I made it happen.......I DID IT!
Broome- march 2013
This trip can only be told in pictures! Despite the humidity and heat, we absolutely loved it.
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| Sunset Drinks on Cable Beach Sunset Bar |
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| Cable Beach Broome -sunset! |
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| Camel Ride at sunset. |
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| Humidity Fog! Not photo shopped! |
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| Willey Creek- Pearl Farm Tour |
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| Anniversary Dinner at the Cable Beach Resort- best meal ever! |
Our next trip is planned for October- back to Tamala Station!
2013 ............................
Tamala Station: Dec 29th, 2012 - Jan 4th 2013 (and planning another trip in October!)
To arrive at this station on the Shark Bay harbours, we travelled north from Perth WA for 13 hours. A slow-ish trip but we enjoy our road trips and they never feel like a chore. The dogs love it! Monty looks like he is king-of-the-road when he has his head out the window!
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| Looks like it might rain!! This is the station's drive-way. |
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| The gate in to the camping area. |
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| JEDDA is glad to be with her people! |
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| MONTY loves the wind in his face! |
We love spending time with our four-legged family!
ACCOMMODATION:
We took our camper trailer which is our now very familiar home away from home.
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| Shell Beach 2013 |
THE VIEW:
One word describes the view from our camp- MAGNIFICENT! It is at times like this that I truly appreciate being an Australian in our beautiful country.
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| Watching the colour changes at sun set. |
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| Moon rise on our first night. SERENE.. |
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| The camp fire and water toys! |
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| A DOLPHIN catching his dinner right on dusk very close to shore. Can you see the fish he caught? |
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| This photo is from Google images (WWF) web site. |
We cooked roast lamb in our camp oven with veggies. I also took a pavlova with me (left over from Christmas) and so we dined very well! A bottle of Prosseco, a beautiful view, a camp fire and to finish off the evening.......sparklers!
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| It started like this......... |
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| And after many tries, we succeeded with this! |
So please join me throughout 2013 - join in the creation process!
JOURNEY of a LIFE time.........
European Tour- six weeks of emotion, wonder and new sights which took our breath away.
Spending time with our daughter was just fantastic. She was such a wonderful Host and gave up her bed for us! We tubed and bussed and walked London for days! Then did Edinburgh with her also.
We also ventured out on our own and we even hired a car for the experience of driving in the English country side. Our adventures took us to all the usual London iconic sites- Buckingham Palace, Parliament House, London Bridge, the Tower of London, lots of quaint Old English pubs, Tate Museum and Gallery, new Westfield shopping complexes and of course Olympic Park! The whole Park was brilliant and the English have a magnificent venue for the future generations.
Our country experiences took us to Bicester (by train), Highclere Castle (Downton Abey), Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Bath (beautiful!), Stonehenge and naturally good old country pubs!
We experienced dining at a Jamie Oliver restaurant as well as a Recipease cooking lesson where we cooked our meal and then ate in the Recipease shop- recommended!! We saw "Lion King" the musical, and attended the second re-hearsal of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics-WOW!!! Complete with raining fireworks when the rings were "made". What a spectacular moment. Brilliant. Our daughter was in the ceremony as a nurse and she was able to keep her outfit- watch, shoes and all!!!
The highlights were daily occurances and I have to say the old buildings and Architecture were a particular highlight for me.
We flew to Scotland but picked up a car and then tried our hand at getting around via the Motorways (freeways). We did a lot of kilometres and drove from Kilmarnoch south of Glasgow, via the lochs in the Highlands, to Tain north of Inverness. We visited the family of our daughter's friend in Balintore and if you ever want a true Scottish holiday experience where you can see Scotland's northern regions, look for a cottage by the name of 81/2 !!! Fantastic!
We explored Glasgow one afternoon before our daughter joined us and then we travelled via Stirling (Castle!) to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh, we enjoyed the Fringe Festival atmosphere, the Tattoo, the Royal Mile (between the two castles), and saw some (funny) shows. We ended up seeing mainly Aussie comedians!!! And of course it RAINED!!!
The next part of our journey was off to Italy. We stayed with our good friends from Australia in their recently renovated house near Vitriola south west of Modena in the mountains. Our Italian adventures took us to La Spezia, Cinque Terre where we walked the difficult track between two villages before rewarding our efforts with a delicious lunch on the cliffs of the coastline. Then onto Florence, Venice & back to Milan by train.
My most favourite city was Venice. It has always been a childhood dream to visit this city of canals and it lived up to my expectations. I could live there if it wasn't for the tourists!!! The thing is, their only industry now is tourism and glass! Such a beautiful city.
