A Tale of Two Punctures (with apologies to Charles Dickens)

We are at the end of our latest Goldfields trip. I am sitting at my familiar dining table, writing this post. I have been incredibly lazy over the last ten days. I suppose I have an excuse that I have been out of internet range for that period. And as I was ploughing away on my trip journal, I didn't even attempt to try to scribble a post longhand.

The planning for the trip had kept us both going through some difficult weeks. Michael had a lousy winter battling a chest infection through July and most of August. This culminated in him being in hospital for a few days on IV antibiotics to really hammer the Bitch. All in all, he spent two months on antibiotics of some form or another and felt pretty ordinary and exhausted. The cold nights weren't helping and we hoped that the Goldfields weather might be milder.

And we'd had an invitation to Gina and Andrew's Steampunk Wedding to begin the trip. We'd left for the Goldfields on our very first outback adventure after a wedding six years ago and had incredibly wonderful memories. Which is why as our date for departure approached, we were really looking forward to the wedding, the subsequent trip and the break from home, the building's renovations and the East End Gallery.

The mountains of gear were packed into Kermit and the trusty trailer over Thursday and Friday. We arrived in Chittering for the wedding of the century twenty-four hours before the event. There was already countless friends and family in attendance at Chittering Acres. We retired to the camping area to set up the gazebo. A compost toilet at the camping ground and showers available on the property were all we needed. The shared BBQ dinner on Friday evening was an absolute joy. Although most of us had never met, the common denominator was Andrew and Gina and their coming nuptials. We all greeted each other as friends.

The wedding was an absolute blast. That will be the subject of my next post. We sailed away in Kermit the day after their wedding, full of happiness. Unfortunately, first stop was the outdoor supplies shop to purchase a new chair for Michael. His previously brand new chair had toppled into our fire in gusty conditions when we weren't looking.

Another Captain's chair on board, we set out on our great expedition. First night was at Karalee Dam, a past favourite site with very good firewood supplies. We slept under our tarp due to the cold and dew formation. The following day we arrived at Eulaminna, which was to be our base for five days. The first three nights were cool enough for roaring fires. The fourth night we lit a fire purely as we were having bucket baths. We had already discarded one additional sleeping bag by this time. The days were heating up much faster than we had previously experienced in September in the Goldfields. We had packed cold weather gear and did not use any coats or thermals at all. In fact, we only had jeans and we yearned for shorter lighter pants.

But we were having a fabulous time. We'd made tentative arrangements to spend a night at the Leonora Caravan Park on Saturday so we could watch the Eagles game at the Central Hotel. In the meantime, we had fossicked and fossicked and fossicked some more. Empty water containers were being filled with all manner of found metal objects. I ended up having an entire cake box filled with delicate pieces that were too fragile to just chuck in with the rest of our treasures.

Then a disaster. We'd been exploring further afield for an abandoned gold mine north-east of Eulaminna without success. On our way back to our camp, we decided to drive alongside the remains of the old railway platform. As we turned to retrace our steps, we heard the unmistakable hissing sound of a staked tyre. We stopped and leapt out to investigate. Something very sharp had penetrated the sidewall of the driver's tyre. Michael went to unlock the spare tyre to change it. First snag. The wheel lock wouldn't unlock. We had no phone reception and the afternoon shadows were lengthening. Michael had a scathingly brilliant idea, took out his grinder and cut off the recalcitrant lock. With much grunting and swearing, the tyre was changed. It was a mammoth operation. Michael had to lie flat out in the red dirt. He was not amused.

Eventually, the job was done and we limped back to camp, our tails between our legs. The following day we drove to Leonora to source a replacement. Michael was exceedingly uneasy about being without a spare tyre. We found the tyre repairer/ auto electrician/ mechanical services. A family business, they were all perfectly wonderful. The new tyre had to be ordered from Kalgoorlie, freighted to Leonora and then fitted and balanced. The cost was almost highway robbery, but we had no choice.

