Sad day

Today three years ago my Mum died, I can't believe it is 3 years already. I felt like a fraud being so miserable when in the UK it hadn't happened yet, even though it was 3 years ago....weird huh?

To stop a miserable day being simply dismal Mr Hojo drove us out to the Cape Naturaliste Lighhouse where we had a cup of coffee (only sold in takeaway cups boo) and went for a walk around the coastline. Simply gorgeous and lovely to see how much the area has regrown after the huge bushfire that almost wiped out the lighthouse. We stuck to a level walk as we were a little sore after our trek yesterday, for the locals we walked from Broadwater to Siesta Park and back again, for non locals a flippin long way! 10k I guess as we went the long way both times.
The less flat path takes you past the whale lookout where we have walked as a family a fair amount.

Todays pictures are wildly different to April 2009 after the burn.




















We wandered around Dunsborough for a while and went home as someone wanted to buy the Kayak (yay). We had many hours of fun on that little kayak but we have to clear out so off it went to it's new home.

People

People are still dropping by, making me feel guilty about not blogging. So I have.

Tempting to stop there ;o)

What have we done? The window got fixed, not had the bill yet though!!!

On Sunday 24th January We went to Pemberton,about 1 1/2 hours away and spent a rather lovely day there, sadly without camera. Looked at the town, it was small, wandered around the tourist info, Museum under construction but enough to look at, tried to get lunch at the local Cafe. Far too expensive for us, evening meal prices, so we toddled off and found somewhere that sounded like a coffee house tucked up along a few lanes. It was lovely and peaceful with gardens for the tribe to wander around while we read the Sunday Paper, I do miss having a choice of Sunday papers, need to take a book in the car methinks.

Lunch was nice, Nachos, breakfast pie (um that'd be quiche then) decent coffee, there were a couple of galleries on site so we mooched, admired furniture, fainted at the prices and left.

We found the Gloucester tree, a huge pegged fire lookout tree which people were climbing. Sadly we all had the wrong shoes so we watched and made jokes about falling off and no safty net! The pegs wobbled as people climbed.

We asked if many people had died climbing the tree, a few was the answer!

We stopped at a resort on the outskirts and walked to the falls, pretty. Drove around to the lake for a swim. I think we could happily spend the day there which includes the use of canoes, boats, archery...and a gorgeous fresh water lake to swim in.

We were very late home, quick dinner and bed.


Monday we worked, Tuesday was Australia Day, a public holiday (yay)
We got up early and dressed the cub/Scouts ready for parade. Our Scout troop attends the Dunsborough ceremony, raises the flag, looks smart, plays for a while when the adults start chatting amongst themselves and then run off in many directions.

It was one of Missys' friends birthday so off she went to beat everyone at golf again, a five every time on a par 3 isn't bad at 11 years old :o)

The rest of us went off for breakfast and a wander around Dunsborough. We went for a drive and found a few arty places, mostly closed, a Chocolate factory, with samples, a winery, also with samples and came back in time to collect Missy.

On Friday Marisa had a sleepover with a couple of friends, the boys went swimming with a friend and we made plans for tomorrow.

After work on Saturday Marisa was returned after a good day out at the Bird Park, we all ate and got rugged up for a night at the Drive In.

I think Busso Drive In is the last survivng in use in WA, we watched Cloudy with a chance of Meatballs, quite funny but boring by the end, followed by 2012 and as we all enjoy a good disaster movie it went down well, we loved the big screen and were happy that the battery wasn't flat by the end as we listened to the soundtrack on the radio.
The hot dogs and coffee were ok but the midnight finish was a tad late, and cold.

When we got home Carolyn finally had a chat with her Dad after not being able to catch him at home (teenager!) but not for long as it was so late.

Late start on Sunday, worked on some menu changes for the cafe and in the afternoon went to a local Country Farm play place and fed animals, kids ran amok in the play areas and adults read the papers and drank endless coffee, instant but free and about 6 types to choose from.


A good end to the holidays.

