Going bush and facebook shame

Those of you who see my facebook feed may have noticed a recent status update - about camping - with no punctuation and no capital letters. None, I tell you! How embarrassment.

This is because I committed the cardinal sin of fiddling around on my facebook page, getting distracted (I'd like to blame the toddler but it more likely was the fact that my coffee was ready, or the mail was delivered) and leaving it open without logging off. My husband (who never met a rule of the English language he couldn't disregard) came along, assumed it was his page, and posted the offending update.

Now, he never logs out of his facebook page, which has me constantly shaking my head. I've 'liked' any number of things - mummy blogs, nappy sites, feminist writers etc - on his behalf, thinking I was logged in. But this time it was the other way around. Thank god he put up something so innocuous - though omitting full stops remains a grave offence, in my book.

Typing and facebook felonies aside, we did indeed have a 'good camping trip out to the block'.

To clarify, 'the block' is a parcel of land less than an hour from home on which we have a prospecting lease. I don't go much for the prospecting, but I do appreciate having somewhere peaceful to escape to for short camping trips, or even shorter day visits. It's not an actual camping site, just a patch of bush, so we don't have to share it with anyone.

I've always loved camping. And since reading up on this primal lifestyle thing I'm an even bigger fan. Turns out being out in the fresh air, away from crowds, being in sync with the sun, getting a bit dirty, staring into a fire, all the usual camping business, is how we're designed to live.

While out there Paul, the prospector, obviously did some prospecting. In his slippers. Including a stint on the edge of a dam:

This is why, despite repeated requests to do so, I did not buy him a pair of uggs of pure wool and costing upwards of $150. I knew something like this would be their fate and the $12 Kmart jobs were the best option.

He also did a bit on dry land with his 'helper'.

Who also helped with the sieving of product.

We saw a rainbow. And an echidna, emus and a baby goanna that popped out of a log once it was on the fire. Luckily it didn't fall into the flames, and the Prospector got it to safety.
Then we came home and I revelled in my flushing toilet and comfy bed. This is the 21st century, after all.

Who wears short shorts? I do, provided no one sees me

God bless Coolgardie and its bush tracks. I've posted a couple of times about why I love living in this little town (here and here). But I also love how you can go for a walk along the edge of town and not see anyone. Or, more importantly, have no one see you. 
This is particularly handy when I look a right fright because I am wearing either 
A) ill-fitting shorts from not just the pre-baby age, but way back from the pre-65kg+ Emma era; or
B) baby vomit, and very likely also some kind of kitchen leftovers, be it last night's dinner or baking mess; or
C) panda eyes. Mascara doesn't come off very well when all you tackle it with is a quick scrub in the shower; or 
D) some combination of a, b and c. 
It also means my dogs can poop in the bush and I don't have to worry about anyone frowning at me, or cleaning it from my back yard. (Please don't mention this to council.)

Not my actual lower half. In fact,
I don't think this lower half even
belongs to a human.
Image source.

My actual lower half.

But should anyone see you, one thing you must not do is refuse to wave. Chances are you know each other, and if you don't wave they'll probably think you're a snooty cow. They won't realise you're hiding your head in shame and pretending you haven't been caught wearing shorts that should have last seen the light of day when Kevin Rudd was in charge of the ALP. 
As you can tell, it's all glamour out here. Just the way I like it. 

Is finding exercise gear that is comfortable and suitable for public consumption tricky for you too? Or do you look like you've just stepped out of a Lorna Jane ad?

Update: Summer has forced me to fork out for membership at the local air conditioned gym. As im more likely to encounter others there I invested in some longer though not much more flattering shorts. I decided if I scare anyone they'll just have to live with it.  

Linking up with Jess from Essentially Jess for I Blog on Tuesdays. Thanks Jess. 

Cruel summer

Taken with iPhone and edited with Photoshop CS5.

A very goldfields Christmas. Alternatively titled: holiday season wrap up

Hoping everyone had a lovely Christmas/New Year and 2013 is going well so far. Here's a wrap-up of our festive season, in point form and pics:

* Christmas Eve: proceedings started off a little bit glam, at least as far as my feet were concerned. I wore these pretty heels out to dinner with my sister and her work mates. We had a great time, save for one slightly embarrassing moment when Rosie swiped a piece of garlic bread out of a girl's hand and shoved it in her gob. By the end of the week my feet were much less glamorous thanks to the polish being chipped and the skin stained by sun, sand and dirt. 

