A Mother In Law Road

Sunday 13th September 2009
We were a bit late getting up this morning after our overindulgences last night, but it didn’t matter, the kids were happily glued to the telly and hadn’t noticed that we were missing.
Another one of our rabbits has had babies, this one has had five babies, so having got rid of four to the pet shop yesterday, we now have one more than we had yesterday, we reckon our rabbits can do it telepathically, she hasn’t been near a boy rabbit for weeks, or perhaps she/he is a hermaphrodite?
We went to the market at rotary park this morning, there wasn’t much there to speak of and there is a severe shortage of sweet seedless mandarins around at the moment, we did find a stall with Gluten free cakes on it though, so we bought a couple of those to try out in the Café but that was it.
From there we drove out to Capel, where according to a website we found, a market organised by the Lions was taking place, it was nowhere to be seen so we went to a local cheese shop for some free samples and a cup of coffee while we deciding what to do next.
On 29th November Ian intends to cycle from Busselton Jetty to Augusta lighthouse for fun, he has been advised by a cycling enthusiast who has said he will ride as well that the best route is to cycle down a road called Sues Road and on the way back from the cheese shop we were going to pass it, so we decided to take a look, just so that Ian could see what he had let himself in for.
What a dog of a road, as Ian and his old cycling partner from Axbridge would call it, it’s a mother in law road, basically it goes on and on and on. (Not that my Mother ever went on at him, understood? good)
This road was apparently built to service a mine, so it is wide and pretty straight so as to cope with the heavy lorries that would be using it.
It is about 60km in length and appears to be going uphill for most of it, there are trees and shrubs on either side, but nothing else until you are virtually at the end, at a place called Sues Bridge.
Ian is used to doing his longer bike rides on windy undulating roads where you have to concentrate in order to anticipate bends, hills and other obstacles that may appear at short notice, on this road you can see for miles and apart from the long hills which will be a slow hard slog, the rest of it is likely to be a test of endurance, trying to stay focussed on cycling in straight line for a couple of hours.
At least Ian knows what he’s up against now, the road from the end of Sues Road to Augusta is far more interesting so shouldn’t be a problem, assuming that is, that Ian gets off his backside and starts training.
Having driven to Augusta, we stopped for lunch at the Augusta Bakery, a renowned bakery within the area we are led to believe.
We had a cooked meal as opposed to having “Bakery”stuff, so we can’t really comment on the bread, other than Ian reckons that the toast that came with his dinner was probably toasted yesterday.
From Augusta we drove home and when we got there, Ian, Marisa and Kristian went out for a bike ride with one of the kids friends, while Fraser stayed home to do his homework and Carolyn did her girlie bits around the house, you know, washing, ironing, that sort of stuff.

Yes Dad, the Southern Ocean is freezing

Sunday 23rd February 2008
We have decided that as it is Sunday and we wouldn’t be able to get much done business wise we would go out for a drive and spend a bit of quality time with the kids.
We decided to head South to Augusta and quite by mistake ended up on the coast road, it was beautiful, driving through Vineyards and Forests, from time to time we drove through an area that had been caught in a Bush fire and the Bark on the Trees would be totally blackened but there would be fresh green leaves and branches shooting out of it and where the ground had been blackened Ferns and Bushes had re grown, it was quite a spectacle to look at as we meandered along the road hardly seeing another vehicle as we went.
When we got to Augusta we carried on through the town until we got to a place called Flinders bay, it is beautiful, there were a load of older people sitting at the waters edge all dressed up in their Sunday best and a few other families scattered around on the beach. This is the Southern Ocean, we have got to go in it, so we got changed into our swimming gear and went into the sea, it was definitely colder than up where Sharon lives but unlike up there the water is Chrystal Clear and not very salty. Ian was swimming underwater with his eyes open and could see really well without any bother at all. The sun was starting to get hot and you can’t afford to spend long out in the open in the middle of the day so we dried off and headed further round the coast to have a look at a Lighthouse and what is left of a very old Waterwheel that was used to pump water to the building site when they were building the Lighthouse. Then we drove back into town where we found a Deli/Café where we had a most delightful lunch.
After lunch it was back in the car and off to find another beach this time it was Hamelin Bay, a beautiful Bay with Golden Sand and Crystal Clear waters, it was hot so we all went for a swim , this was still the Southern Ocean and we can’t get over the difference between the water down here and a couple of hundred Km up the coast. Again the sun is still hot so we are only there for about ½ hour before drying off and heading up the coast road again, we went down a few side turnings along the way and some of the views and houses out in this remote area are amazing, if you want to lose yourself somewhere this is the place to be.
We then went to a beach which is probably one of the Closest to Margaret River, Gnarabup, yet another lovely beach and as it was about 5pm and starting to cool down we were able to spend a bit more time there which pleased the kids. After a couple of hours we headed back to the Chalet and while the kids were getting showered Ian went to the supermarket to organise the evening meal, the kids favourite, Picky Bits, just simple nibbles that they can eat with their hands and then another early night.