We returned to Australia via Dubai. We had had a couple of nights in Dubai on our outward journey and we experienced the Bedouin camp evening meal and entertainment. Loved it! Dubai is a facinating place of money being put to extremely ornate use!!! A skating rink in the middle of a shopping centre when it is 50 degrees outside! Can you imagine it!! Not to mention the huge Aquarium! Complete with ocean species, sharks, rays, fish, etc. Incredible.
All in all, our trip was amazing and I am so very grateful that we have finally had the chance to see how the other side of the world lives. Australia is such a young country! AND clean.... so far! We were lucky enough to have a smooth journey over the six weeks. The three flights of stairs proved a challenge with 20Kg cases mind you!! (Edinburgh and Florence.) And we did miss a train from Venezzia on the Cinque Terre- we just hopped on the ferry and enjoyed the view from a boat!! It was worth the laugh for our travelling companions!
Next trip...... Hmmmmm! I don't know. We ticked so much off our bucket list that I think we shall be happy to sit at home for a while.... well, until New Year when we will travel to Tamala Station! Check in here late January.
JOURNEY ONE Stampin' Up! 2008-2012
I started my personal journey with Stampin'Up! in September 2008. I was beginning to feel frustration at my life zooming along (and yeah, the kids had just left home!), and no time to create beautiful things. Until I discovered Stampin'Up! I really did not have the "time" but I made the time to create. WOW! I am still buzzing.
Since then I have been on a tremendous learning journey.
Firstly, I have never owned a "business" before. I have learned a lot about all the usual things that go with an "on-line" business and customer service. It wasn't that difficult because I know how I like to be treated as a customer and I love learning new things about my computer (sometimes this has been a challenge). I love libraries and art galleries. I have something BIGGER than any library or gallery in my computer and it is wonderful.
Too wonderful because my house and garden get neglected often!! Ask my V.U.H., whom I might add has taken up golf in this period of time that I have been involved with SU.
I almost quit my SU journey late in 2011 as I am always exhausted by the end of the year. But heck, who isn't! However, once I started to contemplate my life without SU and it's many opportunities, I decided that I was not quite ready to jump off the roller coaster ride just yet.
SIX MONTHS later.......... here we are in winter and feeling the brunt of the cold winds. Perfect for staying indoors and "cropping"- card making and scrapbooking. What is your favourite comfy routine of a winter's evening? The fire's burning warm, the dogs are snuggled in, the house smells of pea soup, delicious casseroles and fresh bread.
My Stampin'Up! journey continues slowly at a pace that I am happy with. I have realised that I don't need to spend absolutely every spare minute of spare time stamping! I can actually have a clean house, well maintained garden (cough!) and have time for craft. It just means a smaller amount of craft is done. But at least I am still enjoying it!
2012 has introduced a new Crop space for me here in Katanning WA. I have become a member of the Katanning Arts and Crafts Centre and a group of us now meet two or three times per month to stamp and chat about life in our country town. Very grounding, creative and enjoyable. Not expensive either! So I continue with my SU journey and continue to share my stamping experiences with friends.
A lovely life worth having!
JOURNEY TWO .......................................... Called "LIFE"............... Camping Fun
My V.U.H. and I love to go camping. We have been married almost 29 years in March and as a young couple living in the Kimberley region, we had the opportunity to travel extensively through- out the northern areas of Australia. My hubby's work took him to remote stations as an Agriculture Adviser working with the Rangelands division. His experiences were life changing and will be forever in our hearts. I, on occasion, was able to travel with him, "camping" in the station quarters on Ord River Station (East Kimberley).
Our son was born in Derby in 1984, after much ado! We actually lived in Kununurra for five and a half years before moving to the great Southern region of WA. We are a couple who have experienced the wonderful Flying Doctor Service that is provided to remote and rural areas in our vast state. Hence, our son is a "Derby-ite"!!!!
We used to camp on the banks of the Ord River as often as we could get away, with friends. I am horrified to realise the risk we took with our baby, camping so close to waters where crocodiles were living! How silly, (read stupid!) was that. Anyway, we live to tell the tale.........and there were certainly many "tales" of near misses and dogs that went missing in the Ord River, by friends-of-friends. The life style in those days was fantastic, even if a little risky.
Our two children have also continued their camping adventures as young adults now. In the years that they were growing up, we used to head off to a place called Parrys near Denmark on the south coast of WA. As many as ten families would set up camp on the black sand for three wonderful days of camp fires, relaxation, sing-alongs and concerts by the children, as well as boogie boarding in the ocean, despite the coldness of the water. Such amazingly times that have given our children and ourselves such wonderful memories. I have Scrap booked these memories over the years.MaybeI shall dig out the pages and feature them here one day!
