In Loving Memory

Our good friend from Kununurra, Louise, passed away this afternoon. She has been battling a brain tumor for 4 years or so and has gone down hill quickly over the past few months. Some of you have met her and know what a kind, compassionate person she was. She was a good friend to me over the years we lived in Kununurra. She retained a wonderful spirit and more wisdom and grace than I could ever hope to have even in the face of her physical suffering. Our thoughts go out to Donny and James, who no doubt will be missing her enormously.

Here's a picture of the four of us: the fishermen and the long-suffering wives!

We will miss you, Louise!

Weekend away at Home Valley Station

We are back from a fabulous weekend away! We went to Home Valley Station which is a working cattle station not far from Kununurra. We had to drive down a dirt road for most of the 1.5 hr journey, so we borrowed a friend's ute. The road was in pretty good shape until after we crossed over the Pentecost River and then it was rough. Luckily, it is only a short distance after the river crossing. The first two pics show the river crossing head on and also from the side as we drove through. It is pretty low right now but during the wet season it floods right up to where I took the first picture, and there are lots of crocs in it!

The station is a working station still, but they have turned it into a "resort" as well. It is located on the Gibb River Road which is a well traveled road in the dry season by many tourists. This was their first year and I'm sure they'll have many good years to come! The place is beautiful. It appeals to the bush-loving people as well as those who don't necessarily want to rough it. We stayed in a Grass Castle which is basically a cabin facing the Bindaloo Creek. (Two of the pictures are looking out our front sliding glass door) The cabins are really lovely inside with a king-size bed and really awesome shower. They supply bathrobes and even put a cot in the room for us! There is a really nice swimming pool and restaurant (I wish I could have taken a better picture of it..it is decked out with saddles and cattle skulls and all sorts of things) and best of all, it was pretty much dead quiet since it is the end of the tourist season. We were able to get a "local" discount on the cabin.

It was Rhys's first time in a pool and he loved it! Someone gave him a little hat which is a little too big, but worked really well anyway. I thought he looked so cute with it on! We had a really nice weekend away and also made some decisions as to what we are doing and where we are going from here...more on that later.

Rhys cooling his heels on our king-size bed

full-on laughing at Daddy

Ann Geddes moment?

He loved the pool!

Wow, it sure is bright out here!

totally exhausted after our swim

Peeping over the wall behind the bed

Attempt to catch up!

Well, here's an attempt to catch up at least. We have taken so many pictures over the last 4 weeks that I don't know where to begin. I will be updating our pictures on picasa (see link on the side) with all our pictures, so you can go there soon to see them all.

Here is Rhys's first boat trip on the upper Ord River at 2 1/2 weeks old:

This is our trek through Emma Gorge - Rhys is 3 weeks I think:

Hidden Valley National Park

Rhys's first real outing: a walk in Hidden Valley. We took him in a sling which Dad carried since my hips and pelvis aren't up to it yet. He slept the whole way!

Visitors etc...

We've had a full house for a couple of days which as been fun! Emily Westphal is still with us for another week and we had Helena Bruce and Angela Guy up from south of Perth area for the weekend. They were just coming in from a few weeks on Mt. Elizabeth station where they were helping with the muster. They leave today to go back to Perth. We had a relaxing weekend and somehow ended up back at Ivanhoe cafe for lunch on Sunday! Needless to say, it is a pretty nice place to go.

Left to right: Helena, Angela and Emily

Another picture of the Robertsons

Eldon and I....38 wks now. Ok, so I had to redeem myself after that terrible belly picture!!

Kindy in the Park

Last Friday I met Katrina and the kids at White Gum Park for "Kindy in the Park"- an activity time for kids who will be starting Kindy next year. It was really well set up with different activities such as painting, crayons, playdough, bubbles, etc. The kids had lots of fun getting paint everywhere and generally having a ball.

Down by the river.....

Today was such a beautiful day! We woke up to a lovely sunny day and a wonderful breeze. We opened up the house and haven't had to turn on the air-con all day....love this kind of weather!

We had a pretty relaxing day....went to the markets and did our fruit/veg shopping and then had a coffee with Glen and Katrina. From there we decided we needed to do some fishing so we ended up at the river all afternoon. Glen cooked us some beer damper bread which was splendiferous!

Eldon loves to fish...whether the fish are biting or not...

Glen making beer damper bread

Katrina taking it easy

Emily Westphal...visiting from Perth area for a couple weeks

Get a good look....you'll be seeing no more pictures of this belly! I had to have one disgusting, hang-the-belly-out picture for the record...I'm 37 weeks tomorrow.

Damper bread done...yum!

Jack...looking a little grubby

Zebra Rock

This morning my friend Katrina came by with her two kids and we all went out to Zebra Rock Gallery. We skipped the gallery (been there, done that) and when right down to the jetty to feed the fish. The catfish and bream swarm around the jetty because they know they will get fed. It's actually rather disgusting watching them! The kids had fun though. Then we had scones and jam and cream while the kids played on the playground. It was a beautiful day!

On the way out, we saw the family of peacocks and penhens that live there.