monday 28th february

soooooo hot today! did not sleep well, just had a look and the temperature did not dip below 25 all night, does not make for good sleep at all. so it was already hot when i got out of bed, there was however a bit of a breeze which popped up every now and then while i was on my walk. we played tourists again today and went to penguin island. here is robbie waiting in the queue for the ferry proudly wearing his decrepit hat:

the ferry took all of 5 minutes to get to penguin island which gave us time to sit in the shade for a while with the birds to keep us company:

this was an interesting looking tree where we were sitting. we then watched the penguin feeding, they have 10 penguins in situ for their shows, all very spoiled and very cute:

this is piggy who is the oldest of the bunch at 17, he is also reputedly the greediest of them all and has been known to eat more than his weight of little fish in one sitting, impressive:

at 1.15 we were off on the sea lion tour in the glass bottomed boat "queenbyan":

the glass bottom is down in that well but there wasn't much to see down there, there was plenty to see however on top of the water. the dolphins came out to play:

there was a group of about 12 including a calf of about 2 months, they are very hard to catch on camera, robbie probably did better. there was interesting coastline:

and this island was called "shag island" so named for the birds of course:

the sealions were lazing on the beach:

they were much bigger than i expected really. it was lovely out on the water with a nice breeze to keep things comfortable but all too soon it was time to return. we decided it was too hot to walk around the island so we hopped back on the ferry and headed back home.
when we got back to the caravan it was 41 degrees inside, not at all nice after the lovely sea breeze we had been lapping up.
after a visit to bcf to spend a gift voucher which robbie recieved for his birthday and a quick stop in at the supermarket  it was over to bek and jason's for a visit. i just lurve their air conditioner!!
while we were there bek was preparing dinner and i caught a snap of her wearing her onion slicing goggles:

apparently they work a treat, no crying from chopping onions for bek. we arranged to meet bek at her school tomorrow for a look around after the children go home. then back to the caravan for a quick easy meal of toasted ham and cheese sandwiches. a full day, hot but pleasant.

sunday 27th february

nice day today but once again very hot, we went out with bek and jason to whiteman park. we dropped mike's ute off on the way and had a lovely little interlude in his wonderfully airconditioned house. once at whiteman park we had a spot of lunch at the cafe and then we were about to check out the tractor museum but for some unknown reason it shuts at 2pm so we opted for the motor museum instead. unfortunately the motor museum was not air conditioned which on a day like today really impacts on the enjoyment of the activity. however we made the best of it, i thought this setup was pretty good:

i particularly like the roof on the back which seemed to be a piece of lino.
it was too hot the wander through the wildlife park so we called it a day and headed home. after a light meal of scrambled eggs i tackled the ironing, with the fan right next to me it was ok and hey now it's done. tomorrow i am not sure what is on the agenda, i guess i will have to wait and see.

saturday 26th february

quiet day today, managed to sleep til after 6 this morning but it was already getting hot and sticky by the time i went for a walk. did a few chores, robbie went to the shop to buy a paper and returned with these:

romance is alive and well, please note the beautiful crystal vase which they are sitting in.
went around to bek and jason's in the afternoon and helped unpack a few boxes then we went out to dinner at the hog's breath cafe in rockingham. yummy food, good atmosphere but we could have used a little more room at our table. a good day all up.

friday 25th february

not much doing today, chores in the morning after a walk of course which in turn was after being awake at a ridiculously early time. the weather is just not conducive to sleeping but 5 am is just rude, i did pretend to still be asleep until 6ish but it was never going to happen really. went for a drive in the afternoon, somewhere past mandurah, no idea where really, the aircon in the car was nice. around to bek and jason's for dinner, bbq tonight very nice. robbie helped jason install the clothes line while we were there and i did my ironing in air conditioned comfort. past my bed time now, will be headed there very soon.

thursday 24th february

this morning we went looking for a telstra shop to talk about robbie's plan/phone, didn't find one then, apparently didn't wander through enough of the shopping centre. got a few essentials at woolies and checked out the red dot store then back to the caravan.
hot and sticky is not my friend!!! so uncomfortable out of the aircon today, i have no idea what temp it is but the stickyness is nasty.
went to visit some grey nomads who invited us around this afternoon, nice people, might catch up with them in albany as they are heading down that way soon. they told us where to find the telstra shop so back to the shopping centre we went and talk about a queue. after waiting waiting waiting we finally reached the head of the line and ended up changing robbie's plan but not his phone. we then went to visit bek and jason for a while before heading back here for a scratch dinner.
still sticky.

