Sadly have had to say goodbye to our great mates Jack and Julie (Uma and Upa). They have made plans to head up to Carnarvon for a while to volunteer to be caretakers for the local museum up there. Boo and Meg will miss them terribly, as will Marty and l. We have all become very fond of them and have many laughs. Julie has enjoyed playing the Nan role and has been so wonderful with Boo especially, teaching her to sew on her sewing machine. Boo has decorated our face washers with many patterns and even helped Julie make her own book bag for school. Thanks to Julie l wont have to worry about stains on my white couch cushions anymore. I brought some material from Spotlight and she whipped up some cushion covers for them, and they are now even fitted!! Took longer than l thought and felt so bad for how much time Julie had to spend, but she never complained. Marty will miss his conversations with Jack, seems they both found a mate ship in one another to escape from their wives. Hopefully we will cross paths with them at some point before leaving WA.
Something new is that l have joined the local gym with Amanda back in July and all l have to say is "Ouch"! Oh the pain!! Did my first body pump class and took me a week to be able to sit on the toilet without crying!! Lol... So as you can tell my focus, other than building the bank balance up, is going to be on getting me fitter and stronger, and hopefully loose a bit of weight along the way. Will be good to have a gym buddy too. Have completed some 5km runs with my best time so far being 30 minutes and 40 seconds. Feeling pretty chuffed with the result seeing 10 months ago couldn't even run at all!! Am actually loving running and finding the treadmill can be my friend. Starting to see some definite changes in my body measurements too, already dropping a size. So good on me l say!!!
I'm working at prison only now, giving the hospital gig up as not worth the it with the second job tax. Getting plenty of work, only in the week when Marty is home, and occasionally doing some school hours when he's away. The prison is having its ups and downs. Struggling with some of the personalities of the staff, very bossy, intimidating at times and unprofessional. Along with that is the fact that l am struggling with looking after criminals with sentences relating to child sexual abuse. Weird to say, but preferring to look after the murderers as at least their victims are dead and not left suffering and reliving their trauma. Worst still, most paedophiles are re offenders, so why lock them up to start with? Anyway, apart from that, am loving the diversity of the work. Have always done acute nursing, so good to look after those with chronic disease and primary care issues. Starting to feel comfortable with knowing the system and way the prison works. Officers are great to work with, have a good banter with them as well as a laugh or two!
Marty is loving his job out at Karara mine. To me it feels like his whole persona has shifted, he looks so happy. Reckon its due to him pulling in the big bucks and feeling "like the breadwinner". He's loving the fact that he has a week off too!
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| Just another day at work! Glad l don't have to wash his clothes.....lol. |
The girls are having an absolute blast with the Woods and Cronan's. Enjoying school and have made some great friends. Both Charlotte's have decided that they would like to have a few horse riding lessons. Decided to send them out a few times to 'Bonsai Jacks' horse riding school (Mike from the prison owns it), pity he didn't give us mates rates though. Was quite funny as tried to explain to Boo how much time and effort took place in owning and riding a horse, didn't take long before she understood. She thought horse riding would be more glamorous, she found that it was hard work even just riding it. Must say l was a proud mummy watching her up on the horse walking it around the arena directing it with the reigns all by herself. She looked so beautiful up there, a natural horse rider.
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| Meg found her own horse to ride! |
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| Smarty pants first lesson and already doing it by herself! |
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| Meg even gets a go.... |
Was after about four lessons that Boo decided she wanted to join up to gymnastics lessons with Meg. Whilst Boo was sitting out until next term for gymnastics due to the cost of horse riding lessons, Meg was excelling at the gymnastics. She was a natural. Was great to see her mixing with girls her own age as shes usually the youngest tagging along with the older kids. Also good to have both of the girls doing 'normal' out of school activities. The gymnastics so far has been great for both their confidences and agility.
