Eggbert is gone. Bertie, the Billabong Caravan, is a bigger and better van! Geoff and Varena are still on their big trip - into their fifteenth year! Heading from Darwin to: Bungle Bungles, Tanami Desert, Alice Springs, Dalhousie Springs, Woomera, Lake Eyre, Nullarbor, WA, Eyre Peninsular, Melbourne, Canberra, Blue Mountains, Bourke, Cameron Corner, Toowoomba, Tully, Birdsville, and back to WA for 8 years! Who knows what's next?
Wednesday 25th February
SHE SAID:
A quieter day today, it’s warming up to 33C, another short burst of heat; it is quite changeable down here.
Exciting stuff like getting the washing done & catching up with the Blog. I got one book finished & started a new one!
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Springdale Beach & old hut |
HE SAID:
Our day at the house was rather quiet. It was too warm to do much outside, so we managed minor things inside. Varena’s Bolognese for dinner was the usual tasty meal.
Tuesday 24th February
SHE SAID:
We headed up to Williams today. We are both keen to have a better look at ‘our’ block, though settlement is still 2 weeks away. We were there for a good 90 minutes; did some measuring, took photos, & met the neighbours who will be behind us, Barry & Liz. They were lovely, older than us, but chatty, & know everyone in the street!
Geoff met the shed contractor working on the block next to us, and got his details for future possible dealings with him. We also had a drive around the village. It has all the basics, a small supermarket, a few cafes, pub, fuel, chemist, post office, medical centre. It was a bigger place than I thought.
Back at the house in the late afternoon we got a call from Jacqui & Mick, they’d read the Blog & were calling to congratulate us on our purchase! LOL!
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'Our Block'... well, soon! Not much to see, but first photos |
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Photo from Google of the block & the view across from the block, just fields & probably sheep or crops come the cooler weather |
HE SAID:
We managed a fairly early start and were at the block in Williams right on 11am. A piece of paper to do with a water tank, which I assume had blown from the builder’s bin on the site next to ours, was lying in the grass, so I took it down to the blokes working on the neighbour’s new, and huge, shed. We had a good old chat and I took down his number for when we might need a shed put up.
When I wandered back to Varena at our block the fella from next door was wandering over. So, we had a chat with him, too. And then his wife came out to us. So now we know our neighbours, Barry and Liz, also a contact for helping with building in the future, and we haven’t even paid for the place yet!
Mick and Jac called us on WhatsApp late in the arvo asking “WTF? You’ve bought a block of land?”. So we had a good old chat with them too, before Varena wizzed up some tasty homemade pizzas.
I was a bit tired after our 550km or so drive and couldn't even last through the first innings of the T20 Pak V ENG. V said I was asleep in nanoseconds!
Monday 23rd February
SHE SAID:
Geoff & I headed into town for breakfast, then on to the conveyancers to sign the paperwork for the land transfer. It was all done quickly, no hiccups.
On the way back ‘home’ we stopped off at Mutton Bird Island & beach. A lovely spot, which I didn’t think we’d been to before, but Geoff found on the Blog we had been there in 2020. We went there with Nat & Mike, but only to the lookout, not onto the beach, which we did do today.
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Mutton Bird Island lookout & beach |
HE SAID:
With a 10am appointment in Albany I suggested that we go to a cafe, where Varena has a favourite dish, beforehand. We both ordered and enjoyed the Spanish Eggs. It was then only a few hundred metres to the conveyancers, so we had a stroll. There was a cruise ship berthed at the harbour, which explained the dozens of oldies wandering around everywhere we went in town. It must be good for the local businesses.
Sunday 22nd February
SHE SAID:
I headed to Denmark this morning, mainly to check out the markets, which were ‘naff’. Then I went on an explore around Wilson’s Inlet for photos & to have a walk. It was a nice day to be out.
Back at the house for lunch, I was sorting and transferring the day’s photos onto the PC, when I managed to delete the camera photos instead of transfer! OMG!!! Thankfully Geoff came to the rescue, managing to “get them back” for me.
Clever hubby.
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Poison Creek |
HE SAID:
With markets on the agenda I sent Varena out to scout them without me. And it turned out for the best, as there was nothing interesting there, and it let Varena have a leisurely look around anywhere she wanted to go.
I managed to entertain myself this morning with minor tasks around the place until Varena returned to the house. When she accidentally deleted the wrong folder, from her camera’s SD card, I knew that they’d be recoverable, but I wasn’t sure how to do it without buying some crappy software. So, I spent a fair while researching and experimenting, and I managed to recover all her photos free of charge, and utilising non-dodgy software. Hopefully it won’t be needed again soon.
