photographyperthwa

Saturday December 27th, 2025

As part of our persuit of beautiful Christmas music we had talked about going to this service, but only made up our minds on Saturday morning. New Norcia is 132kms from Perth, so an overnight in the Sherwood after the service was ‘necessary’, or at least for us.

We checked our water tank, filled up on drinking water, packed some food and clothes for an overnight trip. This took us a couple of hours and we were ready to go by about 12.00. Stephen packed some ham sandwiches for us to have on the way. When we stopped in Bindoon for lunch it turned out to be a really good idea as the Bindoon Bakehous was closed for the day.

We arrived in New Norcia at about 3.00 p.m. and checked in at the Roadhouse. We had a choice of $10 per night in the field across the road, $15 per night with power at the Roadhouse, and an extra $5 per night for access to the shower. We took the most expensive option totalling $20 and consider it to be a bargain.

We had read that afternoon tea was provided at 4.00 p.m. and were pleased to find a spread of sandwiches and pastries, enough to keep up going for the service. The choir were there as well, and it was good to know they would be well fortified for the singing.

At about 4.30 p.m. we all started filing across the gardens to the Abbey. We wanted to get a good seat, however there was no problem as the church wasn’t full. But, with numerous religious personel and all the choristers and their supporters we had people throughout the building, and it felt full.

The choir performed most of the singing, with us doing just a few carols. The readings were clearly read, and it made for a good overall service. It was run by the Abbot and a Church of England Priest, so a Catholic flavour overall.

Afterwards we chatted with one of the brothers, Stephen asking about his life, before wandering through the grounds. I was feeling pain from sitting on the pew and therefore made my way back home to sit upright and take Panadol. Stephen arrived about 20 minutes later.

I cooked tea of salmon and potato chips, which we had with lettuce, tomatos and bread and butter.

We had a good night’s sleep. We had decided to come based on the much milder weather we had after a 42C day on Christmas Day. It was cool enough overnight for the doona. An adjustment we’ve made for my sore back is that when I want to get out of bed Stephen gets down first so that I am not having to climb around him to get in and out of bed. That is working well as I am able to keep my spine mostly aligned.

In the morning Stephen had his $5 shower and I got ready in our van shower before we went to the Roadhouse Cafe for breakfast. We shared a bacon and egg roll on beautiful fresh bread. The coffee was excellent as well.

As usual, we didn’t feel like going straight home after our night away. First we drove around to a Lookout. The New Norcia village was quite a distance away and the flies were fierce, but it’s a good view and I’d like to go back there one evening when there are a few clouds around which would be better for photography.

Afterwards, I wanted to visit the ocean and we headed through to Guilderton/Moore River, where we snagged a good parking spot despite how busy it was, and then shared a steak sandwich at the cafe. After lunch we drove up to the Lookout over the estury and ocean, battling the very strong winds this time.

We planned to see Matt on our way home so travelling down the Indian Ocean Drive, which becomes Wanneroo Road. At Dog Swamp Shopping Centre we turned off and went to Matt’s. He was outside with his new cooler going when we arrived even though the breeze was pretty cool by this time. His support worker Joshua took the Christmas money from Aunty Marie, Uncle Geoff and Glenn and put it in the cash box, giving me a receipt. That was part of my reason for the visit, but I also wanted to see the new cooler. Joshua had read the manual and showed us how everything worked.

We then drove home, arriving at about 6.00 p.m., feeling tired and happy after our overnight in New Norcia, visit to Guilderton, and then seeing Matt.

Nanga Music Festival – Friday 3rd to Monday 6th October, 2025

Curiously, although I wrote about the Star Party at Tammin in October I didn’t write a post about the Nanga Music Festival held from the 3rd to the 6th October. It was our first experience of the festival in it’s new location at Fairbridge Village. I would say it was well managed, with a good variety of artists and an excellent adaption of the school gym into an auditorium. Food was available in the Fairbridge Village dining room and we booked in for three evening meals. This made it easy to get to all of the music and is a good way to socialise with people.

In addition, our friends camped with us on the oval and we got to see their new truck camper setup, very comfortable looking indeed. Another friend camped with us in a tent. This meant it was a lovely social experience.

