Author: Catherine Anderson

Catherine loves painting and photography as well as the great outdoors. Cycling, kayaking, pack-rafting and hiking are favourite activities as well as scuba diving when the location permits. A self confessed geek, she’s the reason details are included in our stories!
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Day 133: 10 October – Our first taste of the Margaret River

Author: Mrs A

From: Busselton

To: Yallingup

Distance: 33 km

Waking to a morning of showers we considered stopping another night in Busselton, but decided to make the move onwards into the Margaret River region, our local map looking dauntingly full of places to visit.

Our first stop was the Flametree winery, just 20 minutes up the road. Flametree has just won the prize for the best Chardonnay in the Royal Sydney and Perth wine shows…And at $65 a bottle, it was priced to reflect that status. Mr A and I are not usually Chardy fans, but theirs was lovely – not too oaky, not too sweet, much more complex than the Chardonnays usually rejected. But we declined to invest in a bottle on this occasion. The tasting was good, an interesting selection, but we have limited space and many wines to taste ahead. We made a single purchase of a rather nice Tempranillo-Touriga blend.

Miss T enjoyed a stroll around their yellow daisy filled lawns on our return, before we headed off to Yallingup to set up at our new campspot for the night.


We’re quite close to Wills Domain here, a winery several people have praised for not only their delicious wine, but very special lunches too. We decided to book in for lunch tomorrow, and gave our new friends, Chris and Anne a call to see whether we could have a tasting of their wine before that, given they are located right across the road. Instead, they suggested we visit today, and given our very flexible plans, we headed over to see them, via a local chocolatier – yum!


I tapped in the secret code to the gate, and we drove up to the house, past vineyards and dams and a very pretty holiday cottage. Chris was there to meet us, and we transferred into his car for a tour of the 13 hectare property, learning about the various grape varieties, the soils, the pruning methods and how things had changed in the 20 years since they first started planting vines.


Then it was back to the house for some tasting. Not a single bad wine – all delicious – even the Sauvignon Blanc, which was made in the style of the French Sancerre wine. We ended up staying about 3 hours all up, and left with half a case of wine, fresh eggs from the hens, two pots of home made jam and some protea flowers – and best of all some incredible memories, and friends we hope to keep in touch with, and perhaps see again in Sydney next year.


We finished off the day at the local pub for fish and chips and soda waters. A fine start to our Margaret River adventures!

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Day 131: 8 October – Winemakers and Dolphins

Author: Mrs A

From: Australind

To: Busselton

Distance driven: 63 km

Distance walked: 4 km

We moved off down the coast to Busselton, calling at the Bunbury Farmer’s Market on the way for some bread. Well, at least that was the plan. Somehow my basket filled with some more fruit and vegetables, another dip, some dairy-free banana bread…oh it was hard to leave – I had to keep reminding myself that Mr A and Miss T were outside waiting for me!

Eventually we pulled away and drove the short way down the coast to our next location. Not long after setting up, visitors arrived. Two fellow Zone owners who live on a property between Busselton and Margaret River called in to say hello and exchange local knowledge and experiences. We have now realised we need a whole six months in just this part of Western Australia – so much to do!

Before long, two prospective Zone owners also arrived to have a look around our mobile apartment and ask a few questions about it. The Zone is manufactured across the other side of the continent in south east Queensland, so there is little opportunity for Western Australians to have a look, unless people like us are willing to do a demo. We do get a voucher as a thank-you for our trouble.

After everyone had said goodbye, we decided to go for a walk and a look around. Busselton is on the coast, and one of WA’s only north facing beaches. No surf here. It is famous for having the longest wooden jetty in the world, which stretches almost 2km out to sea.


We didn’t take the train to the end, instead spotted The Goose Bar, conveniently located at the beach end of the Jetty, with a DJ playing some chilled Sunday afternoon tunes and the tempting sight of people enjoying the sunset with a glass of wine or beer. A couple kindly shifted across their bench so we could enjoy the view with our own beverages. 


As often happens in these situations, we started chatting as we watched dolphins fishing in the still waters in front of us. It turned out Chris and Anne own Brash Vineyard in the Margaret River – acclaimed wine critic James Halliday has rated their wine no lower than 92 points, and they have just had several bottles selected to be showcased in Neil Perry’s new Sydney restaurant, Rosetta. Located opposite Wills Domain, and open by appointment only, we plan to give them a call for some tastings when we are down that way next weekend. 