The girls schooling was going great. Meg has a fantastic teacher, Mrs Salisbury. She's absolutely gorgeous and you can tell she loves teaching. So many times she has commented on how much she has enjoyed Meg joining the class, she has brought so much character and fun to the group. Boo is also enjoying her teacher, Mrs Westlake, but l personally am not a fan of her. I have helped out a few times in class and have found that she is a bit patronising to the students, but the main thing is that Boo likes her and that's all that counts. The girls both had a ball at their first ever school sports day. They were in the Augustus faction and had a blast learning their faction song, their faction colour being blue. Meg came 2nd in her sprint race and Boo did really well, coming last, but gave it a red hot go. They both participated well and got heaps of participation ribbons that they cherish, pining them to the curtains near their beds.
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| Meg got 2nd in her running race!! |
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| Boo did so well at the team sports! |
Over the past few months we have managed to do a few trips out and around Geraldton to explore the area. On Father Day, along with the Cronans and Woods, we headed out to explore the wild flower country. We stopped off at
Dongara Pub, a cool little place really. The pub had very big and inexpensive delicious meals. Was so good to have a break from work and hang out together. Haven't had a chance lately as all our works overlap with everyone finishing at odd times or different having days off. This was probably the first 'day out' for everyone in a long while since starting work.
After filling our bellies we headed out to Coalseam National Park to be disappointed with the small display of wildflowers. I don't know whether l had high expectations, or that we had gone out a bit early, but there was definitely disappointment by everyone at the lack of wildflowers to be seen. So after the Coalseam we endeavoured to find a better display and decided to take part of the "Wildflower" drive to Mullewa. Just outside of town we say more wildflowers on the side of the road than in the Coalseam NP. We stopped off and picked up some gorgeous little flowers to make our memorabilia bunches.
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| The "Woods", "Cronans" and us at the Coalseam NP lookout- minus me in the pic obviously....always the photographer! |
When we arrived in Mullewa we checked out the town hall that had a wildflower expedition on, luckily they were nearly closing and let us in for free, otherwise l don't think l would have paid for what we saw. Nice to see the different varieties all the same. The ladies where gorgeous old country folk, nice to chat to.
We went up the hill to check out the old Catholic Church, fantastic old place that is being kept well looked after by the locals. Not much of a fan of religion, but do love looking inside different churches, and this one was stunning. So much detail in the lead light windows. What is so ironic is that Boo has a deep fascination with God and religion. She has been going to church on occasion with Nikki when she takes the kids. Loves dressing up, singing songs and listening to stories l reckon.
Anyway, after checking out the mud brick church we headed to the other church, the local pub. Had a quite drink and enjoyed some chips whilst checking out the replica on the walls. Saw a few dark complexion locals walking out with their slabs on shoulders so reckon this place is not a dry community. Since working in the prison have met some of the Mullewa locals, most in for domestic violence, driving without a licence or incest. Just the usual!!!
After the stop at Mullewa pub we found that we weren't having much luck with the wildflowers so on the way home we tried to find a few small 4X4 tracks to head down for some fun. Marty's eyes lite up when he found a semi-moderate puddle to hoon thru, turning the car a nice darker brown color!! We accidentally came across some old graves and monuments recognising a vicious time in Aboriginal history. Was where a group of aboriginal men killed some white policemen, viciously murdered. Sent chills down my spine reading about it, and cant believe what you can find out in the middle of nowhere!! After this, we decided it was getting late so made our way home, taking a few more hours, arriving home at dark, everyone very tired from a big outing.
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| Stone monument to recognise the murdered policemen |
Another trip out, when Marty was unfortunately away at the mines, was to the Chapman Valley Show. Chapman Valley is a small country town out east of Geraldton. The drive out there was beautiful, with rolling hills and farming country. The girls had a ball on all the rides and seeing the horses and sheep shearing. They had a blast watching a 'magician' show with Jake getting chosen to participate. Now Jake is right into magic so this was the bees knees for him. Following the magician show was a very ordinary belly dancing display. I was gobsmacked at the amount of large ladies shaking their flabby bellies to the public. Quite grotesque but fascinating all the same, couldn't keep my eyes off them!