The camping area was on the village oval and we found out on Saturday that this was an excellent idea as we had a storm with heavy rain and the ground drained very well. In previous years at the Fairbridge Festival we have stayed in a field that would remain flooded after rain.

However, on the Sunday morning after the storm I noticed that our solar system wasn’t charging the batteries. We still don’t have solar charging, but the Sherwood is booked into an autoelectrician for the first week in January. I tried taking it to a caravan repairer, but they couldn’t work out what was wrong.

The autoelectrician diagnosed that it was the solar system that had failed, which makes sense as it stopped working after a storm, and will install a new set of panels to match the ones presently on the roof. In the process of draining the batteries there was a small electrical fire which he quickly stopped. He has replaced the wiring with much thicker cables to carry the load. According to the RAC, most caravan fires are due to the onboard gas cooker or faulty wiring. We are just glad it happened whilst it was at the workshop, rather than when we were using it.

We were able to stay Sunday night after the festival, returning via the Pinjarra Dome where we had breakfast, then a fast return to home up the freeway.

Folk in the Forest Weekend – Friday 14th to Monday 17th October, 2025

This was our favourite festival, it’s small, we know many of the other people, and it was a chance to catch up with our fellow campers last seen at the Nanga Festival. I wore a dress and sandals for the dancing on Friday night, it didn’t improve my skills, but feels much nicer than dancing in jeans.

On Sunday they had an concert until the middle of the afternoon, and we went into Dwellingup to empty the toilet and fill up with water before going out to a ‘free’ camp at the Marrinup Townsite Campground. Actually, there is a fee and we went to the Visitor Centre to pay before leaving on Monday.

The road into the camping area is a good gravel road at first, then there were lots of potholes. We went very slowly, avoiding what we could, and just rolling when we couldn’t. It was worth it to have another night in the Sherwood next to beautiful bushland.

In the morning we went for a walk to the old POW campsite. There is quite a lot to see, and it is possible to drive there, though we really enjoyed the walk and the weather was good, fairly cool, especially when we were in shade.

Choir News

We’ve been singing in three choirs for the last couple of months. Our Mackie Street Singers choir has split into two, one run by David Harries, our previous director, and one by a new choir director who is also very good, with a very different style to David. David has asked us to be very committed with his choir, to make as many rehearsals and performances at retirement villages and nursing homes as we possibly can. The second choir is for people who want a more casual, beginners choir.

Stephen was still singing with the WASO chorus when the new choir began and I went along, just to see what it was like. When the WASO rehearsals eneded and Stephen has also joined. When we had our little end of year concert Matthew came along and sang with the men in the choir, doing his best with the carols and sitting out the songs he didn’t know. Stephen and I lead some carols at Matt’s house Christmas party and Matt was really enjoying it, so I am very happy he was able to sing in the choir with us as well.

David’s choir meets on Monday nights, still at Connect Vic Park, which is easy for us to get to. But, one of our friends told me about another choir on Wednesays run by one of Stephen’s old friends. I felt a bit nervous about driving to rehearsals at St Patricks Church in Mt Lawley and when we started doing the Faure Requiem Stephen decided to join us, meaning we would travel there together. We also had a Christmas Concert, during a heatwave when we had a thunderstorm. It was uncomfortable without air conditioning and in 40C heat, but worth it. We enjoyed the socialising with the choir over afternoon tea.

We’ve been very busy with another two concerts this week. We have one more choir gig. Stephen has been organising a small group of WASO singers to sing at Bentley Hospital. They keep asking us back and also provide a lovely supper for us after we have done our rounds of the wards.

Health update

Ever since the Tammin Star Party I’ve noticed quite severe back pain. It’s normal for me to have pain after lifting heavy things, and sometimes from sitting curled up reading, as I’ve done all my life. But this pain is much worse, including down my left leg.

Finally I visited the GP who diagnosed a pinched nerve. I suggested I should have an x-ray before starting physio, and the result is that there is quite a lot of damage in the lowest two vertabrae, and it’s been recommened that I have an MRI. I’ve been able to get an appointment in early January, though I’m also on a waitlist for a cancellation, so it could happen earlier.

In the meantime I’m managing the pain as best I can with sitting so that my spine is straight, a fair bit of Panadol, and being as careful about lifting as I can be without entirely feeling useless around the house.

