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| "The Shack" we rented for the weekend....so much more spacious than a crav |
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| Boo loved the rope swing at the Shack... |
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| The old jetty at Jurien Bay... |
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| Girls loved jumping off this Jetty.. |
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| Marina at Jurien Bay |
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| Beach view of Jurien Bay |
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| Boogie boards were out at Sandy Cape!! |
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| Time for some drinks and enjoy the balcony view.. |
On Australia Day itself, we hung out on the beach at Jurien Bay but was a little too windy and cool. We ended up making our way back to the sea shack and hanging out for the rest of the day. The kids were happy, all they wanted to do since arriving at 'the shack' was to sit around and watch a movie on the big tv. So Amanda, Mark, Marty and l got the nibblies organised and had a few beverages. We dressed the kids, and older kids (aka Mark and Marty), in their Australia Day hats and they had a ball tattooing their faces with the Aussie Flags. By the time dinner was ready, l was very pickled. Then after that, it just seemed to get more hazy. All l can tell you is that Amanda and l took a stroll over to the beach at what time l thought was around 10pm, when in actual fact it was only 7:30pm and stripped off to our undies and singlets and had a float in the ocean. I do recall Marty coming down to check on us to make sure neither had drowned and on the way back l think l drunkenly informed a young couple to make sure to use contraception as l was the result of having kids (being drunk so early and easy)......yet another embarrassing moment by the ocean drunk, seems to be a bit of a pattern!!! The next day we woke and cleaned up, my seediness apparent.
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| Kids were super excited!!! Party time.... |
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| Amanda getting into the spirit!!! |
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Post my sunset swim!!! Obviously not enough to
drink lol.. |
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| Kids all knackered after a big day celebrating Australia!!! |
We decided to call in to see the 'Pinnacles' on the way home. Was pretty cool driving thru the park with all these ancient rocks pointing out from the ground. The limestone spires are thought to be millions of years old, quite a cool experience walking thru them, although the heat from the sun and my hangover were dulling the experience a little. The girls had fun running around playing pretending to be in another land, we had to remind them not to climb them. Was expecting greatness from this place, all the pictures l'd seen looked amazing, but maybe from all the other great things we've seen in the country it didn't stack up as high. Still, glad we went and saw it.
We all finally reached home to Geraldton and l headed down to the beachfront to check out the Australia Day local sand sculpting competition. Looked so cool and more greater in size than l expected. There was one that caught my eye and it was of a Holden sedan dragging a caravan behind it, such an Aussie icon and really captured our life.
Finally school holidays were over and the girls started their last term at Geraldton Primary School. Boo had a fantastic teacher for Grade 3, Mrs Archdale, who Boo informed me had taught there for over 17 years!!! After meeting her seemed like she was a bit old school, think Boo would really get alot out of her. Meg was in Mrs Westlakes class and had been split up from most of her mates from last year, but as usual she took it in her stride and made new friends. The girls both decided to forgo gymnastics this year and wanted to have a crack at soccer. So we joined them up and they had a ball. Both of the girls teams were full of their mates and all got along well, encouraging one another.
Was so happy that end of February had arrived as we had booked our trip back East to visit family and friends. We were 10 months into our stay at Gero and apart from our visit from Boof, Nik and Ella in December, we hadnt seen any of our mates for over a year!! We spent a crazy 13 days visiting everyone, with having done 4 states, 3 flights and over 900km by car driving! First we drove down to Perth to catch our flight and called into see Ton, Cam, Jordyn and Riley quickly, as always enjoyed laughs and great to see these beautiful people again.
Time for the marathon East catch up to begin....
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| Girls all packed!!! |
Our plane ride from Perth to Brisbane went without incident and Uncle Boofa was there to pick us up. Even though we had caught up with these guys in December, we always love hanging out with them. Seeing we have little family in our lives, we cherish our moments shared together. We had a fabulous 5 nights with them and got to see their new house. Very big and flash, Boof and the girls had fun splashing around and playing games in the pool. Boo and Meg were stuck to Ella's hip whenever she was awake, loving time with the baby cousin. We mostly chilled out, Nik and l enjoyed a day out shopping and having lunch out whilst on another day the boys went for a hit of golf. We all had fun at the park and some walks about town....
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Ella got the best time being pushed
around by Boo.. |
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| Aunty Ninnie and the girls having some fun! |
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| Always fun in the pool with Uncle Boofa!! |
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| Meg loved playing with her cousin Baby Ella |
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| Fun in the sprinklers..... |
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| I'm the king of the castle.... |
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| Girls fell in love with the bath....caravan cant fit one of those in!!! |
Nik and l took the girls to Coloundra markets where the girls took a while to work out that the statue was in fact a lady painted up. They sort of freaked out when she moved!!! Lol.
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| See why they freaked out...how good is she?! |
The best day we had was when we drove up to Noosa for the day and did the cliff walk up to the lookout. The weather was a bit iffy with clouds coming over quick. Half way thru the walk it started drizzling but this just added to the fun of the walk. Baby Ella had a great time in the pram, even if she did get a little damp! Was cool seeing the surfers out offshore and walking around the cliffs with their boards. After a busy few days it was sadly time to say goodbye once again, every time we leave Ella l just know that next time we see her she will be more grown up.
