Absent With Out Leave

Brrrr... a wet, chilly morning in Margaret River, lovely. The birds are excited and happy, the trees full of ripening olives, macadamias and mandarins. My Acanthus are all popping up after a very dry summer.

Woodman Point, Munster. A popular spot for kite boarding

Tom Wenman, the plumber (part time prospector and author, more about our Tom later) is engaged in a list of works which included plumbing up my kitchen sink. Two 900mm x 900mm soak wells have to go in the drive way to take the water from the roof. Getting ready to have a dishwasher installed. Also going to make it so I can have an outdoor hot/cold shower outside under the macadamia tree. We are going to design it so there is a flexible hose that runs up the tree and the big 'rain' shower head is hung from the branches. I think I will put some decking and a bench under it as well. The tree will love that water.

Tasty Express @ B Shed Wharf, Fremantle

Tasty Express @ B Shed Wharf, Fremantle

Fremantle Wharf. My Grandfather used to work the beat on these wharves as a policeman

Fremantle Wharf

I had a fabulous week in Fremantle, Northam and Perth. The Hot Air Ballooning was so good. I seriously recommend it. Mothers Day was lovely. Caught up with my mate Mary Q, our excuse (any excuse) for breakfast at Tastys Express @ B Shed Wharf, Fremantle, was that we are the dogs Mums! Then I took my Mum to lunch at one of my favourites, Il Lido in Cottesloe. A big day. Mum and I did not have dinner, and after the aged Grappa with my chocolate tart, I have no idea how I even managed a glass of wine in the evening.

Cottesloe Beach on Mother Day, the sea breeze just in

Il Lido Italian Canteen

Il Lido kitchen

Il Lido, Mum & I both had the spatcock with yummy cauliflower salad

Mum had the Drusian Proseco and I had the Snake & Herring  Cab Franc, Merlot 

I got to fit 2 sessions in with my Chiropractor, Kevin Carlson, from Gentle Chiropractic, North Perth. He is seriously good. Trained extra years in Canada and can actually do your xrays. I thought my splitting headaches were from carbon monoxide poisoning (still think something wasn't quite right there), but they have gone away since Kev, manipulated my neck. And, the feet got a bit of attention, they have been giving me a little grief! Thanks Kevin.

Kevin Carlson, Gentle Chiropractic

Gentle Chiropractic

Managed to catch up with Fi and her dog Ben, in Cottesloe @ Kim's Food Bar. Loved it. We sat on a bench out the front with the dogs. A random bloke who loved dogs came and sat with us for a bit and then wandered off. We shared an anti pasta plate, then I had a wrap with veal and tuna mayo, a glass of wine. Casual. Good. Will go back.

This shot is of my dogs, it was Peri's birthday and Dish was sharing in the fun. I bought a beef pie from the Boatshed Markets Bakery. There is a lit candle in the middle which was removed after the birthday song was sung. Thats Mum holding the bowls, careful that the Schnauzer beards weren't burnt!

I also caught up with another girlfriend @ Clancy's Fishbar - City Beach. What a fab venue. I like the atmosphere also. You can walk in, in your bathers (swimming costume), towel and thongs, as one elegant woman did, she had been in the surf and must have been dumped, her hair was full of sand. The meal was very average, I had prawns @ $37, and they were mushy. Not their usual standard, so I would go back. The company made up for it.

A view of Fremantle from Port Coogee on Mothers Day

The old derelict power station @ Coogee, the SAS apparently use it for training. It would make a beautiful hotel. Sad to see it in such bad condition.

It's Bunion Week for me this week. Have got to nail all of that in readiness for Dr Wu in Hong Kong. Can't find my referral for my foot xrays that Dr Graham Velterop wrote up for me. Bugger. Have turned the house up side down. They are probably some where, where I wont forget them!!! I also have to organise short stay accommodation for myself in Fremantle. Have chosen Freo as it could be 'fun' when I'm in the wheel chair. Might even hire one of those motorised ones! OMG I feel like a Nanna (not that there is anything wrong with being a Nanna, it's just that I am not, a Nanna, just dig deeper Cath!)

The Boatshed Markets in Cottesloe rate a mention, it is such a visual feast

The Boatshed Markets, Cottesloe

Hot Air Ballooning, Northam, Awesome

Good Morning,

My girlfriend, whom I nick name Mary Q, was given a gift voucher from her Son as a birthday present. It was for two. MQ chose to invite me to accompany her, and I was thrilled. But, very apprehensive. My Mum has suffered from a fear of heights and because of that, I suppose I haven't been subjected to having any of those experiences. And, I must have unconsciously chosen not to put myself out there to try them.