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Stunning conola fields on the way to Chapman Valley
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Kids had a blast on the dodgem cars!!
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| "All happy with our show bags!!" |
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| Everyone's a winner! |
Following the fun day out we had to head back to get ready for Wil Cronans communion. Was nice to dress up in our 'fancy' clothes for a night out, but the girls and l did miss Marty seeing everyone else's families were complete. We went to St Frances Cathedral, which apart from it being Wil's communion l was wanting to check out the inside of this spectacular cathedral. It was a huge let down....the outside states so much presence and history to the town but they have ruined the inside with modern styling, having peach striped painting done on the ceiling, makes it look terrible. Anyway, was humbling to be invited to a very proud family occasion for the Cronan's. Wil did fantastically. After this we headed to 'Bitez' for dinner where l was blown away with the best chicken burger l had tasted in a long time. Again, another long day, all knackered by the end.....
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| Kids a bit crazy from the Chapman Valley Show just before the Communion..... |
The girls have had their own share of fun times with Meg getting invited to birthday parties and play dates. Was great to see Meg having her own friends for once instead of being a tag along to Boo. She had a wonderful time at Pages Beach with all her school mates for the twins b'day party, Siony and Samarha. Patrick, Ben, Kaven, Kaden, Zade and Halo where there all causing a raucous. The mothers embraced me as their own with Rachel, Sherry, Kylie, Mel, Katrina, and Emily making me feel very welcome to and invited to join their close nit group. Glad to have met some more people and they are so interested in our travels and stories. Boo has also been having play dates with her mates from school. She is part of a group with Kate, Ella and Ethan. All are great kids and very country, no noses in the air which will suit Boo's easy going nature.
One day while taking the girls to gymnastics we unfortunately came into some bad luck. Were driving down the street, stopped at an intersection when suddenly we were faced with a driver taking the corner too wide and for some reason didn't know how to brake. Before we knew it we had a Toyota Ascent stuck to our bull bar and all crumbled up with a middle aged Indian woman looking a tad distressed. Boo was crying as she got a fright and hit her head on the fire extinguisher stuck on the back cage. I was surprised at how well Marty handled the situation. Usually he flies off the handle and goes a bullet a gate, but this time he calmly got out and went to see if the lady and man were OK before even checking the condition of the Patrol out. Very impressed with my man. Long story short, they were new to Geraldton and to driving. Their car being a hire car, whoops for that company as looked like a total ride off. The Patrol looked like it fared well at the time, until we went to lift the bonnet up and couldn't due to the bull bar jamming it. So, we got a brand new ARB bull bar at $1500 replaced and the Indian couple got a welcome to Aussie driving road rules. Even though we were earning big money, big money also needed to be spent on the car. The poor Nissan was starting to need some attention. $3000 later and the poor old girl was looking a bit better. New tyres, shockers and new windscreen and the outside looked beautiful. Unfortunately, underneath looked a little worse with it sagging on back R) corner. Marty eventually identifying that it needed the top hat for the back springs welding up as they had torn off the chassy. One of the downsides to carrying so much weight on the old girl!! Took a while to find someone qualified to fix it and get the parts from Perth, anyone would think we were getting them from overseas in how long it took to get to Geraldton (4 hours up the road)! Fingers crossed all this preparation and detail to fixing the Nissan up will give us another couple of years on the road without too much incidence.
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| Whoops! |
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| The Toyota Accent was the looser!! |
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| Looks ok, hey, pity the bonnet wouldn't go up! |
Sadly Marty couldn't be with us for Boo's and my birthday. When he first got contracted to the mines he put off starting for a week so he could be home for Megs birthday, but in doing that he now has to miss Boo's, mine and even Christmas! Now who's the favourite one in the family hey? Not at all, we just never thought about it really. Even with us being sad, Marty was even more gutted and hated being away from his big girl on her birthday.
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Love my daddy......