wednesday 23rd february

today was spent thinking about how best to cook a baked meal for four and actually cooking it. i decided i would have to cook the meat early, and heat it later in the microwave, and cook the vegetables later. worked a treat, here are the vegies cooking:

all turned out very yummy.
went to look at air conditioners again today, still no joy there although we did find a small one at the good guys, the dude in there told us that they were no good and they were being returned at an alarming rate of knots, something was failing on them. all up no good to us although the size of them was perfect. very disappointing. ah well keep on looking around.
i will be off to bed soon, i'm tired, i'm probably not sleeping properly because it doesn't cool down a lot over night.

tuesday 22nd february

robbie's birthday. the day started at an easy pace we did a bit of washing and we wandered over to the office to extend our stay at this caravan park by a week. we decided to go for a drive and check out the water front in rockingham/kwinana. we stopped for lunch at a nice little spot on the water  front which was nicely set up with shaded areas to sit in and we found fish and chips which was quite yummy.

then off on our drive, we headed to point peron for a look around and i must say it was very nice if hot in the sun.

we wandered down to the water and were standing in the water at the edge when i got a wave almost to the waist while i wasn't watching. phone was in my pocket but it survived. i must say it had a cooling effect wearing wet shorts.
on the way back to the shopping centre for a spot of grocery shopping we spotted a super cheap auto and popped in for some wheel trims to replace the ones we lost off the caravan on the way over. did some grocery shopping and back to the caravan for dinner of steak and veg and an illicit cake which we called birthday cake, i indulged in a very yummy chocolate eclair while robbie had a very nice looking vanilla slice, yep we are naughty but yummo.
cooking a roast tomorrow for the kids, it will be the first time we have used the turbo cooker since we tested it out at home.

monday 21st february

went for a long walk today, across the road there is a bit of a national park area with lots of walking tracks through it as well as a track right around the outside, so i decided to walk around the outside, it was a bit longer than i expected, about an hour's walking as opposed to the half hour i usually do. i probably won't walk right around again. chores were on the agenda including washing which got dry very quickly, yep it was hot again today.
we went round to bek and jason's old house in the afternoon to wait for the carpet cleaners, i was just about to unlock the door when i remembered the security system. i thought i knew the number to disarm it but i wasn't totally sure. what to do, chance it and put up with the noise if i'm wrong, or wait for either bek or jason to ring back because of course neither of them was contactable. i decided to wait, ringing both bek and jason at regular intervals until the cleaner dude shows up (half hour late anyway), of course he shows up before i can get hold of anyone so the decision was made for me. i held my breath and punched in the numbers that were in my head and what do you know, i was right. my reward was to get the ironing done in airconditioned comfort while the carpets were being cleaned (a very noisy job i might add). of course both bek and jason rang shortly after we went in.
went round to visit with bek and jason and return their keys and stuff for a little while then back to the caravan park for a dinner of bacon and eggs. bit weary now, will not be long out of bed i think.

sunday 20th february

big cleaning day, bek and i cleaned the old house today. jason did the outside jobs while we got on with the inside stuff, all clean now and the carpets get done today. we will be going to let the carpet cleaners in as both bek and jason will be at work. had dinner at bek and jason's, yummy patties and veg. that's it really for today, not much exciting going on at all.

saturday 19th february

moving day, robbie went early to help jason lift heavy stuff while i pottered around here during which time we had a bird in the annex who left his calling card, most uncalled for:

bek picked me up on her way to the new house then into the unpacking:

much unpacking later we took a break for lunch, subway from kwinana, then much more unpacking. finished up around 6pm then back here for a barbecue (yum), big day i am worn out. cleaning at the old house tomorrow and probably more unpacking.

friday 18th february

had a lovely day today, robbie picked jason up from their new house after he rode his bike over then they swung by here to pick me up and we ran jason home. did some more shopping at the caravan place, grabbed some lunch and headed towards rockingham shopping centre. on the way we decided to have a look at the beach so we went down to kwinana beach and went for a walk and paddle:

robbie found some people doing some fishing to talk to:

then he couldn't resist, he had to have a swim, yes folks in his shorts with no towel or anything like that:

by the time we walked back to the car he was getting close to dried out. we then went grocery shopping for a barbeque tomorrow night, we figure we will head here after the big move cos everything will still be everywhere at bek and jasons.