Petra Olive Oil Estate

Sunday 25th October 2009
Having had an early night we were able to wake up early and go out for breakfast, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and at about 28c, the perfect temperature for not doing a lot.
We went for breakfast at Petra Olive Oil Estate in Yallingup, or at least somewhere near Yallingup, it was recommended to Ian by one of our suppliers, so with only one child in tow we thought we would give it a go.
It is a bit out of the way, but we found it in the end and after tasting a few dips and oils we ordered our breakfasts.
Ian had had the Olive Pickers Breakfast which was basically a big breakfast with a twist, the scrambled eggs were mixed with an Indian style chutney to give a very tasty and interesting flavour, the only downside was the Yallingup Wood Fired Sourdough Toast, which didn’t seem to be as fresh as some that we have tried.
Carolyn had the Poached Eggs Benedict with Smoked Salmon and enjoyed it apart from the eggs being a bit under cooked, she doesn’t really do runny poached eggs.
Kristian had Toast and Jam, except he didn’t want it toasted and that was fine, it was the same Sourdough and he did struggle to get through it a bit, but he did enjoy the jam, although his favourite part was probably making friends with the house dog “Gemma”, but then he is young and has never been hungry enough to really appreciate food.
It was a very nice setting with a good ambience and a nice dog; we will try it again sometime. They also have dog friendly accommodation, just in case you are interested.

After breakfast we drove to Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse so that we could go for a walk down to the Whale Watching area, it is Whale Watching season, we haven’t seen any in the wild and we wanted some of it.
As we walked round the headland we saw a couple of spurts of water going into the air as whales surfaced or submerged or whatever they were doing, when we got to the Whale Watching platform we saw a few more.
Unfortunately they were quite a way out and there weren’t any Liverpool fans around, so no beach balls to play with, they were barely breaking the surface and even with binoculars we could only see the water breaking as they came up for air or went under, but based on the position of them we reckon that they were Humpback Whales as they don’t come too close into shore.
After that we went to a school fete in Dunsborough, talk about a professional job with plenty of local business backers, this was an event that was going to raise a fortune, just not out of us, we wasted a couple of dollars on a wine raffle then headed for home.
We got home to find two manic puppies, starved of attention for more than ten minutes and desperate to get outside to relieve themselves, so we let them do that, put out some washing to dry and went down to the jetty for a coffee in the sun.
After coffee we went for a walk round Busseltons two art galleries, before stopping at Gelato for the obligatory hot weather indulgence, ice cream.
From there we went home to wait for Fraser and Marisa to come back from camp, when they arrived we were informed that Marisa was grumpy because she didn’t get much sleep, no surprise there then, she never does on theses things then wonders why she is tired.
It’s been a very enjoyable day for us and we weren’t going to have it upset by grumpy kids, so we stuck them in the shower, fed them and sent them to bed, peace by 7.15pm, not bad.
We watched a couple of episodes of guff that we had recorded and had an early night ourselves.

Meme time...

Lifted from Vic

1. Can you cook?

Yes.

2. Do you like to cook?

No.

3. What do you eat for breakfast?

Whatever is laying around.

4. When, where and how do you eat on weekdays?

Brekkie at home, Lunch at the Cafe and Dinner at home with the offspring and Ian

5. When, where and how do you eat on weekends?

Saturday is just like a weekday, Sunday brekkie at home or in a cafe in Dunsborough (yum)late snack lunch then Dinner at home in the evening. Too cold to BBQ now booooo

6. How often do you eat in a restaurant?

Once a month maybe? but cheapo, not expensive :o)

7. How often do you order delivery/take-out?

Recently, not often although we rather like a local Fish n chippery


8. Buffet, take-out or sit-down restaurant?

Depends on my mood.

9. What are your signature dishes?

The kids would say Pasta dishes, Ian would roll his eyes as we would rather he cooked. I hate to cook. Too many years in catering.


10. Have you ever cooked for more than six people?

Too many times.


11. Do you cook every day?

between work and home, yup.

12. Have you ever tried recipes from blogs?

Online recipes, yup loads, from blogs? can't remember.

13. Do you cook totally differently compared to your mother/parents?

Some thing yes, some no. Spag bol a la mum, yes :o)

14. Are you a vegetarian or could you imagine being one?

Nope.


