Holidaying pt 2 – Broome the second

Following on from the previous post, we drove from Gantheaume Point back towards Broome township, via a dirt road that ran past Deep Water Point, where the large ships are docked.

I didn’t feel well, but Darren walked up the dock and on the way back, spotted a turtle:

And then headed into town and located the Japanese Cemetery, which has been restored with the help of the Japanese people, but was also vandalised soon after.

It was unlike any cemetery I’d seen before and very lovely.

Later that day (after the required pool time) we went to iconic Cable Beach to watch the sunset from one of the restaurants there. It’s the place that everyone recognises from pictures of Broome – often with people taking a camel ride up the beach at sunset. Darren had been keen on doing this, but honestly, I’ve been on a camel before, they are nasty smelly beasts that spit and the ride is NOT comfortable. I told him he was welcome to, but after reading about the dodgy dealings that went on when last the camel operator licenses went up for tender (scroll down for story), Darren was put off as well. They only walk them on the section of the beach North of the rocks and have banished the cars up there as well, leaving the Southern section (it’s a long beach though) for the swimmers to enjoy in peace. That’s at least one good decision the Council have made as I had thought our time on the beach would be ruined by yahoos in 4WDs (though they seemed to exit the beach quietly enough after sunset, so I may have been mistaken there too).

Many people picnic or BBQ on the beach at sunset, or just come to look at the view, which is worth braving the crowds for.

We took those from our table, and afterwards wandered down to the water.

I am in love with this shot, I want to put it on my wall:

As you can see, the beach was a bit rocky, and I was glad it was low tide and the rocks were exposed and easy to avoid. The water was much colder than I expected though, despite the sign stating it was 22C, it seemed worse!

More to come…

LiveJournal Tags: Holidays,us,Broome

Holidaying pt1 – Broome!

LiveJournal Tags: Holidays,us,photos,Broome

All my adult life, I’ve wanted to holiday in Broome. Pretty much ever since they started promoting it on Perth Radio as a winter destination. Though given the mild weather in Perth while we were there, I don’t think they need it, and we should move it closer to Melbourne, haha.

Some readers might be aware though that Darren and I were very ill in the fortnight before we went away. Darren with swine flu (during which I worried about him a lot and considered taking him to hospital more than once), myself with whooping cough. For those who don’t know, apparently your vaccinations to whooping cough (that you have as a baby) wear off when you are in your mid-thirties. And it’s been on the rise for some years, leading to an epidemic in the northern rivers of NSW, which is where my Mum lives, and I visited her two weeks earlier. I blame the prevalence of hippies in that region. If they’d seen a baby with whooping cough (as I have), they wouldn’t risk their children by not vaccinating them. Whooping cough is no easier for adults. In fact, I was diagnosed when I went to the Dr in hysterics because I’d been unable to sleep for coughing the entire night before. Not to mention the other unmentionable consequences of coughing as violently as I had been. Anyway, both of us made it back to work in time to do two days of work before buggering off on holidays. \o/

So, leaving Barry in the care of the lovely and wonderful housesitter Anna, we snuck off early in the morning, heavily laden with luggage (for we were to head South to Perth after Broome and had been told that it was freezing there) and flew to Broome. We headed off to our accommodation, the wonderful and now highly recommended Frangipani Resort, which was blissfully quiet the whole time we were there, and had a beautifully quiet pool as well. After we’d put on appropriate clothes and stocked the fridge with food-type goods and plenty of alcohol, we headed out to do touristic things. I’ll not give a blow-by-blow account of all our days there, instead, I’ll say that we tended to get out in the morning, head back and spend the afternoon by the pool and then head out in the evening (either to the beach or for dinner), very much as we did with our trip to Darwin. The best way to cope with a warm climate IMO is to do very little in the heat of the afternoon, which also means you’re not out in the sun getting sunburnt too. :)

Anyway, we went to Gantheaume Point, where sadly the tide was too high to walk out and find the dinosaur footprints – though on our second visit, it may have been low enough IF we’d had a guide to take us out there and show them to us (but we were too scared of the rapidly changing tides compared with the time it might take us to locate them!). Still, the contrast of the red pindan soils with the blue blue of the sea and sky was amazing.

Looking North towards Cable Beach.

Walking down to the point.

Obligatory tourist photo

This shot was a complete accident but has garnered a lot of comments. I liked the drama of the sky behind Darren. Others have noticed something else…

This amuses me.

Lighthouse keeper’s “cottage”. I LOVE this shot, the dirt, the sky, everything. Though I wish I’d had some low-speed slide film and a polariser on the lens. Then it would be even more poppy with the colours.

