sophia

hi jill

sorry to hear about your friend. As many on this board already know I was diagnosed with breast cancer whilst pregnant with my little boy (now almost 4) and one of my best friend's sister's died from cancer at 36 too so I really feel for your loss.

All I can say is it gave me a MASSIVE wake up call to get on with life and live it to it's fullest, both the good and the bad!! I thank God everyday for the gift of life, it truly is a precious gift that we sometimes take for granted.

Just do it, life is way too short to be wondering!

Peace and love to you on your adventures.

love sophia xx

whisky

By the way folks - next stop ALBANY.

TARA

nosuchluck

Thanks for that Whisky, hope it all goes well for you when your daughter comes out




We are hoping to go to Brisbane sometime in 2004, the sooner the better!
take care
rach x

Elaine M

Whisky,

This has been a really interesting and uplifting thread.

But isn't it REALLY late where you are?

Or have I got my time zones muddled again?

It's just that at around 1.30am here when I'm thinking I really should go its usually all the lucky folks in Aus that are online...

Elaine

jeannie

My Cousin Mary is married to a Bill Stones do you know them ??

Pauline

We have really enjoyed reading your posts. I feel as though we are there with you. You have certainly made the most of it all.

A very postive informative post. Their has been alot of people having second thoughts on here and you have proved it is all worth it in the end. Lifes to short.

I hope the business goes really well.

You have cheered us all up in this miserable weather, where we can be with you if only in thought, I have been to quite a few places that you have mention so I can actually picture them.

Keep up the posts looking forward to the next installment.

WBB

great to hear your story, sounds like things are slotting into place at last.

good luck for the future.

Pollyana

Whisky,
So pleased its going well mate - I knew you were enjoying it, but didn't realise quite how much!! Bet you are really looking forward to your daughter coming over! What a New Year pressie!!

Madhouse!

Thnx for a great detailed post, thoroughly enjoyed reading it all and look forward to reading the next installment
You did make me laugh when u mentioned your 1st trip out in your new boat and forgetting to put the bungs in...Keep reminding eachother about them as it has happened to us many times


Claire

Don

Whisky - great to hear your news, all the best with STONES THROW.

tiredwithtwins

so pleased to hear you have everything going to plan!!
good luck, and happy new year to you and your family!

sue

ps how is that gorgeous grandson of yours?

whisky

Made our way down to Albany, stopping off at places on the way.

I love Albany, and really wish that my Brother hadn't moved up to Mandurah, though Mandurah is really nice, and it is a bit warmer up Mandurah way. That is why my Brother and SIL moved from there. They found it cooler there. When I say cooler, nothing like UK cooler, but I suppose that when your body is climatised to the weather you feel it.
The Town, the hoses, the beaches, the countryside in Albany, I just love.

Well, we made our way to the old whaling station. I really do recommend that you take a look at it. You need a few hours to spare as there is lots to see there, but it is well worth it. I had already been there with my Brother, but went again to show hubby and enjoyed it just as much this time as I did last.
There is also a nice little cafe that you can have a bite to eat.
It opens every day and closes at five, so getting there any later than 3 o clock and you are pushing it to get and see everything.

There is also the Gap to go and see. Its a formation of rocks - well worth a visit.

It was getting late by this time, so we made our way to find a place to rest our heads for the night.

We first stopped at THE DOG ROCK MOTEL.

DONT GO THERE - THEY GOT THE NAME ALMOST RIGHT. MORE LIKE THE DOG KENNEL.

We were shown the room. We refused it and went onto EMU POINT MOTEL a little way out of town. Lovely clean spacious rooms. Nice lady that runs it, but there is not a restaurant there. Very nice place to stay, and very quiet.

We got changed and made our way back into town to find a place to eat. Fancied a Chinese. Went to a place at the bottom of the town. NOT GOOD i'm afraid. Not a Crabtree recommendation, but there are a couple of other nice looking place that are open in the evening, one of them being an Italian.

We were going to stay a bit longer in Albany, but decided that in the time that we had given ourselves, we wouldn't fit in some of the other places on the map, so got going, and our first stop of the day was PEMBERTON

Before I go on here, I would just like to say that looking on the map, it all looks as though it is just down the road a bit, but one place to another is miles and miles away so you really do need to like driving, have plenty of drinks and eaty bits as there aren't many corner shops going from place to place.

Right - Pemberton

Another small quit pleasant little place, but as far as we could see, not a lot to see, but by this time, we were hungry and also needed to strech our legs.
We went to a craft place. There were some really fantastic pieces of work there, all very unique and very expensive and well worth a look around. It also had a cafe. Nothing specatculor but what we had was good and filled the space.