We shared a few more wines/beers/soda waters (Anne is doing a dry October!) as the sun set, before heading back to cook dinner. Fresh fettuccine with a basil pesto, sundried tomatoes, fresh cherry tomatoes and salmon – thank you very much Farmer’s Market!


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Day 129: 6 October – Back on the bike again

Author: Mrs A

From: Clifton Lake

To: Australind (just north of Bunbury) – for map see ‘Where are we now?’

Distance driven: 60 km

Distance cycled: 26 km

It was a lovely peaceful night’s sleep and we woke to sunshine streaming in through the trees, kookaburras, ring neck parrots and magpie larks all around us. It just so happened there was a bakery about 100 metres from where we camped – Mr A wondered whether he had woken up in heaven as he trotted over for a look and found freshly baked pies and sausage rolls. No prizes for guesssing what we had for brunch before we headed off on our way.

We drove south a short way south, just a 45 minute journey to Australind, before setting up at our caravan park. Australind was one of Western Australia’s earliest settlements, named in the 1800s as a combination of Australia and India – in the hope the two countries would maintain a prosperous trade of cavalry horses and food.

Once set up we jumped on our bikes for an explore. I decided it was about time I stopped being lazy (breathing much better now, voice still channelling my inner porn star i.e husky!) and joined Mr A for some activity. Our first visit was to a jetty which juts out into the Leschenault Estury.  The wind coming off the water was icy cold, and after admiring the view and many black swans, we rushed back to put on more clothes. 

More appropriately dressed, we decided to follow the cycle lanes into Bunbury, the nearest large settlement. For the most part, it was a lovely ride, just a couple of kilometres were alongside a very busy road. Bunbury impressed us. It is clearly a city (they call it a city, we would say small town) with a great deal of money flowing into it. The public areas are beautifully landscaped and shared pathways are everywhere, weaving behind dunes and past the large modern houses with incredible views out to sea.

Bunbury is surrounded by water – rivers, harbours, beautiful beaches lining the ocean front.

We rode along to the black and white striped lighthouse, then around to the helter-skelter-lookout up on the hill. We climbed up the 91 steps to admire the full view.

On our return cycle we were entertained by some bottle-nosed dolphins in the estuary chasing fish in the shallow water, creating a fabulous wake behind them, and a black shouldered kite hovering over the nearby bushland, hunting its Friday evening meal.

Talking of Friday evening meal. We Andersons are having a wild one. Already in PJs by 6pm, we are sipping on a delicious Central Otago Squealing Pig Pinot Noir, which (if there is any left) will accompany our fish curry dinner. Another fine day in WA.

Oh and Miss Tassie? She enjoyed a day catching up on sleep after yesterday’s busy day of travel.

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Day 127: 4 October – Marge Simpson can still have fun

Author: Mrs A

From: Lane Poole Reserve, Nr Dwellingup

To: Forrestfield, Perth

Distance: 95 km

We made our final return to Perth today, arriving around lunchtime to undertake multiple loads of washing, and clean up the mobile apartment before some final repairs tomorrow and heading south on our continuing adventure.

It was an uneventful journey north back to Perth, and a busy afternoon cleaning and shopping, before showers and changing for our highlight of the day, our farewell dinner with Caroline and Andy.

We’d booked a nearby restaurant with fabulous reviews, Quills. It turned out to be a great choice, delicious food and wine, and vouchers from our caravan park gave us two free dinners too.


We had a great evening, and I am so sad to be saying farewell to these new friends, who I know could become second family given the chance. I hope we get to meet again. I had my first ever (decaf) espresso martini for dessert…not quite Singapore Grand Hayatt Martini Bar quality, but ok for my first try….


Andy and his whisky creme brûlée….


Mr A’s amazing desert….

A fine evening with lots of laughs had, stories told, and adventures relived, all with my Marge Simpson husky voice…the things we do!

By the way – our wine selection for the evening was delicious – a Margaret River Vasse Felix – Cathy Gadd, you’d be proud…We will be there next week in person to try the latest selections – all for medicinal reasons, of course!

