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Autumn
Green and LushIt’s been a while since our last Blog …..And so much has happened…!!
We are now in the throws of autumn here in Aus. The weather has turned and we have had to grade down the sun screen to a lower factor as the hot days of 35 degrees are a distant memory and the temperature has cooled down, some days to as much as a somewhat chilly 22 degrees....
Don’t get us wrong, the mornings up in the hills are chilly and we have had a few days of rain over the past few weeks, some of the showers lasting for all of a couple of hours.
It is more than welcome as the air is so fresh after a good downpour and our water tank at the new house is filling up nicely. A memory jogger - the area where our new house is, is not on scheme water (piped) so we are somewhat reliant on ‘natural’ sources.
We finally moved in!
As of 12 noon on May 1st we took possession of a home again… the week before we moved in, we finally met with the sellers and had the opportunity to go round the property and
the land to find out how the hot water system works, where the plug sockets are, how the reticulation works, where the fuse box is, where the snakes and spiders are most likely to be and actually meet the people we had given most of our life savings to!
The ‘meet the sellers’ day took place on ANZACS day, it is similar to ‘poppy day’ in the UK, a day when all the soldiers from Australian & New Zealand Armed Core Service or ‘diggers’ as they were known are remembered and saluted for the time served along with remembering the many whose lives were lost during the war. There was a dawn service held at Kings Park and the public transport service catered for the many who attended the service by starting the trains and buses at something like 4.30am. Perth more or less came to a standstill..
We didn’t attend the early morning call at Kings Park, but we were up early with the excitement of going up to our new home!
So we have a home again and have already (2 week after) ripped some cupboards out and started painting and looking at the electrics.. And…. We
Laundry Room
The Make Over have a dog!!
A Miniature Pinscher called Lulu.. (NOT our choice of name, - Blame Carli, it’s her dog!!) Very cute and VERY small! 8 weeks old and full of the joys of spring, well for all of 10 minutes then she sleeps for a couple of hours.
We are trying to get hold of a Doberman pup too so they look like twins (!!)
For those of you who remember the menagerie we had in while we were at Barkisland, you can relate to our ‘other’ purchase of a week ago….
A nanny goat and her 2 kids…
One Sunday we were heading down along Swan Tourist drive for an afternoon of vineyards and chilling out…. When Ang screamed STOP! And after realising we had not just killed a small child or even worse a bandicoot or a roo, we ground to a halt at the side of a sign advertising ‘miniature goats’
Miniature goats here in Aus are not the same as Pygmy goats back in UK.. They are smaller than the average goat and as the breeding is mixed more and more, the goats do get shorter, but apparently you can’t get pure bred pygmies over
Spot the dog...
Well, spot the rat really.... When we say we have a Miniature Pinscher... we meant Miniature.. here. So we bought a ‘smaller than the average goat’ I guess.
Needless to say, $200 lighter we are now the proud new owners of a black nanny goat and 2 kids, (one of them hers and one ‘adopted’ all of 8 weeks old and with an added bonus.. ‘Nanny’ may also be in kid again - so we may need more land at this rate.
Whilst we were there choosing the goats we wanted, the elderly gent showed us his other 2 BIG Billy’s.
One was going to replace his current stud which was, as he put it “He has had his day now” - Had its day…………..it was 2 years old and basically had its way with every other goat on the farm. So I guess you could say it was time to retire the poor fella, as he was probably worn out. He was actually an enormous, long horned brute - probably the most muscle bound goat I have ever seen. Apart from trying to hump anything that got anywhere near him, he seemed to be quite a tame and friendly chap. Retiring the poor fella meant slitting his throat and hanging him up to cure for
Lulu the explorer
In no time at all Lulu has gone from being a tiny quiet puppy to a terror.. climbing everything, eating most things and ruling the house... ! Cute though... a week.
Back to the 2 BIG Billy’s……..One was going to be a stud very soon as mentioned before, and the other (which was even more beefy than any of the others) had been bought by an Indian couple for some ceremony. So he was toast too!!!!!!!!!
So we left with some semi-serious discussion around whether we should sneak back and spring the two Beasts which were on Death Row. Not a good idea as the old farmer had told us earlier how he has lost a significant number of goats and horses throughout the years to Venomous snakes in the area. So guess we may give that one a miss. Probably easier to stand outside holding banners with “Save the Swan River Semi-Miniature Duo”.
