Day 76 - Fitzroy Crossing

You know if I had to describe myself I’d have to say that I am a dreamer, I don’t have weird dreams or anything, in fact I rarely dream. But when I visit a place I often think about what it was like in the past. For years I have been reading 4WD magazines & reading about places like the Pilbara, the Goldfields & the Kimberly. As recently as 30 years ago many of these places were only accessible by plane or by 4WD across unmade tracks.

Now I have been lucky enough to visit many of these places my dreams have found some reality. We made it here easily, the Land Rover & van are very comfortable, we have air conditioning & Ness’s fruit & nuts if we get hungry!  Very funny!!

Imagine what it was like for people 100 year ago travelling to these parts of the country.

A bit of history for you…. I better acknowledge the pre European history or my school principal sister will go crook at me…. Originally this land was the home of the Bunuba people.

A bloke called Andrew Forrest (Hmmm I wonder if he is related to FMG’s Andrew Forrest?) came up this way in the late 1800’s & decided it would be good for sheep, which baffles me as it gets to 45 plus up here in summer, imagine being a sheep in that heat! And then cattle stations were established, many of which still survive today. You can actually go out and stay on a station & see how they work.

Today the actual town is basic & home to 1500 people, with approximately a further 2000 people living in surrounding aboriginal communities.

Some of you may remember that in 2008 when the government was doing their “Intervention” living conditions for aboriginal people in the Fitzroy Crossing area were described as a “National Disaster”

Anyway we got here around 2pm & we leave tomorrow at 8am so we have not had much of a chance to look around, but will definitely put it on the list to come back to & spend a bit more time in & around.

You know another thing? And our neighbors Bill & Sue will back me up on this, we think that Australia is pretty much the same all over……No Way!!! It is soooooo different, this trip we have noticed just how different the Pilbara is to the Kimberly, the dirt, the flowers, the trees, the wildlife, everything is different…. It’s awesome, it is like travelling to different countries but all in the same country!

Reader’s replies

Sandy replied to Annie, thanks for the advice Sandy…. Annie is driving us nuts without any encouragement…..Have a great trip & tell DG to take it easy!

And Georgia added to my frustration by telling me more about how a persons Aboriginality is decided! Its just not fair!!!

Hey Tereasa…. You ok? It’s unusual not to hear from you

What about you Rob? Too busy watching TV? Whats your current favourite?

Kirstin….are you watching the Olympics? You have been quiet too

Heather…. Have you got all huffy & sooky?

Meredith? Whats happening on the volcano front?

Egg & Bonnie…. How’s England?

Pete & Mary….. Are you lost somewhere following a Michelin map book?

And anyone else that has not sent a message for a while…… C’mon make us feel like we are not stuck in a box together with just ourselves for company for nearly 3 months!!!!

Annie’s Blog

I’m with Dad on this….. None of my friends have messaged me for a while. Have you all forgotten me? Edward, Jack, Grace & Jack, Ashwin, Elise, all my friends???? Talk to me.

Ok, hope you are all well…. We are heading home now so Mum says I will get lost in our house it is so big….. I can’t wait.

Big hugs to all of you

AnnieInAVan…..XXXX

Day 75 - Broome

Today we drove our beloved Land Rover on the famous Cable Beach in Broome, excellent….the sand is so white & bright and the tide goes out for hundreds of meters, which leaves beautiful firm sand that you can drive on…. Took some pics, Ness will put up soon.

Did any of you watch Insight on SBS last night? There was a great discussion about confirming someones Aboriginality! Now I didn’t know this but you have to have your Aboriginality confirmed by a local Aboriginal council group? And it is all done by who you know, how long you & your family have lived in the area & a whole heap of other factors. It was incredibly interesting to me….. I feel so bad for the way that these things work, and it is really sad that so many genuine indigenous people have missed out on their past, are suffering at present & let’s be honest….Have no future! As usual though the “Money” came into it….. Some people use their Aboriginality in order to benefit financially. I was getting so frustrated watching it because there is no simple solution except kick everyone out of Australia that is not aboriginal & let them sort it out from there? Just a suggestion.