General

We’ve been to movies, had Matt to tea each week, I’ve gone to GP appointments with him, we’ve had a few meals out and gone for walks including the Gwelup monthly walk organised by Eversley. I’ve been set up with my laptop at the new Fluffy Fluffy Cafe at the shopping centre writing this catchup post. We’ve only had a couple of days of really hot weather so far, but there will be a heatwave over Christmas, unfortunately.

We left Perth on Friday 24th October at about 12.00 p.m. Our plan was to have lunch in Mundaring, whilst doing some shopping for the weekend. It rained most of the way until we reached Meckering, where we had sunshine and the rose garden was in full bloom.

Whilst we were driving to Tammin Matt went to an astronomy exhibit at the museum and posed for a photo. He was keen to move on to the cafe, of course.

It remained cloudy for the rest of the way, including at Tammin. We had to trust the more experienced people in the ASWA group who knew that the clouds often clear after sunset. Stephen set up his telescope on the main platform with the others and I went to see if I could help with preparing the evening meal. As members, the meals were free, but took a fair bit of preparation. Myself and one of the men ended up cooking on the BBQ. I just did the onions, he was in charge of the sausages.

We ate just before sunset so that the people on telescopes could take advantage of the night sky from as early as possible. Of course, the Milky Way doesn’t rise until later, and we had a crescent moon that was casting quite a lot of light.

Stephen did not have much success with his telescope that night, fortunately others were generous in sharing as they located different planets (Saturn in particular as it was a good time for it), plus some galaxies. It became extremely cold and I gave up when, despite being well rugged up, my teeth were chattering. We packed up the telescope (we don’t have a dew cover) and went to bed.

The next day we slept in until about 9.00 a.m. and had a fairly lazy day. We were parked fairly near to the shipping container and the main viewing platform, but Stephen loses orientation in the dark and found it difficult to negotiate even that distance. So, we set up our telescopes and an action camera to do a timelapse near our van.

I went to help with the evening meal, consisting of roast beef, roast lamb and roast chicken, with roasted veggies, peas and gravy. It was a huge task to get it all ready, but very good for eating and there was very little leftover at the end. We had some older children there and they helped with washing up, much to the relief of Jan who organises the food and finds it very tiring, even with helpers.

After dark it wasn’t as cold as Friday night and the clouds cleared again for good viewing conditions. Stephen was able to do the calibrations and find Saturn, we were thrilled as we had been contemplating having to buy a new telescope (Stephen dropped the cylinder a few days after buying this one and we thought the damage was fatal, but not so). I had set up the SeeStar and had a stacked image with a falling star across one side and a timelapse that didn’t work at all, despite following Youtube provided settings.

On Sunday morning we packed up to leave, then drove about 20kms northward to Yorkrakine Rock. There was a short walk to one of the summits and that was enough, considering we didn’t arrive until the middle of the day. Fortunately there was good cloud cover. I enjoyed flying the drone, including taking a Mastershot, so much better than when I fly manually.

We had lunch at the Cunderdin Pub afterwards, arriving at about 1.00 p.m. After lunch we drove home, with a stop at the Northam roadhouse for coffee. Stephen had driven back from the Rock to Cunderdin, so it wasn’t as tiring for me as it might have been.

I’m writing this on Thursday 25th September, 2025, but we actually arrived home on Sunday the 21st. We stayed at Cervantes Caravan Park on Friday 19th September and Gingin Caravan Park on Saturday night.

That means we left Sandy Cape Campground on Friday morning and explored the Lesueur National Park nearby. We’ve been there before and it’s quite beautiful. We stopped at the peak area where there is a carpark and a walk up to the top, which we didn’t do. As we drove on further the normal picnic area had it’s parking areas filled with sand, for some unknown reason, and we eventually found a beautiful viewpoint further on for lunch.

From the park we drove to Cervantes to stay the night. We enjoyed a walk down to the shore from the caravan park. It’s very different to Jurien Bay and there is a fishing port and processing plant which gives a sense of a working village, less of a tourist spot. The caravan park was quite nice, however and we were on grass.

