Kuala Lumpur

We went down to breakfast (which was great), then back up to our room intending to send another e-mail about the stuff up yesterday. The front desk rang before we’d done it to let us know they had sorted it all out and had been paid. It certainly made us feel better. Looking back to day one I Langkawi, we wonder if the two rooms there was where the mistake happened.

The KL Cat Man

While we were walking around, we came across the KL Cat Man who rescues cats. He encourages you to stop, pat the cats and ask questions and then give a donation if you wish. We gave 5 RM which seemed to please him a lot and he was very happy to talk about his 72 cats and explain a few things to us. I had wondered why so many cats have bob tails and now know they are related to a Japanese breed.

KL Tower


After that we went and did a bit of shopping, then walked to the KL tower to take a look. As we headed up the hill to it, we spotted a Hop On Hop Off double decker bus and after visiting the tower we bought our tickets and off we went. The tower has fantastic views and as usual we got the audio to go along with it so it was really good. The bus ticket was so cheap (especially with Russ being so old) and they are valid for 24 hours. It's a great way to get around and we have used the buses in Rome, Paris and London. We like the bit of commentary you get along the way.

It was 1.15 when we got on the bus and around 5.15 when we got off and went and did some more shopping before dinner. Kuala Lumpur has some amazing shopping centres and there are 5 huge ones right near here (we visited three today). In the one we’ve been to twice, there are 100 new stores on level 6 alone. While we aren’t big shoppers, we really love window shopping and comparing prices to home, so find it very entertaining.

Russ and an Indian Blue Ringed Parrot


Along the bus route, we stopped for 1 ½ hours at the KL Bird Park. It was pretty good as it contained mostly Asian, Indian and Northern Australian birds in reasonable conditions mostly.

A Flock of Flamingos


We also stopped off at the KL twin towers but were too late to get a ticket-there is a big demand for the free tickets to the observation bridge that runs between the two towers.

KL Petronas Twin Towers


After shopping we found a Moroccan restaurant close to our hotel. It was really, really good. I especially loved the hommus, baba ganoush, tabbouleh and fattosh we had with warm flat bread for starters. We followed that with chicken biryani, lamb tajine, more bread, and lemon and mint juice. All this cost us $32. We haven't been to one since we were in NZ with Todd, Ryan and Blair and this was equally as good. It was pretty entertaining too when the gay Malaysian waiter threw a huge hissy fit, stripped off his waiting clothes, changed and flounced out! Our order got a bit mixed up after that and I had eaten a few mouthfuls of delicious lamb biryani before it clicked that I'd ordered the tajine.

KL Tower from Outside Our Hotel

Kuala Lumpur

We had a good flight to Kuala Lumpur and were met at the airport by our Mayflower driver. It’s a big drive to the city-45 minutes down toll ways at speeds mostly round 120kmh so I imagine it was 60 or 70ks. We passed lots of coconut plantations and lots (and lots) of new housing (thousands and thousands of apartment buildings and townhouses). They were scary in their sameness.

On arrival at the hotel, we were really impressed until we discovered they didn’t have a booking for us! So, we have now had to pay again while we wait (hopefully) for it to be sorted out. The travel company here (Mayflower) claims to have no money sent for accommodation for us in KL, only transfers!

The hotel is way better than we two povey pensioners have ever stayed in before-the bathroom is enourmous and beautiful with lights and mirrors and huge bath and separate shower-the whole thing is as big as a bedroom. We look directly out our tenth floor window at the twin towers of KL. They are amongst the tallest buildings in the world and very beautiful day or night. If we stand right at the window and look left, we can see the KL tower-also very beautiful at night. We also have a monorail station nearby and plan to take a ride on that while we are here. The hotel is right in the middle of a really good shopping (about 5 huge shopping centres) and restaurant district, so now I wish I had more than three nights here!

The View from Our Room

The shops open late, so after finally working out how to connect to the internet, I sent a frantic e-mail to our travel agent in Aus and then we went shopping. We stopped for dinner on the way home and had bbqued pork (the first I’ve seen on a menu), duck, beautiful veg in oyster sauce, rice and prawn dumpling soup, 7up and a Chinese tea for 39RM

Nighttime View KL Twin Towers

Langkawi

Eagle Park


Sunday we drove into Kuah again to do the last of the duty free shopping we needed to do and to take a walk around Eagle Park. Fortunately the rain let up enough for us to do it. I can’t get over how much thunder, lightening and rain we’ve seen and been in, then it clears up for a while and off we go. Then it starts again.

Before we shopped, we took ourselves to a hawker’s centre for brunch. We were the only westerners in there but we did see quite a few Hash House Harriers (and also saw some taking the Mangrove Tour the other day too). I had BBQed chicken with rice and chilli and a clear soup, then fried noodles with chicken and prawns in a soy sort of broth and a lime juice (8 RM for all that) then Russ had a Thai mix of fried chicken and egg, chicken ham, braised garlic vegetables, a chicken and veg dish with salted fish 9so lots of little bits) it was a huge plate for 7.50 MR (or under $3). It was a seriously local, scary sort of eating place and we keep waiting for something to kill us, but so far so good (touch wood!).