I was a little disappointed today though, Ness, Annie & I went into the main township of Broome and as we were wandering around the streets there were a group of maybe 15 Aboriginal guys & girls, many of them obviously under the influence of something, the others yelling loudly at each other. And the fact that they are aboriginal has very little to do with it, I would think the same if it was a group of white Australians, German backpackers or Asian tourists…even Scottish people….Although I would join in if it was the Scots!

Ha I saw something else today that made me smile, it is currently Ramadan, so Muslim Guys & Girls fast during daylight hours (Brad A, fasting means you don’t eat or drink). But that is fine except for the people in Sweden, who currently have VERY VERY VERY long days…..Up to 20 hours of daylight!

See God does have a sense of humour!

We went to the Sun Cinema today, this is the theatre that was in the movie Bran Nue Dae, it is fantastic, there are rows of deck chairs that look incredibly uncomfortable looking onto an outdoor movie screen. But the best bit is the theatre is at the end of the airport runway, so every once in a while a plane flies over the theatre and you can’t hear a thing…..How cool!

Comments from the mob

Norm & Marg can relate to our car antics, they spend most of their lives less than a meter apart often at the wheel of a vehicle heading on an adventure….. I bet there have been times where one of you was in a different mood to the other! Luckily it doesn’t happen often for us & it lasted less than an hour!

I made Liz feel guilty as she sent us a lovely message…. Got some advice for you Liz….. Retire!!! Get out and do the things you want to do, it doesn’t have to cost much. To all of you take this advice, we have met people on this trip that are doing what everyone else “WANTS” to do but is too scared! Remember the Crazy caravan with the couple with 4 daughters, remember Merve the 65 year old Wheelchair guy that lives in his Transit Van for 5 months a year just so he can go fishing (At 80 mile beach mind you)…. I’m going to start encouraging more & more people to do it, and I know I’ll get the argument “But what about work, what about the house, what about this…..” well you obviously don’t want to do it enough!...... But I’m not just talking about packing up & travelling, start the hobby you have always wanted to do, learn to sing, go to a Noodie beach….. Whatever you want to do then work out how to do it!!! If I (We) can do it then why can’t you?.... Life is way too short!

Ok I’ll get down off the soapbox now. And many of you think I am the one that often does the preaching….think again!!

Celeste wrote a nice message, thanks Celeste….. What’s wrong with Kenny? See the music I have to put up with because of the generation gap between James and I. Hahaha. He tells stories to music. Oh and thanks for the tip re the Beetroot Chips, I’ll be heading to the health food shop! And please don’t encourage Annie to scream, Ness took her to the shops today and she was actually “Yelling” at other shoppers!

Annie’s Bolognaise

I tricked you!!! Did you see my funny joke above? I think I am funnier than my Dad.

Today Dad took us to the shops, we went to the outdoor movie theatre, that would be fun but I’ll wait till I am older and I can sit through a whole movie without getting hungry or pooping my pants! Then we went to the shops to look at Purls, they are BORING!!! Little white balls that shine a bit, I was expecting something more, no thank you I am not going to be a Purl Gurl….. (Hehehe!!!) But Mum bought some Purl earrings and they look nice on her, Dad said so, but I think he just said it because she had already looked at a million other pairs!

I think I am finding my voice, the last few days I have been making different sounds and getting louder & louder, it is fun. And it makes Mum & Dad look at me, if Mum is busy I just make sounds and yell until she talks with me & if Dad is reading I just keep making noises until he puts his book down & plays with me…..Clever me!!!

We have a big drive tomorrow, we are off to Fitzroy Crossing? What is a Fitzroy? & why does it need to cross?