We were then on our way again. This time it was Augusta.
Now, my Brother and SIL raved about this place, and yes it was pleasant, quite large, and we had a nice walk along the waters edge where at the same time we had 2 adult dolphins and a baby coming right close to the waters edge. Maybe if we had planned a couple of more days, then we would have stayed in Augusta over night and had more of a look around, but I couldn't see anything that would keep us there anylonger so we decided that we had better move on as the day was getting late and it was quite a long drive to our next stop.

DianeOZ

Whisky - just caught up with your adventures - WOWie - You are an inspiration for all those waiting to come out.

Good luck with the business venture (great name) and when someone aks "discount for cash" - you'll know it's me!

Diane x

whisky

So, we were on our way to Margaret River. As I say, nowhere looks far on the map. I am just grateful that there aren't sixty odd million folks here like the UK, can you umagine trying to get anywhere.
As soon as we drove into Margaret River, I thought 'now this is a nice place'. Very Very busy.
We tried everywhere to find somewhere to stay, but we were out of luck. It was a surfing competition weekend. We even tried driving out of town a bit, but there was nothing. We knew that we wouldn't beable to stay here, not even for a fleeting visit as it was getting so late by now. We would have to move on to Dunsborough. (But we will definately be back).

Dunsoborough. We found a Motel, and for the life of me, I can't think of the name of the place, but it was good and very comfortable. The places even had washing machines. We quite liked Dunsborough, though i'm not sure that there is a lot there, as by this time, it was getting dark and we were tired and very hungry.
As soon as we had changed, we went into town. From what we saw, there were 3 restuarants that were open in the evening. We picked the fish restaurant, and as busy as it looked, the service was poor and the food was okay, but nothing to rave about. So, that was all we saw of Dunsborough as we wanted to get an early start and go to Busselton and then home.

By the time we got to Busselton we were hungry and thirsty. We stopped at a place in the main street and had a full breakfast and a couple of Coffees.
We then had a good walk around the town and in the Estate agents. This seems to have become a compulsory occurance whenever visiting anywhere. Always checking out places and prices.
We then made our way down to the front to have a drive along the jetty on the train. As we were on our way we noticed how many people had got there fishing gear.

THIS IS WHERE MY FASCINATION WITH CATCHING FISH BEGAN.

Tony had bought us all some small rods and we had put them in the car with us when we first started on the trip, but I had never used a rod before.
Well we went and got on the little train.
Whilst sitting there waiting, there was a film crew (Chinese I think) doing some sort of holiday programme. Well this Chinese presenter must have walked backwards and forwards 50 times trying to say no more than a couple of sentences trying to entice the Chinese holiday maker to visit Busselton in WA.
We rode the train to the far end of the jetty and got out and set up our rods. Well that isn't exactly true. At first, I couldnt face touching the bait to put on the line, so Tony set mine up and showed me how to cast the line out. Within no time I had a fish on it, but then I didn't know how to get the thing off. Luckily at that time, we were just throwing them back as we would be continuing on our journey home and didn't fancy going with a load of smelly fish. Well, my first day fishing I caught 7 fish and of course, I was HOOKED. We go a couple of times a week now, either on the jettys or in the boat. I never in my life thought that I would like fishing. (Oh my gawd, it will be football next).

We decided to walk back along the jetty. Its supposed to be the longest in the Southern hemisphere. It took 95 years to construct commencing in 1865. Originally used to ship timber products, horse drawn trucks were used for loading until 1911 when the railway jetty became operational. 1837m in length. In April 1978 Cyclone Alby swept down the coast destroying a significant amount.
There is also an underwater observatory there too.

On our way back out of Busselton we saw a signpost for Wonnerup House, so decided to go take a look. I do recommend a trip here, its an old place from the Layman family a settler. It really is a fantastic place to go and have a look at and it doesn't take too long, and the story of there lives out there is a very interesting one.

And there you go, our first trip away. Just wish that we had gone for a few weeks rather than a few days, but there is always next time.

Simone

All sounds great Whisky! I'm soooo jealous!
Glad you enjoyed yourselves so much! Thanks for all the updates!

Well, sounds like Busselton has changed a bit since I was last there. When we always went we had to walk the jetty. There was of course once a train, but I guess they've now restored it again! (Or I have a really bad memory and we just never used the train!)
I remember all the people fishing though!
We always swam inbetween the nets next to the jetty. Celebrated my 13th birthday there. Also went to the Archery and mini golf park that day, somewhere nearby.

Can't remember a underwater thing. Or do you mean the sort of aquarium?

There's also a really cool skatepark/waterslide park something or another, near the beach. Great for kids (if it's still there, and still nice!)

Yep, Margeret River is famous for the surfing (amongst other things(there's some nice caves too)). There's huge waves.

I've never been to that old settlers home you speak of, but there is one in Bridgetown too (near the river), called Bridgedale.
For the next time

Oh, and I read you went to Pemberton too. Yes, not that interesting, but it does have the Gloucester tree, 61 m. If you're not to afraid of heights, it's a good one to climb! Also if it's not to busy!!