So, the deed was done. We came into Leonora a day earlier than anticipated and watched both Western Australian football teams play for a place in the Grand Final. The Eagles were triumphant, the Dockers not. Oh well, there was always next year for Fremantle.

We left Leonora to drive to Coolgardie. By this stage, the weather had been so hot, we had both been sunburnt and become dehydrated. We opted to stay at the Gold Rush Motel in Coolgardie for a night and then maybe drive home a day early if the weather didn't cool down.

We drove into Coolgardie with grandiose plans. We were going to check in, secure a room, dump the trailer at the Motel and go for a cruise around Coolgardie. Fate had other ideas. I blame Michael as he is a human metal detector. Somewhere on Bayley Street, as we drove into the driveway of the Gold Rush Motel, a sliver on rusty metal pierced into a trusty trailer tyre. As Michael reversed Kermit and the trailer into the designated parking space in front of our room, I heard that familiar hissing noise. Again.

The trailer tyre rapidly went flat. More photographic evidence of Michael on his back changing a tyre. Mercifully, the associated sound effects were not recorded. The cost for this tyre was minimal this morning. On a public holiday, a seventy-eight-year-old tyre fixer and mechanic named Robin was doing a roaring trade in beautiful downtown Coolgardie. He repaired and fitted the tyre without incident.

We were not going to push our luck. We headed for home. Our housesitters Patrick and
Alesia had done a brilliant job keep the House that Rocks clean and tidy and the animals and bird fed and entertained. We were stoked.

There remained the question of the two tyre deflations. We hadn't had a flat since...our first trip which followed a wedding. When we'd staked one tyre and punctured another. That was the key to the puzzle. Obviously, we should never again leave for a Goldfields trip after a wedding!

At Eulaminna...

then at Coolgardie...

...does he look like he's enjoying himself...?!

T'was the Night Before...

This time, six years ago, Michael and I were preparing to leave on our first Goldfields trip. We had known each other for only four months, but I was about to undergo an important test. Having been married twice before, Michael wanted to make damned sure that the next woman he might hook up with would love what he loved, enjoy what he enjoyed and travel where he wanted to go.

I must admit I was a tad dubious when, at nine thirty at night, Michael turned south from Yellowdine onto a gravel road that boasted "Danger! Enter at Own Risk" and "Not All Weather Road" and "Warning! 1080 Poison". In stunned silence, I rode with Michael twelve kilometres down a straight track ...to paradise.

Waking on that first morning, in our swags, at Mr Palmer, I was instantly smitten. Mt Palmer had existed between 1934 and 1944 as a town and a mine. When the gold ran out, the pub was dismantled, brick by brick, and the rest of the town vanished, swallowed back into the Goldfields scrub. The setting was beautiful and surreal and eye opening. And embarrassing. We discovered we'd camped about fifty metres from a very tidy couple, who had organised a doormat to their tent, neatly arranged shoes, a private shower cubicle and a sensible firepit. In contrast, we'd set up out swags, consumed a reasonable quantity of very good wine, howled at the moon and engaged in some fairly noisy rumpy bumpy!

We apologised to the couple with rather shamed faces. They swore they hadn't heard anything. Except I saw the glint in the good lady's eye...

That trip, all those years ago, started with the wedding of Michelle and Graeme at the Joondalup Country Club. This trip was beginning with the Steampunk wedding of Gina and Andrew at their property in Chittering. We are really really excited. The organisation has been a lot of fun. This is going to be the Event of the Century (up till now!).

And so, we are leaving at some stage tomorrow to head for Chittering. I am surrounded by bags and boxes, ready to load into Kermit tomorrow morning. Roger the motorbike has already been secured onto the trailer. Patrick has been briefed to housesit and I have created a three-page document this evening to hopefully deal with any eventuality.

The plan is to rise early and leave about midday! I'll believe it when I see it. We are the most unpunctual couple on the planet and that we ever go anywhere relatively on time is always a surprise to us both.

Outfits - check. Utility belts - check. Hats with decorations - check. Steel capped boots - check (but still to be polished -will happen in the morning).

Tally ho!