Our Camping Adventures include our five week trip back to the Kimberly region in 2009 with friends. We tented it every night except for about one week. Exhausting! Fantastic and one of the best experiences my hubby and I share. One day i shall add more pictures here. You may be drawn to visiting the Kimberly!
Anyway, I thought I would share the following photos with you from our trip to the Goldfields last year in August. RED is the colour theme as you will see!!!
At the end of a day on the road, we would set up camp collecting firewood first and getting the "billy" on. Afterall, we did want a warm wash!
Heaven..........Unlimited skies with stunning colours at sunset. Bushes in bloom with wild flowers everywhere.
What more could you want in life!
Hmmmmm. maybe a cold glass of bubbly....YEP!
JOURNEY THREE
I haven't shared this part of my life here yet because I thought it would bore you! However, it is a big part of who I am and what I am known for in the Great Southern region.
I am a School Dental Therapist. I have been working in the Great Southern region in this role for eleven and a half years now. I have come to know many families from Gnowangerup, Tambellup, Ongerup, Kojonup, Dumbleyung, Nyabing and until recently, Lake Grace. Most towns are daily commutes except for Ongerup and Lake Grace when I was involved with the primary dental care of the children.
This role has been huge given the low rate of the number of children who have good Oral Health. At times the job is overwhelming. The number of very young children who experience dental pain is quite high and an issue I cannot understand given that Dental Decay is preventable. Some days I come home and cry!
This is why I escape to my craft room!
Now it's not all doom and gloom, despite being told almost daily "I hate coming to the dentist". The job does have it's rewards. To treat a 5yr old child to the point of no pain and good oral health can be uplifting. (Their memory may not equal mine though!)
Treating children every day can be mentally exhausting. But my colleague and I make our day "fun" and we bolster each other along. I have a huge repertoire of Fairy stories as we offer these young children the best way to cope with extensive dental treatment. Naturally, it would be preferable to see NONE of these problems but healthy little mouths instead.
If you are reading this, and you are a parent or grandparent, carer or guardian, then I plead with you to PLEASE take care of your little person's dental health. YOU will then have the reward of a healthy child.
I have another important role within my employment as a Dental Therapist. I am also the Area Dental Therapist and look after staff from Northam to the north (three hour drive), Merredin to the East (three to four hour drive), Boddington to the west of Narrogin (one to two hour drive) and Ongerup to the south (one and a half hour drive.) Rarely do I have to make the journey to these far flung clinics. But in recent weeks I have made the trip a couple of times just for the day! That's six to seven hours on the road to visit for a couple of hours. Yep. Very tiring. But quite a challenge and it does make my working day a bit different to the mundane days that others may be experiencing. Just as well I like my journeys!!
That's why I have a craft room to escape to!!!
I guess we all have different life journeys. What we do, how we enjoy these journeys makes us who we are.
GRUMPY at times.
SAD sometimes.
HAPPY often (to be home)!
I hope your life journeys are as special as mine are. I am grateful to have the experiences I do.
In this photo: My work colleagues (Dental Assistant and Dentist) and I, at the Yongernow Centre for the endangered Mallee Fowl, having lunch. My travels do have the added advantage of seeing and enjoying the local tourist attractions! And if you are travelling to Esperence don't miss a visit to this tourist attraction! You will be pleasantly surprised.
This is the interpretive centre where you will learn about the history of local farming and the preservation of the Mallee Fowl.
Wild flower season here is magnificant!
Spending time with our daughter was just fantastic. She was such a wonderful Host and gave up her bed for us! We tubed and bussed and walked London for days! Then did Edinburgh with her also.
We also ventured out on our own and we even hired a car for the experience of driving in the English country side. Our adventures took us to all the usual London iconic sites- Buckingham Palace, Parliament House, London Bridge, the Tower of London, lots of quaint Old English pubs, Tate Museum and Gallery, new Westfield shopping complexes and of course Olympic Park! The whole Park was brilliant and the English have a magnificent venue for the future generations.
Our country experiences took us to Bicester (by train), Highclere Castle (Downton Abey), Tunbridge Wells, Brighton, Bath (beautiful!), Stonehenge and naturally good old country pubs!
We experienced dining at a Jamie Oliver restaurant as well as a Recipease cooking lesson where we cooked our meal and then ate in the Recipease shop- recommended!! We saw "Lion King" the musical, and attended the second re-hearsal of the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics-WOW!!! Complete with raining fireworks when the rings were "made". What a spectacular moment. Brilliant. Our daughter was in the ceremony as a nurse and she was able to keep her outfit- watch, shoes and all!!!