Love to you from me

AnnieInAVan…..XXXX

Day 74 - Broome

Did we tell you how nice 80 mile beach is?..... Soooooo nice Sighhhhhh! But today we left & headed north to Broome, it was an incredibly boring drive to be honest, after the Blue blue sea, the White white sand & the Blue blue skies of 80 Mile Beach it was always going to be a bit of a letdown. There is Nothing, absolutely nothing for miles & miles…..We got excited when we came across a cattle feeding area with a couple of hundred head of Brahma cattle.

I cracked it today! This morning I was doing my normal male stuffing around thing while Ness was busy feeding Annie, getting herself ready, cleaning the van, packing up, making lunches & all the normal stuff she manages to squeeze into a miniscule amount of time….. Anyway I was happy & cheery & Ness just wanted to get Annie in the car & hit the road…… So I said to her I wasn’t going to talk to her until we get to Broome….. I didn’t want to say anything to stress her or that she would take the wrong way!..... Man do you know how hard it is just to NOT TALK!.... We had to get fuel so I pointed at the fuel gauge, Ness asked me questions & I either gave a thumbs up or a thumbs down, in the end she was trying to get me to talk…… I gave up!!!! We were only 1 hour down the track & I gave in!!! Ness 1….James 0 In other words…James was fluffing around and I was on a mission to get on the road at Annie’s morning sleep time.  So I was being short and to the point and James was like…just chill!  Of course he is right but I was not in the mood for chilling.  Anyway…I just made it worse for him because I had to speak for the two of us.  Hehe…

Arrived in Broome & came straight to the caravan park, now how many of you have chosen your accommodation based on what you have read or seen in the fancy brochures or accommodation guides? And then when you arrived it is slightly less glamorous that you thought! That happened to us today, we booked a site at a caravan park that looked good on paper, but when we arrived we were allocated a spot next to a 4 lane main road & more raucous neighbors who are celebrating Tuesday or something significant like that! Tonight we are being serenaded to some really bad country & western music & some feral kids fighting in the back of their van! We were thinking of extending our stay but we won’t be now!

Hey I have to mention last night’s blog & my son Brad’s comment! Did you all see it…. Priceless Brad had me & Ness in stitches!!!!

Readers’ comments

Arama wants us all to know that NZ is NOT part of Australia!!!! I agree Arama, but it’s always going to happen, anything good that comes from Un Zud Australia is happy to claim, look at Split Enz & Crowded house… Both those bands became Ozzie bands….. Ness just told me they are the same bands!!!! Not the same band but with the Finn brothers…see he really doesn’t listen to me. Russell Crowe, I reckon we would have tried to claim the Kiwi bird at some stage! Yet as soon as a New Zealander does something wrong in Australia the media make a big thing about them being a NZ’er!!! Bloody Media….. Hey tonight on TV they had a story about the Volcano erupting, I cacked myself laughing because the guy they interviewed was called Victor Cassidy….. Now try saying that in a strong Kiwi accent “Vuctor Cussidy”…. Hahaha…. I crack myself up!!!

My son Brad has done it again!....Great comment mate, see you next week, we are all looking forward to it!

Sarah F shared her memories of 80 Mile Beach…..Hasn’t changed much S,  it really is a great place, I reckon I could spend a month there! Easy!!!

And Meredith has been breathing in Volcano ash….. Stay safe M, don’t go up in planes until the Volcano settles down.

Annie’s Blog

Oh My Goodness!.....I have a new favourite man in the whole world!....I mean the Spunky bike riding hitchhiker was good, but I heard a man’s singing today and it was just brilliant! I was a bit bored in the car so Dad told Mum to put his Ipod on the radio in the car and this man started to sing just to ME…… his voice was so sexy (Sorry Mum I had to say that!) ….. Dad said his name was Kenny Rogers, well Mr Rogers I think I want to marry you!!!!..... Mum said that he has changed his face by having it lifted up???? What the!!!...... Oh I’m going to sleep tonight with his beautiful voice in my head singing to me…… “Lady….I’m your knight in shining armour & I love you…..” (Try getting that out of your head…….Annie’s Dad)

We came to this Brush place today…..Mum & Dad were not impressed, there are trucks & loud motorbikes going past & there are loud people here…. I don’t think we will really like it here.