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She did wake all happy and excited, then l showed her a birthday message Marty had put on facebook to her and she broke down crying, saying she wanted her daddy home. Very heartbreaking :( After l settled her down and we phoned Marty, she became a bit better, but all throughout her birthday it was a bit up and down. Seeing her dad was away l tried to make a bigger than usual deal about it being her birthday. In the morning l had booked her into getting her ears pierced, which she was nervous and excited about!!
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| Such a brave girl! Not a tear..... |
Luckily her birthday was on a weekend and we had a party for her with only Ethan being able to come from her mates at school. We still had the Harry, Wil and Emma join us and everyone enjoyed playing the party games and getting the treats for winning. That night we had a little party with the Woods and Cronans and all enjoyed a marvellous gourmet ice cream and lolly cake, all made by moi. She got very spoilt with her pressies, one being a Furby like Meg got earlier in the year and also some awesome Friends Lego.
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| Awesome little group of mates... |
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| Kids loved dancing freeze. |
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| Best friends forever!! |
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| Getting ready for pin the tail on the Nissan! |
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| Always fun on the jumping pillow...don't get that at every b'day party! |
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| Showing off my whip skills! |
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Happy birthday gorgeous girl!
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| Never too old to get a kiss from mum! |
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| Bonus of dad away.....two birthday cakes to make up for it! |
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| Our travelling family celebrations.... |
My birthday was to follow a couple of weeks later and the girls were more upset that l would get lonely while they were at school and Marty was away at the mine. Such precious minds they have. I, on the other hand, had quite a good day even though it was quiet. I went to the gym (l know l am obsessed) and then laid around and watched a movie before having to pick the girls up from school. Amanda made it very special, making me a cake and Boo, Meg, Charlotte and Jake made up a song for me. It was totally gorgeous. They all made signs and were so proud of themselves, as they should be, it was very sweet. I did miss Marty though, but it was definitely made easier by having mates around trying to distract me from the fact.
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| Felt very special.....thanks Woodies and my awesome girls! |
Many weekends have been spent riding down the foreshore, letting the kids frolic at the water park and on the playground and finishing up with chip sanga's from Rosies. Really miss Marty on the weekends when all the other families are doing fun activities together. Even though he is making good money, being such a lengthy work stay, he is missing out on so much. I suppose it is only a small sacrifice with a long term benefit.
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| Not a bad view of the foreshore across the road from the caravan park hey? |
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| Loving life! |
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| Always deep in thought!! |
On one weekend, there was a Mardi Gras parade on in town that the kids got a buzz out of......
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| Kids all excited for the parade... |
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| Girls wanted to march in the parade!! |
We had missed the 'HardFirms' like crazy and so disappointed they couldn't be with us on this work stop. They have set up shop at Perth and are working like crazy to save like the rest of us. We decided we needed a break from 'Gero' and decided to take a long weekend trip down to Perth to visit them. We had a blast but it went so quick. Great to hang out, when on some site seeing around Freemantle and checked out the markets, so cool and OMG the caramel popcorn is to die for. We also went and spent up big at K-Mart! I know, how sad, but we are really missing this shopping in Gero, they only have Best & Less and Target. Needless to say, we brought stuff we didn't need thinking we would never see another K-Mart for months! Whilst at the shopping complex we saw a snake guy with all types of snakes on displays. Of course, the travelling kids just walked up and got to handle the snakes. No hanging back in the back of crowds with these kids! One of the pythons looked so heavy that all the kids couldn't even hold it together. Definitely had a great time with Ton, Cam, Riley and Jordan and cant wait to hopefully travel with them next year when we head North.
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| Love Kings Park! |
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| Freo Markets awesome! |
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| Not sure l'm trusting Meg's cheeky face.... |
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| View of Perth from hill at Ton and Cam's |
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Had a blast catching up with the 'HardFirms"!
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So the last few months seem like nothing has happened, but since writing it down, looks like we've had a bit going on. No wonder I'm bloody tired!! Phew.... Lol..... Have decided to stay for another school term next year and head north in April when the weather is better. If things keep going well then we can have more time off from work in the long run........
Bell Xxx
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