In the morning we drove to the Pinnacles National Park. It has changed beyond recognition with someone on the gate to check our pass, an interpretive centre, and a walkway to the pinnacles. We weren’t allowed to drive through due to maintenance after the rain, but walking amongst the pinnacles is actually quite a good experience. There were lots of other tourists and I can see a time when they may have to limit the walking as well.

From there we headed to Gingin and stayed the night in the little roadhouse caravan park. It’s cheap and we had friendly neighbours, plus a view over fields, so not too bad. In the morning we went to the Gingin Cafe for hot drinks and a shared cake. We enjoyed walking in the park and visiting the tiny church.

In Bindoon we drove through the town and out to the little church further on where Stephen had heard there was a wildflower exhibition and a volunteer run cafe. We enjoyed going into the church and talking with one of the local parishioners who told us that it is run by the people, with visiting priests. It sound like it’s very much a social hub for locals.

The cafe only had sweet food, so we decided to find a place for a picnic lunch. We had been told about a parking area with a walk to views, but I didn’t like parking under large trees. We went to another spot near the brook. Apart from someone on a ride on mower it was very peaceful.

Driving home was a challenge with the sun coming in my side window. We stopped at a layby to wait for it to set and eventually arrived home after dark. We backed the Sherwood up the driveway, but not into the narrow parking space. Our neighbours were away, so it didn’t matter if we blocked the driveway.

I’d had several nights of severe coughing as a left over symptom from the cold I caught from Stephen. The first night home was still bad, but at least I could move around easily and go out into the living area to have a good cough. Fortunately, I seem to be on the mend and from Tuesday night have enjoyed good sleeps without coughing fits.

We’ve come home to a busy week, starting with choir practice on Monday night, Stephen had choir practice on Tuesday night, we had a gig on Wednesday morning, and then went to another choir last night. I was clearing out the Sherwood as she was due in this morning to have the rest of the new blinds installed. I dropped her off at about 8.40 a.m. this morning.

Today has been more restful as I finished off the huge amount of washing in the basket and we’ve done a click and collect shop which I will pick up later. Up to now we’ve had food delivered, a meal on Sunday night and a small shop on Monday.

Before leaving Moora we did our usual van chores of emptying and filling, plus shopping and getting fuel. Fortunately we didn’t have too far to travel as it was still quite rainy. We stopped on the way to the Tuarts Reserve Camping to have a picnic with a view, and realised it was somewhere where we have stopped for lunch before. I didn’t get out to take photos, too windy and cold.

We haven’t been to Tuarts Reserve before. It would be better in warmer weather I think, when the amount of shade would be welcome. The campsite filled up overnight, and someone came in close to us at our spot, I felt sorry for them as we are quite noisy with the water pump, the gas hot water heater, the deisel heater and, to top it off, we are both still coughing a lot.

In the morning we were the last to leave, no surprise there, and drove into Jurien Bay. There is a new bar/cafe on the beach, with a new and rather cute little jetty. We had hot drinks (wait staff always think the chai latte is for me and the coffee for him), plus shared a caramel slice. Then we walked out onto the jetty. The sea is particularly beautiful there.

We came to our campsite at Sandy Cape in the mid afternoon. We were the only ones in our area for small campers, but that changed as the day wore on. Again, our neighbours were the unlucky ones.

The campsite is accessible on a bitumen road and having flushing toilets is a bonus. There is a camp kitchen with BBQs as well, and a camp host keeps things orderly. I’m surprised at the level of vegetation in this area, we are next to a bank of glasses and bushes and there are some trees around the camp as well.

When we walked out to climb the nearby sandune to get a view of the bay and the other side there is even quite a lot of vegetation on the sand dunes. The sunset wasn’t particularly wonderful, but we enjoyed the walk. The beach and water are full of seaweed, so it isn’t pretty as it is in Jurien Bay. But, still, it’s a lovely place to be.

On Monday it was fine and sunny whilst Marie and Geoff were getting ready to leave, but we took longer and clouds and rain came in. We went to the Wildflower Walk on the edge of Wongan Hills, but I didn’t fancy getting out in the wind and rain. I was also a bit tired from packing up and getting washing done at the caravan park. It is worth it because we think that we won’t need to do another wash before we head home on Sunday.