* Christmas Day: Was a fantastic day. Was the first time I've had it with my family in several years, and of course was Rosie's first ever, so it was a special time. She especially liked the wrapping paper and ribbons. I especially liked the wine. Paul especially liked the dessert selection.

* The following week: Was beach time! We headed south with my parents to the Esperance region for a week of seaside camping. As did about half of the rest of WA - we picked one of the more remote sites (Seal Creek campsite in Cape Arid National Park) and even it was full for most of our stay. 

Highlights included the stunning beaches, hooking a tasty mulloway that fed us for two nights (Paul's efforts), a couple of hours all to myself one morning while the others went to the beach, a reprieve from the heat of the goldfields and the general lazing about one does while on holidays. Rosie took to camping quite well and was keen to sample the local fare: 

I think someone's been watching too many survival shows on the
Discovery Channel with daddy.

Lowlights included a) getting bogged in the sand and b) getting bogged in the sand. This was all Paul's fault of course - he was driving - but he felt so foolish I didn't even really have the option of properly berating him. He particularly felt like a grade A buffoon when we'd walked part of the way back to camp and upon leaving the soft sand part for the gravel road part he realised he'd left his shoes at the floundering ute. He soldiered on until he could go no further and dived off the road onto his back, his smoking feet waggling in the air like those of an upturned turtle. 
Lowlight #2 was finding a live ginormous biggish spider in our tent when we packed up. Not sure I'll ever feel secure in that tent again. 

Then we came home to 45+ degree weather and the cool sea breezes and frigid ocean (it was so bloody cold it took me to the last day to work up to having a swim) seemed like a distant memory. It was worth it though to be back to a sand-free bed in a spider-free room. 

How was your Christmas season? Do anything exciting? 

Turns out I might have a green thumb

One of the ironies of my life is that here, on the edge of a desert, I seem able to grow things. Plants, that is.
When I lived on the fertile plains of central NSW they would slowly wither and perish. In the lush tropics of Queensland anything I attempted to grow didn't even seem to try. It just upped and died. Within days of coming into my possession.
But here, in dry, dusty south-east WA? Every (well, almost) plant in my care is not just surviving but growing.

It's third summer and my water lily is finally flowering!

It didn't even get yanked off and spat out by the dog, which is what usually
happens to any flowers within her reach.

   

Looks like I might actually get some tomatoes this year.

And some strawberries.

I thought these paper daisy things would just sit there and cope the best
they could, but they, incredibly, have new growth and new flowers.

A flower on the 'what-ya-call-it?' plant.

This is what normally happens to my plants. I thought I'd cooked this cyclamen when I left it on the front porch one hot day. It is now the first plant in my history of plant-killing to have bounced back from near death.

Of course their condition has nothing on that of the pampered plants in my husband's part of the garden. They're going bananas over there.

Update: I took these photos a while ago and can report that everything pictured is continuing to grow. I just couldn't be bothered taking more photos.

Do you have a green thumb? Or do you only have to look at a plant for it to keel over?

Seeing the light

One thing that struck me when we moved over here (here being WA goldfields) was the quality of the light. I don't think I can adequately describe it, so will just say that it is strong and vibrant and saturates everything. Sometimes it feels like a living thing, and the place positively glows in the half hour before the sun sets.  
I'm not a photographer, but I can imagine photographers in paroxysms of delight at it. 

Morning light hits the back yard.

One afternoon at the local tip.

OK, so not strictly the Goldfields (is actually just south of Geraldton),
but still WA.

Evening glory. 

The setting moon last week.

I maintain my previous home - tropical Queensland - has to be one of the most beautiful places on earth. But those magical mountains and soaring rainforests meant things were pretty ordinary in the light department, blocking the sun as they do. So whatever trick of topography is at play here to deliver such rays was quite an eye opener.
Almost two years after first seeing the WA light (so to speak), I still marvel at it every morning and evening.