Up, up and away, looking to the East, awesome!

Rainbow Drifter III

So, without thinking about it much, I suddenly found myself 4500 feet (Damien has corrected me, I thought it was metres! Still a loooong way up) above the Earth!!! I was conscious of words 'silently' swimming around my mind at the time, "OMG!, puckity puck, OMG! puckity puck! Cath don't look down! OMG! Cath, we are 4 and a half kilometers above the ground! OMG! No parachute! We are being driven by an Aero-Nut in control of a bubble of hot air! OMG!"

The words 'Enjoy Your Flight' written on the car roof, the team wave us good bye.

I did not verbalise these things, and I you wouldn't know I was thinking these things either as I was 'Miss Composure', looking like I did this kind of thing all the time. (OMG!) No one else was speaking either, all you could hear was silence, broken only the sound of the gas jet flame and the odd dog, barking in the distance, or the flock of noisy, Sulphur Crested Cockatoos that appeared to be swarming several kilometers below us.

The Sulphur Crested Cockatoo's below.

It was amazing, and I would certainly do it again. Awesome! That feeling of being gently lifted, almost floating. You could feel the occasional, cool of the morning on your cheek, the occasional warmth of the gas jet, above. I went to sleep that night feeling like I was drifting in the balloon once more. I will conjure that feeling again when I feel I need to be comforted.

Cath, pre flight, clutching the cup of tea and finding it hard to smile, nnnnervous!

MQ and I set out from home the day before, we deposited the dogs at the kennels and scurried away without looking back, I freak out leaving my dogs at those places, even though, on one level I know they are in good hands.


We drove up to York and visited some friends from the South Beach Doggie Beach that have a beautiful old house up there. It gets mighty hot there in summer and the earth is red and the bark of the gum trees seem bleached, white, from the heat. How they grow such a beautiful garden I don't know. The old house restored with pressed tin ceilings and the shed, out the back, protecting a couple of beautifully restored cars.

Loving restoration

Doggie lovin mates in York, a great shot.

From there it is only a shortish drive to Northam. The trip to either York or Northam only takes an hour and a half to two hours to get to. An, easy, after work trip for a weekend break. Arriving in Northam, MQ and I decided to do an initial reconnoitre. We didn't want to get lost in the dark, going to our early morning balloon departure. You have to be there by 5.45am! But, it is not even a 5 minute drive from the town.

Northam from the balloon.

After driving out to the aerodrome, we chuckled to ourselves at how organised we are. This gloating didn't last long when MQ realised she had forgotten her camera (OMG, I don't know how she can live with herself!) and then, I realised I had forgotten to pack the entire bottom half of my ballooning ensemb'. No warm jeans, paddock walking shoes or socks. I had even left Margs with out one bra! What a ning nong!


We found the Shamrock Hotel in the main street of Northam, and after dropping the bags in our rooms, retired to the bar to enjoy a beer, off the tap. MQ and I so impressed with the rooms, big, comfy beds, lovely. The pub has got character, as do the staff. The meals amazing. I should have taken a photo of the Guinness Pie, topped with yummy mash, it looked like a dessert and very tasty. I did take a photo of the beer (tragic)!

The bar at The Shamrock Hotel, Northam. Note the little shamrock in the timber work.

The team at Windward Balloon Adventures is headed by Damien Hays and run like a military operation. Not for one minute are you worried about your safety. These guys instill in you that they take your safety very seriously and that there will be no room for error. I am impressed, very impressed. They so deserve the awards they have received.

Damien Hays our pilot, or as he joked Aero-Nut

It is an amazing experience. I highly recommend it. I could write 'reams' about it, but at the end of the day, it's something you just have to do. Damien was our pilot, his skills amazing. After taking off a little humour was let loose and Damien teased us by having a 'tree, leaf picking' opportunity!!! Oh thanks! He reverently manoeuvres us through the different levels of the Earths atmosphere and after an hour and 20 minutes landed us back at the aerodrome (no mean feat when we started off miles away in a farmers paddock and the balloon only has the wind to steer it). Then, and no one could believe it, whilst we were still in the basket (all 17 of us), after landing, he again manoeuvres us, back up a little and then, onto the back of the trailer!

The balloon, ready for take off.

I like the aspect that they then take us to huge and delicious breakfast afterward. A glass of champagne, a buffet and,, a hot cooked breakfast. It all gave us a chance to digest our experience, and get all the 'ooh and ahhhhs' out. Thanks Damien. A job well done. Thank you Mary Q & Son for gifting this experience to me. I really appreciate it. And it will be something I will never forget. I have posted a heap of photos below. Just have to share them.