We swam for a couple of hours in the afternoon. It rained a couple of times, but was lovely in the water. I’ve really enjoyed a swim every afternoon and although I miss the daily massages by the pool we get so cheaply in Bali, I haven’t missed Linda the nosy, intrusive masseur!

Enjoying the Jacuzzi



We’d picked a Thai restaurant for dinner and headed down town only to find it closed, so had to choose again. We went to another Thai/seafood restaurant Difiqi and were really happy with it. It cost the two of us a tiny 19RM for excellent tom yam soup, chilli chicken, gingered beef 2 serves of rice and 2 lime juices. The servings weren’t large, but the food was delicious and so cheap.

Monday we slept late again, then went down town to the Breakfast Station. We both had roti and curry dip, then I had an omelette (capsicum, onion and mushroom) and Russ had coconut rice with various accompaniments (anchovies, chilli seafood, cucumber, peanuts etc. etc.) an iced lemon tea and lime juice and cost was 23 RM.

After a bit of shopping and very nearly buying myself a pair of Calvin Klein prescription glasses for $190 we returned the car to the hire place. I didn’t buy the glasses in the end as I was worried I might be paying a lot for a fake-cheap if they were real though.

Our last dinner at Cactus was good-we had the duck, coconut curried vegetable, black pepper beef and rice for 59RM.

For breakfast on Tuesday morning, we both had the full English.

Langkawi

Saturday we slept in, ate a bunch of bananas for breakfast (they are tiny and you’d need three to make one of the bananas we get in Aus) then headed off for a drive to the Langkawi waterfall.

Langkawi Waterfall


The rain was so heavy when we got there, we just took shelter in an old shop for about half an hour looking at the waterfall in the distance, then gave up and drove to KFC back down the road to shelter some more, eat our lunch and use their nice toilets. We got 3 pieces of spicy chicken, 1 zinger burger (smaller than ours) two serves of cheese wedges and two carbonated drinks for just under $9.00 AU.

Black Sand Beach


After that we drove on to the very pretty Black Sand Beach and then home via a stall drying and selling fish. As we pulled up, the owner signed to us to come take a photo-he couldn’t speak any English but was happy for us to take lots of photos (and didn’t expect any money for it).



For dinner we chose the Palace of India in the main eating area of the little village nearby. It was a beautiful restaurant but not a patch on the Indian meal we had on our first night at Taj Mahal. The service was way better, but the food lacked the fresh herbs and spices the other seemed to have. I did really enjoy the onion naan which (according to the menu) had been spanked with fresh coriander leaves. There should be more naan spanked I reckon. We had butter chicken (very tasty), mutton kebabs (a bit dry), potato and pea masala, mixed veggie Raita, rice and the naan and a large bottle of water for 69.50 RM.

It was quite busy driving and eating on the Friday and Saturday as Malaysians are mostly Islamic and that is their weekend. School is in on Sunday and all businesses are open.

Langkawi

Fish Farmers Living in the Mangroves

Friday we had fruit for breakfast in our room, then headed out on a 6 hour Mangrove tour. We travelled there with 6 Netherlanders staying in this hotel, then met an Egyptian couple at the boat.

Our driver and guide spoke really good English and was very knowledgeable about the local fauna and flora, stopping the boatman often to point out various birds, animals and plants-explaining how they were used locally or whether they were poisonous or just how the grew. He was informative, but not a pain in the arse know-it-all. The tripe took us through the mangroves, out into a river then out into the open sea where we could see islands of Thailand. It began to rain in the river and we had to take shelter at a fish farm. I spilled coffee all over myself when a thunder clap sounded right over our head! When we reached the open sea, it was quite rough, so we all ended up soaking wet from that anyway! It was lovely to see the young Egyptian girl sitting in the front of the boat in the rain because they rarely ever see it.

We stopped for lunch at the only restaurant in the mangroves-a Thai buffet place which was extremely ordinary. We figure they have a monopoly and don’t need to try too hard. It was a beautiful building though and we ate with monkeys looking at us and climbing across the glass ceiling. All of us were a little cold though in the air conditioning due to being so wet.

Next we motored on to a bat cave where we took a look at the various bats inside. It was interesting, but I didn’t like all those smelly little things hanging over my head.

The tour was amazing, we travelled through some really beautiful limestone islands and formations and getting wet just added to the fun. The group of people, guide and boatman were really fun too which added to it as well.

Feeding the Sea Eagles

Back at the hotel, we spent an hour relaxing in the pool.

