Adventures in Rockingham | A Short Story

The morning started rather slowly, as it had rained a lot in the night and was still raining, so not a lot of fun packing up in the rain, but we did so between showers, and hit the road.

The 200 km drive from Busselton to Rockingham was relatively uneventful, except for some heavy rain at times, that slowed us down for safety reasons.

The road is busy, the closer you get to Perth, the more the freeway fills up.

A lot of people live down here, or have holiday homes down here, and commute to Perth.

We were heading to Rockingham to catch up with our Niece Amber, her partner Mat and there new Baby Pipper, as we haven’t seen Amber for some time, and Hadn't met Matt, so we were looking forward to it.

Finding the caravan park took a while, Butcho was following us as we finally found the park, pulled up and got out for our usual yarn while the Girls went over to book in.

Butcho was looking a little agitated, and keen to get parked, it became apparent that he needed to answer a call of nature.

We went to book in,  but noticed that the manager was accustomed to having a long lunch, as the sign on the door clearly stated, Office hours 7.30am to 1.30pm, and 3.30pm to 7.30 pm, as we had arrived at 2.00 pm it wasn’t looking good for Butcho.

I suggested he should use the toilet in his van, after all that was what they were for!

As “Blokes” we, weren’t in the habit of doing this, it was somehow less manly, as the toilets in the vans were really for the “sheilas”, there was no way we needed them when we purchased them, so we were reluctant to be caught doing so now.

As the manager still couldn’t be found, it was becoming evident on Butchos face that this might now have to happen, so I went back to my Ute, and he quite quickly moved off to attend to his predicament.

All of a sudden there was a “MANDY” I was a little concerned, but the preceding conversation meant I was reluctant to answer his call, as he might not have made it in time, surely this was Mandy’s job!

And to be honest, it wasn’t unusual for him to call “Mandy”, when he can’t find the milk, the sugar the coffee or his underpants!

But it was a loader call then usual, so I was a little concerned.

To cut a long story short, the pantry in the Viper, had somehow dispensed all its contents all over the floor of the van.

Now this mightn’t seem a big thing, but the Viper has no ordinary pantry, and Amanda, is not just an ordinary cook.

Meaning that every known condiment, sauce and spice known to the western and eastern world can be found in this pantry.
It has a very sophisticated cabinet, 300mm wide 600mm deep and running the full height of the van, with a telescopic 3 stage mechanism that slides this wall of condiments and spices in and out. 

By now the Girls had found the manager, and soon returned, I briefly walked over to survey the scene, but thought is best to withdraw, as they were now well into the apportioning blame part of the accident, there was no way I was going to get involved in that.

Had someone forgotten to latch the cabinet? I wasn’t going to get into that one either, suggesting maybe the mechanism failed!

We pulled into the park, parked our vans and setup.

Butcho dutifully started pulling the mechanism apart trying to work out how it all worked.

As he did the mechanism gave up its secrets, and about 50 ball bearings liberated themselves, spilling all over concrete under the van.

I was somewhat amused by this, but managed to contain myself as I thought it would probably be inappropriate to laugh.

After about 40 minutes all but 2 of the 50 ball bearings were found.

Beach looking west from the Park

At this stage it all got a bit much for Amanda , who emerged around the corner of the van with a large bottle of red and a glass! with Butcho soon following, a beaten man with a stubbie of beer in his hand.

So I suspect tomorrow will be a designated rest day given over to repairs and maintenance!

And I wouldn’t be surprised if there is now a checklist written, and to be performed prior to departure on each day.

We caught up With Amber Matt and Pipper, and had a great time, and 13 month old Piper brightened up Mandy and Butchos Spirits, the Beer and the Red, probably also helped!

All in all a short drive, but quite an eventful day!

Stayed at the Cee and See Caravan Park, which is right next to the CBH Kwinana grain terminal. (CBH Own it)
The manager informed us up to 14 million tonnes of grain go through this terminal a year.

They were loading a ship, but no noise or dust, pretty impressive for the size of the place.

Busselton | Margaret River Wineries

There seems to be a winery in  every second paddock, so you would wonder how they all survive financially, but a Beautiful spot.

Pulled into the Mandalay Resort Caravan Park, great spot on the beach.

Caught up with some friends of the Johnston's, Brian and Carol Strachan, locals from Busselton.

They kindly supplied a guided tour of the area, which was great , we would have missed most of it left to our own devices. 

Drove down the coast towards Pt Naturalist, called in to a restaurant for morning tea, great place, choppers in the sky's to spot the sharks, and signs in the garden reminding us we were in an environmentally sensitive area!

