WEEKLY CHAT (non-osprey) SUNDAY AUGUST 17, 2014

Evening all: Happy New Week.

Good day here; only two oranges left on the tree and just can't reach them - oh well. Two large containers of fresh OJ in the fridge and another one for daughter tomorrow along with a bag of oranges for her friend. Also gave one to the young family next door - and that's it for this year! Yay!

Diane: I told my sister about the challenges of my orange tree and she said that picking oranges didn't constitute a problem in her book. :-)
Geez. Please do whatever it takes to deter those yellow jackets! That's not good - you don't want to develop an allergy to their stings. Hope the new freelance project is lucrative.

Lindybird: Keep doing what you're doing re the cold. Funny - someone posted on our local community website today that they and their whole family had come down with a horrible summer cold and they got all kinds of responses saying "same at our house" so it's an international bug!

OG: More noise this morning (an electric saw - eeek!) from the property up the road and a birthday party next door this afternoon; hence final afternoon on the orange tree. Long ladder now tucked up for this year - except we'll have to tidy up the Monterey Brush Cherry in the fall. We planted a bunch of them for privacy and they're just about to start dropping dark red berries that are really good if you want to have a splotchy carpet. On the other hand, the birds like them. In the meantime, I've moved the broom down that part of the walkway so it's close at hand.

Have a good Sunday everyone. :-)

  • We had our West Australian pre-tour meeting this week. 4 weeks to go. For ANNETTE & those who want to check our route on Google --

    Leaving Adelaide we spend 2 nights on the “Indian-Pacific” train (full route = Sydney, Broken Hill, Adelaide, Perth). Brief stops in Cook* on the Nullarbor & Kalgoorlie (famous gold mining town). Arriving in Perth we have a City tour. Next day we leave on bus to New Norcia (Benedictine Community), Toodyay, York, Katanning, Stirling Ranges, Porongurup Ranges (giant Karri trees & granite outcrops, Dryandra & Banksia species), Mt Barker (wildflowers). In Albany (3 nights), important as last port of call for ANZAC troopships in WWI, whale museum (they were still whaling when I visited 1972), Torndirrup National Park (wildflowers – it will be spring), Denmark (town not country!), Tree Top Walk over giant Jarrahs, Pemberton scenic rail trip through Karri, Marri & Jarrah  trees. Busselton (2 nights), Margaret River, Yallingup, Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse, Busselton jetty (1 mile long), underwater observatory, Bunbury (dolphins), Tuart forest (wildflowers), Pinjarra, before returning to Perth to fly home. You may notice that many WA place names end in “-up”. The origin is an indigenous Aussie language, Noongar, in which “-up” means “place of”.

    * Cook is where the SA & WA trains crews changeover. Wikipedia says Cook “has little other than curiosity value for the passengers. The bush hospital is closed, but the town maintains some medical supplies in the event of a train disaster. . . The shop is only opened while the Indian Pacific is in town.”

  • Just a routine day here. Good to see you have enjoyed your trip, so far, OG.

    Annette, I hardly do any baking these days. Usually only when the children visit.

    AQ, I look forward to following your trip. My son and his wife spent a month travelling down the Western coast before continuing along the South coast.  It will be interesting to see if any of your photographs, match his.

    I was just reading that Edinburgh Zoo have asked that planes to not fly over the Zoo for a month, because of the expected arrival of the baby panda. They don't want the mother to become alarmed and so cause a miscarriage.

  • In case you haven't read the latest Blog. As of last night at 9pm, Seasca is over the Bay of Biscay. 1260 km since Tuesday, 1pm, when she left LG.

  • Isn't that awe inspiring Brenda Just been reading

  • Hello All. Arrived here after a good journey yesterday, with only slight drizzle on one part of the way. We both went to bed early as very tired, and got up late today! Have had a pleasant beach walk this morning, and a 'builders mug' of tea in a cafe....managed to resist having a slice of pie with it, then one of our neighbours came around this afternoon with a couple of cream cakes for us as a Thank You as we had given them some of our plentiful plums & beans!!!
  • Hooray! See that that has posted..... The wi fi here seems to have improved. Sorry that you had a sad experience with the young fox, Margo. Perhaps best that it didn't survive if it was badly hurt :-(
  • Evening all:  Busy day to-ing and fro-ing hither and yon. Have no plans for the weekend and hope it stays that way.

    AQ: I remember Kalgoorlie from school. Wow - those are a lot of stops on your route.  I looked at Cook on Google Earth - wonder what they're stopping there for? There's a landing strip - I imagine to evacuate people after the disaster that Wikipedia mentions.  :-)) Hope you've got a nice sleeping compartment - are you traveling with your friend or pairing up with a stranger (or even better, with your own room)?

    Brenda: Sounds like empty nests syndrome then for avid osprey viewers...

    Lindybird: Are the cream-cake-bearing neighbors the new folks who bought the unit next to you last year?  Hope the WiFi stays speedy.

    Hallo to ALL; take care.

  • Annette - The train stops at Cook to change train crews. Too long a shift as we leave Adelaide Thurs evening, arrive Perth Sat morning. It is 4 days, 3 nights from Sydney to Perth with a few hours stopped at Broken Hill, Adelaide, Cook & Kalgoorlie. I spotted this on the website - "New to the Indian Pacific is a remote “short stop” where guests can disembark from the train to enjoy a glowing Nullarbor sunset at Rawlinna." Now I have to Google Rawlinna, somewhere in WA !

  • Sunny here this morning, but chilly. Supposed to warm up later... Annette: Its neighbours on the other side of us - they have a tiny white dog who would almost fit into the palm of your hand, but defends her territory like Goliath!! Very nice people. (The cakes were yummy - light fluffy muffins with lemon curd & cream......). Off to do supermarket trip to stock up, same as at home - but to coffee shop at Marina afterwards. Will have a walk around to walk off the muffins!
  • See you're enjoying your trip, AQ!!!