Around 7 we walked to a Chinese seafood restaurant where we had veggie spring rolls (6 pieces) and sate chicken (12 pieces) then I had 1 huge fresh tiger prawn bbqued with salt and pepper and tom yam soup and rice and Russ had a whole grouper that he chose from the tank cooked Thai style and brought still cooking over a burner to the table. He also had mixed veggies and seafood and rice. We had 2 lime juices and two red wines and were almost in shock when it cost us a whopping 164 RM-then we figured out it was about $63 and not expensive at all for the great quality of the food!!!!!

Langkawi

Port Of Malai


Thursday we got up and breakfasted across the road at Cactus then went on a 3 hour Island Hopping tour. Our boat’s motor wouldn’t start so we felt right at home. We travelled out through a number of islands to quite a large one and a stop for a swim at the lake of the pregnant maiden.

Lake of the Pregnant Maiden

Legend has it that if you swallow the (fresh) water, you’ll get pregnant-I didn’t even go in! Then we travelled on to another island and beach where we stopped for a swim-the water was clean, cooler than our pool and we enjoyed it a lot. The tour cost 40 RM pp which was really pretty cheap.

Out Amongst the Islands

There were 7 of us on the boat and we had a nice time with them-especially a young couple from Mumbai.

Port of Malai

We had had a pretty big breakfast, so stopped in a little warung (local café) near the beach for lunch. I had ginger chicken (with rice and salad) and Russ had Patpak (local chicken dish with spices, dried fish, beans and cauli) plus a coffee and lime juice. It was actually bigger than we were expecting and REALLY yummy and only cost us 23.50 RM (under $8) for all of it.

After a rest and a glass of wine, we walked across the road to Cactus for dinner. It was really good and although we had 2 beers and 3 glasses of wine, still cheap (83 RM). We both started with soup-Tom Yam for Russ and short soup for me. Both were excellent. Then we had chilli squid salad, crispy skinned Thai duck, stir-fried veg and 3 serves of rice. The duck although pretty expensive for here (27MR) was up there with the best I’ve ever eaten.

Langkawi

Wednesday we managed to get out of bed reasonably early and meet with the tour rep. We booked a mangrove/nature tour with lunch afterwards for Friday and confirmed our flights to KL.

It was raining (but not too heavily) when he left and we drove down to Breakfast Bar to give it a try. It was cheap-25RM for both of us for cooked breakfasts and coffees and a juice for me, but not a patch on Cactus across the road from our hotel.

After breakfast, we headed to Kuah and Langkawi’s biggest shopping centre “Billion” but as we got closer and the rain stopped we decided to go for a drive to the top of the highest mountain instead. On the way we stopped of at a tropical fruit farm. We’d forgotten we had no Ringit, but the manager kindly took a $50 au off us and gave us change. The tour cost 10 RM pp and was great. With only the two of us, we stopped and took photos and tasted so much fruit I nearly exploded. I especially loved the dragon fruit and jack fruit and still think star fruit is crap!


On to the top of the mountain. We drove up a narrow, steep windy road through quite thick for, and then came out as the cloud started to burn off to some amazing views of the archipelago of 99 islands. We passed lots of monkeys on the way that fled if we slowed the car (the sort of monkeys I can cope with).

At the Top


We came back down the hill and made our way to Kuah and Billion where we did some shopping-trainers for me, fishing reel and line for Russ baby stuff for Fiona and Marcus’s baby and for Kobie. This is an amazingly cheap place to shop, so it’s lots of fun.

Closer to home we stopped to pick the nights restaurant (Chinese seafood), change some money and book another small tour out around the islands in the morning. We spent an hour in the pool, came home for a glass of wine, then headed out to dinner at Chiew.

It was good-I had prawns with a sort of dried, shredded sweet and salty egg topping with curry leaves through it, Russ had spicy mussels with rice. Then we had garlic asparagus and black pepper chicken and another serve of rice. All of that and 2 beers and 2 cokes cost us 71 MR.

Malaysia-Langkawi and KL

Holiday Villa Foyer

We had a good flight to Kuala Lumpur, then on to Langkawi. We left Perth at 12.50am on the morning of Monday 5th May and arrived at the hotel around 10. We booked in, had brunch, then hired a car and went to the main town. The only hiccups were discovering in KL that we had no transfer details (fortunately the driver meeting us did), and it seemed to be that I wasn’t expected. He (the driver) only had a card up for Russell. At the hotel, only Russell had a room (actually he had two), but all that got fixed very quickly.

After booking in and brunch we hired a car and headed to the main town of Kuah for a bit of duty free shopping and a look around. On the way home, Russ stopped to let me drive and him navigate and bout 100ks later and 2 or three times past various attractions, we got home. Fortunately it’s a lovely easy place to drive and we got a good look at one corner of the island!

The View From Our Room



It’s an amazingly cheap place-our little car cost $21 a day and petrol about 70c a litre. Dinner at an Indian restaurant last night cost us $25-we had 2 beers, 2 cokes, large rice, 2 garlic roti, chickpea curry, lamb curry and chilli and garlic chicken. It was spectacularly good too.