Mt Palmer - October 2009

The dangerous road to Mt Palmer!

Michael inspecting the bakery oven at Linden October 2009

An approximation...

of what we are hoping to emulate at Andrew and Gina's wedding!

Back from the Brink of Financial Catastrophe...Again!

Living by the financial seat of your pants can be fun. And terrifying at the same time.When Michael's health broke down in June 2010, his income rapidly fell from around $80 000 a year to nothing. As he was forced to retire, there was no redundancy. He was also faced with the ongoing spectre of becoming "complex medical" for the rest of his life.

Fast forward to the present. Michael is still "complex medical" In fact, his health, in real terms, has deteriorated quite markedly. Five hospital admissions in the last year and a half, including his very near death experience in April 2014. He battles chronic anxiety, structural lung disease, asthma, emphysema and bouts of debilitating reflux.

What's no annoying is that he appears so well. Except when he's not...Apart from being enguard against any new chest infection, his physical capabilities have declined as well, hence our need for enthusiastic, young, fit backpackers who do the grunt work.

Most of the time, we live reasonably well on Michael's Disability Support Pension and my Carer payments. We are lucky enough at present to have both shops 1 and 2 leased as well, which provide a little extra income. I have organised as many fortnightly direct debits as possible, to reduce the number of nasty surprises.

Unfortunately, once a year loom the dreaded Rates and Insurance for the House that Rocks and the Forbes Building. We managed to pay a large wallop of the rates with a refund from an insurance policy we had cancelled. So far, so good. But we know the insurance for the building is still to come. The figure is a trifle scary.

Because we have had to insure the building for what it would cost to replace now, with today's materials, that figure is a mind-boggling $800 000. The insurance for that figure is about $4500. This year we will definitely have to pay the insurance off in installments. And that is still a sizable $500 every month, as the last installment for the year is after ten months, not twelve.

Because we are still establishing the East End Gallery and we are yet to become well known, sales of our artwork are a bit haphazard and infrequent. As wintery weather has returned this weekend, I was not expecting many visitors to the Gallery today and certainly not early.

Michael and I were both suffering from Failure to Launch at the House that Rocks. A combination of watching the Dockers triumph over the Swan in the footy and then indulging in far too much James Bond led to disturbed sleep and late rising. Imagine our surprise, whilst drinking our morning cuppas, when we received a phone call from a couple wanting to view the East End Gallery!

Michael shot down to open. I finished my tea, completed printing more catalogues, left the dishes and pulled on my clothes for the day. I was in the Gallery fifteen minutes later. Just about a record.

Graham and Louise were a friendly, chatty couple who had just arrived from the Big Smoke on their motorbike. They easily picked one of Mandy Evans' prints, which they could carry on the bike. Then Louise spied the Chris Meinema painting "Meelup Bay".

This was too big to carry on the bike. We discussed various ridiculous ways to tying the painting onto the bike. Then I remembered we were coming to the Big Smoke on Wednesday. We recorded their address and arranged a suitable time for delivery. They were thrilled. So were we.

We have wanted this painting to go to a good home since we were given it for the Gallery. It is a piece of history as the scene it depicts is no longer bush overlooking the beach. It is a carpark. And I feel that Louise, who works in a gallery herself, recognised its beauty and value.

The additional bonus is that the building's first insurance instalment this year isn't looking quite so daunting anymore! Saved again.

"Meelup Bay", now proudly owned by Graham and Louise...

A few of Magda's sisters have been enthusiastically snapped up...

as well as a couple of Mandy Evans' prints...YAY

The East End Gallery is alive and kicking in beautiful downtown Beverley. Come in and see us sometime.

Preparing for a Steampunk Wedding!.

Having successfully postponed the appointment with Centrelink until 6 October, we can now concentrate on our next getaway. This is a bit like deja vu...When Michael first took me to the Goldfields in 2009, we started our trip with a wedding. Now, six years later, almost precisely, we will be launching forth to the Goldfields via a wedding in Chittering.

