Still at Mandurah

Thought i would start this blog off here at Mandurah, even though i won't be able to finish this story  for at least a week or more.  We had a wonderful day here at Ken and Roxanne's wedding,  The bride was radiant, the weather was perfect and everything fell into place and a fantastic day was had by all. Congratulations to a very special couple.
  
Have had quite a few trips back into the Perth region checking out the local district since i wrote the last blog...  We went back to visit Styxs at the Perth hospital and the good news is he is now taking  steps.. keep up the hard work mate.       

Been to Kings Park  in Perth city and could not believe how big the place is, this park is one of the largest inner city parks in the world and is located within a short walk of the city..Also checked out all the local beaches around Perth that we had missed on our other outings. Cottesloe, City beach ,Scarborough,Sorrento etc,the tourist drive was following the beaches at some points, and other times you couldn't see the beaches due to the very high sand dunes that seem to be everywhere over this way.

We also had a visit to the Fremantle jail that  only closed down in 1991.How very primitave that jail was right up to that year  that it closed , the in-mates still had to use a bucket in there cells for toileting... We stepped inside to do time with a  great guide that wanted to re-inact a body search on Trish (rubber gloves and all) but Trish did not stay around for long thats for sure.
  We had photos of Mick in the solitary cells and visited the gallows..(not nice , rather creepy) and also photos of Brad visiting Mick  behind the glass.
  Fremantle Prison is a monument to a system of punishment that is uncomfortably recent...

Have also had a few day drives to the surrounding districts over the time we have been here...For some reason I had imagined that the local waterways would be full of black swans.. Well .. they are few and far between  thats for sure,  but  I am still hoping i can get that photo before this blog is finished.      


The outing to the Fremantle Maritime was a must see for the boys as  Mick had     Bondy's    Australia 11    in mind and had to have a photo of the   winged  keel.    

It was a sad day last Friday when we said goodbye to our buddies and travel mates. Nearly 14 weeks together  and it was time for them to do the turn around and start heading home. Just a wee bit testy a couple of times with the 2 alpha males ,but really  i think we  ALL  did really  well.  Remember we spent most of those weeks  together 24x7... Sorry thats over statment we did sleep alone...We spent some quality time together enjoying many many nights of good food, good company and had lots of laughs,we will miss them thats for sure,  but all good things must come to a end and they are now on there way home, crossing the Nullabor as we speak...   Safe driving guys,miss you ...   When we head off from here next week to start our journey north of Perth into the never-never land, it will be a brand new experience for us on our own....Its all in the adventure..But if you don't   hear from us again ,  perhaps  the min-min light got us..  Oh !!!!where are all travel mates now....
  Will post a couple of photos of a well known celebrity that we met on the main street of Fremantle..What a great guy.(Paul   Macurio)


    Ken and Roxanne own a property a couple of hours away. Ken also works at the Bodington gold mine so we are off to the property with them in the next couple of days, as its Kens days off now for the next 7 days. After our trip to the farm that is when we will set the sails and head north ourselves...Will finish this off after we come back from the farm.....Bye for now....      

Hey I can't believe it... Ken took us driving and found us some real friendly black swans...I was so excited so i took heaps of photos, hope i don't bore you with my new friends...There really ARE  black swans in W.A.        
Later...
After our farm stay.....The news above is about a week old by now so i will try to get this finished and posted.     

Our trip to Ken and Roxannes property was a great experience for us old city folk.. the time we spent there was really a great relaxing time but in that time we had the opportunity to see and do some things that we never get the chance to do in the city..    The local farmers had a reason to be excited as  we had some good rainfall one day  while we were there.    Rain on the iron  farmhouse  roof was wonderful, something we don't hear on our tiled roof in Murumba Downs. We had a open camp fire the first night, and a log fire going inside,as well as the wood stove. We also  enjoyed a meal of lamb shanks cooked in the camp oven.     (yummy)               The boys had some jobs to do so Mick  got a thrill helping Ken to do a burn off. ( Just in time before the rains came.)   We experienced a sunset or two and  i can't believe how many stars are out when you don't have city lights around.   A  rainbow turned its beauty on for us also.  Went for a walk into some old history on the property..Mick enjoyed going back in time. The photos tell there story. Thanks guys for a wonderful stay. Enjoyed your company.. Many thanks for your hospitality...  

            I think i have dribbled on for long enough this time.  Tuesday we will be heading off into the unknown.               Remember the motto......Wherever the wind blows.....    Till next time..Love The Baggy's                                                                                  Don't know how the reception will be when we leave the Perth region.If you are trying to make phone contact best to use Baggy's .It could be pretty limited...Keep a look out for the Min-Min light......

Kings Park overlooking Perth City

Gorgeous Gums at Kings Park

Cottesloe  Beach

Fremantle Jail

Baggy doing time in solitary

Bondy's Australia 11

Whats all the fuss about. I don't understand  (von)

Goodbye to my friend

And they are off !!!

Paul Mercuro and the mad 4 in Fremantle

Notice where us girls stood..

Finally found the black swans...

How cute...

The township where the farm is.

The Farm

Storm  and his friends

Mick  having fun burning off

Happy Hour at the farm

Going back in time

Mick figured if he can't catch a fish ,he should plan for the future .(R.I.P Baggy)

Roxanne and Kens special day.