I read previously on the internet to avoid breakfast in the hotel and go across the road to a little place called Cactus. This morning, I had a full English breakfast (bigger and better than in England), Russ had an omelette filled with spicy beef and tomato and a fruit platter, we had two coffees and a big fresh OJ and it cost us $10 all up. There are lots of Muslims working in the shops and restaurants, so nothing in the way of pork or pork products, but you can get beef and turkey bacon, turkey and chicken ham.

The pool here is huge and lovely (with a swim up bar and restaurant), we are right on a very pretty beach (with a bar and restaurant) and the island is easy to get around. There’s not much shopping apart from duty free stuff, but there are no beggars, no hawkers and no one trying to drag you into their shop which makes it all very relaxing and very different from Bali.

Part of the Gorgeous Pool


It’s the start of the rainy season now, so the rain comes in the morning and late arvo which means we are better off sightseeing and driving in the middle times. I just drove home in a tropical downpour which was not too bad though as everyone slows down and is very cautious.

Perth

Sunset on the Peel Inlet

We've been in Perth three weeks tomorrow and have been having a wonderful time.

Our first week here, we had the house to ourselves while Blair Leah and Todd went to Melbourne and Adelaide for two weddings. It was really nice to have Mick Dan and Verity over and play house-I miss being able to entertain inside round a table from a kitchen sometimes. Dan and Verity also took us to Saigon, an el cheapo restaurant we really like in Northbridge.

The highlight of our second week was of course the birth of Kobie. He was born at Osborn Park Hospital-a very short drive from here and between us and Dan and Verity's place. We were so happy to be there to see him born and spent quite a lot of time at the hospital getting to know him. It was a lovely place to visit which was lucky as Verity was in there for a day or two longer than expected when he became jaundiced.
Kobie at Home


Russ is really besotted with him-he went out shopping the other day and arrived home with a wading pool for him. He also spotted a baby wear shop closing down and pulled over to see what was on sale and when Leah and I were in a shoe shop the other day he said he'd be in next door. Next door turned out to be a Pumpkin Patch store!!!!
Russ and Kobie day 12


I had my birthday while Verity was in hospital, so we went out for dinner with Mick, Dan and Verity's parents Gaynor and Greg. I was happy to go to my favourite restaurant The Tamarind in City Beach. Saturday night we had a few people over here for dinner and drinks including Greg and Gaynor, Kurt and Holly and my Recipezaar buddy Terese. It was another great night. Leah's parents were here too from Nannup to attend a wedding. They stayed the night, so we all enjoyed a big cooked breakfast Sunday morning.

Last week we drove down to Mandurah and went house boating for a couple of nights with Chris and Pat and Pat's mum Lou and son Kevin. It was a really enjoyable couple of nights with good food and wine and company. I didn't realise how pretty the Peel Inlet and waterways are! Pat is another friend from Recipezaar.


Thursday Russ took the car to Northside Nissan for a service. The workshop manager is the son of Ron and Del-a couple we first met at Lake Argyle and just spent another week with at Cheyne's Beach. I had lunch out at Hilary's with Dan Verity and Kobie which was great.

Friday Dan and Verity had lunch here with us and Chris and Carly called over for drinks and nibbles after dinner that night. Saturday Leah and Blair took us to a fantastic Italian Restaurant that is just around the corner from here. It was excellent.

Yesterday, Leah and I, Holly and Ellissa drove to the outer, outer northern suburbs and went horse riding for two hours. Because Holly and I are experienced riders, we were able to head off on a ride through the beautiful bush by ourselves which was really good. We just plodded along laughing and talking , we saw emus and kangaroos and got a bit rained on but it was a fun ride. We were about half an hour late getting back, but were todl some people have gotten lost and taken much longer than that! I was worried I'd be sore, but feel fine to day and ready to do it all again-much better than when my friend Claire and I went out in Warrnambool!

Russ and I are off to see Neil Sedaka at Burswood on the 2nd (he's appearing with the WA Symphony Orchestra) then on the 5th we are flying to Malaysia (Kuala Lumpar and Langkawi) for 11 nights. I'm very much looking forward to that. One of my friends asked how we know when we are on holiday-I said it's getting out your passport, flying, clean linen everyday and not deciding whose turn it is to cook or do the dishes. It's different!

Blair and Leah had some exciting news for us when we got home from Mandurah-Blair has been offered a position in Victoria as Baminko's Eastern states general manager. It looks like he'll take it and they'll be moving really soon. They are flying over on Thursday to check things out. It will mean a change of plans for us if Todd doesn't stay on in this house, but that's just fine with us.

Welcome to Kobie Patrick Michael Fowler

Russ and I were so lucky to be there in the birth suite to see our grandson born on Aril 9th 2008. What an amazing day.

Here he is about 15 minutes old!


24 hours old

Walpole and Perth

We're in Perth now after two really, really relaxing weeks in Walpole.