Some pictures of the region by actual photographers, which I found on the TrekEarth site: 

(Link: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Oceania/Australia/West/Western_Australia/Kalgoorlie/photo1035878.htm)

(Link: http://www.trekearth.com/gallery/Oceania/Australia/West/Western_Australia/Kalgoorlie/photo1018672.htm)

What bit of nature do you love about your home? 

Wordless Wednesday - Desert Blossoms

I *may* have nicked these blooms from the trees across the road. They've been taunting me with their prettiness for weeks.

Blossom on a Coolgardie Gum. Funnily enough, growing in Coolgardie.

These are actually from our garden:

Once again, linking up with Trish from My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday again. Thanks Trish!

How is nature performing this spring in your neck of the woods?

Wordless Wednesday - Escape from the desert

We finally drove down to visit the Esperance region last weekend. After a dreadful start, weather-wise, we got some magical days.

Blue, blue sky. blue, blue water and white sand.

One of the gorgeous bays.

Our unsuccessful attempts at a sand handprint to mark Rosie's first beach visit.

More white beach and blue water.

Rocky beach.

Paul enjoyed putting the ute through its 4WD paces.

Sunrise over the bay.

Seaside wildflowers.

More wildflowers.

Linking up with Trish for Wordless Wednesday again. Thanks Trish!

Have you been anywhere nice lately? Or do you have a trip planned?

WA road trip 2011 - days 6 to 8

With the sun deigning to make a return, and the canvas sealant applied, we were able to pack up a dry tent on day 6. That day we went as far as a little seaside village called Cervantes.
We just overnighted there - and enjoyed a bargain seafood platter at the local bowling club thanks to a voucher from the caravan park. Honestly, where would this country be without its bowling clubs?
From there Paul and I made a quick trip into a mad little pocket of coastal land called The Pinnacles. It's a funny little mini-desert, virtually right on the coast, and completely dotted with small rock formations rising out of the ground. Quite intriguing. And as I was feeling very lazy-bonesy that morning, I was delighted to learn you could drive through it, instead of having to walk. Hurrah! (You can walk through it too, if you're feeling even remotely energetic.)

Various shots of the Pinnacles. See, I didn't just sit in the car the whole way.

At one point we advised a gent on his camera, who wanted to know whether megabytes or gigabytes were bigger.
The road from there took us north, toward Geraldton and through beautiful lush farmland. Until, just south of Geraldton, we found a gorgeous stretch of beach and decided to make it home for the following few days.
We were happy with it, anyway. I can't say the same for the fish that ended up in our bellies. Other campers who came along and discovered we'd nabbed the best spot may not have been quite as impressed, either.
We'd been on the move almost every day since leaving home and it was finally time to kick back in one spot for a while. And kick back we did. There were walks along the beach, a brief, ankle-deep paddle in the wintry Indian Ocean, drinks as the sun went down over the water, fishing expeditions and morning sleep-ins.
I made a dent in the stack of magazines that had been building up at home and I'd bought along. I baked a cake. And, with the smidge of network coverage available, I even caught up on a couple of emails.
The most arduous part was trudging through the thick sand to get anywhere. Well, it was until our final night there. Then circumstances became decidedly more arduous...

Beautiful Flat Rock beach. Photos courtesy of my mother. Thanks Mum.
The orange tent is ours. No idea who the surfer is - quite a few turned up during the weekend we were there.

To be continued...

WA road trip: days 4 and 5. Part II

Once back in New Norcia, where we spent our fifth night, Mum and I trotted off to photograph what has to be one of the country's most photogenic towns, and Paul and Dad got to it with applying the sealant to the roof of our tent. (I'll fill you in on the success, or otherwise, of the exercise later. Suffice to say, it was not the last damp night of the trip.)

Inside one of New Norcia's glorious
churches (above and below)

Photographing this amazing place wasn't enough, so the Thursday morning we joined a guided tour of the town.
As a fact generally only stays in my head for as long as it takes for another one to enter, I don't recall 100 per cent of the info our guide imparted. Some of the more interesting bits I do remember include:
* New Norcia is Australia's only monastic town. It was created by Spain's St Benedictine monks.
* currently eight monks live there. They employ about 70 people.
* miracles involving bush fires and an angry Aboriginal man come in handy when you're a band of pioneering, missionary monks working to convert the local indigenous population.
* the early monks didn't agree with the government-appointed term of 'orphanage' for their home for Aboriginal children, as many of the children did have families living in the area.
* the monks have to get up before 5am six days of the week (meaning I shouldn't complain about having to do it nine days of the fortnight).
* but they get to maintain the Spanish tradition of an afternoon siesta (which I do not).

