Australia 2003 2nd leg
Mar 6/03 took the bus to Alice Springs Airport and got the Avro RJ to Perth. We arrived on time and Marian was waiting for us to take us back to her place in Hilman just outside Rockingham about 35 miles from Perth. On the way back we stopped at Sandra and Ron's house in Jandicot but they were not home, so we continued on to Marian's house and took it easy for a couple days.
Monday March 10Th it was 44c the hottest on that day since 1929. It has started to cool down a little and it is supposed to be 36c today Tuesday. Wendy is coming over today to take us to the Hub in Kwinana which is a few miles from Rockingham.
Thursday March 13th we went with Marian to visit with one of her clients in the Hillcrest Nursing Home, in Fremantle, Walter Smart, a Canadian guy who has been in Australia, since the second war. Marian had asked us to bring him a Blue Jay Shirt which we did, and we gave it to him. Walter had had a stroke and could not speak, but he had a portable computer which he could form words on. Walter could hear and comprehend though, and when I told him I actually came from Kitchener he just beamed and got very excited, so much so he could not use his computer properly trying to tell us where he was originally from. It was Anne who figured out he was trying to tell us he was from St.Jacobs a suburb of Kitchener Waterloo and we go there to the Market every once in a while. After giving Walter the shirt we brought for him we went to look around in downtown Fremantle a very nice town, had a meat pie for lunch and came back to Rockingham the old slow way.
After that we went looking in some of the bargain shops, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, who incidentally runs the home where Marian works, and went back to Rod's place, Marian's ex husband for supper.
March 16/03 Wendy and Toole and the baby came over and took us to Mandarah a town about 20 Miles from Rockingham to the Crab Festival for a few hours then went back for lunch.
Terry and Steve came over and took us for a look around Bunnings which is like, or is Home Depot by another name.
Marinan's stove went on the bum and she will have to get a technician in to have a look at it.
March 18th
Wendy came and picked us up and took us to the Maripana Wild Life Resort where we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
We got a call from Don Bowyer today, the train enthusiast who I had been conversing with on the computer, and agreed to meet him outside the train station in downtown Fremantle at 10.30am Tuesday March 25th. Anne and Marian went over to Wendy's house which is just a couple blocks away for a chin wag and took Xena the dog with them so she could visit with Rupert, Wendy's dog a Blue Heeler. I didn't bother going with them because a program was coming on TV that I was interested in.
March 22/03
We got a call from Amanda at 1:30am to tell us that Carter our dog was very sick and would probably have to be put down as she had a bad tumor. Amanda was very upset, and we told her that nothing could be done about it as it was the vets recommendation, and we would have had to do it had we been home. Carter has been a beautiful friend and companion, and in fact family member, and we were very sorry to hear it. We will all miss her very much. I'm sorry I wont get to see her reaction when we finally get back home as she would have been very excited to see us after being away so long. Allison said she is getting along fine and feeling well except for the situation with Carter.
We went to Fremantle yesterday and got talking with an American from Alabama who had been in Australia for 35 years. He said he had been in Korea during the war and when he got home, Viet Nam broke out, and that he was not going there to kill people he didn't know. He was very interesting to talk to, and seemed desperate to talk with someone from our part of the world.
He said that Australian's were very cliquish and difficult to get to know, that he had been in a couple of relationships but that they didn't last. He was not happy with Australians on a personal level.
The ravens are back in the pine trees behind Marian's house in the bush making a terrible noise clearing the trees of there cones. Anne is sending Rosemary's birthday present today when Wendy comes over to take us to the mall.