Looking south-east around the point towards the township

Birthdays

Both Darren and I have had birthdays recently; he’s 38 and I’m 39.  I think we both felt appropriately fussed over for our big days.  I got some lovely gifts, took the day off and went shopping for clothes (best idea ever – I’m never going to work on my birthday again!), was drunk on sav blanc and champers by 6, and also had a delicious risotto dinner cooked lovingly for me by my hubby.  

His mother was lovely enough to send me a present from England, and while I was thanking her on the phone, she asked about how I felt about the upcoming 40th.  It’s interesting: I don’t feel at all like I did when I turned 30.  Turning 30 was a disaster for me; I was so far off what I considered my life path, it precipitated a slide into depression that lasted a couple of years.  I had seriously expected to be married, promoted and somewhat reluctantly approaching parenthood by that point.  When I got there and none of that had happened, I was devastated.  I also had (rather interestingly) had a strong conviction that I would die before I was 30, so getting there was a shock on that level as well.  So anyway, I made it past 30, I’m so far off what I thought was my life plan that it’s irrelevant now.  So I’m not concerned (yet) about the prospect of turning 40.  We’ll see how I feel 11 months from now!

Anyway, Darren and I went to St Kilda Beach for breakfast on my birthday eve, at my request.  We had breakfast at The Pelican and then a walk past the markets – like we used to when we lived there.  We enjoyed both and the weather was pleasingly mild but sunny.  At about 1130, we were walking back up along the beach outside the Stokehouse, when we came upon these two lovelies who had obviously stumbled out of the nightclub strip and onto the beach, too drunk to go further.

I know it’s callous of me to take photos but we couldn’t resist!  They were already getting burnt in the sun, and no doubt would wake up with cracking headaches, but everyone was gawping and laughing and even the lifeguards wouldn’t go near them.  Bonus photo for the eye makeup:

The good news is that one of them stirred soon after I snapped this with my phone, so hopefully they didn’t spend too much longer there.

Black Saturday.

You’d have to have been living under a rock to be unaware of the devastating wildfires that have burnt through (what seems like) half the state in the last three weeks.

Black Saturday brought with it record heat and winds, and an appalling death toll. It’s been heartbreaking to watch the news and I’ve been especially affected by stories like this one, and its follow-up. I think a lot of people, when faced with stories of thousands who lost homes and a death toll currently at 211 forgot about the devastating effect fires like this have on wildlife. I even got off my (usually complacent) arse and made a decent donation to Wildlife Victoria.

It’s true that fire is a normal part of the natural cycle here in Australia, and certainly the Aboriginal custodians of the land have been using fire for hunting and to maintain the bush for thousands of years. What’s unusual in this case is the ferocity of the fires and the size of the devastation. There’ll be plenty of discussion to come about whose fault it is that this happened. Some of the fires were deliberately lit too, which makes it so much worse – that someone could do that, knowing that we had that day what amounted to a 300% fire risk day (yes, on a scale of 1-100, the risk was estimated at 300).

The hospital I work at is the main burns centre for the state (ironic I left Royal Perth to get a job in a hospital with an almost identical case mix of patients and also the main trauma centre for the state, completely by accident). So of course, as it was after the Bali bombings, we’ve had an influx of critically ill patients, who require lots of blood tests and blood products. If you are in Australia and eligible to donate (and haven’t already), now’s the time your blood is really needed – after the initial influx of donors has died down. Because burns patients can go through (the equivalent of) 200 units or blood per day for months.

Darren and I actually drove down really early to Red Hill Market early that day, with the strong intent of buying more of those incredible sausages we got in early December, and maybe hitting the beach afterward. Which is exactly what we did.

Of course, Darren took the usual unflattering pictures of me.

But it was GLORIOUS. We really enjoyed it. I didn’t enjoy coming out of the water and suddenly weighing my full weight again (when is that diet going to start anyway?). We left when the hot wind arrived from the North. As we were driving back we stopped for an ice cream, but really we just scurried home to turn on the a/c and flop. And then later, watch the horror of the tragedy unfolding on the news. And it hasn’t stopped. The fires are still burning, I can’t imagine if there’s going to be any of the beautiful temperate forests left after they burn themselves out.

I can’t end this post without mentioning Marysville, which was completely destroyed. This was a town Darren and I had passed through on our way to the snowfields last year, and talked about whether we could move there. The air had agreed with me so much and it was so beautiful and historic, that we thought it might be a nice place to contemplate for a tree-change/commute belt life. Not anymore. :(

What we've been up to.