 

 

The area has some great wineries to visit, so you need a few days here.

Tribute to Steve Erwin Laurance Winery

Laurance Winery, built in 2006 with an impressive building built from reclaimed timbers, and gold Statue in the lake, locally known as Chick on a Stick, Brian was involved in the construction, so gave us an insight into the complexities of building the structure, all in all very impressive.

Had Lunch at Black Brewing Co and Winery, great beer and food, no chance of keeping the girls of the Chardonnay here, or me off the Beer, very enjoyable afternoon.

 

Today went for as walk along the Jetty, 1.8 km long, the girls did a lot of grizzling about the distance and the wind, and the cold, but I thought it was good!

People were catching some nice Salmon, 50 cm plus, but commented they were not good eating, unless bled, these fellows were catching them to use as bait fish.

Had a cold front come through overnight, Busselton is quite well protected from south westerly's, so a bit of rain this morning but not much wind in the Caravan Park, so a nice place to live.

Valley of the Giants

Great Drive from Albany to Bussleton, The Trees Dwarf the caravan!

Valley of the Giants Treetop walk in Denmark WA  Click link for more,

The treetop walk is worth the stop.



 

Camped at an Eco Park at North cliff, plugged the power into a gum tree, let the ants into the caravan, and had a ball.

Albany

View Emu Beach Holiday Park

Camped at Emu beach Holiday Park
What a great place, right on the beach, cool ocean breeze.


Albany is one of WA s chief southern export ports for the export of Wheat and Wood chips.
Again incredible road transport set up, you can drive your road train right into the port, with no congestion, there large roundabouts that accommodate big trucks work extremely well.
Looks incredibly efficient, much be a huge advantage to road transport companies compared with our eastern seaboard ports.



Albany main claim to fame in early years was its Whaling station at Discovery Bay.

Picture Courtesy Discovery Bay Whaling Org

So went and had a look, very well put together, a great story of the industry that finished up in the late the 70s.

There are plenty of stories about near misses and sea rescues.
Dangerous work, but the pay was good, if you wanted to make some money,  this is where you came to work!

In the radio room of the ship, I came across the story of John Bell the Aviator, spotter for the whalers.

The following is the transcript of the story.

As a spotter John was involved in a number of daring rescues during his career, but is best remembered for heroism in 1965, when he risked his life to save Ches Stubbs, the skipper of the Cheynes III.
As Ches fired the harpoon gun his foot was caught up in the harpoon rope and he lost his leg 8 inches above his ankle.

Bell landed the seaplane next to the ship in dangerous seas and managed to fly the gravely injured man to safety, despite nearly loosing a wing on takeoff.  (looks like a Cessna 206 on floats)

Bell won a bravery award from the Royal Humane Society and Ches survived to tell the tale after two months in hospital.
He later returned to the ship  with a "peg Leg" and worked for another decade.

Great story, and you would have liked to have had a beer with these fellows, I bet they would have had many stories.

Imagine the pain of having your leg pulled off, and then trying to survive in the sea!
The rope is 60mm in diameter, so would have been brutal.
And you can imagine breaking a few bones, probably most,  as you hit the side of the boat going over, some serious non forgiving metal there!!

I should hardenup and manup, and not worry about a bit of morning sickness on a few chemo pills.

John Bell later died in a plane crash during a surveillance operation for the federal police and customs.

You can bet both these fellows lived their life to the full!




Had fish and chips in the restaurant, overlooking the bay, great view.
The restaurant wasn't licenced, a good thing, kept the girls off the Chardonnay!

Esperance | Ravensthorp | Jerramunjinup

Drove through what looks like some very productive farming country, good rains recently has set them up for a good season.

Some sowing started, with some grazing or early planted cereals, so there must have been good rains in February March.

We also passed as a rough estimate about 5,000 tonnes of grain going down the road to Esperance in Road Trains and B Triples, looked a pretty efficient way to move grain, that didn't seem to be causing the traffic any problems.

Stopped at Ravensthorp, the town is abuz with a big expansion.

Galaxy Resourses Lithium Mine, getting the locals excited, mostly positive as its a source of employment other than farming.
Their Stock price has taken off, so someone thinks there a good deal!
Way to hot for me with 1.28 Billion shares on issue, (sourse Financial Times).







Some very good looking farming country heading south from Jerramjinup.

The towns name got us thinking about the large number of Western Australian towns that end in "up".

So I did some research, not much, just googled it whilst having a red really!

Courtesy of Western Australia Online.

So let’s start with a few names, Cardup, Wonnerup, Burekup, Yallingup and Karrinyup.
The “up” in these names comes from the Aboriginal Noongar language but there is some dissension as to whether it means place of water, or meeting place and most likely it is a combination.