A few weeks ago whilst browsing through one of the local papers, we saw an advert for the Bindoon Dirt Drag, .so we decided to go and see some bikes flying down a strip of dirt somewhere in the middle of nowhere.
It was some 100km out of Perth which meant travelling up the Great Northern Highway through some small townships and bush land. Before heading north we decided to go and
see the New 2008 Husqvarna SMR510 Super Moto bike which has just arrived this week at one of the importers here in Western Australia. Didn’t take much convincing us that it was the one to purchase and $13,000 later we had ordered it. We will collect it once we get over to the Licensing Office and get our Oz drivers licenses. We must be two of the most impulsive people ever let loose...
So off we went to Bindoon (eventually)
Heading out of Victoria Park, we decided to go through Swan Valley (home of the Goat man) and meet up with the Great Northern Highway out the other side. The Swan Valley is full of Winery’s, grape sellers, animal visitor centres and beautiful green, leafy scenery. From this cool almost Bordeaux like vista, we suddenly realised we were heading out in to the Bush, pretty quickly. The green turns to orange and red, soft lush grasslands with horses became replaced by dry and dusty lands with cows and sheep.
Baron and expanding for as far as the eye can see. The roads are tarmac apart from about a mile of gorgeous red sand where they are expanding the highway.
About 50km up the highway we were pulled in by a police trap which we were about to learn, is a common practice. The officer prepared a new white little pipe and requested a breath test, and not wanting to upset the young man (who was by the way armed and backed up by about 6 other officers), we gave 10 seconds of life into the said tube, and waited for his verdict.
“No Dramas” he suddenly stated, which we guessed must have meant - Your breathalyser test proves Negative Sir!
So off we went, back onto the tarmac from the little checkpoint in the bush.
After following the odd scruffy painted sign pointing out the direction to the Drag Race we finally arrived in the middle of nowhere, to find ourselves confronted by Nickelback and ZZ Top . Seriously they were all there - Ozzy Osbourne, Box Car Willy, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Marilyn Manson and just about anyone who owned a black T-Shirt and scratty jeans, and a bushy moustache and long beard. Tattoos were the order of the day. So when we were asked for $30 a head to get in, we agreed that it was a
fair price to pay for the not being strung up and slit from ear to ear.
Not wanting to typecast anyone, as we have come to understand that MULLETS are in fashion here, we kept our heads low and English accents mute.
Every Chapter from miles around (chapters being bike clubs) were there on mass, with some real characters and true bike loving dudes
The bikes were amazing and the sounds and smells were overpowering.
But it all seemed a bit unorganised to be honest, with people on bikes zooming down a quarter mile track willy nilly, some pulling wheelies as they crossed the line, and some just turning up on any old piece of junk.
There were around 20 to 30 really fascinating machines built by real enthusiast, but the rest were just there to thrash down the track and show off their lack of ability.
Some competitors were wearing t-shirts, trainers and jeans. Some even wore shorts……..
And it really had no order to the line up at all apart from riders just whizzing up to the track at a whim and pushing to the front of the line then letting rip when the lights went green.
The
advert mentioned food stalls and sponsors of around 50 different companies, but we only saw one stall selling black T-shirts, baseball caps and chains etc. and a Joe’s café type affair where we allowed ourselves the privilege of eating a nasty looking orange hot dog with soggy onions and some chunky oil-drenched fries.
After watching a few more races we were sure that we had seen enough and the time was right to get out before we were sussed as being “Outsiders”.
Not wanting to make it sound like a scene from Deliverance, but it could have been……..
We have numerous friends who we class as true bikers and they would not mind us mentioning the likening to Ozzy and friends, but it was a shame that the minority who had prepared and developed some amazing machinery, were overshadowed by the majority who just wanted to burn up and get drunk.
The drive back was as amazing as the trip up, with the scenery being dusted with the sun setting, and it made up for the disappointment at the event.
We were told by one of our friends about a place called Lancelin, about an hours drive away from
Is there anybody out there..?
Roads that go on and on and on... great for a bike! the city (more like a couple of hours…as we found out)
Right on the coastline with a vast range of huge sand dunes that you can take your 4 wheel drive, Moto x, quad or any other type of ‘off road’ vehicle that you can think of, and ‘play for hours’ there were even people on surf boards and body boards!
There were all variations of vehicles racing around, going up and across the dunes sideways, backwards, some in control and some not…great to watch and the smell was wonderful. Yes you guessed it, the Outlaw went off road..! Ang had a play on some of the smaller dunes but nothing too steep!!