Our two weeks in Walpole were spent just fishing or relaxing so it was a lovely "holiday". The fish were a bit scacer than last year, but we managed to catch and freeze a few feeds of whiting, bream and flat head. I caught a 40cm bream (1cm smaller than my best effort last year) and Russ a big flat head, but we didn't see a snapper or tarwhine.

It was starting to get a bit cool down there but it made sleeping at night wonderful. We had a great site tucked in the trees and it made sleeping late of a morning good too.

We got to Perth on Tuesday 1st and had dinner with Mick, Todd, Verity and Dan. It was great to see them all again. Wenesday Russ took Todd to the Airport at 6.30am so he could fly to Adelaide for a wedding-leaving us home alone.

Yesterday we went over to Dan, Verity and Mick's place. It's so close to here which is good. They are renting in a nice suburb-Trigg and have quite a nice duplex. Dan and Verity have a gorgeous 4 month old German shepherd puppy Hercules who is a real cutey. Dan bought a couple of ducks yesterday and brought them over here too cook a delicious dinner for the 5 of us last night. I can't believe how much I'm enjoying having both my boys close after so many years.

Cheyne's Beach

Waychinicup (near Cheyne's Beach)


Our week at Cheyne's Beach has been great. We ended up staying 7 nights as not only did we get a 10% discount for being Family Park member's, but they give you 7 nights for the price of 6.

The Rare and Endangered Thong Tree Found at Cheynes


The park was lovely with shady spacious sites and pretty good amenities. We had our friends Ron and Del there too, so it was lots of fun. We made dinner together for Russ's birthday, then they cooked one night and we cooked another. It was great to have the company.

We managed to get out in the boat 3 times and caught ourselves some great mixed bags of fish. It's lovely to see all the different types of fish coming in after Streaky Bay where it was either whiting or tommy ruff 99% of the time. We reckon we caught at least 16 different types of fish.

We're Not Stuck Jan!


Ron and Del took us on a great afternoon of 4WDing along various tracks through the Waychinicup National Park and along Cheyne's beach. It was lots of fun ( especially digging ourselves out a few times) with some spectacular views of the local coast.

Storm Approaching Cheyne's Beach


On Friday we went into Albany and visited Tom at the brewery (amazing) and Trudi at home. I got my tooth fixed finally, we picked up our repaired cooler, bought Dan and Verity a highchair and Russ an annex floor for his birthday. It was a very pleasing day.

Saturday we went to cook some lunch in the microwave and it decided to die. It seems the death of appliances never ends! Repair one and another pulls the plug.

Today (Tuesday 18th) we moved on to Walpole (and closer to those kids in Perth!). We'll be here for 2 weeks and hope to catch lots of fish like last year. It was lovely to have Bill (one of the park workers) remember us.

This Thursday it's our 15th wedding anniversary so we stopped in Albany on the way and bought ourselves some nice food and wine to celebrate with.

Albany

Trudi and Me


We’ve just left Albany after three lovely days there at the Middleton Beach Big 4 CP. It was a lovely park and we really enjoyed meeting our neighbours Thel and Barry. Barry is a retired bank manager who has worked in Warragul and Warrnambool (as well as many other places). They now live in Echuca. I loved the fact that they really enjoyed good food and wine and Barry did the cooking the two nights they were beside us.

We were both surprised at how beautiful the area around Albany is so Sunday we drove out to check out various little bays, inlets and caravan parks as we’ve decided to head back down here before Christmas (which we’ll spend in Perth).

Yesterday we got round town and bought ourselves a new awning floor, and a new mat for those times we have a concrete slab. We got our fish finder fixed and found the Waeco repairman so left our car fridge with him. After about 10 calls to local dentists I took myself to one and stood there and sooked until they fitted me in. I have an appointment on Friday (when the fridge should also be fixed). I can cope with the tooth now I have a firm date to get it seen to.

Last night we had dinner with Trudi and Tom. Trudi and I met through Recipezaar but had never actually met in person. They invited another couple along (Carry and Michael) who own a local yabby farm. It was a wonderful night that finally finished at 1.15 this morning. It was very relaxedand really interesting and it seemed like we had known each other for ever. Tom is American and he and Trudi (who was originally from South Australia) met in Alaska. Oldest son Ben (8) was born in Alaska and their gorgeous daughter Katie (4) was born in WA. Carry and Michael run the yabby farm but need to work as well-she is a waitress, he is a relief teacher. Each year they take a couple of months off in the winter and head north to camp, fish and hike. They’ve decided to have a lifestyle rather than work themselves to death. They were lovely.

Tom at their Albany Ale House


This morning, we back tracked out to Cheynes Beach where we will spend 6 nights, It’s a really good caravan park which we decided to stay at so we can catch up with Ron and Del. We met them at Lake Argyle, then spent a bit of time with them in Katherine and Darwin. They’ve had a van and boat on site here for 15 years and travel here from Perth as often as they can.

Today is Russ’s 62 birthday.