The Happy Couple

Thanks for our stay guys.We enjoyed your company.
See you in Brisbane  next year...

Margaret River to Falcon & Mandurah & Perth

Its been a while since we last put pen to paper so I will try and do a catch up.  I ended the last blog arriving in Augusta,we booked in for 4 nights and it was a great little town.Very pretty with water at every turn. Main street backs onto the Blackwood River and the mouth of the river meets  the ocean right in the township.. Still no Salmon but we tried hard... all 4 of us.                 Trish had a catch of 11 herring and 1 whiting.     Bag-man not happy.....
          Leaving Augusta we travelled to the beautiful tourist town of Margaret River and booked in for 5 nights.   
We even had a Coles supermarket there as it had been a while since we had last seen one..    Now you city folk will think we have gone completely mad but Trish and I got quite excited....We really played the tourist in Margaret River and did lots of day trips, the township is situated between 2 coastal capes, approx 138 kls apart so we travelled  lighthouse to lighthouse, checking out the rocky bays,limestone cliffs and once again the sandy beaches...BUT best of all was the cheese factory, Evans and Tate winery, (Trish now has shares in the winery)  chocolate factory, fudge factory, gourmet deli's etc,etc.    Think the boys wanted to go bush again after letting us loose around the town.                       In this part of W.A.called the south east corner they have a incredible amount of towns ending in UP, (meaning..... place of ), so we have passed through a few, we even had a visit to Cowaramup and  Dwellingup... Its hard to get your tongue  around some of these names. We also did a day trip  to Prevelly , Yallingup, Dunsborough and Busselton..(Busselton is known for its famous jetty that is 145 years old measuring 1841 mts long but only limited access at the moment while its undergoing a 27 million dollar restoration. ...Baggy saw a piling rig and we think he was having withdrawals,and wanted to get the hard hat on.................  We still managed to get a few photos...        


   After 5 wonderful days in the Margaret River region we decided to move on to greenier pastures so we headed off to Bunbury and only stayed 1 night.. We had a quick look around the area while checking out all the van parks..All though it was a pretty town and very up market we did not stay long as we intend to go back from Falcon and do a couple of day trips to different areas that we missed.   We have now arrived at Falcon, just near Mandurah south of Perth.
  
  We are staying at the home of Ken and Roxanne (Ken is  Rhonddas Brother--- Rhondda is  Baggys sister in law, married to Sergio for  those of you who can't make the connection)  They have opened up there home to us and let us take over..Room for everyone here, We have both vans on there property and  still heaps of space. We had a great laugh  when we  pulled in .             Ken had made a sign  and put at his driveway,                                            "FREE CAMPING FOR QLD'LANDERS."  
Think we may stay a while  (ha-ha)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              In the south east corner  there is a charity art exhibition of painted cows,   it took us a while to find out what on earth was going on, as every  town had  these  big painted  cows. I think this art exhibition goes overseas too , so you will see lots of photos with these cows but we started late, if we had started any earlier the whole blog could have been photos of cows.... They look great when you know what its all about.
                Mandurah is the place where Brads Mum lives so its off to visit Cherry today and she how she is going.  She has had a rough time  of late.........Later....Have had a visit with Cherry and she seems to be doing o.k..She  lives alone in a  complex and confined to a wheel chair  but she wants to stay there and remain independant..                                                                                                                                              We have also been into the Perth hospital to visit Brad and Trisha's friend from the army days .Sticks--real name Scott, he has had a terrible accident and has spinal injuries when he fell from a hugh machine as it crashed to the ground while on a mining site, up north of wa.. He is from Brisbane also.He still has his sense of humour and had  us all laughing.  The spinal ward is not a place to laugh about, thats for sure...
    Later...much later, can't seem to get this posted so i will add the latest..
Met Sticks and his Mum and friend  Shoey at a pub in Fremantle for a steak..Sticks had his first day pass from hospital so it was a big day for him.Sticks had to be back at hospital at a certain time,so the time went fast..... We had a great afternoon  and lots of laughs..................... Freo is the place to be on a weekend very busy with street performers, buskers, markets ,deli's,cafe's,etc,  Note i said Freo, just like our Goldie...Freo is written on everything ,buildings,hats, shirts...
      We intend to hang around here at Falcon for a while as Ken and Roxanne are getting married on Saturday so we will have a reason to celebrate that. We never need a reason to party but this one is for real...We have more trips into Perth planned so thats to come....Also Brad and Trish have family catch ups to do in this area before they head home at the end of  May..Thats when we will go north of Perth on our own..             It  will be very strange to travel on our own, but its all part of the  adventure,  even though it will be different ......Till next time  ..Love to all   The Baggys                                 

Brad and  Baggy have turned to AFL

Evans & Tate  Winery

Cows for Charity

Chocolate factory Margaret River

More charity cows

and more

and again

We are broke now with all this charity collection

Bustleton Jetty

Jetty under construction

The bird whisperer at it again with the local corellas

View from Bunbury lookout

Ken & Roxannes welcome to the Queenslanders

London Court Perth City

Taken from the  Round House Fremantle

Swan River colony's first jail.

Tempted to leave him there,but he started to go red around the gills

The round house is WA'S oldest remaining public building

Baggy,Brad, Sticks ,& Shoey

Fremantle Sail and Anchor Hotel.