The Pinnicles

Wednesday April 2/03 we got up early Marian, Anne, and myself and drove to downtown Perth and got on the bus for a day trip to the Pinnicles. The last time we were in Australia we wanted to see them on our way to Monkey Mia on Shark Bay but never had the chance. The bus was a very interesting 4 wheel drive model that seemed to be built on the chassis of a large truck. There were about twenty people on the bus which seemed to be at capacity. The driver asked us Anne and I to sit up front with him on the bench seat, and we had a very good commentary and conversation with him on the trip. On our way there we stopped at a gas station about a mile up the road from where we stopped on our way to Monkey Mia. I got talking to the driver who seemed very interested in getting a piece of property abroad and he looked into Spain and England but thought they were out of the question, and began to talk about Canada. We talked to him about the cottage, which interested him and told him that we would send him some brochures. We went to the Pinnicles, very interesting Rock formations left there when the ocean receded and on the way saw a Blue Tailed Skink, some wild Emus, and a couple of Kangaroos jumped in front of the bus, which we just missed. We went on to Cervantes a small town near there where we had a nice lunch, then back to our second stop where the driver let some air out of the tires so that we could go off roading in the dessert.We went to a place which had large sand dunes where a few kids with 4 wheeler ATCs were running up and down the dunes which we thought funny until the driver started doing the same thing with the bus. I thought that Anne was going to die, and most of the people on the bus were screaming. When he got tired of that the driver got out some snow boards and asked the people if they would like to try them on the hill, and most took him up on it. I would like to have tried but could not make it up the hill because of my bad leg, resulting from the sciatic nerve problem before we went. All in all it was a great trip. We got back to Perth about 6:15 pm and on the way home stopped at the Chicken place where we got some chicken for supper.

April 11 it has been raining for 2 days now. We went to York on April 8Th with Wendy. There is a nice Antique Auto Museum there which we went in. Marian finished work now an is officially on vacation. Marian and Anne will go to pick up dot tomorrow who will be arriving from England by way of Singapore. There is quite a blow going on outside right now at 8 pm. Anne is sewing on the borrowed machine and we installed a couple of curtain brackets in the bedroom early today. We had to borrow a hammer drill from Chris which he seemed happy to lend us. A Touch of Frost is coming on the TV at 8:30 and we will be watching it. I wrote out a few post cards today and got them ready to send.

April 12th it's still raining and has been for three days. We went to one garage sale in Rockingham today but not much there because of the rain I guess. Anne and Marian have gone to Pearth Airport to pick up Dot. It's 3:45 just me and the dog Xena around now I guess I will go and turn on the TV for a while.

April 13 We went to the Markets today and I saw a saw with an Australian scene painted on it for $50.00 fifty dollars which I think I will by if we get back there. We cleaned out the pool today and put some more chlorine in it.

April 19th, I had a funny dream last night, not unusual but remembered it so I wrote it down.

I was driving up the road it seems with someone from work in the car between Barrie and Midland, when we see a car coming at us all over the road I told the other guy to give me my camera from the bag which I carried and took some pictures of him, the tiger as we went up the stairs on to the porch of a small church. Just then the door opened and a woman stepped out and never saw the tiger. I told the woman to step back in the church, which she did after looking down and seeing the tiger. A few seconds later all the people from the church came out past the tiger and I asked one guy what the name of the town was and he said Del Patterson. I then asked the name of the church and he said Wesley United. I then got out the cell phone and tried to report the tiger but was having trouble getting through, then I woke up. As Ron Mitchel says dreams are all about frustration.

April 25th One month to go. I went to the Burswood auto show today with Chris and his brother Peter. We picked up a few brochures. On the way home we stopped at Peter's house for coffee. He has a great looking house an has done a great deal with it and it's garden.

Sandra was rear ended in Marian's car on the 24th. It wasn't to bad and the other driver is going to have to be responsible. As Marian Anne and Dot have gone to Surfers World it was decided not to tell them until they got back from Sydney. James, Dots son who came from England as well went to Fremantle Jail for a scary night tonight.

April 26th, I walked up to see Rod at his apartment this morning, his leg is not looking good, evidently thrombosis but it also looks like some sort of infection as well. I walked back and was picked up at 6.30PM by Dallas Toole, Toole's mom along with Wendy and Toole's grandmother and taken to the car races at Kwinnana. . The pace was quite fast but the track was very muddy and the cars slipped quite at bit and were very hard to control. I got some good pictures of a couple collisions and some good driving. In the demolition derby Toole did OK until his reverse gear gave out when he was in the last 15 cars of forty that started out. We got home about 11.30PM and it surprised me that Toole's grandmother had a good time. She seems like a good soul.