Eucla to Norseman and on to Jerramungup

Eucla-The Middle of Nowhere

Yesterday we left Eucla thinking we might make it to Cocklebiddy Roadhouse but it was so hot, we just kept driving. We got to Fraser Range Sheep Station Caravan Park and thought we might stop there, but still too hot. So we kept on to Norseman. That was about 720ks and lots of people who drive the Nullabor would say "only that far?" but it was so hot our aircon in the car died if we went faster than 90ks. If we backed off to 80-85ks it was OK, so a slow cool(ish) drive that took us 9 long hours (including lunch and fuel stops). When we stopped to make our lunch it was a cool 42c in the van.

The fridge in the van was struggling, the aircon in the car and van struggling and russ and I struggling too, but the car was cooler than anywhere else.

When we arrived, the floor of the van was almost too hot to walk on, the bed was hot, inside all the cupboards were still around 40c. We put the aircon on, sat outside for a couple of hours then finally went to bed with the aircon on. Russ went for a shower before bed, I got myself a drink of water from a 10 litre cask. The spout came off and I had water GUSHING all over me and the van. I mopped it up, went to bed and discovered my bedlight had died. The end of another great day across the Nullabor!


Norseman's Premier Tourist Attraction !!!

Today we drove from Norseman planning to make it to Albany so I could see a dentist tomorrow. We had a tail wind all the way to Salmon Gums, then the wind changed to a nasty cross wind. The first metre of top soil on any crop farm seemed to be being blown across the road all the way to Ravensthorpe, it was hot and horrible. We actually heard on the radio that three shires had banned the movement of machines or working of land in their areas (I guess to stop more dust). When we arrived in Jerramungup, we decided enough was enough and pulled up for the night. It was a chilly 30ish and dropping, so we've enjoyed a lovely evening sitting out in the cool.

WA!!!!!

We had a lovely last few days at Streaky Bay (left there this morning) but it was sad to say goodbye to Cec and Caroline, John and Mary and Des and Gaile.

We finally took the boat out to Purlubie (20ks from SB) two days before we left and put it in on the beach. It's a beautiful spot and it was a beutiful day out there especially when we caught ourselves 9 HUGE KG whiting. We ate 1 feed, but bagged up another 2 feeds and gave them to Cec and Caroline who repayed us with some lovely mangos from their trees.

Today we left late, stopped in town for a few things and as we headed out spotted Peter and Barb (from Dapto) driving by. We'd sort of been expecting them a little earlier, but had a quick kiss and hug and catch up and made promises to try and see them next year!

Our fridge (the Waeco in the car) decided last night to shit itself. GRRRR. It's just out of warranty and although they aren't cheap, we have to have another one-we'll see if it can be repaired in Albany first though and try our friends at the insurance company too.

It was an excellent drive here today but hot. When we stopped at Nardoo Roadhouse for fuel, the temperature was 47c and it was 36 inside the van as we made our lunch. It's cooler now in Eucla and the aircon is finally winning, but I hope it drops another 10c tonight.

We made ourselves yummy pizzas for dinner, but as I was eating mine, I felt something yucky and gritty in my mouth. It was a chunk of tooth the size of a short grain of rice. It's horrible so I'll have to try see a dentist in Albany on Monday. What really annoys me though is that it isn't the one with the hole in it that I'm booked to see a dentist in Perth for.

I messaged some friends from WA to let them know where we were and it turns out they are in Cheyne Beach outside Albany. So, we'll go into Albany for a few nights, do some shopping, visiting, tooth, fridge and fish finder repairs and then go out to Cheyne Beach for 5 nights before going on to Walpole. We haven't see Ron and Del since we had lunch together at the Darwin Casino so I can't wait to catch up. They reckon Cheyne Beach is a lovely spot too.

How Not to Launch a Boat

There was a bit of excitement and a lot of colourful language at the boat ramp this morning when a commercial crab fisherman launched his boat. And his car. We loaned our snatch strap and another guy pulled him out-the car wouldn't start. It was amazing how much water was in that back end!!!!

A local arrived to load up a tanker with sea water and told us it's not the first time the guy has done it!! He's the only one of the fishermen I've seen who doesn't drive a 4WD-maybe it's time he bought one.



It was a bit choppy when we finally got out this morning, but it settled down and we came home with 12 good sized crabs and 6 King George whiting. Tonight I'm making Crab Enchiladas (based on a chicken enchilada recipe given to me by Todd)using the meat of the 5 smallest crabs.

We have new neighbours who I recognised from Baffle Creek Queensland a few months ago. They were relief managers at the park there when we met them and Cec was kind enough to show us how to throw our cast net.

2 Years on the Road

On Feb 20th, we celebrated the end of 2 years (and the start of our 3rd year) on the road. We still pinch ourselves and wonder how we got so lucky to be able to do this-yes, it's still fun!

Feb 22nd was the day we met 16 years ago, so cause for more celebration.