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Day 126: 2 October – South West WA brings out its best

Author: Mrs A

Location: Nanga Brook, Lane Poole

Distance hiked: 10 km

A perfect blue sky greeted us as we awoke this morning, and promise of a fine day ahead. Many of our fellow campers had either left last night or were packing up to depart this morning, so it was very peaceful around camp. We debated whether to try a kayak on the Murray, but decided it would be more effort than enjoyment, given I am not yet up to doing anything too strenuous. We also considered a mountain bike ride, but rejected this for the same reason.

And so we donned hiking boots and set off into the forest along a relatively flat trail, part of the Munda Biddi track Mr A cycled a few weeks back. The perfume from the newly flowering Wiry Wattle (Acacia) and the Whitewood Hopbushes was absolutely overpowering, especially when mingled with the pungent smell of pine needles from the Jarrah forest. The sun shone through the trees, and birds flitted around in the branches, accompanying us with their song. Wildflowers in pinks, purples, oranges and yellows lined the path, almost as though they were planted by hand, often climbing over the spiky grass trees like a flower arrangement. Flocks of red-tailed black cockatoos flew through the canopy, and a pair of colourful kookaburras landed on a branch just in front of us, one with a snake in its beak, smacking it dead against the limb before chomping it down. Nature in action.


Just a 90 minute drive from the centre of Perth, this is a truly stunning area, and should be on everyone’s must do list – whether for hiking, bird watching, kayaking or just relaxing in stunning surroundings.


We didn’t intend to walk 10 km, but before long we were nearing the Murray River, so I insisted we reach it as our halfway point. We made our way down there, but it wasn’t lined with friendly bolders inviting us to relax a while, as I had hoped, instead it was a slippery, steep, black muddy bank. Mr A duly demonstrated how slippery it was, as he slid down into the water. Oops. By that point we had walked around 5 km and my throat was feeling pretty hoarse and sore – I could barely laugh, but managed it inwardly – I’m sure someone somewhere would pay a lot to be caked in genuine Murray River mud, but Mr A was not impressed!


On returning to camp I collapsed with a cold drink in a camp chair, my legs feeling like jelly. It’s amazing what a bloodstream full of poison (CT scan dye, general anaesthetic and who knows what else!) can do to your health – a couple of weeks ago I would have easily added another 10 km to our hike. At the moment the breathing is not yet brilliant either, swelling still there in my airway and my vocal chords – I did sound a little like Darth Vader on the short hills we climbed. Hopefully as the week progresses I will feel the benefit.

The remainder of the afternoon was spent chilling out in the sunshine, reading and drinking tea with Tassie asleep  – sharing her time between Mr A’s my lap, followed by hot showers and dinner of chilli-con-carne and a glass or two of red.

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Day 124: 30 September – A little bit of R&R

Author: Mrs A

Location: Lane Poole Reserve, Nanga Brook

Distance walked: 500 metres!

Distance biked by Mr A: 14 km

Sleep was my friend today and around 12 hours of almost uninterrupted sleep were enjoyed.  Mr A woke up earlier than me and jumped on his bike for a ride through the forest, returning to make a pot of herbal tea and a BBQ breakfast. Nurse Tassie appreciated having a warm body to sleep with and kept me company.

It was a fine day – when the sun shone, quite warm, but chilling right down to around 14 degrees when the clouds came across. We spent the morning drinking tea and relaxing, Tassie even coming outside and relaxing in Mr A’s chair, relegating him to a stool! Its a beautiful area to reuperate in – trees in every direction, and multiple birds frequenting the camp sites, as well as a mob of bush wallabies.


We decided to go for a drive in the afternoon. My airway and vocal chords are still bruised and swollen, so I wasn’t up for anything too strenuous, and to Mr A’s delight, I am barely talking yet either. We explored round some of the other camp areas and Mr A took me down to the River Murray, where he had been kayaking a few weeks ago.


Now, since we have owned this caravan, slightly more than 10 months now, there has not been a Mr A fire story. It’s incredible we have lasted this long without an incident, but tonight, the accidental firebug drought was broken. We were cooking a fish curry on the stove top, and Mr A remembered he had some Roti bread in the fridge which needed heating up in the oven. So he took over that task – after all, the instructions were quite simple – preheat oven to 180 degrees, wrap bread in foil with a few drops of water, and cook for 4-5 minutes. What ever could go wrong? 

