Outback ...

Headed up to Gabyon station for a couple of days.

The weather was perfect - well a touch cold, but that just meant we could build a large fire each night to cook on and to keep warm.

Shooting Buddy cooked some delicious dinners using the dutch oven and the coals from the fire.  We had some steaks the first night with vegies, and lamb legs & vegies the second night.

The girls also did bananas and apples in foil for desert.

Hubby was on breakfast duty and the eggs & bacon for breakfast was delicious (but not cooked over the open fire :) ).

One of the things that's really hard on these types of holidays is that you don't want rain, but know that the station owners - and farmers in the district really, really, really need the rain.  Unfortunately it didn't rain while we were there.

This is our second trip to Gabyon, and we stayed in the quarters near the main house again.  These have REALLY comfortable beds and all the mod-cons, like power and hot water (well when you get the donkey going anyway).

Was surprised to see a microwave now in the kitchen - and no, we didn't use it :)

The owners are lovely - and it was great catching up with them, and doing some clay target shooting together.

We also did a bit of driving around one of the break-aways - Miss 13 decided she was on the hunt for skulls, so lots of dead animals were investigated.

Here are some photos of the trip:

Maija, our Finnish Exchange Student - at the Outback sign on the Morowa -> Yalgoo Road

Maija and Miss 13 climbing the hill (yes, they are in the photo)

And off for a horse ride - they had fun, even with the unexpected canter :)

If you want more photos, check out the last year's visit here.

A Visit to the Outback

On the 14th of April, the family, plus our Japanese Exchange Student and Shootin Buddy headed up to the Outback.  Our destination was a Sheep Station at Gabyon.  This is their webpage and is worth checking out.

It's a 6 or so hour drive from Perth.  And on the whole the roads are very good.  There had been some recent rains and one of the bridges was half washed out, and there were a few bumpy creek crossings but it certainly was achievable and 4x4 wasn't needed.

Passed the sign and prior to the station there were a few creeks that ran down to the road which would be worth exploring in the future.  This time however, we just went straight to the Station.

The turn off from the main road was well signposted, however when we got into the station itself we were a bit unsure of where we actually were to go.  Luckily the station owners had seen us arrive (they had been out mustering but had returned earlier than expected) and were able to point us in the right direction.

The owners, Mike, Helen & their daughter Gemma, are wonderful and friendly people.  Over the course of our stay they could not have done more to make us feel welcome.

They have two options for accommodation (and you can also camp / park a caravan), and we chose the "homestead" option.  This is a wing near the main house (separated by a fence), with three rooms each with a queen bed and a single bed, a kitchen, bathroom, outdoor dining table, outdoor fire pit, and BBQ all with power.  As there were 6 of us, this worked out nicely.

The property is a working sheep station on 271, 500 hectares and we were able to see them mustering sheep from one of the paddocks using quads and a small plane.  

During our time there, Miss 12 got to help out with the horses, our Japanese Exchange Student got to bottle feed kangaroos, Miss 14 learnt how to vacuum a pool and then got to enjoy the pool (except it was too cold to stay in the water for long) and we all got to go on a hike and do some exploring.

Here are some more of our photos

January Wrap

Wow, another year flying by!!!

January was very quiet on the work front :(  BUT very busy in every other way.  Being school holidays meant that most of my time was taken up with the girls.

Miss 12 had an operation on her ingrowing toenail which meant that she couldn't spent all her time with horses so she was around pretty much full time for most of January.

Miss 14 had swimming lessons for her Bronze Medallion re-certification.  Due to her illness last year she hasn't done much sport at all for a long time, but thankfully she was still fit enough to cope with the swimming requirement of the Bronze Medallion and still remembered all of her first aid and resuscitation information necessary to pass.  (Well she did a Senior First Aid / CPR certificate in November so I would have been surprised if she hadn't of passed!).

After all of this was out of the way, we went down to Dunsborough for a week.  Really love it down there.  We visited all of our favourite spots - Millars Ice-Creamery; the Candy Cow in Cowaramup; Bootleg Brewery; and Treeton Estate.  For those who know the area and haven't been to any of these, they're all highly recommended.

In addition we discovered a new bakery - mmm, can't find it on Google and Google Maps has an old photo when it was a fruit shop (it's at Boodjidup Rd if anyone is looking for it, right next to the second hand place); went to a distillery, visited Boranup Cafe and Gallery,  and drove through Boranup Forest.

We returned to Perth on Friday the 29th,  a couple of hours before our Exchange Student from Japan was to arrive.  Her plane was late, so that gave us another hour to get sorted and pick her up.

The last couple of days of January were spent sorting out school uniforms, finding a Kangaroo and generally getting her and the other two ready for school on the Monday.

Miss 12 starts High School at a new school, Miss 14 goes into Year 9 and our Exchange Student is mainly doing the Year 9 classes with Miss 14, which a couple of changes.

I will let you know how they're all doing in my next post :)

I hope everyone else's years got off to a good start :)

Road Trip

Well I have just been on one of the best road trips since I was married (and that was a long time ago).

The first leg of the trip was from home to Shooting Buddy's place in Carnamah.  As this is a 3.5hr drive we stayed overnight there before heading to the property which is East of Paynes Find - see "A" on the map.

The property is in what is known as "Station Country".  It is approximately 551,300 acres in size and covers some of the most spectacular country I've ever seen.

Here's some photos:

There were also a lot of animals - can you spot the two kangaroos in this picture?

Or the three in this one?

