from….very convenient. We got back to the car as the first spots of rain fell – perfect timing. 

The colours of the spring flowers as we left the national park were incredible, splashes of pink, yellow and white wherever we looked. It seems Western Australia’s famous wildflowers are beginning to finally show themselves.


We had decided on a fish and chip supper this evening, purchased as the sun set behind rain laden clouds. We were woofing these down by 6pm in the mobile apartment as the rain beat its tattoo on the roof. 

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Day 86: 23 August – Wooleen Station wanderings

Author: Mr A

Location: Wooleen Station

Distance hiked: 8 km

I pulled down a blind in the van and was greeted by leaden grey skies – quite a shock to the retina after our months of being greeted by another blue sky day. Nothing was encouraging us to venture out too quickly…so we didn’t. A late breakfast and then we drove back to the homestead feeling we should at least chalk up something today.

A walk was chosen from a couple of detailed booklets we had been handed when we checked in. It was really well documented history lesson on the property, showing us old graves, the remains of various ramshackle buildings and even the 1800s rubbish dump! It was such a dull day it just exacerbated the feeling of desolation that hangs around these stories of battlers against the odds of the vagaries of drought and floods in outback WA. What these people went through to try and eke a living beggars belief. 


We saw zebra finches taking a morning bath, and an as yet unidentifed interloper (in photo below for Rosemary to identify ;-)). 


We headed back to the comfort of our van both quiet and thoughtful, thinking how lucky we were. The temperature here regularly climbs beyond 50 degrees in the summer – that’s Celsius for our overseas readers. There would be no relief at night either with the temperature staying over 40 degrees. Imagine that with no A/C, fridge, cold beer! These settlers trying to make a new life here must have yearned for a “hot” English summer day that some of them would remember from their previous lives. 

A quiet afternoon in the van, my achievements only including knocking a glass of diet coke all after the ever so patient Mrs A. This was followed by me trying to “mend” her prized kitchen device, the hand operated food processor. That ended in her throwing it away. I had succeeeded in turning it from a partially fiunctioning device into a number of never to be re-assembled parts.

We finally headed out again late afternoon, before things got too worked up.  We walked up the Murchison River and spotted some Major Mitchell pink cockatoos, which immediately shook off the rather somber mood we had been in today with their pompous, strutting and waddling gait. We spotted heaps of other birds including black swans, welcome swallows, herons and ducks.


The sun was going down as we headed back to our little paradise on wheels for…..homemade chorizo pizza!!! 

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