I feel like I've known Gina, the bride, forever. She was introduced to me by a mutual friend, Punya, who I have known, on and off, for the last fifteen years or so. Punya once presented a particularly memorable workshop at a Kalparrin Mothers' Weekend. At the age of forty-two, I was in an unhappy marriage with little understanding of my own sexuality. My then husband told me I was frigid. I believed him until Punya showed a packed room of women, including me, that  I wasn't as he said.

I am so looking forward to catching up with Punya at Gina and Andrew's wedding next weekend. Gina is a Steampunk artist, producing work that is like a cross between "Around the World in 80 Days" and "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde" Her art is vibrant and macabre and innovative and thought provoking. In contrast, Andrew is only a "Mad Scientist". They are like a meeting of minds. We are so thrilled to be invited to their wedding in a stunning location. The views from their home take our breath away.

Needless to say, their wedding is Steampunk. This is all about metal and the Victorian era and waistcoats and utility belts and frills and boots and goggles. We have had great fun decorating our hats and organising appropriate outfits. I'm even going to polish our black matching steel capped boots for this important occasion!

We plan to travel to "Chittering Acres" the day before the wedding to secure a dry location for our camp bed in case of inclement weather. So far, the forecast is promising. But this is spring in Western Australia  and any weather is possible. We will be prepared in case of rain, hail, sleet or blizzard.

We have started packing for Beyond the Wedding, We will leave after two nights @ Gina and Andrew's. The food, utility and crockery and cutlery boxes have all been checked and supplemented. We have started making block ice for the five-day esky. I have already cooked and frozen one meal, another has been cooked ready to freeze and I will cook the last two meals to take away in the next day or so. We are having both cars serviced on Monday and then Kermit the 4 wheel drive will be systematically loaded by Michael. He is very, very good at this task. I will just leave him to this job.

Clothes, toiletries, and our drugs are my domain. These will be ready by Thursday at the latest, so Michael can place them in Kermit's back seat. The esky will be our last job. We will complete this task just prior to departure.

Patrick has been lined up to house sit, dog sit, cat sit and bird sit. He is a very personable young man with family support in town and the inimitable Lorna next door, He is looking forward to looking after the House that Rocks, in spite of the lack of wi-fi.

The clock is ticking. The countdown is on for our next adventure. After a very ordinary winter - Michael had a chest infection for all of July and August - we hope to escape, relax and regroup. And come back with the odd found metal object or two.

We need a break. We both know we need a break. This has been a long winter. And Gina and Andrew's wedding will be just the ticket for launching into spring. Steampunk is cool!

Steampunk for blokes...

Steampunk for girls...

beyond Steampunk!

Survival of the Fittest @ the House that Rocks.

We have just lived through the occasion that was Michael's 60th Birthday Blast. And when I say "just", I mean "by the skin of our teeth". All is quiet this morning at the House that Rocks. The birthday boy is still asleep, triumphant and shattered, after our forty-eight hour non-stop celebration of his life.

The fun started Friday morning with Michael's cousin Fay arriving on our doorstep earlyish...We knew she would be first on the scene, but we were still somewhat startled when she was knocking on the front door at ten in the morning. But the house was tidy and I had a shower whilst Michael caught up the last ten years of his life with Fay. Vanessa, who had arrived the previous day, snoozed on.

My friend Melissa and her astonishing daughter Cathryn were next. Mel, known for her huge generosity, had asked me what Bourbon Michael liked. She suggested a brand we knew. I thought she would be arriving with a six pack. She turned up with an esky shaped like a keg with an  entire bottle of Bourbon and coke cans secreted in its belly.

The afternoon proceeded. Michael's sister Sandra and cousin Zoe from the East made their appearance. Dinner was late and haphazard. Michael's famous squished potatoes were not ready in time. I was too tired to even contemplate making a salad. So we made the most of cooked chicken legs and fresh bread. Nobody seemed to care.

I retired to bed, exhausted.Vanessa, Sandra, Fay and Zoe all helped with the clean up. The first night rocked on with Shane, Guy and Gary all stopping by to wish Michael well. But it was a relatively sedate affair and everyone was tucked up by midnight. Except the three cousins. I believe Zoe, Fay and Sandra were still chatting at the B&B for quite some time.