Then there were the emus:

Goats:

In addition to the animals there were lots of lizards -

This is one of the bigger ones we saw.  Unfortunately the smaller ones didn't hang around for photos.

The scenery during the day was spectacular and at night the sunsets were also fantastic -

Although it wasn't wildflower season there were a few flowers around, this one was my favourite

There were also a number of old structures on the property:

This is a well -

And this is called the "Camel Camp", where the camels used to be broken in -

We self-catered and the food was good :)  Here's breakfast day 1:

Lunch -

And for a yummy snack - Yabbies -

We didn't end up doing much hunting - but we got four rabbits that I'm looking forward to eating!

All in all a GREAT holiday and the place we stayed (Narndee Station) is highly recommended.  The station managers (John & Judy) are lovely, generous people and we had a great time with them.

One of the most amazing things about the trip is that between the time we left Paynes Find (Friday lunchtime) until we returned there (Monday mid-afternoon) we did not see another vehicle on the roads.  We must have traveled over 500kms between these two events and there was not another vehicle at all.  That was a bit of an eye-opener to the remoteness of the place.

Oh, and if you're looking for a good feed, you can't go past the Steak Burger at the Paynes Find roadhouse.

Off again ...

I know I've been pretty slack with blogging recently - I'm not sure why - lots of things have been happening, I guess I'm just not in the mood to write about it.

Anyway, for those who still check in here, I thought I would let you know that I'm heading "up north" (further than normal) for a week for work.  I'll be in Karratha for a couple of days and then Port Hedland - getting back to Perth late on Friday afternoon.

Catch you all later!

I like "Country"

No, not the music - well some of it is okay, I guess.  Country people, places, scenery, lifestyle - that sort of country!

I've just got back from four days away "country" delivering training.  My first port of call was a place called Northam, about 100km east of where I live.  I was there for three days and had a great time.  The guys in the office and in my training courses were fantastic.  (There was a little hiccup with the computers not arriving in time for the first scheduled course but that was the only downside to the trip).

I then headed further east (about 150kms) to Merredin.  Same thing - although I was only there a day.

The drive was nice - didn't encounter any roos although saw quite a few dead ones on the side of the road - and accommodation although wasn't five star (nor four, three ... ) it was adequate.  One thing that was a bit sad is how dry the country-side is looking.  There were a few fields of canola which looked pretty nice, but a couple of fields of wheat weren't doing too well.

I'm heading north next weekend - so it will be interesting to see if it's any greener up there.

PS If you're looking for a good burger when you're out that way, the roadhouse at Meckering is the place to stop!

Just got back from 'up north'

The family, Shooting Buddy and I spent 5 nights "up north" doing a range of fun things. It's a pretty nice time to visit the region as it's not too hot and the wildflowers were still out (however, so were the flies which weren't quite as nice). We did get some hunting in but there weren't as many rabbits around as I had hoped and we didn't see a single fox.

Here are some pictures from the trip:

Found around the farm

A Bush Turkey - first time I've ever seen one

Miss 8 hiding in the Wheat

And Miss 10 checking it out

Miss 10 driving my car (automatic) for the first time, all survived

Miss 8 obviously enjoyed her turn at the wheel

And over at the "other" farm Miss 8's favourite animal

Seen while Out and About
This area is near the farm and is known as 'The Salmons'

Termite Mounds - seen on a detour to Coalstream Park

Still some water around at Coalstream, yes they did get muddy

Pink & Grey Galah - Sitting in a nest - seen at Coalstream

Budgies - again seen at Coalstream

There are lots of salt lakes in the area ...

We found some caves to explore

Can't get away from those *(&*(^ phones

Wildflowers:

All in all a great trip. Check out my previous posts if you want to know more about the area here, here, here, here, here, here and here.

Country Agricultural Show

My hubby grew up on a farm in the wheatbelt. I've been there once or twice but we've never taken the girls (it's 2hrs from home and seriously there's not much reason to go there). However, I discovered on Friday that yesterday was the town's Show Day.

So hoping that the rain will hold off we decided to head out.

Apart from quite a few "when will we get theres" it was a nice drive, with Miss 10 reading a book all the way and Miss 8 playing on a DS or counting horses.

What amazed me was how green it was. The rain we've had lately has really made a difference - most of the soaks were full and the crops were looking good.

Anyway, eventually we got to the show grounds and had a look around - some of the highlights:

We had a go of the defib machine at the St John's display. Apparently there are three defib machines around the town and they're trying to educate the local people in their use.



Miss 8 trying chest compressions:



The trick riding demonstration was pretty neat too:



And the little train ride was a hit:



The girls really liked the vintage farm machinery and car display. Miss 8 trying one of the tractors on for size:



Miss 10 enjoyed mainly walking around looking at all the different displays and crafts. The girls found a heap of second hand books they wanted at one of the bric brac stores. And we lunched on roo burgers (well Miss 10 and I did anyway, Miss 8 stuck to a normal sausage sizzle and hubby went for the kebabs). The kids free activity tent was also a hit - with the girls getting about 8 temporary tattoos each!

After wandering around and having a good look (we were there for about 5 hours), we decided not to stay for the fireworks but to have a drive around the town instead - here the girls are standing on a street named after hubby's family:




We then drove out to the old farm - it's still currently in the family, but is up for sale. Hubby's relative was home and he was happy to show us around magnificant house. I wish hubby had got a few more pictures of the place. I was amazed at the height of the ceilings (18ft). Here are the girls standing at the front door:



By now it was getting dark so we headed home after promising to get back in touch and visit again!