Tomorrow Dad is taking me & Mum to the shops…. This place grows Purls? I’ve never seen a Purl before…. But Mum whispered to me & said that she is going to get Dad to by us both a Purl….. I hope it is a big one! Me & Mum have had to put up with Dad for over 2 months now & his jokes and singing are not getting any better.

Anyway Mum said to tell you all that she has put some new photos up, see how big I am now.

Speak to you real soon with my new Purl

AnnieInAVan…..XXXX

Day 73 - Sighhhh

You know when you do something or have a thought or feeling that just makes you feel good and you just relax & go Sighhhhh!? Well this is the place. For those of you who know your geography get a map & go north of Pt Hedland & then south of Broome and you will see a place called 80 mile beach. Otherwise known as Sighhhhh!

We did nothing today….Nothing Nothing Nothing!!!! Oh except for have a shower, eat a pie for breakfast, drive the magnificent Land Rover on the beach & check out the fishing fanatics, come back & just veg around the superb Trakmaster van. I read a bit of Robert G Barrett & Ness caught up on some non important work stuff(If you call budgets non inmportant…I know Sanjeeva and I don’t)…Oh and the 3 loads of washing ,sweeping and mopping more red dust out of the van. Yes I did nothing all day!!!, Annie was amusing herself by exploring the caravan site & also keeping passers by happy by yelling at them! She has this new thing where if someone goes past the van & they don’t pay attention to her she lets out this loud “Yelp” most people look around to see where this strange noise came from….She then laughs or smiles when they turn and look at her. She is already a very clever little girl but I am obviously biased!

Hey a special mention to Flick N, Ness & I were talking last night & for some reason we thought this would be the perfect place for you for a few months of the year Flick, there is sand & sun, a constantly changing social environment, always someone to chat with, you have the permanents & the casuals, some people come here for 4 months of the year & others like us come for a couple of days….I’d love to stay longer. So you would have your constant social group & also the new people that you could meet. Oh and of course there is the happy hour every night! We reckon you would fit right in here Flick, only thing is you can’t swim in the ocean…..Lots of bitey things!

It’s a great place though, we sit watching couples in their 70’s ride past tandem on a Quad bike! Yes a Quad bike, they load up their fishing rods, eskies, camp chairs & ride onto the beach and fish for hours on end. For the ones that don’t ride a quad bike there are 4wd’s & we saw a couple ride their bikes on the hard packed sand today!!! What an awesome place. If Ness & I ever want a place to just park our van for a few months & do nothing….This is where I’ll be coming to!

Although on the down side everyone here is enjoying themselves…. Some a little too much. They have cabins here that hire out, and this weekend is a long weekend in WA…..Last night there was a party in a few of the cabins across the road from us until well after 3am. But like I say, this place is just for enjoying! Only thing I would change is I’d bring my quad bike….. Bit hard to get around on the beach in my chair!

Hey the Jesus bottle is DEAD!....It finally has succumbed to the pressures of running my BBQ, the oven, stovetop & even the fridge some times! (Yes we have a gas powered fridge) yesterday we couldn’t get the hotplates to work & realised it was time to say goodbye to the Jesus bottle, 3 years of amazing service…RIP Jesus bottle! We changed over to our spare bottle and my challenge now is to make it last longer than the last one.

Ok answer this, especially to the male bloggies! Have you ever said to your wife or partner….”You look good in that top/dress/pants/whatever today” only for them to say to you “Yes, it has this gusset that keeps my boobs from sagging!” I mean do I really want to know that you need a gusset to keep your boobs up! Don’t get the wrong idea here, Ness has great boobs, and childbirth has been very kind to her…she doesn’t need a gusset or a girdle or a corset or anything, as she is gorgeous just the way she is….. So I don’t need to have a mental picture of what could be the case. Girls & guys, if your partner tells you that you look good, just smile & say thanks! Too much information can spoil it!