Saturday 21st February
SHE SAID:
We got the final few things done for our trip back to England, car hire, insurance etc. All is done now, I think.
Otherwise, it was a quiet day, cool & breezy. I manage to layer myself with 2 jumpers, Ugg boots & a quilt when sitting around not doing much!!!
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Crusoe Beach |
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Itty Bitty houses on the Denmark River |
HE SAID:
The weather at Young’s Siding is often rather changeable. Today it barely managed to get to 20 degrees. We survived, though Varena thinks it was a close thing, and that she almost froze to death.
Friday 20th February
SHE SAID:
We had a jaunt west to Denmark today, checking out a couple of beaches, Crusoe & Springdale, & then stopping at the Denmark River mouth for a walk.
It was an overcast day; the sun & heat from yesterday has disappeared again, but pleasant for a walk, a little humid even.
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The Denmark River |
HE SAID:
A short outing and leg stretch around Denmark were the interesting things this morning. I even said no to Varena’s suggestion of buying elevenses. We had elevenses out a couple of days ago, so I was happy to go back to the house for a cuppa.
There was just the one match of the T20 World Cup on today, and it was Australia v Oman. I managed to watch some of it before needing to sleep. I couldn't manage to stay awake until 1am.
Thursday 19th February
SHE SAID:
It was a quick trip into Albany to collect the paperwork from Moss Conveyancers & submit our ID’s. We didn’t linger this time as it was already over 30C, not walking around weather for these “old chooks”!
We read through the mountain of paperwork that we have been given. It is seemingly way over the top for the purchase of a block of land! Plus, everyone has their hand out with a fee of some sort!!! We return to Albany on Monday to finalise it all, with settlement due on the 12th March.
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A picture in the house of Le Mont Saint-Michel in France. |
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Another random photo from somewhen, we found amusing! |
HE SAID:
I had assumed that we would be signing forms at the conveyancers, but it was really just to collect a small mountain of paperwork and to prove our identities. No big deal, as we’d be going in to Albany at some stage, probably, anyway. We also managed a quick visit to Woolies for a few things, and quickly noticed, yet again, that they are always jacking up the prices, and then they mark them as on special later, with the price seemingly too high even with the “Special”. Coles is currently in court for this practice, which may be illegal, and is seemingly immoral, and unethical too. Maybe Woolies will get a day in court, too?
Wednesday 18th February
SHE SAID:
My final BIG cleaning spree today, the inside of Bluee; it hasn’t been done for 6 months or more. I took nearly everything out, & it took me a good 2 hours to do it well. I was happy with the results.
I had a quiet rest of the day, finishing off with making Honey Sriracha Chicken & rice for dinner; a quick & easy & tasty meal.
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Scaredy-cat hiding from the vacuum cleaner |
HE SAID:
Varena slaved away cleaning the car’s interior this morning. I stayed clear, mostly, lest I be Armouralled.
As usual, dinner was very tasty.
Tuesday 17th February
SHE SAID:
Sad & worrying news greeted me today; my friend Tina in South Africa had a large cancerous growth removed from her sternum, lung, & heart. She is still in hospital, & the doctors are hopeful it can be treated. Not good.
We headed for Albany for a list of things to get done. We had morning tea down at a little cafe at Emu Point, which has a lovely view over the turquoise water.
Bluee got a wash, NOT a clean, at the “Car Wash”. I hope to clean inside tomorrow.
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Emu Point views |
HE SAID:
Tina’s news wasn’t good. We hope she recovers quickly.
We popped into a couple of places for some minor things, unsuccessfully. But at least the car was washed, and we shared a large scone with jam and cream for elevenses, but only after I had to explain to the girl at the cafe what a Devonshire Tea was!
Monday 16th February
SHE SAID:
Geoff & I got the caravan washed on the outside today; it took about an hour. I’m very glad that is done. It’s taken a couple of weeks to get the inside & outside completed. I rehung the net curtains & he is done. Well, 98%; the floor needs wiping over & the bed remaking but that will wait till just before the end of the sit.
Next job is the car!!! But not today.
I got the HD’s updated, which was a slow process with the Orchid file alone having 201,390 files!