Michael's Mum and Dad, brother Darryl and friends Gerry and Grant and another friend from long ago, Lawrence all made an entrance throughout Saturday. Vanessa returned to Perth, pleased that her cakes were being devoured. Lucky and Judy watched the football. I escaped into the garden for an hour or so of weeding in the glorious afternoon sun. Michael and Grant spent a few hours enjoying friendship and sunshine and rendezvoused with Gary at the shops. Julie and Dave, local friends, dropped in with more nibblies. The irrepressible Tim Burns even showed up and immediately hit it off with Zoe. Meals were still a bit haphazard but we were overflowing with food.

We lit our rubbish pile in the late afternoon. That was fun. And we managed to pull ourselves into order and have dinner on the table at a respectable hour. The night was becoming lively. Laurence pulled out his guitar and sang. This was just brilliant. I managed to stay up until after midnight. Michael, Darryl and Lawrence were in the groove. Gerry had returned to the pub for bed. Darryl found himself locked out when he tried to retire to the pub in the early hours of Sunday morning. He ended up on our couch under a sleeping bag.

Sunday morning found Michael in bed very deep in sleep. I checked him a couple of times to make sure he was still breathing. He eventually became vertical when his mum and dad, sister and cousin arrived from the B&B. Luckily, they'd eaten. Michael was in no shape to eat everything. He just sat quietly in the sun, nursing his coffee.

Our final group of visitors were Lesley, Zelda and Lesley's daughter Amy. Mel and Cathryn left after we'd gone to look at the Gallery. The family departed as well. The girls stayed for a few hours and then drove away back to the Big Smoke.

Michael needed to return to bed. I went too. We were quickly asleep. We woke as Lawrence stopped in for the last visit. He and Michael shared memories and other stories. Michael was finally able to nibble on a bit of carrot cake and a coffee. As dusk was creeping in, we bid Lawrence farewell.

What an absolute ripping weekend. I hope everyone who attended enjoyed themselves. Michael received much love, gifts galore and a chance to reconnect with his friends from the past and present. He was in no doubt that he was treasured by this eclectic bunch of people,

Last night was very quiet indeed. We watched television together. I rustled up some leftovers. The cat returned inside. She had been in a foul mood all weekend as we had extra dogs in the house. She climbed onto the couch next to Michael with all the dignity she could summon and then quickly melted under her lover's stroking hand. the dogs were permitted to join us on the couch as well. Sascha's face said it all. Bliss!

And so this morning, I am very satisfied that we held this celebration. Michael deserved every accolade he received. I am pretty sure that we will have recovered from this party in time for his 70th birthday....

PS - the absolute best outcome of the weekend was Michael's admission that he doesn't like smoking much anymore. Finally, we have created a chink in his addiction's armour. The Bitch is on the run.

The calm before the storm...

three cousins...

the birthday boy looking pretty pleased with himself...

Mel and Guy enjoying the night...

the birthday boy, his sister and two cousins...

Breakfast on Saturday or was it lunch...

the other end of our table with the birthday boy...

Happy, happy birthday Michael. All my love.

The Excitement is Building to a Crescendo!

We are on the eve of Michael's 60th birthday. He has been installing copper pipe at the East End Gallery today; I have been in the garden. Vanessa roared into Beverley fairly early this morning. She rang us from Mundaring at twenty past eight.We were sound asleep. Once I became properly conscious, I rang her back. My first question to her was "Where is my daughter and what have you done with her?", This is an ongoing joke between us as Vanessa is renown for her loathing of any time prior to midday. She was in our driveway by ten o'clock.

I was lucky enough to have one of our artists, Mandy Evans, volunteer to open the Gallery today. I was trying to complete a number of jobs at the House that Rocks before Michael's birthday blast officially begins tomorrow.Vanessa has cooked, washed up, hung out clothes and vacuumed the house. I was stoked as I could be in the garden all afternoon, loving the first warm day this spring. I weeded and swept the brick paving areas and cleaned the outdoor table and chairs. I finished my love affair with the garden at dusk. There is still more to do but I am quite satisfied with my efforts and I think the garden looks quite good for the celebration this weekend.