March 24/03
We got a call from Allison and Amanda last night and they said that Carter had been put down, that they were with her and she went quietly. We were extremely sorry about that but she had a large tumor and couldn't walk and if it burst it would put her in a great deal of pain. Even as I write this I get a tear in my eye because a better dog doesn't live. Allison had to go to the hospital for and operation and she was now out getting home care. They let Allison out of the hospital early because something just started developing in the hospital called SARS, what a pain in the ass that was going to be and have some far reaching consequences for us, most particularly Anne, Marian, and Dot Specketer who was still to come from England with James her son. Marian, Dot and Anne had a cruise booked up from Sydney to Singapore, and James and I would have been in the house alone for the time they were gone. I could have gone but the cruise didn't interest me at all.
March 25Th
Anne and I went in to Fremantle today and met Don Bowyer and his friend Ed Brown both railway enthusiasts and they took us around and showed us some sights we hadn't seen or known about. We wound up at the Hilary Yacht basin where we had a nice lunch. Hilary is about 20 miles from downtown Fremantle. Don says that he and his wife go for 2000 KM treks in the dessert with their SUV called a Pajero, which seems very well equipped for dessert trekking. It looks like a Land Rover. They take a small generator with a 200 ft extension cord so the noise of the generator doesn't bother then to much. He says they have a pre set plan for where some guy will leave a 45Gal drum of fuel for them in the dessert so they don't run out.
Don and Ed took us back to Fremantle where we met Marian after work for a ride home.
March 26th
Wendy came over and picked us up this morning and took us to Mandrah about 20 Miles from Hillman where we got on a boat for a tour of the basin and a 1 hour ride up the river, the name of which, I can't remember and didn't write down. We saw dolphins and at the end of the ride up the river they let us off at a restaurant where we had a nice lunch, and after lunch got back on the boat for the ride back to Mandrah. I seemed to be coming down with something, a cold I guess because I am stuffed up with a sore throat, coughed all night. Marian and Anne are changing the baby, Jeremy at present. Jeremy seems to be growing before our eyes.
March 31
We went into Perth today by bus, from the station at Rockingham had a look around for the morning, had a nice lunch and had a little trouble finding the station for the return to Rockingham. We also had to find the departure area for the Pinicles tour bus and look for a good parking area for Marian when we go down for the tour on April 2nd. We bought a few post cards and saw a few souvenirs that we might look for the next time we get down. Tomorrow we will take it easy and write a few post cards.
Monday March 10Th it was 44c the hottest on that day since 1929. It has started to cool down a little and it is supposed to be 36c today Tuesday. Wendy is coming over today to take us to the Hub in Kwinana which is a few miles from Rockingham.
Thursday March 13th we went with Marian to visit with one of her clients in the Hillcrest Nursing Home, in Fremantle, Walter Smart, a Canadian guy who has been in Australia, since the second war. Marian had asked us to bring him a Blue Jay Shirt which we did, and we gave it to him. Walter had had a stroke and could not speak, but he had a portable computer which he could form words on. Walter could hear and comprehend though, and when I told him I actually came from Kitchener he just beamed and got very excited, so much so he could not use his computer properly trying to tell us where he was originally from. It was Anne who figured out he was trying to tell us he was from St.Jacobs a suburb of Kitchener Waterloo and we go there to the Market every once in a while. After giving Walter the shirt we brought for him we went to look around in downtown Fremantle a very nice town, had a meat pie for lunch and came back to Rockingham the old slow way.
After that we went looking in some of the bargain shops, St Vincent de Paul, Salvation Army, who incidentally runs the home where Marian works, and went back to Rod's place, Marian's ex husband for supper.
March 16/03 Wendy and Toole and the baby came over and took us to Mandarah a town about 20 Miles from Rockingham to the Crab Festival for a few hours then went back for lunch.
Terry and Steve came over and took us for a look around Bunnings which is like, or is Home Depot by another name.
Marinan's stove went on the bum and she will have to get a technician in to have a look at it.
March 18th
Wendy came and picked us up and took us to the Maripana Wild Life Resort where we had lunch at a Chinese restaurant.