All of these towns were originally spelt with a double “p” – so Cardupp, Wonnerupp, Burekupp, Yallingupp and Karinyupp.

The double “p” spelling in the original Western Australian Government gazette of these names was used because the Lands and Surveys Department had adopted a system for spelling Aboriginal names developed by the Royal Geographical Society. The RGS system had a rule that vowels are pronounced as in Italian and consonants as in English. 

Who would have thought of something so clever? You would have to drink a serious amount of red wine, to come up with that!, but it gets better!

This would have meant that names ending in "up" should have been pronounced as "oop", because the Italian "u" was a long "u", as in flute. These Aboriginal names were meant to be pronounced as "up", and the Department asked the RGS for a rule to assist in correct pronunciation.

The RGS solution was that doubling the following consonant shortened the preceding vowel, and this meant the "upp" ending ensured the "up" pronunciation. However, this particular rule was rescinded in 1915 for south west towns with the suffix "up", as the Australian way of
pronouncing the letter "u" was almost always short, and rarely the Italian "oo".

So now you know, pretty simple really, a ballsup!   Sorry couldn’t help myself!

Esperance

400 k drive from Kalgoorlie to Esperance.

Trees get bigger as you go until you come out into some broad acre farming country.
Large holdings, farming in soils that look like white sand.

There have been some big fires through here recently burnt huge tracts of land.

Camped on the beach at Esperance Seafront Holiday Park, having a couple of drinks and BBQ as the sun goes down, and the moon comes up!

We were a bit disappointed in Esperance as a place to visit.
Although the caravan parks full, and a nice spot, plenty coming and going, the locals didn't seem that interested in helping tourists.
We were hoping to book a fishing charter, where I could show Butcho how fish are caught!
But after trying both companies in town neither were interested in taking us out.
Maybe we look a bit rough, or Butchos legs are still a bit white?

It wasn't because they were booked out, their excuse was there wasn't enough of us!! very disappointing.

You bastards that stayed at home should have come with us!

So we went for a stroll into town , about two Kilometres, the girls did a lot of grizzling about the distance, but a nice walk.
The council have done a good job doing up the foreshore, except for the old Jetty which is closed of, so no fishing there either!



Even looking for a coffee shop, we had trouble finding one, so had to settle for lunch at the pub!
At least that was good, at the Esperance Motor Hotel,  and a James Squire Pale ale eased the pain a bit.

But if your time strapped on a trip, don't worry about Esperance!

Kalgoorlie Gold

We have had a great couple, of days here, probably should have stayed longer.

The Kalgoorlie Superpit is incredible, we just went to the lookout and watched, trucks pulling 260 tonne loads out every 30 seconds to a minute, never stops!

Kalgoorlie is all about gold, going back over a century, and not much has changed, its still about Gold, and the hope of a better future, that's why everyone is here!

Talking to the locals, there's no negativity here, just get on with it.
And mines and prospectors are making a few dollars with gold price in $AUD Pretty good

Yesterday we went out on a prospecting tour with Gold prospecting Kalgoorlie.

One of the participants was the manager of the Exchange Hotel In Kalgoolie.
We had a meal there the night before, in paddy's bar, so we were almost locals!
He has been here for a few years, but the talk of all this prospecting had gotten too much for him, so he was trying his luck on his day off!

We turned up at Finders Keepers Kalgoorlie at 7.30 to meet Dean from Gold prospecting Kalgoorlie

I was very impressed with Deans tutorial, we all had our own detectors, and Dean actually got a small piece of gold and buried it to about 5 inches and then put the detector over it to show us how this was done, and he didn't have any trouble getting the gold back!

He went through some geology and a good explanation of how the gold is distributed.

He also made sure we were fed and watered all day, and kept tabs on us so we didn't get lost.

Realistically like most things in life, it would take some time to be proficient at finding gold, but after a day I was feeling quite confident that it was entirely possible, and really it was just about putting in the yards, and finding someone like Dean to give you a start.
The other thing that I was blown away by was the incredible amount of plant life out here with quite big trees.
These trees tend to follow fault lines, so you really start to get a feel for the landscape and the geology.

I found it a very relaxing six hrs, no one to annoy you,  just you and your detector and shovel.

But also easy to get lost I was glad that Dean had supplied us with a radio and handheld GPS that could direct us back to the vehicles, you really need a GPS would be easy to get lost.









We didn't find gold but we learnt a lot, great day out, and Dean shouted us a beer at the Broad Arrow Hotel, on the way home, can't beat that!