15. What would you like to cook which you haven’t dared to make yet?

Nothing.

16. Do you prefer cooking or baking?

I don't bake.

17. Home-made or store-bought?

Home made.

18. What was your biggest cooking disaster?


Egg fried rice without first boiling the rice, who knew ???


19. What is your number one comfort food?

not comforted by food. Do like eggy mash or Heinz tomato soup with mash in it if I am poorly.


20. If you were on a deserted island, what one food would you want to have with you?

I'd get bored of it what ever it was.


21. What is your biggest weakness when it comes to food?

Nope, nada.

22. What food can you absolutely not eat?

Oysters. Bleuk, splutter, gag.

23. What is the most decadent dish you’ve had?

Don'tknow, depends on your pov.


24. What is your favourite type of food?

Something cooked for me.

25. What is your favourite dish?

Don't have one.

26. If you could go to any restaurant you wanted, which one would it be?

A good one. There are loads y'know.


27. Are you a soup or salad person?

Yes.

28. What is the most impressive dinner you’ve ever made?

Lost count ;o)


29. Do you know what vichyssoise is?

Yes.

30. Can you name at least three TV cooking personalities?

Nope, don't do TV.

31. Who is your favourite TV cook?

See 30.


The End.

That was unexciting wasn't it, well done if you made it to the end, 31 questions worries me, I like even numbers.

xc

A long distance swim, a pizza and Arsenal FC

Saturday 23rd February 2008
The idea of going for breakfast at Sails Café has gone out of the window because Carolyn needs to go on line to check out the other schools in Busselton before we possibly commit to buying a business there, so while we are in the Internet Café the kids are playing in the park.
The Internet access held up this time and Carolyn was able to find out virtually everything we needed to know about the schools in town and there was only one that had any cause for concern and that was in an area where we wouldn’t be looking at living anyway, the rest were all pretty much of a muchness, all doing better than each other at different things.
We arrived at the Business agent’s office at 9.30am and he explained that under Australian law we could put in an offer on the business subject to the current offer failing to complete but that it would not have any influence on the deal in place at the moment. He said that as far as he was aware the deal was still going through but that if another deal was in place it would speed things up should it not complete.
We believed him, because Business Agents always get up early on a Saturday morning to help foreigners fill out offer forms that are not likely to be used, we are hoping the other deal is about to collapse.
We made our offer, added our conditions and signed in all the right places and he told us that he would pass it on and let us know if anything happened.
After the meeting we headed towards Busselton and stopped in Dunsborough on the way, Dunsborough is about 10 km outside Busselton and unlike Busselton has very Modern Town Centre, we went in search of another Café that was for sale but were not impressed with it so we had a wander round before having a very average lunch in one of the small Cafes in the Centre of Town. After lunch we had a look at the Beach in Dunsborough and took a little drive round to look at the area just in case we wanted to live there, but we don’t think we do. We then drove into Busselton and had a chat with a couple of Realty (estate) Agents who were very keen to show us around a few places but didn’t have a great deal of any interest really.
The kids have been very well behaved today so we went down to the Seafront as the weather started to cool down and went for a swim. Ian, Fraser and Marisa swam round a small jetty that probably goes out about a hundred yards or so, a distance that neither Fraser or Marisa had ever done before and while Fraser would not worry about the distance it brought a big smile to Marisa’s face and we think it has given her a confidence boost, like she needed one. Carolyn just sat on the sea wall reading a book.
We drove back to Margaret River and it was getting a bit late, close to 9pm, so we stopped for a couple of Pizza’s in town and took them back to the Chalet to eat and the kids went to bed while Carolyn demolished the best part of a bottle of sparkling Rose Wine before going to bed and Ian went to the pub to watch football.
Ian popped into the pub to check if the Birmingham v Arsenal was going to be shown and the barman said that it would as long as it finished by 11.45, which it should have done. Unfortunately Eduarda got a broken leg and the game was held up for 10 minutes, at 88 minutes and Arsenal looking comfortable winning 2 - 1 they turned the TV’s off, Ian was not happy but accepted it thinking that the 3 points were in the bag now and left it like that.