We stayed two nights in Moora, enjoying visiting cafes and going on another wildflower walk yesterday morning. The new free parking area for self contained vans is very convenient for shopping and just walking around the town. The council have provided lots of caravan bays in a newly paved car park next to the railway and in the town centre, near the clock tower. On Monday when we arrrived we went to the French cafe, but found it was closed, so then walked to another cafe for lunch.

We went to the French cafe for breakfast yesterday before the wildflower walk. Once again we found it has a lovely atmosphere and is patronised by the locals. Molly, a little white dog has access inside through a doggie door into a wire crate, and of course, has full access to the rear yard where she can be spoiled by people sitting outside.

Stephen had walked to the IGA on Monday to do some shopping and he made tea Monday night of lovely salad and canned tuna. A light meal that suited how we were feeling. Yesterday we went to the butcher and bought some marinaded lamb chops for our evening meal. They were really tender when cooked.

After driving to Candy’s Bush Reserve to look at wildflowers we chose a different place in the carpark for our second night. There are long bays, so that caravans can stay hitched up, and shorter bays with a car spot next to them. We felt that staying in one of the shorter ones would leave room for the caravans. On Monday night we only realised at 7.00 p.m. that we were parked under a tree and couldn’t get a good satellite connection, so we actually moved to the bay in the middle of the car park. When choosing our next spot we remembered to keep and eye out for trees.

This morning we went to the dump point near the shire hall, where there was an extra tap for drinking water. We also did some shopping at the IGA to cover the next couple of days. Whilst driving this afternoon there was rain most of the way, but it’s fine this evening and we are parked for the night at Tuarts Reserve, a lovely sheltered spot fairly close to Cervantes.

We have quite a lot to fit in before going home. We want to have a night at a beach campsite tomorrow night, then head south to the Pinnacles, then over towards Gingin for a night so that we can call in a Bindoon on Sunday to attend events at the wildflower festival. Then home, whew!

The wildflower walk (Candy’s Nature Reserve). at Moora was quite wonderful. It took about an hour to do the 1km circuit as I kept photographing flowers, squatting down, getting up, etc. No orchids, but I found unusal flowers that I don’t remember having seen before. It was cloudy and cool, ideal for pottering about in the small, grassy woodland.

I felt sad when Marie, Geoff and Glenn drove away on Monday morning, we imagined them arriving home and feeling happy to be back. I hope they enjoy reading what we did next.

Friday 12th September, 2025

From Eagle Rock Campground we went to the village of Beacon, which was recently in the news quite a lot due to disappearance, then rescue, of a young backpacker who had been working there. It is tiny, with one general store and a fuel station that is so nondescript that we drove past it and only located it after asking at the General Store.

The only option for staying in town was the caravan park. It was one of the council run parks, with clean factilities, an excellent camp kitchen, some cabins and marked camping/caravan sites. Now that we have fine weather for a few days it feels particularly cold overnight, and even during the day there was a cold wind.

We also found out that we have a plumbing problem, there is a leak into the underseat locker which flowed into the kitchen cupboard. I wasn’t able to identify where the water was coming from, but when we switched off the hose connected to the van, the water stopped flowing. There was no leak just using the internal water tank, so that is what we are doing. We realised that that was the source of a water flow we had noticed at Merredin, but as the van was slightly tilted towards the driver’s side, the water did not come inside.

On Wednesday it was time to head towards Wongan Hills. We took the opportunity to have one more overnight at a rock, this time Mollerin Rock. It is fairly flat and spread across a wide area. It’s one of the rocks that was used by early settlers as a water catchment, though we didn’t actually see the retaining wall.

I looked for orchids, but could only find everlastings and other flowers we had already seen. Some orchids are very hard to find, of course.

At Mukinbudin on Wednesday we stopped to have lunch and do some shopping. We wandered into the cafe that is part of the hotel looking for coffee and lunch options. The girl behind the counter said that the little pop up fundraising cafe would be our best option and have nicer coffee that she serves. She said it’s her personal preference as well, but don’t tell anyone.

So, that’s where we went. The cafe is run by volunteers, with home cooked food, and it’s purpose is fundraising for the Royal Flying Doctor Service and a small orphanage in India. We sat inside the small, renovated station building and had the opportunity to chat with some locals who asked for our help opening a bottle of water.