In this post, I talked about our trip up the mountain to the snow. I have finally uploaded the (two only, alas) pics associated with our merry funtimes up there. 

And one of Barry looking expectant as he waits for water.  Heh.

(I wouldn’t bother clicking “view full album” as these are all that’s in them.  Most of the pics are actually on Photobucket, but with this editor, they are uploaded to mysterious places.)

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Fast forward to Australia Day weekend this year.  Darren and I went to Warrnambool to see the rellies on the Saturday.  There was much joviality and a BBQ, in which hubby gleefully did the honours with the cooking.  While the animals milled around (well, Sam the dog milled around while Mr Bigglesworth studiously ignored him), while Den modelled Darren’s hat and her favourite dressing gown.

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The next day, we headed towards SA, but stopped on the way at Nelson and travelled up the Glenelg River to visit a fantastic limestone cave.  The river journey was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.  It was all gorges and water (which we don’t see enough of anymore here in Melbourne), and the captain fed the ducks all the way along the river, which was entertaining in its own way.

When we reached the Princess Margaret Rose Cave, it was rather spectacular (and I’ve seen a lot of caves, coming from WA, where they are seemingly all over the place) and well worth the journey.  It was also nice to get a bit of a respite from the heat.

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That night, we stayed in a small cottage-style accommodation and had a fantastic steak meal at The Barn, which was a short walk from where we were staying. 

The following morning we were up early with a long drive ahead of us.  First, we had to visit the Blue Lake in Mt Gambier.  Because when we went through there on the way back from our honeymoon, it was a sad grey colour.  But in the warmer months (something to do with algae or something), it turns a spectacular azure blue.  Not a shade of blue you ever expect to see in nature.  It was worth seeing, but it was one of those moments where you go “wow” then immediately think “okay, what’s next?”

Next was a long drive up the coast (which was so underdeveloped, considering how nice it is) because Darren HAD to see Larry the Lobster in Kingston SE.  It was huge, probably the best Big Thing we’ve seen so far (Darren just loves them).

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Following that there was an interminably long drive home.  Kingston SE is actually only a couple of hours from Adelaide, so that meant we were at least 6 hours from home.  :(  One thing that struck us was that there were areas of farmland that were still pretty green.  And areas that were so dry they were grey.  I wish it would rain. 

Headachey

What is it about me and night shift?  It's been cool almost the entire Summer.  Lovely, in fact and we've been enjoying it immensely.  But the two times I've been on night shift, that's when it hits 37C!!  It was cool this morning, so sleeping was easy, but once it warmed up, forget it.  And I've had this permaheadache since about 3am, hoped it was just lack of sleep, but have finally caved and taken some neurofen.  And it's not really going to cool down until Friday, when I finish night shift.  :P

I do feel a little bit accomplished as I finally managed to post of the lovely you-beaut, guaranteed non-toxic, recycled rubber tree wood toys from Poland that I bought for my friends Helen and Vanessa's babies.  The purchases were made back in September, so why I'm patting myself on the back for posting them is anyone's guess.  I hope they are well-loved by the recipient little ones and handed to the next little brother or sister afterwards.  :)

I'm also very excited as I bought tickets to see Colin Hay play at the Corner Hotel on Friday night.  Ever since we saw him on a Scrubs DVD last year, I've wanted to know more about what he's doing now.  Now I will.  Yay! 

Noojee trestle bridge

With the lower petrol prices and fine weather, Darren and I have been getting out a bit on the weekends, seeing parts of Victoria that we haven't seen yet.  Both of us being from somewhere else means that there's still a lot that we haven't seen in our home state. 

We went out to South Gippsland to visit a brewery to visit the Grand Ridge brewery to buy some beer because Darren's really keen on it.  We were a little surprised to find that it was basically a dodgy country pub (complete with locals propping up the bar), but the beer was good and we stopped at the bakery to buy lunch.  I had a LASAGNE PIE.  Well, it was basically pasta, but who puts pasta in a pie??!  And OMG it was good.  I'm sure Darren had serious food envy as he had a boring old pastie!  It's worth mentioning too this bakery, the Strazleki bakery, had fabulous sweet treats as well.  Real rumballs and some delicious apple slice thing, which we fought over afterwards!  

Anyway, we decided to loop around through the Yarra Valley coming home, which took us through some wonderful forest and some crappy little old timber/mining towns.  We got lost in Noojee, near the bottom of Mt Baw Baw, but then stumbled across this: the Noojee Trestle Bridge


We had a little walk over the bridge and it was a really lovely spot, with a little stream and huge trees and everything.  (added bonus: no flies!)



