Kate and Michael's Third trip- Foreword October 2011

After the least amount of planning (almost none!), for this latest expedition, we finally departed from our happy little home in Beverley. Eighteen months had passed since we had last ventured out to our beloved Goldfields.

And what an eighteen months!!! We had survived an avalanche of testing, unpredictable times. Michael’s physical and mental health broke down in June 2010. I moved him into my home – such a romantic way to begin living together! So, there we were, squeezed into my tiny duplex, along with my young adult children Vanessa, Callum and Alex, the three dogs and the cat! Eventually, I’d had enough of the squabbling, queuing for the toilet and the shower and the lack of any real privacy.

We’d given up on our dreams of either running the Kookynie Pub or restoring the Old Junction Hotel at Neergabby. Too hard, too expensive and Michael and I needed to simplify our lives, not complicate them any further.

The solution was surprisingly easy in the end. Trawling through the internet one evening, I stumbled across the website for Beverley in the Avon Valley. We went house hunting with (Captain) Helen Stubing, the local real estate agent, who worked out our requirements in about two minutes. And with Helen’s help, we found our home, the House that Rocks, at the end of 2 cul de sacs next to the Avon River reserve. My duplex ended up selling in a flash and suddenly we had to be out of Perth  on 7 January 2011.

My boys went to live with their father and Vanessa found supported accommodation
on with three elderly ladies. Of course, both these moves created high drama, resulted in unforeseen catastrophes, the odd tantrum and much gnashing of teeth!

Nine months later (like birth, really!) they had all flown solo. Callum and Alex wore out their welcome and were instructed to find alternative digs. Alex was so proud to be living on his own in a little flat. Callum secured a room in a share house and entered a new phase in his life. Vanessa fled the old ladies and moved in with a retired nurse and an ancient Jack Russell close to the train line.

Living separately and in the real world, my children metamorphosed into courteous, loving and communicative young adults without most of the angst. They forged a closer relationship with Michael and I and we have regularly seen them or spoken to them. Most remarkably, they began getting on much better, even talking to each other!

Along with a change of address was rationalization of the vehicles. Sunny, the gutsy, canary yellow Getz was bought by a local lady, who drove her hard and fast. Just the way Sunny liked it! Oscar the station wagon remained and we purchased Kermit the Jackaroo 4WD from a Beverley local.

Our attempts to depart on another Goldfields expedition were thwarted – twice. Obstacles such as family issues and renovations, procrastination and pontification about money were annoyingly regular. Finally, I decided we were just going and that was that.

The Monday before we were to leave, we took Kermit to Goldy Motors. He was only running on three cylinders and there was no guarantee that the mechanics would be able to get him right in time. By Wednesday, the outstanding service team had the fourth cylinder operational. I finished work on the Thursday. On Friday, the marvelous Yvonne arrived to house sit.

And then we started planning!

We put off leaving for an extra day for a variety of reasons. Zelda and Meredith joined us just for the weekend. The Eagles had the temerity to rocket into the preliminary final, only to be comprehensively outplayed by Geelong. We were still pretty happy after the Eagles’ wooden spoon position the previous season. We needed to pack as much gear as we could and leave. So, we had NO satellite phone, NO real itinerary and were boldly taking Kermit where he hadn’t been before!  

To Infinity and Beyond! Apologies to Buzz and Woody.