Our carriage leaving the hangar on its way to the farmers paddock, we follow behind in  a bus.

Windward Balloon Adventures
http://www.ballooning.net.au/

How organised is this!

Other baskets of varying sizes.

Filling the balloon with air.

Filling the balloon with gas.

This shot taken from the balloon looking at our reflection floating over the Avon River

Patterns in the Earth

Love the way the smoke is drifting along the land, the contours flattened out by height

Note the light aircraft below!

Rainbow Drifter III being deflated, how gorgeous is that!

Many hands make light work.

Ballooning logistics, see how close we landed to the tarmac.

The Shackette Demands Attention

Good Morning,


In bed, cup of plunger Yahava Romeo coffee, nursing a hangover, merrily blogging away, feeling better by the minute.

Note the lovely new ceiling!

Gosh, so much going on, not sure where to start... Have spent a heap of time getting the house back together after the ceilings went in. This time last week I was sealing the floors with a 2nd coat. Gosh that stuff gave me a head ache. I had to vacate the house and medicate with a couple of beers. So since then, I have repopulated the main bedroom, the kitchen and bathroom with their respective furniture and bits. Everything getting a good spring clean. Adrian from Swiss Antiques came and put the furniture back together in a proper manner. Correcting the removalists handywork.


Caught up with mates from South Fremantle Doggie Beach, lunching at Settlers Tavern. Everyone enjoyed their meals, Pork Sausages & Mash, a BLT and I had Chicken Satay with their home made satay sauce, Yum.

The kitchens lovely new ceiling :), the old wood burner out, a big thanks to a mate.

Stuart, the Roof Plumber, Leeuwin Ridge Roof Plumbing, has come to discuss fixing a few issues, like what to do with the roof water run off, going down, the down pipe and then, let loose under the house, as I had just discovered. That is not the way it should be!

Must Wine Bar with a group of mates, Friday, after 5 drinks and then their 'sliders', I was drinking Plan B, Tempranillo + Viogner, and the girls were sipping on Lychee Bellini's 

Then, I had to call the plumber, Tom Wenman, as I thought I had a case of Carbon Monoxide poisoning from a leaky stove. When checking the gas pipes under the house, Tom discovered that the kitchen sink was not plumbed in after the trap!!! Right, 'not happy Jan'! Especially not happy because  prior to purchasing my gorgeous little shack, I had employed a Structural Engineer to give me a full building report. The kitchen sink plumbing is something one would think he would have picked up! Any hoooo!!! It was one, of a list of 'interesting' plumbing issues we discovered. I wont bang on about them, as I was allowed to 'vent' last night at Must over a wine or two.

Baby sitting Miss Harriot

Oh, Tom couldn't find a gas leak. So not sure what is going on there. I can smell gas when the bottles are on. He is organising someone from Kleenheat Gas to come and give us a second opinion.

Grunters

Getting closer to committing to the Bunion Surgery with Dr Wu in Hong Kong. Spoke to a lovely lady who had it done and she was thrilled. Said it was expensive but worth it. Dr Wu's surgery has a high success rate, far less pain and rapid recovery. Sounds good to me. Planning to put that on the June agenda. Need to get these plumbing issues sorted first.

I went to check out a friend of a friends property near Rosa Brook, they were pouring the concrete slab for their new house, very exciting.

It was my turn this month to take photos of the regeneration of the coastal dunes after the November 2011 Fires. We have had a few heavy rain down pours along the coast, and whilst on one hand it was good soaking rain, which got a lot of little plants growing, on the other hand, it was so heavy it washed quite a bit of nourishing top soil away in some places. You will see it in the photo.

Looking from the Gas Bay carpark, note the top soil run off from the heavy rains

This coming week is going to be lots of fun. Weather permitting, Mary Q is taking me up with her in a Hot Air Balloon. And, don't forget Mother Day next weekend!

Looking from Grunters, past Gas Bay all the way down to Redgate in the distance

A few interesting things happening in the Margaret River region. Xanadu Winery are holding a charity dinner on Mothers Day, Saturday the 12th of May. All proceeds going to the Children's Cancer Institute of Australia. Sounds very good.

Gnarabup last Wednesday

Quay West up on the cape, at Bunker Bay are holding a 'Welcome to Fabulous Bellagio At Bunker Bay'. Looks huge on the entertainment factor. Also on the 12th.


Aravina Estate, Knee Deep, Clancy's, Bootleg Brewery are just a few organising a special day for Mum also. I see that Southern Skydivers are suggesting that taking your Mum tandem skydiving is a good gift idea, yep, I could just see my Mum and I leaping out of an aeroplane!!!

Lucky this is blurry, you can see less wrinkles! :)