Firstly, in February I flew from Geraldton to Perth then to Sydney, arriving at 10.30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Savings time. I was me by my sister Annie and husband Bob who met me and drove me from Sydney back to Bowral. Mum came for breakfast at 8.30 a.m. and then I went with her back to her place. It was lovely catching up with everyone. Lunch with my aunt and Uncle at Mittagong and a few games of Scrabble, shopping, and then Tuesday saw Annie, Mum & I go back to Sydney for a couple of days. They had organised a beautiful apartment overlooking Darling Harbour so we were able to celebrate Annie’s birthday in fine style. Firstly it was champagne and cheese on the balcony b
efore my nieces Tash and Kate arrived and then my nephew Jabe and his girlfriend (now fiancée) Emma. Then we all went over to Darling Harbour to a magnificent Greek restaurant where diets flew out the window and we dined on marvellous food chased down by great wine!The next day was a number of ferry trips around the harbour until we reached Doyles. Again diets flew out the window as we all dined on either lobster of fabulous fresh fish and washed it down with
more champagne! We again caught the ferries back to Darling Harbour where we had a snack tea before heading out to Star City to see a show. This show was the Fab Four. They were amazing; they looked and sounded just like the original Beatles! Most of us in the Theatre of our age felt we had been transported back to the 60’s!Back to Bowral where I caught up with my brother Ian and his partner Anna. They were just heading off on their caravan adventure up the north coast. They also came to Sydney with Anne, Bob, Mum and I as they took me back to enable me to fly back to Kalbarri.
As you would have read on the last blog, we had flown out to the Abrolhos Islands and loved it. So much so we decided to do it again, this time with David and Marion from the Kalbarri Ambos’ and Mick Cordwell, a pommy police officer exploring the W.A. coast. Mick had been here before but had not been out to the Abrolhos. A great flight over again and even though it was a little cloudy out t
here so you didn’t quite get the clear turquoise colour of the water it was still fabulous. This time we also walked over to the other side of the Wallabi Island and viewed the Osprey’s nest that has been there over 30 years.I’ve been busy with St John Ambulance, helping on market days, a bit of office work and driving on call outs, a number of times also driving to Geraldton with hospital to hospital transfers. I also undertook the Primary Ambulance Care course (one weekend) which enhanced my skills. I am really going to miss this great group of people and am proud that Walter and I will always be able to count them as friends. They bought me to tears when a Barbeque they held turned out that it was for me. They presented me with a card that they had all signed and some lovely mementos of Kalbarri.
Walter had a few health problems which resulted in a trip to Perth. It was discover
ed that he had a blocked Coronary artery, but the Angioplasty in Perth was unable to move the blockage. He was given medication, and is required to follow a healthy diet and increased exercise. On the trip home we drove the scenic route through Cervantes, Jurian Bay and Green Head. We visited the Pinnacles at Cervantes and drove around amazed at the varying rock formations.Now we are gradually packing up and wondering how everything will fit in! We have accumulated quite a bit since staying in one place for a while! Fishing nets, more tackle, new chairs, walking poles, new annex flooring etc. I’m sure that we will get it in but Walter does scratch his head a lot at present wondering how!
We leave Tuesday and head towards Carnarvon. We plan to spend a bit of time at Quobba, which is slightly north of Carnarvon. Those who have stayed there only have good things to say about it so we are going to check it out for ourselves. Then we are going back to Ningaloo Reef and Cape Range National Park. We both truly loved this amazing place so we have planned to stay the maximum we can of 28 days. After this, we will travel further north and east to Karajini National Park through Tom Price, then Millstream and Chichester NP. Our rough plan form there is to go to Port Hedland, Roeburn, Newman and Marble Bar before heading south again. We have promised the St John crew that we will come back for a week about the end of August before going further south to spend summer in South West W.A. We hope to get to the Stirling Ranges for the spring wild flowers on the way.
So it will be adios Kalbarri………………
The Happy travellers
Rob & Walter