The highlights were daily occurances and I have to say the old buildings and Architecture were a particular highlight for me.
We flew to Scotland but picked up a car and then tried our hand at getting around via the Motorways (freeways). We did a lot of kilometres and drove from Kilmarnoch south of Glasgow, via the lochs in the Highlands, to Tain north of Inverness. We visited the family of our daughter's friend in Balintore and if you ever want a true Scottish holiday experience where you can see Scotland's northern regions, look for a cottage by the name of 81/2 !!! Fantastic!
We explored Glasgow one afternoon before our daughter joined us and then we travelled via Stirling (Castle!) to Edinburgh. In Edinburgh, we enjoyed the Fringe Festival atmosphere, the Tattoo, the Royal Mile (between the two castles), and saw some (funny) shows. We ended up seeing mainly Aussie comedians!!! And of course it RAINED!!!
The next part of our journey was off to Italy. We stayed with our good friends from Australia in their recently renovated house near Vitriola south west of Modena in the mountains. Our Italian adventures took us to La Spezia, Cinque Terre where we walked the difficult track between two villages before rewarding our efforts with a delicious lunch on the cliffs of the coastline. Then onto Florence, Venice & back to Milan by train.
My most favourite city was Venice. It has always been a childhood dream to visit this city of canals and it lived up to my expectations. I could live there if it wasn't for the tourists!!! The thing is, their only industry now is tourism and glass! Such a beautiful city.
We returned to Australia via Dubai. We had had a couple of nights in Dubai on our outward journey and we experienced the Bedouin camp evening meal and entertainment. Loved it! Dubai is a facinating place of money being put to extremely ornate use!!! A skating rink in the middle of a shopping centre when it is 50 degrees outside! Can you imagine it!! Not to mention the huge Aquarium! Complete with ocean species, sharks, rays, fish, etc. Incredible.
All in all, our trip was amazing and I am so very grateful that we have finally had the chance to see how the other side of the world lives. Australia is such a young country! AND clean.... so far! We were lucky enough to have a smooth journey over the six weeks. The three flights of stairs proved a challenge with 20Kg cases mind you!! (Edinburgh and Florence.) And we did miss a train from Venezzia on the Cinque Terre- we just hopped on the ferry and enjoyed the view from a boat!! It was worth the laugh for our travelling companions!
Next trip...... Hmmmmm! I don't know. We ticked so much off our bucket list that I think we shall be happy to sit at home for a while.... well, until New Year when we will travel to Tamala Station! Check in here late January.
 |
| Happy and relaxed in Venice, Italy 2012. My very favourite place of all! |
JOURNEY ONE Stampin' Up! 2008-2012
I started my personal journey with Stampin'Up! in September 2008. I was beginning to feel frustration at my life zooming along (and yeah, the kids had just left home!), and no time to create beautiful things. Until I discovered Stampin'Up! I really did not have the "time" but I made the time to create. WOW! I am still buzzing.Since then I have been on a tremendous learning journey.
Firstly, I have never owned a "business" before. I have learned a lot about all the usual things that go with an "on-line" business and customer service. It wasn't that difficult because I know how I like to be treated as a customer and I love learning new things about my computer (sometimes this has been a challenge). I love libraries and art galleries. I have something BIGGER than any library or gallery in my computer and it is wonderful.
Too wonderful because my house and garden get neglected often!! Ask my V.U.H., whom I might add has taken up golf in this period of time that I have been involved with SU.
I almost quit my SU journey late in 2011 as I am always exhausted by the end of the year. But heck, who isn't! However, once I started to contemplate my life without SU and it's many opportunities, I decided that I was not quite ready to jump off the roller coaster ride just yet.
SIX MONTHS later.......... here we are in winter and feeling the brunt of the cold winds. Perfect for staying indoors and "cropping"- card making and scrapbooking. What is your favourite comfy routine of a winter's evening? The fire's burning warm, the dogs are snuggled in, the house smells of pea soup, delicious casseroles and fresh bread.
My Stampin'Up! journey continues slowly at a pace that I am happy with. I have realised that I don't need to spend absolutely every spare minute of spare time stamping! I can actually have a clean house, well maintained garden (cough!) and have time for craft. It just means a smaller amount of craft is done. But at least I am still enjoying it!