Michael has received more presents. An up to date Western Australian Roads and Tracks directory was presented to him from me. Vanessa bought her beloved (step) dad lots of lollies. He was very satisfied with these gifts. Michael loves sweeties ...

Delightful little Linda, who works at our IGA bought him a bottle of red. Our friend, Melissa enquired as to his favourite brand of Bourbon and she arrives tomorrow to spend the weekend here with her daughter, Cathryn. I have not met Cathryn yet, but as she has survived having Mel as a mum, I suspect she is an all around great girl!

Sandra ( Michael's sister) and Zoe and Fay (cousins) all descent on the Beverley Bed and Breakfast sometime during the morning. We have multiple friends, both locally and from elsewhere, dropping in over the weekend. We have enough food to feed the Fifth Battalion. The only dodgy aspect is the weather.

We are expecting possible rain tomorrow night and Saturday morning. This may throw a spanner in the works as our house isn't big enough to accommodate more than about three visitors...What the hell. We will cope. The fact that Michael has made it to sixty is cause for believing anything is possible. Jesus illustrated that with loaves and fishes. We can do similar with our house and the Gallery if necessary.

Saturday night we will be lighting our bonfire. This should be a ripping event, complete with nibblies and large glasses of vino. Half the neighbours are coming, the other lot have been warned. This is shaping to either be the social occasion of the century. Or it could be a demonstration of sixty-year-old men behaving badly. Either way, Michael's birthday will be a blast!

The birthday boy - Eulaminna May 2015.

Countdown to Michael's 60th Birthday.

Today is the first day of Spring.This is quite amusing as it has been bitterly cold and doesn't look much better tomorrow. We are crossing our fingers that the temperatures thaw before Friday. This will be the beginning of the most important social extravaganza of the century (at least until Andrew and Gina's Steampunk Wedding later in the month) and if the weather is kind, we can spend most of the weekend outside.Given we live in a tiny house, we will be much more comfortable if we can entertain visitors in the great outdoors.

Michael's birthday began unofficially yesterday. In spite of the fact he loathes the Big Smoke, he offered to drive me around in order to buy enough supplies to feed the Fifth Battalion, pick up Barfy Burgers and a myriad other errands that could only be done in Perth.

So, I thought it was more than fair that we pick up Michael's main present. He doesn't turn sixty every day and our wonderful family have all offered to throw in money for a wide angle lens. Michael's camera gives him such pleasure that this lens was an absolute priority. We actually spent a tad more as we also bought a new camera bag and two filters for the lens. Even if we had been on the bones of our bums, I would have moved heaven and earth to provide Michael with this gift.

He doesn't ask for much. And the fact he is alive is great cause for celebration. In the last sixteen months, he has had five admissions to hospital for chest complaints. The most serious was in April last year when he nearly died due to bilateral pneumonia. After forty years of smoking, his lungs are scarred by structural lung disease. This means that if he catches a respiratory virus, it inevitably becomes bacterial and takes weeks to recover. He has just finished two months of antibiotics, including four days on IV antibiotics in Joondalup Hospital. I hope that the cold weather recedes as fast as possible, so the respiratory bugs flying around disappear until next winter.

So we are preparing for an influx of family and friends to celebrate Michael's birthday. We have his sister, brother and cousins, his Mum and Dad, Vanessa and lots of local and Perth friends descending on the House that Rocks. This weekend will be a rip-roaring, joyous, probably badly behaved forty-eight-hour tribute of Michael's continued survival in the face of adversity.

I have one final wish. Michael's children are cordially invited to this party. Due to long hurts and misunderstandings, they have chosen not to have a relationship with their Dad. I would ask them all - please reconsider and join us. The past is the past, the present is to be cherished because the future is unknown.

A kaleidoscope of Michael - 2009 - 2015