The kiosk here in the park opened a resturant on Wednesday night, so we chose to do our celebrating there, then. The owners met when he was a long haul truckie across the Nullarbor to Perth and she managing a roadhouse-the food and atmosphere of the restaurant are just like a roadhouse too! Still it was cheap (1 dozen oysters natural $12), cheerful, clean and lots of fun.

We've been managing to get out fishing and crabbing every couple of days. Last night we cooked ourselves beer battered whiting fillets (bought the chips from the kiosk) and a couple of nights ago, oven baked garlic crab legs.
We caught ourselves 10 blue swimmers, put them to sleep, pulled their main claws off and cracked them gently. I made a very garlicky butter, oil, salt and pepper mix, then brushed and poured it over them and baked them in our oven. They were amazing and I can't wait to catch some more crabs. We also keep pinching ourselves re the great food we get to eat in our travels.

The boat hasn't missed a beat since we called the mechanic-I'm really happy about that.

Success (for us at least)

We put the boat in and kept pretty much along the shore (not so far to row from there). The motor seemed fine, starting every time we wanted it too, so after catching 10 crabs pretty quickly, we headed off out a bit further. We actually went right across the bay to the spot where we'd broken down twice before.

The wind dropped, the water calmed and it got really hot, so we decided it was time for home. I felt so much better when the man fishing near us hailed us and we had to give HIM a tow back to the boat ramp.
How it Looks From the Other Angle!


It got to well over 40c under our awning yesterday so much of the day was spent inside in the cool (only 29c in the van). Around 6is we went over to Gayle and Des's van and sat there until round 9pm when it finally felt cool enough to cook and eat our steaks.

We had a nasty experience yesterday. We had a bag of fish fillets, yabby tails and peas stolen from the park dining room freezer-all labled with the date and our site no. We've often put stuff in the freezer and never had that happen before. I hope the theifs needed it more than us!

Off Fishing-if we never return

You know the mechanic in Queensland where we bought the motor is an idiot too

Bugger of a Day II

A Beautiful Day on the Bay


The boat was "fixed", the day was hot and still, so we headed out again. We had to be towed home again!!!!!

It's OK here where there are lots of boats around, but we go places where we are the only boat out, so this has to be fixed before we can go out again.

A Tow Home

A Bugger of a Day in Streaky Bay

We have been in Streaky bay since Sunday and are really enjoying it. It's a bit dry and dusty but is still one of our favourite places. The wind has been pretty fierce, but we've managed to get the boat out three times and get ourselves that feed of crabs and a couple of feeds of whiting. Getting home proved something of a chanlleng yesterday though

Actually the whole day was a bit of a challenge!!!!! Russ headed off towing the boat to do a bit of shopping and then fill the fuel tank. It's all very heavy back there once the tank is full and the winch unclipped as he went over a bump and the boat slipped off and hit the road!!!!!

We startred to go out fishing and had to come home because I had no ventolin-if I have it I don't need it but if I forget it I panic. So home to get the ventolin. Next we stopped for our bait of razor fish and Russ cut his hand very badly doing that.

On to the boat ramp, we launched the boat only to discover hitting the road had put a largish hole in the aluminium and the boat was filling with water. So on the trailer, home and fix the hole.

We finally got that fixed, had some lunch and headed out fishing, catching ourselves 6 lovely whiting. When the wind blew up and we decided it was time to go home, the boat wouldn't start. After rowing a couple of hundred yards into a strong wind, a very nice commercial crab fisherman towed us the couple of ks to shore. Russ had to go into town and get the fuel line seen to. Some days I should just stay in bed with a book.

We have really nice neighbours here and all of them are long term travellers of between 17 months and 5 years on the road. We are the only ones to still have our home which I find scary (for them). The couple opposite us are particularly nice-they sold up a small and very successful supermarket in Mt Magnet 3 years ago and have been travelling ever since. They both love fishing and like us follow the fish and the warm weather (which is lucky, it's going to be 37 today)

Crabs

Yesterday was one of those rare perfect days. The wind dropped and we were able to put the boat in on day 1 of our stay here in Streaky Bay (met one couple who've been here 10 days and had the boat in the water 4 times). Streaky Bay is beautiful on days like that when the water is so calm and clear you can see the fish and crabs on the bottom and the dolphins cruising along on the top.

We crab a bit differently to most people who go out, drop their pots (4 per person I think) then run up and down and around the pots pulling them in and checking for crabs. We anchor, drop out one pot each and check it every 5 minutes or so-yesterday we caught ourselves 14 big blue swimmers doing that. I find it much easier and much more relaxing because when it's done the other way, I'm the one hauling in all the pots. It amazes me to think we couldn't even get a feed when we were here last time, but yesterday we stopped at 14 as we can't be bothered picking more than that. Last night Russ made his best ever Thai crab cakes for dinner, then we put three packs of picked meat in the freezer. Yum!