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Rocks on Lowlands Beach |
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Shelley Beach, West Cape Howe NP |
HE SAID:
We were being very careful with our water usage this morning while we cleaned the van, and I think we used just the minimum amount to get the job done. A big surprise mid van-wash was when a car turned up. In nearly 3 weeks at this sit we have only had the owner’s son pop in for 30 seconds, and caught some religious nuts on the way out just as we returned to the house. So, this bloke gets out of his car says that he thinks the van will buff up well. OK. Nice of him to appreciate our efforts. But then Varena asked him how can help him, and he said he is really there to buff the van! That’s when I piped up with “I don’t know what you are talking about”, and he says “Is this number 89? I saw your van and assumed it was the right place.” So, we laughed and gave him directions to the proper address where is actually supposed to be working on a van. But quite a coincidence!
I gave the dash cam another workout this morning. It seems fine. Though why at least 2 previous cameras wouldn't perform anywhere near this well (normal), I don't know. So now I can post the old camera back to Fortron to do with what they will.
Sunday 15th February
SHE SAID:
The minor storm around last night gave us around 8mm of rain, for the district; hopefully we got close to that. It was cloudy & muggy this morning.
My cleaning of Bertie continued. The inside & outside of the main door & screen door was on the ‘hit list’. I also got a small section of the outside done too. It does make a difference. It has been a good few years since the outside was done, other than with rain!
We caught up with Mum on Teams at 7pm then my brother & Kiyoka at 8pm.
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Lowlands Beach |
HE SAID:
With no simple way to check the house water tank level I hope that the overnight rain was a helpful amount. I helped Varena with the cleaning of the van door, pulling the vent and mesh out, and replacing the high-tech light blocking device, which is a bit of an old cardboard beer box cut to size. Without my little addition there would be a lot more light and breeze inside, which we don’t want.
Saturday 14th February
SHE SAID:
Our hottest day for a while, 32C, but before it got too hot we had a scenic sightseeing drive around. We have pretty much been everywhere around here over the years, but it has been a while. We found some back roads to go down instead of the direct routes, finding our way to Lowlands Beach. It’s a lovely view from the 2 lookouts, & a nice, secluded beach with rocks & sand, & of course blue, blue waters.
We had morning tea at the Shelley Beach lookout in the West Cape Howe NP. The view from above the beach is where “mad” people go paragliding from; it is quite a cliff jump. No “nuts” doing it today though.
The sheet lightning & rumbling thunder in the late evening were a nice change. There was some rain, but it was light, mostly missing us.
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Lowlands Beach |
HE SAID:
We had a short tour around this morning, going to some very nice beaches. The rest of the day was spent mostly indoors avoiding the hot sun. The weather is very changeable around here, with a mixture of rather hot and rather cool days. Today was hot.
The evening storm lingered around for quite a while, but mostly at a distance. Barney the cat didn't seem too put out.
Friday 13th February
SHE SAID:
We headed to Albany for the post office; Geoff has a parcel waiting. We did a few other minor things.
It was nice to see the sun out after 3 or 4 days of clouds & cool weather. There is a prediction of rain at the weekend though it doesn’t look like we will get much.
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There was a bit of colour in the sky, pinky & golden on the clouds |
HE SAID:
The dash cam providers could not work out why I was having so many problems connecting the camera to my phone. Everything is app based, so it is essential. They decided that swapping cameras should help, so we went in to Albany to collect the new one. It only took a couple of minutes to replace both the front and the rear cameras. Getting it all working on the phone via the app took a lot longer, but I think the situation has improved somewhat. It is still a pain in the bum to connect, but it seems more reliable than previously. I will test it a few times and see what happens.
The cricket threw up a big surprise for me today. Australia lost to Zimbabwe. It is not the first time they have beaten Australia, but it is very uncommon. Bugger!
Thursday 12th February
SHE SAID:
Yayee! I have finished the Bertie clean, happy about that.
We had another walk to the letterbox & back after lunch.
I booked a holiday house, well, a converted barn really, near Bideford in North Devon, for Geoff, myself & Mum when we are over there in May.
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And Cat Day...3. They always look so relaxed! |
HE SAID:
Of course there was T20 World Cup cricket to watch, but I managed a few other minor things too.
Wednesday 11th February
SHE SAID:
We had a short walk to the letterbox; only just over 1km return, but it was a leg stretch, which we haven’t had much of recently.
I continued with the Bertie cleaning, getting to the end for the inside; hopefully tomorrow.
The most exciting news of the day was that we put an offer in to buy a block of land in Williams, a small place about 2 hours south of Perth & a 1h 45mins from Bunbury. We were very surprised that the owner got back later in the afternoon accepting the offer! We expected it would take a few days!