Met a really nice bloke today, now I don’t know too many people in wheelchairs, I’m a bit of a snob & I find that a lot of people in my situation have a “Chip” on their shoulder. But Merv is a wheelie and has been for 35 years, from what Ness & I can work out he is a Vietnam Veteran, he has been in a wheelchair for 35 years & he is 65 years old, Ness couldn’t help herself today when she met him she said “You look fantastic for 65” and he does, he looks fit & healthy, very tanned and the best 70’s side burns you have ever seen, he rides his quad bike on the beach to go fishing, he lives in the south of WA on 45 acres & he comes up here for 5 months a year just to relax & take it easy. He had such a good attitude & no chip on his shoulder, it was great to meet Merv, there should be more people like him.

Big shout out to DG, he is not feeling well this week & needs a bit of R&R, he is off to Qld soon so take it easy DG, rest up & save your energy for when Annie gets home, you will need it!

Reader’s replies

Have got no internet so cant check your responses!....Sorry we will reply from Broome

But just some questions

Egg how is the UK?

Pete the tyre man….Got lost lately? Get a new map book

Liz P…Haven’t heard from you for a while

The DeLanders…How is NSW?

Meredith, had any dreams of Wombats in dressing gowns smoking a pipe?

Heather & Georgia….Wanna bag me some more?

Brad A…. Day 6 mate, hope you are well. Keep up the good work!

Tereasa… I hope you have a flat tyre, lose your keys, have a computer meltdown & burn your dinner all in the same day…..Then it will be a different day to the same old same old!

Kirsten…how do you feel about horse racing?

Marg & Norm…. Stay warm…Hurry home

Celeste… Do do do do….Do do do…..Do do do do….Do do do…..to be hummed in the tune you know well

Arama….. I was trying to think of something clever in NZ to say, but there is not much clever in NZ! But you guys rock when it comes to gold medals! Putting the Aussies to shame!

Rob….. good to be back at work?

Granny how is your heater going?

Dave R…how is my yabbie going…YUMmmmm

Nikki…Charlotte has asked if you and Charlotte can drive over here together in the car…only 7000kms round trip!

Annie’s Blog

I had my Mum & Dad with me Alllllll day today, they didn’t have to work & had no silly internet thingy so they just played with me & spent the whole day with me.  When Mum went to do the washing Dad was playing with me & when Dad went to the shower or loo, Mum was with me and the rest of the time we were all together playing, I had a swim in my mini pool, we went in Dad’s awesome Land Rover on the beach, we had lunch and dinner & brekky together…. How cool, I don’t like this work thingy that Dad has to go to…..Do any of my friends Mums or Dads have to go to this work thing???? I reckon we ban it and just stay together all the time!

My Dad has a copy of him! Today this man came to see us and he had wheels like my Dad, they talked & talked & talked, and they laughed too, my mum even told him he looked good! Careful Mum my Dad might get jealous!!!

Tomorrow we leave this place, I might see if I can try my trick in the car tomorrow and get my Dad to stop! Mum said we are going to Brush…..What a silly name for a place, we will spend a couple of nights in Brush!

Night All

Love from AnnieInAVan….XXXX

Day 72 - Holy Shit

So I apologise for the title of today’s blog, but we have found another amazing place! Just when we thought that we might not see too many more awesome places on this trip we come across this gem!

Ok so we left Port Hedland, we were both quite happy with our stay at PH, we had a good couple of days and I was able to finally relax after a couple of months of working fairly consistently at different places.

We hit the road north, it was actually quite a boring drive, and there is not much to see on the road towards Broome it is flat & fairly barren. But quite green, we were surprised how green things are up here. Annie was bored too which made the trip even longer. There was lots of book reading, singing, funny noise making, snacks, drinks…basically anything I could think of to keep her occupied.  I was exhausted by the time we arrived!

Just as we approached the turn off there was a car & caravan approaching the other way also turning off, there was another van behind us too…..Luckily we turned in first!