April 27 th, Wendy came to pick me up to go see an Australian Rules Football game with Damien playing. We watched the game and when the game had just finished Carl came along with a Friend and as he walked by he said hello and that he was going to have a drink with his friend. That was the last I saw of Carl that day and for a while Damien came over and Wendy told him to tell me the rules of the game which he did and that was that. When we left I could not think of a time I was more pissed off. I had just come thousands of miles and the most I got from Carl was a nod. I didn't expect him to jump up and down with joy to see me but `I did expect a few minutes of conversation,but I guess the beer was so much more inviting. I thought you would think that they thought I had brought SARS with me. By the way that is why Anne Marian and Dot went to surfers World and Sydney. The trip they had booked for Singapore was cancelled due to SARS and they had to re schedule a last minute change and it was Surfers World. After the game I had Wendy drop me off at the Mall where I walked through to the other end and Went to McDonald's for chicken and fries. On the way home I saw Terry going the other way we waved and I continued home. Sandra's kids came over and took James out to some fun fare at a park and he stayed over Saturday night. They came back Sunday night about

6PM and wanted to know if I wanted some KFC I said no because I had already had chicken . James doesn't seem to eat regularly and I don't want to cater to his weird appetite. I can be happy with a sandwich, and I didn't want to open a 2 kilo bag of meat for just myself.

April 29 Wendy and I went a visited with Rod for a while and Terry took James out along the beachfront. Prior to going to Rods I was dropped of at Tooles parents place. Dallas was baby sitting Jeremy while Wendy did her home work. Dallas told me that they had a mouse problem and I told Brian, about Lyman's mouse trap. Brian was very enthusiastic about trying it. Terry invited us for supper tonight so we went over and I got up to date with emails on their computer.

During the day we went to the Mall and there were firemen selling tickets for a car and I thought one of them looked familiar. I gave him shit because I told him that I had bought a ticket from him five years ago in Fremantle and never did win the car then. At the time five years ago I was wearing a hat with many pins on it and he asked me about it. I told him I collected pins and he said that he lived in the area and would drop me off some, which he did. He said he remembered it well because when he knocked on the door a guy answered it with two nipple rings, Malcolm, he remembered Malcolm. The fireman's name was Derek Langley. I told him that the nipple ring guy was my brother in law and we had a good laugh.

May 5th. We all drove to Yallingup today to Cannal Rocks Campground with a stop in Bussleton where we noticed a Rummage sale going through. We bought a few items and went on to the Campground which was right on the Indian Ocean. Ron and his family came up and met us a little later. Ron was a little late because he was waiting for supplies for his buisness that never came. We had three separate cabins at the Campground and they had a communal BBQ which we used for supper. That night after dark the Kangaroos came out of the woodwork and were everywhere, startling a few people who just about bumped into them. The next day we went on a wine tasting tour and wound up at Margaret River where we had lunch in a nice Cafe. Margaret River is a nice town where the Indian and Pacific Ocean Meet. After the tour we went back and Ron James and the boys went Surf Fishing for Salmon and caught a few real nice ones.

That night we had a little party in the dinning room as it was Jame's birthday. On Monday we headed home and stopped at Bussleton again where there was an Archery Range that Jame's and the girls wanted to try. After that we continued on to just past Bunberry when going around a corner we saw what appeared to be smoke or a cloud of dust up ahead. As we went around the corner I saw a Toyota Land Cruiser had just co me to a rest on its roof of the side of the roof. I told Marian to stop as we went by in case anyone needed help. As we walked back to the scene two kids and an old man had gotten out of the car pretty dazed. They must have been coming from or going to a cottage because of the material that was spread ed all over the boulevard on the side of the road. As we got back other people had stopped to see if they could help as well.

A doctor who was going by stopped and was checking on the boy about 7 years old, and Anne went to the girl about 8 years old who was pretty shook up and was trying to comfort her while I went to the old man in his seventies I guess, and who was also pretty shook up, and tried to get him to sit down. In a while an ambulance that was going by on the other side of the road stopped and the attendants came over to see if they could help and told everyone that and ambulance was on the way. A couple of police cars came and the media with TV cameras. They took a lot of footage with Anne and the girl, who by that time was clinging to Anne for all her life. When the ambulance came the girl didn't want to let Anne go and clung to her for all her life, she wanted Anne to go with her to the hospital. Anne was willing to go but the Ambulance Attendants wouldn't let her because there was not enough room with the three victims and the attendants. All the while the TV cameras are taping all of this but one of them almost never left Anne and the girl. After answering a few questions we all got on our way again, with the police guarding the scene and all joked that Anne was going to be on the six o'clock news that day.