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| Boo thought it would be a good idea to have a game of rock golf!! |
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| Surfers galore!! |
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| Boo decided to add to the friendship rock |
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| Time for a picnic after a long walk..... |
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| ...before a swim.. |
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| Uncle Boofa always looking after the girls.... |
We flew from Brisbane to Melbourne and picked up our hire car and called into to say a quick hello to our mates Naomi, Noah, Meisje and Minnie. We hadn't yet met Minnie, she arrived in between since our last visit. Had a great few hours, walking down to surprise the kids picking them up from school. Sadly we had to leave as we had so many people crammed into our Victoria stay to visit.
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| Meg, Minne, Boo and Meisje |
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| Williams (aka Naomi) and l |
So we drove to Alana, Rhetts, Ella, Marlee and Teisha for the night, first time meeting Teisha too. All these mates who are still having babies, seems every time we call back home theres more kids names to remember!!! Always love catching up with this mob, such country hospitality and is always like we had never spent anytime apart.
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| Marlie, Meg, Ella and Boo |
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| All the gals!! |
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| Lan and me |
Next morning we headed into Kyabram to catch up with Nan and Pop Hindson who we were eager to see. Pop had just gotten out of hospital after needing an emergency triple heart bypass. Was so great to see them and we could tell they were just as excited to see us. They couldnt stop looking at the girls marvelling at how much they have grown. We had a brilliant few hours, Nan and Pop putting their usual lunch spread on. We were even lucky that Aunty Cheree, Aunty Caroline and Aunty Madelynne called in too.
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| Nan and Pop..... |
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| Aunty Cherie has been so great to us......loved seeing her again. |
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| My favorite photo of all......l used to sit and marvel whilst Nan played the piano the same way..... |
We spent the next few days hanging out at Shepparton catching up with Fiona, Chris, Mia and Nate and also staying at Nelly's, Trev, Ethan, Reece and Cades. We had great times and unfortunately was short lived due to our busy schedule. Thankfully we were all able to get together and have dinner and a few beers. All the kids played together like they were best mates, enjoying bombing each other in the pool.
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| Nate, Meg, Mia and Boo |
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| Baby Cade, Boo, Reece, Meg and Ethan |
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| Boo, Ethan, Mia, Reece, Nate, Baby Cade and Meg all loony after a nights swim!! |
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| Me, Fi and Nelly...my 'home girls'.. |
The whirlwind East coast tour continued with next stop being for a couple of nights at Mel, Corz, Bailey, Chloe and Josh's in Tocumwal. Miss this chick so much, so was great to be able to spend some quality time with her. We spent a lovely day down the Murray with the kids loving the donut rides behind the tinnie!!! Cant believe the time l visit Liss and she was on a health drive and dragged me to two boot camp workouts! Felt like l hadn't been in the gym forever but was only a few days since l'd done a run. Needless to say, l was pretty sore from all the bloody squats. Even found more muscles that l hadn't worked before!!
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| Nice to sit and relax, enjoying a bev or two..... |
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| Double trouble....Chloe and Meg |
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| girls enjoying a ride in the boat with 'Uncle' Corza!! |
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| Boo and Bailey having a ride on the donut....Meg the spotter |
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| Corza's up...... |
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| ....then he's down!!! |
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| Nothing better than a cider drifting in the dingy down the Murray.... |
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| Quick kiss while the kids aren't looking.... |
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| Stacks on Corza!!! |
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| Now its Corza's turn to stack on kids!!! |
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| Bubble trouble! |
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| Baby Josh, Bailey, Meg, Chloe and Boo |
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| Love this chick!!!! Me and Mel xxx |
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| Our 'last supper' together and Chloe's beat!! |
Last stop of our Vic tour was at Dusk, Peters, Jackson and Liams in Echuca. Again, totally miss this chick, is my rock! We spent three nights and it went too quick. The boys were allowed to have a day off school so we headed over to Moama and spent the morning at the splash park. Kids had more of a blast inside throwing plastic balls at each other and scrambling thru the indoor gym. Dusk and l relaxed on the chairs and had the chance to catch up with minimal interruptions. Don't know what has gotten into my mates, but Dusk decided to take me for a 5km run thru the bush. Bloody knackered with all this exercise on this trip, cant believe l was worried about leaving the gym. Even though l bitch, it was great to do with her, she always motivates me to challenge myself more. The run showed me that l can actually run faster if l tried, even if l had a stitch for the last bit and couldn't breath!!! Time goes to quick and before we knew it our time was up and we had to say goodbye. So love catching up with Pete, Dusk and the boys....
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| Liam lining Marty up for a ball in the head..... |
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| Meg, Liam, Jackson and Boo cooling off... |
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Game time!!!
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| This chick is my rock.....miss her to bits!!! Dusk and l post run, all smiles now! |
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| Dusk, me and Lan.....together once more! |
After a mammoth effort catching up with everyone, it was time to get back to Gero to finish our last two months up before getting back on the road again. This visit, although exhausting, has been just what we needed to complete our work stop.....
Well that's the end of Part One......stay tuned for part two of our last months in Gero!!!!
Bell Xxx