We got a call from Don Bowyer today, the train enthusiast who I had been conversing with on the computer, and agreed to meet him outside the train station in downtown Fremantle at 10.30am Tuesday March 25th. Anne and Marian went over to Wendy's house which is just a couple blocks away for a chin wag and took Xena the dog with them so she could visit with Rupert, Wendy's dog a Blue Heeler. I didn't bother going with them because a program was coming on TV that I was interested in.
March 22/03
We got a call from Amanda at 1:30am to tell us that Carter our dog was very sick and would probably have to be put down as she had a bad tumor. Amanda was very upset, and we told her that nothing could be done about it as it was the vets recommendation, and we would have had to do it had we been home. Carter has been a beautiful friend and companion, and in fact family member, and we were very sorry to hear it. We will all miss her very much. I'm sorry I wont get to see her reaction when we finally get back home as she would have been very excited to see us after being away so long. Allison said she is getting along fine and feeling well except for the situation with Carter.
We went to Fremantle yesterday and got talking with an American from Alabama who had been in Australia for 35 years. He said he had been in Korea during the war and when he got home, Viet Nam broke out, and that he was not going there to kill people he didn't know. He was very interesting to talk to, and seemed desperate to talk with someone from our part of the world.
He said that Australian's were very cliquish and difficult to get to know, that he had been in a couple of relationships but that they didn't last. He was not happy with Australians on a personal level.
The ravens are back in the pine trees behind Marian's house in the bush making a terrible noise clearing the trees of there cones. Anne is sending Rosemary's birthday present today when Wendy comes over to take us to the mall.
March 24/03
We got a call from Allison and Amanda last night and they said that Carter had been put down, that they were with her and she went quietly. We were extremely sorry about that but she had a large tumor and couldn't walk and if it burst it would put her in a great deal of pain. Even as I write this I get a tear in my eye because a better dog doesn't live. Allison had to go to the hospital for and operation and she was now out getting home care. They let Allison out of the hospital early because something just started developing in the hospital called SARS, what a pain in the ass that was going to be and have some far reaching consequences for us, most particularly Anne, Marian, and Dot Specketer who was still to come from England with James her son. Marian, Dot and Anne had a cruise booked up from Sydney to Singapore, and James and I would have been in the house alone for the time they were gone. I could have gone but the cruise didn't interest me at all.
March 25Th
Anne and I went in to Fremantle today and met Don Bowyer and his friend Ed Brown both railway enthusiasts and they took us around and showed us some sights we hadn't seen or known about. We wound up at the Hilary Yacht basin where we had a nice lunch. Hilary is about 20 miles from downtown Fremantle. Don says that he and his wife go for 2000 KM treks in the dessert with their SUV called a Pajero, which seems very well equipped for dessert trekking. It looks like a Land Rover. They take a small generator with a 200 ft extension cord so the noise of the generator doesn't bother then to much. He says they have a pre set plan for where some guy will leave a 45Gal drum of fuel for them in the dessert so they don't run out.
Don and Ed took us back to Fremantle where we met Marian after work for a ride home.
March 26th
Wendy came over and picked us up this morning and took us to Mandrah about 20 Miles from Hillman where we got on a boat for a tour of the basin and a 1 hour ride up the river, the name of which, I can't remember and didn't write down. We saw dolphins and at the end of the ride up the river they let us off at a restaurant where we had a nice lunch, and after lunch got back on the boat for the ride back to Mandrah. I seemed to be coming down with something, a cold I guess because I am stuffed up with a sore throat, coughed all night. Marian and Anne are changing the baby, Jeremy at present. Jeremy seems to be growing before our eyes.
March 31
We went into Perth today by bus, from the station at Rockingham had a look around for the morning, had a nice lunch and had a little trouble finding the station for the return to Rockingham. We also had to find the departure area for the Pinicles tour bus and look for a good parking area for Marian when we go down for the tour on April 2nd. We bought a few post cards and saw a few souvenirs that we might look for the next time we get down. Tomorrow we will take it easy and write a few post cards.
posted by Allan at 9:05 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home