After we finished crabbing, we caught 7 tommy ruff which we brought home and smoked ready for turning into dip today.

Our neighbours are nice-Bill and Jean were from Dandenong but sold up and have been travelling 17 months, John and Vi (formerly of Albany) have done the same and have been travelling 5 years. They reckon they haven't seen anything yet.

Streaky Bay Again

Sunset over Cowell


Yesterday we left Cowell around 10am and arrived here around 2.30pm. We've been put up the other end of the park to last time, but the sites are much more spacious, the roads are sealed, the toilets are new and the starlings are down the other end!

It's almost two years since we were here last-not much has changed. The housing estate near the park has one more home and the park rates have gone up from $113 pw to $140 pw (we now know this dearer price is still cheap!)

Point Gibbon


We had a lovely 5 days at Cowell. It's a pretty little place if you like fishing and not much else. We stayed in the park out of town so we could drive to the boat ramp without lights and number plate attached (such a pain to take on and off). The wind was pretty ferocious but on the two days we could get out, we managed to get ourselves a couple of good feeds of crabs and 3 paks for the freezer for later on. The only fish we caught were suitable for the crab pots only. We took a nice drive out of town to Port and Point Gibbon and managed to bury ourselves in the sand along one of the tracks-not a problem once we let a heap of air out of the tyres and put it into 4WD.
Port Gibbon


The sites at Cowell were huge-I reckon we could have built a townhouse on the one they gave us. We were surrounded by 3 groups of 3,3 and 2 couples travelling together and they weren't overly friendly but they were OK. One of them was travelling in a big bus, towing a big boat with a small 4WD that stowed away IN the back of the bus. It was a very impressive set up, but how much fuel would they use for all three?

Right now we are waiting for some more water to come in and hoping the wind stays away so we can go fishing.

Coconut Chilli Crab at Cowell

On the Road Again

Amanda and Me

We left Port Fairy on Friday the 1st of Feb, spent the night in Keith SA and are spending two nights in the Adelaide Hills with my Recipezaar friend Amanda and husband Will. Tomorrow we'll make our way to Streaky Bay arriving on Feb 10th. We are going to stay at Port Germain, then Cowell on the way and do a bit of fishing.! Today was spent taking a drive through the hills to Maggie Beer's farm for lunch and tonight we are off to a local Indian restaurant.

Hanging Rock Winery

Our 6 weeks in Vic was really busy-we managed to get to Traralgon, Geelong, Ballarat, Portland and Woodend to visit a lot of friends and family but found we ran out of time to see everyone we wanted to.

Oil Rig in the Portland Harbour


Russ caught some sort of virus which laid him low (more like absolutely flat-out) for 2 1/2 weeks. He was as sick as I've ever seen him-unable to do anything for most of the time. I also enjoyed doing quite a few breakfasts at the Merrijig with Kirstyn (to let Ryan sleep in) and we seemed to have endless running around to do with the boat, van and ute to get them all really to travel again.

Last Wednesday, we took the van in to have the awning replaced and a routine service done. It ended up being a huge service with lots needing done to brakes and wheel bearings! Russ forgot to release the hand brake leaving Maryborough and it stayed on until Noosa and was apparently burned out. I have to say it feels nice now though to know it's all done. For some reason our bearings were odd too and needed replacing. The guy who did the service pumped our tyres up "to where they should be" and when I started driving this morning, I felt like I was towing a bouncing ball behind me. We stopped and let them down the where we think they "should be"! Russ hadn't told me what the mechanic had done,l but I could feel it straight away.

The new awning and roller are pretty neat! The van looks really clean and tidy again. We also had the boat motor serviced and that should be a bit easier to start which will be good as Russ's right arm is still causing him a bit of bother-I suspect it'll never be the same again.

We had a huge clean out of the van and took a lot of stuff to the tip, op shop and put stuff back under the house. The house and stuff under it look OK, but lucky we'd be warned by the tennants that the back garden was a bit of a jungle ;-) It wouldn't take too long to rip into gear though and I'm not going to worry myself about it while we travel.

We've eaten out more in the last 6 weeks than we've eaten out in our lives, but last Thursday night Kirstyn and her mum Jill, Russ and I went to the Merrijig for a very special dinner. Ryan does two degustation menus and let us pick the dishes we wanted to eat from both to make the best meal I have ever eaten in a restaurant. We started with chilled white gazpacho then had a soft shelled crab with crab taboulleh, braised pork with crayfish and jammon, duck breast and duck pie on fig puree, lamb cooked two ways with whipped Persian fetta, fennel puree and spinach, a cheese platter and belgian chocolate pudding. It was unbelievably good. The Age were in the restaurant a couple of weeks ago to do a review. The photographer will be there Sunday, so check out Epicure for the results in the next week or so.

I cried leaving Port Fairy on Friday morning, but I'm looking forward to Mick being home in WA next week, our new baby in April, and seeing Dan and Verity, Todd, Leah and Blair.