Mr A emptied the oven of all unnecessary items and lit the gas. Suddenly we noticed orange flames licking out of the open oven and the smell of burning plastic! Argh! He had left a bag of popcorn in the oven (we often store unopened bags of popcorn and crisps in the oven as they will not get squashed), and it had fallen down the back on to the flame. Burning bag and popcorn galore greeted us! Thankfully, not too great a disaster, and soon extinguished and cleared up by Mr A with no lives or property lost. Thank goodness.

Hopefully that is the worst we will have to contend with. The rest of the evening progressed with no further incident.

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Day 122: 28 September – Escape from the ICU

Author: Mrs A

Location: Perth – St John of God Subiaco Hospital to Forrestfield

Distance walked: 500 metres (ha ha!)

Well, to be honest I had hoped that all this airway dilation malarkey was behind me, but apparently my body has other ideas, and once again scarring has appeared in my trachea (I suffer from rare disease Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis*). So frustrating, but what can you do? I am so fortunate to have forged good relationships with the expert doctors in this field, and was able to call on one here in Perth to help me. I have to admit yesterday was a bit of a whirlwind, with a post breakfast text message from Dr Shyan Vijayasekaran (Dr Vijay for ease!) letting me know the disappointing result from Tuesday’s CT scan (for those who missed it – my trachea a healthy 1.5cm wide most the way, narrowing to 6mm – think drinking straw – with scar tissue in one area. Explains my breathing issues), and followed by a call letting me know he could pull some strings to get me into surgery that evening. Just incredible. My head was spinning all morning, questions about how the scar tissue could be back, anxiety about more surgery on my airway, what this means for my long term future, and what it means for our trip.

I was wheeled down to theatre around 6pm and was next aware of being in recovery about 8.30pm. I was told I was allowed water, but no food due to the drugs they had given me during the surgery. I didn’t mind though, my throat was so swollen I could barely sip water, let alone imagine anything else.

I was moved into the intensive care unit for the night. The nurses were absolutely lovely. I could speak no louder than a whisper and they were extremely patient and caring with me. On the flip side, the ICU means no sleep. I managed a couple of broken hours, but the inflatable leg warmers which massaged my calves to negate blood clots inflated and deflated every ten seconds and the half hourly blood pressure test also kept waking me up. But I was kept safe and well all night.

The very patient Mr A arrived around 10am this morning to break me out, and brought me back to nurse Tassie. Soup was duly heated up for lunch, and multiple cups of tea provided. He also rushed around Perth picking up the CDs of my CT scan to send to the UK, back to the hospital to pick up the before and after photos of my airway that I had forgotten (doh! – don’t worry, won’t share them here – if you want to see, please message me!), and organising a take out dinner from a local highly rated Chinese restaurant.

Miss Tassie of course was a fabulous hot water cat, snuggling up with me and keeping me warm as I caught up on sleep.

Breathing is not great yet due to the swelling, however I anticipate it will improve over the weekend. Both Mr A and I have our fingers crossed this is just a one off blip in the scheme of things, and we can go back to our adventuring with a nice big airway and no more breathing worries.

*Definition of Idiopathic Subglottic Stenosis – Idiopathic – ‘We don’t know the cause’, Subglottic – ‘Below the vocal chords’, Stenosis – ‘Narrowing’. It’s a rare disease impacting mostly adult women over the age of 25 – in Australia it is estimated around 40 women per year are diagnosed. For more information see here: Beginners Guide to iSGS

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Day 120: 26 September – Andersons reunited

Author: Mrs A

Location: Perth, Western Australia

Distance walked: 4.5 km

It was an uneventful trip back to Perth from the UK. I farewelled my sister and her family, checked in my bags and went through security. A nice new Emirates airbus 380 flew me to Dubai, then another from there to Perth. Mr A was there to meet me at the gate, and took me back to the mobile apartment to Miss Tassie. So good to see both of them again.

I had a poor night’s sleep, waking at midnight and finally dropping off again at around 5am. Before long the sun had risen and I had to be up again. After a brief visit to a local GP, Mr A and I went to meet our favourite stalkers from Geraldton for brunch in South Perth. Greg and Claire were visiting their daughters nearby and had time to meet before heading home.



It was good to see them and we had a very tasty brunch in a cafe with a fabulous view over the Swan River, looking out towards Elizabeth Quay. Perth feels like a very livable city, very picturesque, full of cycle paths and walking tracks, surrounded by water in all directions. 