Yesterday we stopped at Koorda for lunch and enjoyed fresh out of the oven zucchini slice in the small cafe within the IGA store. We also did a small shop.

We arrived in Wongan Hills at about 2.30 p.m. and had a cup of tea and a rest. Marie and Geoff walked over later to welcome us and we decided to have dinner in the pub later. Marie and Geoff picked us up and drove us back from the pub.

Saturday 13th September, 2025

Yesterday we had a busy time, shopping, including getting RAT tests, and then relocating to the caravan park. There was no problem with checking in at about 11.00 a.m. I had a brief chat with Matt who was at Kings Park to see the wildflower exhibition. After resting, I did the washing, we had more than our two laundry bags and I thought I was overloading the washing machine, but it worked out. Most of the washing went into the dryer, but I put some on our outside line. It was quite warm and very windy, so it dried well.

We sat outside for a while with Marie, Geoff and Glenn, swapping stories and enjoying cheese and biccies. Then I went inside to tidy up a bit, after washing there is a lot of putting away, then put on our evening meal, stirfried chicken and veggies.

It was a busy day and my cold has intensified a bit, so am not feeling very well. Stephen has had these symptoms for more than a week now, but keeps going and enjoying walks. Our testing was negative for Flu A and B and COVID, so it must be something else.

Sunday 14th September, 2025

Yesterday I rested due to not feeling well. Stephen and Geoff went on the wildflower walk that was our reason for coming to Wongan Hills. It was quite challenging as it was hot out in the open between 11.00 and 2.00 pm, but they say it was worth it. They went to the nearby Wildflower Walk and there were lots of orchids there, so I’d like to go there before we leave tomorrow.

In the afternoon we went up to the Mt O’Brien Lookout, well worth going as it gives quite an overview of the surrounding areas.

In the evening we went back to the pub for steak dinners. There was a mixup with the orders and Stephen and I waited for quite a while before checking things out. Once sorted they got our meal to us quite quickly, which was appreciated. We all went in the car, quite squeezy in the back with Marie, Glenn and I, but we make it work. Marie took Glenn home after he finished, so we had more room on the way home.

Today a strong cold front is coming through, with very high winds. We are just on the edge of it, according to the map and we had some sunshine this morning even though there was a strong wind. The front appears to be coming through now, with rain and strong gusts. We have an excuse to stay sheltered in our vans.

We spent two nights in Merredin. There were showers, some heavy rain and lots of strong wind. Stephen’s cold had freshened up and we mostly spent time in the van waiting things out. I did a load of washing at their excellent small laundry and, as we were running out of food, went to the service station next door for takeaway food. It wasn’t that good, but made a change for us. We had noodles, peas and tuna for tea and actually considered it to be a very tasty meal.

By Sunday morning I really wanted to move and we did all of our tasks before 10.00 a.m., then went into the town centre for shopping. I bought more food than usual due to the sense of deprivation (not real, just ‘sense of’) and we felt really well stocked up. We came to Eaglestone Rock Campground, intending to stay here for lunch and head on to Mukinbudin, but it is so nice to be in the bush again that we decided to stay the night. Then, another night. So, here it is, Tuesday morning and today we really will pack up and move on.

There don’t appear to be any designated walks here, though if it is dryer a walk around the lake would work. Did I mention that as well as a substantial granite outgroup we are on the edge of Campion Lake, which is part of a salt lake system in the area. There isn’t much water in the lake, but the heavy rain means it’s a bit soft and muddy at the edges.

This is quite a popular campground, though a lot of people have left and only a couple of new campers have arrived. We just noticed a woman riding an electric scooter coming from the caravan near to us. Just shows you don’t have to be fully fit to travel in a caravan. Her husband favours a bicycle. They have a very long caravan and their dual cab ute has a large tray at the back, we assume that is where the scooter travels.

Although it was sunny yesterday and we woke up to sunshine today the cold wind makes it rather challenging to go out, especially for Stephen who still has cold symptoms. He chose the middle of the day for a walk yesterday and would have been out for at least an hour, so not too bad for an invalid.

We do have wildflowers here, some patches of everlastings and many others.