I cannot express just how amazing this town is. If you ever go to Perth, make sure you get up there for a look.

Some more photos:

Coming up: we head to the beach!

WA road trip 2011 - days 4 and 5. Part 1

Right, so I managed a whopping one holiday post while on holidays. Whoops. Click here if you'd like to read it. This one follows on from it.

Have you ever been camping in a leaky tent? Yes? No?
Nor had I, until this road trip.
I had once spent a wet weekend camping when someone, who shall remain nameless but whose initials are Paul Mayall, decided we didn't need the tent. And subsequently got dripped on all night thanks to a leaky tarp hastily erected over our swag.
But I'd never had a tent leak on me. Not even when the most ferocious thunder and rain storm I've ever seen cracked open over us while in Kakadu late last year.
The same tent that survived the Kakadu downpour decided enough was enough this time, and began to leak on night three of the holiday. We were not impressed. Though there was a couple of saving graces - we noticed before we even got the swag unrolled (putting a tent up in the driving rain is handy that way), and we had just enough room in my parents' camper to sleep.
We were near a place called Bindoon that night, and were on our way to Perth for the Wicked musical/show.
So, luckily, we did sleep warm and dry, and were able to book into a cabin for our night in Perth. Where it continued to rain intermittently, I might add.
Mum and I saw the show and loved it. If you didn't get around to seeing it, give yourself a smack. It was worth it.
First port of call the following morning, on our way out of the city and back to the fascinating monastic town of New Norcia, was BCF (Paul's second favourite place ever, after Bunnings) for some canvas sealant.
Second port of call, and almost as important, was morning tea at the Margaret River Chocolate Factory near Midland. If you're ever in that area and are even a mild chocoholic (though I have my doubts that mild chocoholics actually exist), make sure you visit this place. Beautiful chocolate, a huge range, and the best hot mocha Paul says he's had in years. Dad gives the thumbs up to their ice cream, too.

The front of the boys school at the
monastic town of New Norcia.

Some more photos of New Norcia (exteriors. Stay tuned for pics of the insides of these beautiful buildings).

To be continued...

Road trip 2011 - Days one to three

Regular readers will know we are on long-awaited holidays. For this holiday we're on a road trip with my parents. Internet service has been patchy, so here is a brief rundown on days one to three.
We traveled from Coolgardie to Bindoon, just south of New Norcia.

Beringbooding Rock

Sights include Karalee Dam, Elachbutting Rock (any advice on how to pronounce it would be welcomed), Beringbooding Rock and a brief stop in New Norcia - we will return to explore it properly.
The landscape has morphed from scrubby red desert, to blackened burnt-out desert to languid, stretching farmland vivid with green and yellow crops.
Almost every mile features wildflowers in shades of pink, white, yellow and purple peeking out from the undergrowth, refusing to let the wattle steal the show.
We encountered one wildly windy, dark night with bursts of rain, and one frigid but peaceful, moonlit night.
We have also:
* had a minor mishap with our brakes (resolved).
* had a mishap with with Mum's SLR camera (not yet completely resolved)
* dined with 20 gazillion flies.
* developed a system where after each trip to the campground facilities you report on the state of the toilet paper roll, for the benefit of the next person paying it a visit
* retrieved the kettle from the fire. Twice.
* found a pocket of vegetation atop Elachbutting Rock that was like coming across a secret garden on the rooftop of the world.
* sat back and drunk the requisite number cups of coffee and glasses of wine stipulated in Holidays 101.

Happy hour. Paul gives it the double thumbs up,
so you know it has to be good.

Canola fields.

Elachbutting Rock.

We are actually on day four now, and are at Perth. Tonight we will be in the audience of Wicked the musical. Well, Mum and I will be; the guys don't really go for "that kind of dancey, la-la caper" quality entertainment.

Here is a quick slideshow of some photos taken so far:



And a couple of brief videos. Which aren't all that interesting and were only recorded because I wanted to play with my iPad.






Coming soon: Day four to whenever I get to do another update

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