It was just lovely.  Used to be a railway serving an old tin mine, but now it's part of a walking path into the town of Noojee.

As an added bonus, on the way, we came across The Big Pheasant.  Darren loves Big Things.

My cat is mad, and and obituary of sorts

I just wish he (Barry, the cat) would either go out or come in.  None of this going out for 15min, coming back and yowling at the door to be let back in, the yowling to be let back out again, only to come back again 5mins later this time.  And repeat.  I think it's related to the weather (looks like it will be crap today), and he's not sure about wandering around in it. 

Well he seems to have settled for the next few minutes anyway.

My one NY's resolution that's stuck so far has been to stop going to the SOz board.  It's been ruined.  I've posted about this before on LJ, but it makes me sad that all the people I see now agree that it was a fun place for a while, but we're all happier catching up in private get-togethers now.  We went to the Brisbane meet in July and it was the best time I've had at a SOz thing in ages, because of the people who were there.  So we've concluded that we must remember it as a shining happy place where so many of us met lifelong friends and partners (ours being the first wedding, but there's two this year, and also five other couples at the moment who are at varying stages of commitment - which is impressive for a small message board).  I can't help but wonder how it would be if Chocky had lived.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who does.  Looking back, it feels like the sudden loss of him triggered the beginning of the end.  Perhaps it was ending before it started, who knows? 

Things SOz has given me:

1. a husband, words can't express how I love him
2. several amazing friends across the country
3. an education about veganism (something I'd never really heard of until SOz, which seemed to attract vegans in droves)
4. Kwan Yin in Brisbane
5. Kinokinuya in Sydney, and the vegan yum cha before it closed down (sob)
6. A home in Melbourne, a place I've always wanted to live, but never really thought I would
7. Acceptance that loving the things I love doesn't make me an insane geek with no mates.

So thanks SOz, for so much.  Boo to the people who took it away from us all. 

Fantasy live list

One of my friends posted about bands she would have liked to have seen live - had she been born earlier.  Which made me consider the same thing.  Of course, hers was basically a list of punk bands as she was mostly lamenting not having been born at the height of the punk era, but I thought it was worth a ponder based on my own tastes.

• Kiss (still possible, but come ON),
• Bob Marley and the Whalers (I just think it would be fun),
• Boom Crash Opera (did see these guys once in Darwin, but they were so fucking amazing I wish I'd seen them a second time even though Wikipedia tells me they are still together, I'm not sure it'd be the same now we are all pushing 40),
• ELO (my secret shame),
• The Tea Party,
• Abba (hell YES!),
• Bowie (Thin White Duke era),
• Queen (sob!),
• INXS (same reason),
• Prince before he got all wierd (Sign'o'the Times era would be good)
• Madonna's Blonde Ambition tour. I used to have a video of that Live in Barcelona. It got played until it literally fell apart.
  

There's more, but I'll stop there.  I guess I was curious about where this list would take me. 

Random thoughts in a list. Because I'm lazy. And because dot point posts get mistaken these days for Twitter feed and ignored. :P

1. I'm not making an NY's resolutions because they never work. But I am hoping that once the Xmas food's gone I'll start making better food choices for myself.
2. I'm pretty meh about 11.  Then, I'm not a screaming fan of 10, so I'm more willing to give him a go than some people seem to be. 
3. I wish Barry would make up his mind.  Yesterday he went out and was gone for 8 hours until we started searching the neighbourhood for him.  Today, he kept coming back after 2 minutes to see if I was still here.  Weirdo.
4. I wish this stupid throat infection/sinus infection/achy thing would leave me be already.  It's been 5 days and I'm all blocked up and wheezy.  Yay.
5. I enjoyed Xmas and NY so much this year I might even be willing to do it next!
6. Mum's getting mopey about not having seen us since October when they were here for Kenny Rogers.  I guess I should look to booking flights soon to make her happy.  Not that I mind going, but we have responsibilities now.  (Barry)
7. I was sad to take down the Xmas tree and the (I want to say bitchen) wreath of sleigh bells we got given for our front door.  Next year, the deccies go up much earlier.  Whee!
8. I backed into someone in the carpark at work yesterday. :(  Was tempted to just drive off as no-one was around, but in the end my stupid protestant upbringing got the better of me and I left a note.  Couldn't see much if any damage to the victim car, but it's in the eye of the beholder.  Still waiting for the call from then owner... did I get lucky and they agree with me?  Stay tuned.