We are very excited now!
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Cat Days... 2 |
HE SAID:
Little things around the house and the van kept me going until the cricket came on after lunch. I wouldn't have minded cleaning up some of the leaves that are blowing around near the house, but as Gary took the batteries for all the tools I will have to do it manually. Therefore, it can wait!
We decided to make an offer on a quarter acre block of land on the outskirts of Williams that we saw last weekend, and it was accepted! I would usually try a bit of haggling, but this time we just went with the listed price, even though it was advertised as "From $xxxx", which is realestate agent crap for "Please offer more than the listed price". Having the offer accepted so rapidly was a surprise. So, now I guess we have process to go through, which I am sure will be a pain, but hopefully worth it.
Tuesday 10th February
SHE SAID:
We had a ½ hour drive into Albany today, with a few things needed; it got us out for a couple of hours.
I sorted out flights to the UK for when we leave here in early May. Mum is keen for us to return, though it will be a shorter than normal visit this time as we have house-sits lined up till December.
Then I did the ironing, lunch, & finally finished uploading the 2025 photos onto Facebook, for my emergency back-up.
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Cat days...1 |
HE SAID:
Varena and I headed in to Albany for a beer resupply, and we got other things while we there, too. We are now confirmed to be going to the UK again, this time in May. Jan was so happy when Varena told her that the flights were booked.
Monday 9th February
SHE SAID:
I spent the morning in the van again, sorting & cleaning kitchen cupboards & the stove/oven. I stopped around 11am, in time for a cuppa, of course.
No more action for the rest of the day, other than washing, computing, & reading till dinner time. Beef Stroganoff, Broccolini, & rice was on tonight’s menu.
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Beach 'art' |
HE SAID:
A few things got done while Varena was in the van this morning, but nothing exciting, unless you call standing on a ladder next to the van and cleaning the hatch over the shower to be exciting. It was quite a warm day so taking it easy was the plan.
Sunday 8th February
SHE SAID:
Cleaning morning; firstly through the house, then I continued with the van. I am making slow progress as it is a “Spring” clean.
Geoff was also doing stuff on the outside of the van today.
It was a double Teams session in the late afternoon with me chatting with Mum at 6pm, then later with Julian & Kiyoka.
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In the garden |
HE SAID:
With a cool morning, the van in a flat position, and plenty of room to open up the van’s awning, I finally got around to installing the new anti-flap kit and roof rafters. These are meant to drastically reduce the awning flapping in the wind, but in big winds it is still best to put the awning away. We shall see how it goes, I guess.
I managed, eventually, after a few IT issues that always seem to occur, to join a video session with Eileen, Meg, Carmel, and Steph just before lunch. They were at Woden Cemetery to commemorate Bernie's death, 22 years ago. Not forgotten. Still missed.
With Varena having a busy day, both in the van and then with her mum and brother online, I made my simple spaghetti pesto for dinner. It is always good.
Saturday 7th February
SHE SAID:
We had a country drive today, visiting several of the wheatbelt towns for a look around. We took morning tea with us but got a pie at a “Deli”/ takeaway in Wagin, which was only just average; the pastry was nice!
Back at the house in the late afternoon Geoff had cricket to watch; he was happy.
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The clouds in the Wheatbelt |
HE SAID:
Our Wheatbelt tour ended up being about 600km. We covered a lot of ground, looking around some of the towns, just to see what’s what.
Friday 6th February
SHE SAID:
Geoff wanted the van re-positioned so he can work on the awning, so that was the first task of the day. Next, I got some more of the cupboards cleaned inside the van; I’m slowly getting it done.
I finished uploading my October Orchid photos onto Facebook as my emergency back-up.
We had a chicken & sweet potato Biryani, with Dahl & yoghurt Raita from the little General Store at Young’s Siding, for dinner. It was OK without being awesome. Good to support the local businesses, we feel.
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Young Lake |
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Anvil Beach |
HE SAID:
Where we had initially parked the van did not allow the awning to be fully opened. I hadn’t thought of that until a couple of days ago. And, as I wanted to work on the awning we had to move the van. It wasn’t a big deal, just a bit of a pain. Now I don’t have an excuse to avoid my jobs.
I collected the Biryani around 6:30 and zoomed back to the house. It made a nice change, in an amateur way, rather than being restaurant standard. But that was all we needed, so we scoffed it pronto, surprised that the theoretical meal for one did us both.