Long way to go for a play in the sand but worth a visit.
Driving in Oz.
In UK, in the main you get the White Van drivers, morning kiddie run moms with the Big 4x4’s and those drivers who hog the middle or outside lane, who really make your day
Here, there are several types of drivers I suppose that we could categorise, that seem to be on every road and guaranteed to make you wonder how on earth they have survived another day.
Hoons.
Lancelin Dunes
Sideways, backwards.. any way possible - Short for Hooligans - These are usually guys with big V8 and big exhausts with boom-boom music at the traffic lights. They usually have Mullets (still very much in fashion out here) and rev their engines and wheel spin down back streets or out in the bush. It’s much like the old era of the Ford XR3 brigade of the 80’s. Or even the Corsa driving Chavs of UK, but with real muscle cars and attitude to match.
Middle Aged Women (People carrier drivers) - They just have no spatial awareness whatsoever. Much akin to the UK morning kiddie run mom drivers, but far worse.
We have seen them go down one way streets the wrong way, Park half on pavements, driving at night with no lights on, do U-turns in the middle of the city where it categorically states NO U-TURNS .. And the list goes on.
Mid 50’s (I’ve been driving for years and have never had so much as a scratch type) - These old fellas are amazing in there big cars and 4WD. They run Red lights without so much of a glimpse at them. Overtaking and undertaking without so much a peek at the
Dubai or Aus?
The dunes went on for miles.. mirror. Pulling out into traffic without looking. No indicating or even driving down the highway with indicators on for miles. And whilst they seem to avoid so much as a scratch, if they looked behind them, there is carnage.
P drivers - same as UK - just passed their test, have to keep the P plates on for a specific time period.. but that’s just so you know to get out of the way when you see one.. Most of them are painful and clueless..(Apologies for type-casting those who are not)
Eastern Oriental gentlewomen - drive flat out everywhere, none of their cars have indicators (or not that we have seen any evidence to support the fact they do..) and they insist on overtaking everything, on the inside or outside and regardless of whether or not they need to turn off within 1km… they just cross straight over in front of you at a whim.
Keith & Vicky (Hetherington) (from HBOS UK) landed out here a couple of weeks ago and we enjoyed the pleasure of picking them up from the airport at daft o’clock on a Saturday morning and then proceeding to give them a whistle stop tour
of Perth and its surrounding countryside for the whole of the weekend!
All in all, life down in the city, living in the apartment was ok, easy access to work and the (limited number of) shops but we are more than happy now we are in our own house and have started plans of demolishing walls and fitting kitchens along with getting back into the ‘farm life’ again…
We’ve probably spent a £1000 on fencing so far as the Goat Pen needed additional chicken wire, as the little kids could still get through the gaps in the “Ring Lock” fencing we had only just installed. The Pick-up comes in handy, as we have loaded it up many times already and it’s far easier emptying it straight off the back. (A couple of scratches have appeared in the process but it makes it look like a proper Ute (Utility Vehicle).
On the neighbours, we have met the ones to our left.
Laurie (the old farmer who used to own all the land - very tanned outdoor type, bearded and bespectacled fella).
Tim (his son, and extremely nice and calm middle aged gent (Flies radio controlled helicopters very well), and so
friendly.
Maree (Tim’s wife, who brought around some lovely flowers to welcome us to the shire)
They have 3 kids who are younger than all ours, but seem all very nice.
For anyone who knows or lives in Perth, there is one common house pet (apart from the numerous spiders,) which traverses the floors from time to time. Millipedes - bloody loads of them.
Little critters, black and of course a fair number of legs (obviously not millions). Harmless but take some getting used to….Oggy had to put one in his mouth to show that he was Bush Tucker man, but it excreted such an acidic and nasty taste that he spat it out pretty sharp. No snakes yet, and according to the nice neighbours, they don’t tend to come around here too much.
Once we have managed to get some time in at the new house, got used to the songbirds that frequent the trees out on our land at 6am - including two rather loud ‘laughing’ kookaburra’s - and start to come to know the noises of the hills ‘ubiquitous wildlife’ we will update you all further…
Going to Alpaca sales on 24th of this month,
Not our goats..
But all the same.. Ang is in her glory. so you never know what the next instalment might bring…………………………………
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Jon
non-member comment
Duelling Banjo's
Sounds a bit like going to Barnsley :) Also - can you put a warning up before you show any more pictures of Keith's legs!!!