Before long, it was time for the next event of the day, the far less exciting visit (especially for Mr A, who spent the time in the waiting room!) to Perth Radiological Clinic for a CT scan of my chest and trachea. Hopefully will get the results of that in the next day or so, revealing whether I need to book in for an operation next week or not. At the very least, it should shed some light on my fluctuating breathing abilities.


Clothes washing and dinner cooking took up the remainder of the day, keeping me busy in order to kick start the correct sleep patterns…hopefully!

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Day 115-117: 21-23 September – (UK) Quality time in East Sussex with family

Author: Mrs A

Thursday 21 September

Location: Hastings

Distance walked: 3 km

I joined mum and her husband Barry in a couple of games of ten pin bowling – the first time I have been in over 20 years! Unsurprisingly I was slightly out of practice in the first game, coming second place to mum, but somehow found my mojo in the second game, with four spares and a strike taking me to the lead!

The rain closed in for the afternoon, so mum and I disappeared into the loft to try to sort through some of the many things from my childhood still left up there. Hours disappeared as I read my way through many letters received from friends in our teenage years, laughing lots at the things we said to each other about our trials and tribulations. I found lots of old photos and other goodies too, and much left to look at in future visits.


Friday 22 September

Location: Brighton

Distance walked: 10 km

After packing up my bags, mum and I drove over to Brighton to meet my sister Helen and niece Isabel after their dancing class. It was a stunning day, a crisp autumnal 17 degrees with blue skies.


We headed down to the seafront so Isabel could have a play at the park down there.


I had to buy an ice cream in Izzy’s shop – she assured me it was vegan:


We had a delicious lunch at Jamie Oliver’s Italian restaurant, before returning to collect Elliot from school and celebrate Mum’s birthday with cake and presents.


Saturday 23 September

Location: Brighton

Distance walked: 9 km

A morning of playing with Elliot and Isabel was followed by some sister time. Stu kindly looked after the children for the afternoon, freeing Helen and I to head into Brighton for some shopping. Its great how something so simple as shopping with your sister can be so special when you have at least 12 months between shops. I’m not sure we had the opportunity when I was here last. We even found a shop with our initials, so had to take a photo!


We had a successful trip, picking up a couple of things each, before returning home via the Royal Pavillion gardens in the late afternoon sun.


Stu is out tonight with a couple of friends, so Helen and I will be responsible for bed time and story reading, before my last opportunity for proper fish and chips for dinner. Final morning in Brighton tomorrow before I head off to Gatwick Airport, flying to Dubai and eventually Perth….Mr A, I’m nearly on my way! ❤️

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Day 114: 20 September (UK) – Mingling with the A-Listers

Author: Mrs A

Location: London, UK

Distance walked: 11 km

Mum and I caught the train up to London  this morning, then took the tube over to Baker Street. We had lunch in Regent’s Park, surrounded by hungry ducks, geese and a million and one pigeons…which I did not expect to be so bold!From there we decided to head into Madame Tussaud’s for a visit. This was mum’s birthday treat (her birthday is this coming Monday when I will be somewhere flying over the Middle East on my way back to Australia), and we haven’t been together since I was about 10 or 11 years old!

We had a great couple of hours mingling with the celebrities – they weren’t too talkative but were happy to pose for photos.

Mum giving advice to James Bond…


I tried to make friends with my nemesis, Darth Vader:

Mum was almost Incredible Hulked….

And Barack Obama was an absolute pleasure to meet…

Soon it was time for my appointment with Mr Guri Sandhu, my UK airway consultant (I like to scatter them around the globe!). We headed to his Harley Street rooms where he had kindly squeezed me in for an appointment despite being between trips (arrived back from Morocco at midnight last night, off to India in the early hours of tomorrow!). He took a look at my trachea and shared his thoughts about the next steps to diagnose what’s going on with my breathing. Hopefully the mystery will be solved back in Perth, Western Australia.

From there, we headed to Oxford Circus in an attempt to find mum a new dress for the weekend. We found lots of very unattractive dresses for sale, and were unsuccessful in a purchase. We gave up and decided a glass of wine and dinner would be in order. 

We headed to the roof garden at John Lewis – by now the sun was shining and it was lovely to be sat outside (albeit with a heater overhead – it is autumn after all!). We had some delicious food and wine, before heading back to Hastings on the 8.45pm train.

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