So we turned off the main road and headed on a corrugated dirt road towards a place called Eighty Mile Beach, we had heard about a caravan park here that was ok. That is the only thing here…

After about 8km of dirt road we drove through a wooden gate & over a slight rise only to be greeted by the bluest sea that I have ever seen! We continued into the park & pulled in to the parking bay where you check in….we were able to look down onto one of the busiest little caravan parks I have seen, but it was a really good setup, today they even had a mini market & live music between 12 & 2. It was fantastic! Annie was the centre of attention, many people came up to her & talked with her, I said to Ness we should have a stall & charge $2 for a cuddle for people that are missing their grandchildren! We could pay for her education!!!

Ness went to the office & we were told we had the last powered site! How lucky is that, glad we beat those other 2 vans in!

So we set up the van, went to the market, listened to the music, we then went for a drive on the beach in the Land Rover…. It just loves playing in the sand! Came back, Annie had a bath in her tub, more people came over to see her, Ness went up to collect our $12 meals that you can order when you arrive & we had a drink and the best plate of Lasagna salad & chips that $12 can buy!

I recommend you all drop what you are doing, get in the car and make your way to Eighty Mile Beach in WA…. It is on our favourite places list! It is like a mini village here, there is over 200 caravan sites and a bunch of cabins…it is hive of activity on the edge of the ocean.  It is also quad bike city….everyone brings up their quad bikes and they go fishing on the beach.  Saw the cutest couple today…pushing 70+ in their matching flannel shirts riding(one behind the other)on their quad up to the kiosk to collect their $12 meal to take back to their van!!

Got the Olympics on….Why would a black runner wear a black lycra suit? Looks like they are running naked!!!

Comments from Bloggies

Norm from England told us that truckies used to sit on a foam cushion & pee away! I guess on cold nights it would kill 2 birds with one stone! Have a pee & warm up the cobblers! And Norm we won’t upset the balance….we send iron ore, but we buy back steel! We are too stupid & dumb to support our own steel making industries!!!! Keep it in the country!!!

Granny is encouraging Annie….. She does not need encouraging! She will be all of your grandchildren rolled into one!

Rob gave me advice on the Gay question, thanks Rob…. But it was funny that one of the guys kept making a big thing about his wife & grandchildren…… Ness picked up on it, and the van they were in was tiny…. Too tiny for single beds!.... It was like he was telling us what he wanted us to think???? I should of  just asked him!

Tereasa gave me the opposite advice! Don’t ask, T I know it’s none of my business but I just wanted to know….simple! It would not have made a difference to me one way or another, I just wanted to.  

Ewwwww Ness showed me the SHEWEE thing, what is that all about? Online….no I don’t have one!! Who thinks of these things!

Annie’s Blog

We left the Head place today, I didn’t really want to leave. It was a nice place and I had lots of things to play with. So Mum & Dad packed the car & the box on wheels and we started driving again BORING!!! I decided I would crack it, and it worked, Dad pulled over into a parking bay & Mum got me out & took me into the box on wheels, she fed me, let me crawl around while she made Dad’s samwiches. Then she changed my nappy & gave me a biscuit….. I’m going to crack it more often!

We got back in the car & put our seatbelts on…..My Dad says you always have to have a seatbelt on! And we drove off….. after a while I got bored again so I decided to try again!  But it didn’t work! Mum & Dad decided that I was fed, I was dry & I was comfy! So they just kept on driving!!! I’ll have to come up with a plan B!

Oh but the new place we went to is really cool, there are lots more people to talk to me, it is right next to the big Bath & Dad even drove the car onto the sand near the big Bath!!!!

And before dinner tonight Mum filled up my bucket with water and I had my very own swimming pool, it was great we had it out the front of the Box on wheels and I was shouting at people as they went past!!! Cool hey!

I wish I could stay here forever but Dad says that these big things come here called Siclones??? And they can blow houses away! Imagine what it would do to the box on wheels

Tomorrow I wanted to go swim in the big bath near the sand…… But Dad said there are crocodiles in the water!...... What the!!!!

Talk with ya later

AnnieInAVan…….XXXX