thursday 17th february

not much doing today, chores and shopping really. heaps of washing got washed, folded, ironed and put away. robbie was not particularly impressed with the visit to the shopping centre but was happy to get a haircut and was even happier to leave the shopping centre and move onto camping shops and caravan shops. we are currently looking for a new table top as i think this one is a tad too long and it is also very heavy so changing it for a lighter model would be good if we could find one. we went over to bek and jason's this afternoon and ended up staying for dinner (very yummy spag bog, thanks bek) and helped bek pack some boxes for the big move. saturday is supposed to be moving day but i reckon there won't be much left to move by then as jason has the week off and has steadily been moving stuff. not sure what's on the agenda tomorrow. let's just see what it brings.

wednesday 16th february

today we moved caravan parks, because bek and jason move house this week/weekend we decided to move closer to their new house. the new park seems nice and the showers are great but damn i miss that pool already it was very hot setting up and dip would have been much appreciated. we were amused to see this little fellow drinking from the tap while we were setting up:

they tell me that here in wa these birds are commonly known as 28's and there are a lot of them about. we saw one while we were in the pool yesterday, the guy who kept him brought him to the pool for a swim, and yes he had a swim, wished i had my camera with me at the time. after he had his swim he sat on the guy's head while he had his swim, it was great.
so after we were basically set up we went looking for some shops, found bunnings for some necessary items, ran into timmsy and followed him to their new house to mark it in the gps. while we were there i hogged the aircon while i had the chance then we had to come back here to finish setting up. we have the annex up for the first time on this trip, it went up quite well without too many dramas except for the cement slab we are parked on, creativity was needed for anchoring the walls for instance we have the fridge sitting on one corner. it looks great though and i am happy to have it up as it gives us more room.

doesn't that look cosy?

Tuesday 15th February

today we decided to be tourists so off we went to king's park which was very nice but really too hot for walking around.

we had lunch at a little place there where we were joined by pigeons picking up crumbs around our feet, i didn't get a photo of them though.
after walking around for a bit in the botanic gardens we headed back to the car and drove around a bit, we found a lookout and robbie went up for a look but i couldn't bring myself to leave the air conditioning where i was just beginning to feel comfortable again.

we visited harvey norman to check out mobile air conditioning units but they were physically much too big for our needs, we bought a good fan instead for now and we may look at built in air con later, we will see how we go.
back at the caravan park we noticed one of our chairs was moved and full of water, we thought someone must have been playing silly buggers but worked out later it had been sitting in the way of a sprinkler, oopsies. we decided to get in the pool which was very nice indeed, i hope the next caravan park has one as we are moving tomorrow down to rockingham to be closer to bek and jason's new house.

monday 14th february

today i did chores and not much else, washing, ironing that sort of stuff. at least i didn't have to chase my clothes basket across the park and fish it out from under a cabin today like i did the last time i did the washing. the basket is a very light weight collapsable one and the wind took it. i'm sure it looked funny to anyone who happened to see it. robbie went to pick timmsy up from work and then timmsy helped him work on his bus, hopefully helping the overheating problem we were having when towing. we went over to see bek when she got home from work and came back here for dinner of pork chops and veg. i have just had a cool shower, it's still around 29 degrees which is just a bit hot for me, sitting here having a bit of a drip, hate that. it's supposed to be a bit hotter tomorrow, at least we aren't travelling i suppose. well that's enough of a whinge, i think we are going to be tourists tomorrow for a bit.

sunday 13th february

very quiet lazy sort of day today. pottered around just doing bits and pieces in the caravan, sorting out some storage options and stuff like that. went over to bek and jason's for dinner, had a yummy barbeque, and visited with bek for a bit while jason took his mum and dad to the airport for their flight home. have some washing in now as i didn't have any change earlier on when i wanted to do it. i am off to bed soon, don't think we have anything much planned for tomorrow, nice to be a bit lazy every now and then.

Saturday 12th February

what a big day, our baby graduated, after 4 years of hard work she is done. we started the day by meeting bek, jason, helen and robin for lunch at, wait for it, "the lucky shag"

back to bek and jason's to get ready for the big event. then off the raffles for pre graduation drinks and nibblies with the girls.

just look at the size of that beer. bek had a bit of a shoe drama:

but timmsy came to the rescue with his trusty tube of super glue:

off to graduation we went and donned the regalia, bek was very impressed that hers was purple:

we took some photos:

and then the actual ceremony, even though this photo isn't good at all i am still putting it up because it is the actual moment:

they had fireworks:

and every one was proud and happy:

what a great day, a good time was had by all.