2012 has introduced a new Crop space for me here in Katanning WA. I have become a member of the Katanning Arts and Crafts Centre and a group of us now meet two or three times per month to stamp and chat about life in our country town. Very grounding, creative and enjoyable. Not expensive either! So I continue with my SU journey and continue to share my stamping experiences with friends.
A lovely life worth having!
JOURNEY TWO .......................................... Called "LIFE"............... Camping Fun
My V.U.H. and I love to go camping. We have been married almost 29 years in March and as a young couple living in the Kimberley region, we had the opportunity to travel extensively through- out the northern areas of Australia. My hubby's work took him to remote stations as an Agriculture Adviser working with the Rangelands division. His experiences were life changing and will be forever in our hearts. I, on occasion, was able to travel with him, "camping" in the station quarters on Ord River Station (East Kimberley).
Our son was born in Derby in 1984, after much ado! We actually lived in Kununurra for five and a half years before moving to the great Southern region of WA. We are a couple who have experienced the wonderful Flying Doctor Service that is provided to remote and rural areas in our vast state. Hence, our son is a "Derby-ite"!!!!
We used to camp on the banks of the Ord River as often as we could get away, with friends. I am horrified to realise the risk we took with our baby, camping so close to waters where crocodiles were living! How silly, (read stupid!) was that. Anyway, we live to tell the tale.........and there were certainly many "tales" of near misses and dogs that went missing in the Ord River, by friends-of-friends. The life style in those days was fantastic, even if a little risky.
Our two children have also continued their camping adventures as young adults now. In the years that they were growing up, we used to head off to a place called Parrys near Denmark on the south coast of WA. As many as ten families would set up camp on the black sand for three wonderful days of camp fires, relaxation, sing-alongs and concerts by the children, as well as boogie boarding in the ocean, despite the coldness of the water. Such amazingly times that have given our children and ourselves such wonderful memories. I have Scrap booked these memories over the years.MaybeI shall dig out the pages and feature them here one day!
Our Camping Adventures include our five week trip back to the Kimberly region in 2009 with friends. We tented it every night except for about one week. Exhausting! Fantastic and one of the best experiences my hubby and I share. One day i shall add more pictures here. You may be drawn to visiting the Kimberly!
Anyway, I thought I would share the following photos with you from our trip to the Goldfields last year in August. RED is the colour theme as you will see!!!
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| On the Road Again! |
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| Old pioneering back yard |
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| Eremophela shrub in bloom |
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| Roadside Camping |
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| GWALIA |
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| A tad muddy the day we visited the Gormley Statues on Lake Ballard |
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| Travelling Companions |
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| The BEST bit about camping roadside! |
At the end of a day on the road, we would set up camp collecting firewood first and getting the "billy" on. Afterall, we did want a warm wash!
Heaven..........Unlimited skies with stunning colours at sunset. Bushes in bloom with wild flowers everywhere.
What more could you want in life!
Hmmmmm. maybe a cold glass of bubbly....YEP!
JOURNEY THREE
I haven't shared this part of my life here yet because I thought it would bore you! However, it is a big part of who I am and what I am known for in the Great Southern region.
I am a School Dental Therapist. I have been working in the Great Southern region in this role for eleven and a half years now. I have come to know many families from Gnowangerup, Tambellup, Ongerup, Kojonup, Dumbleyung, Nyabing and until recently, Lake Grace. Most towns are daily commutes except for Ongerup and Lake Grace when I was involved with the primary dental care of the children.
This role has been huge given the low rate of the number of children who have good Oral Health. At times the job is overwhelming. The number of very young children who experience dental pain is quite high and an issue I cannot understand given that Dental Decay is preventable. Some days I come home and cry!
This is why I escape to my craft room!
Now it's not all doom and gloom, despite being told almost daily "I hate coming to the dentist". The job does have it's rewards. To treat a 5yr old child to the point of no pain and good oral health can be uplifting. (Their memory may not equal mine though!)
Treating children every day can be mentally exhausting. But my colleague and I make our day "fun" and we bolster each other along. I have a huge repertoire of Fairy stories as we offer these young children the best way to cope with extensive dental treatment. Naturally, it would be preferable to see NONE of these problems but healthy little mouths instead.
If you are reading this, and you are a parent or grandparent, carer or guardian, then I plead with you to PLEASE take care of your little person's dental health. YOU will then have the reward of a healthy child.
I have another important role within my employment as a Dental Therapist. I am also the Area Dental Therapist and look after staff from Northam to the north (three hour drive), Merredin to the East (three to four hour drive), Boddington to the west of Narrogin (one to two hour drive) and Ongerup to the south (one and a half hour drive.) Rarely do I have to make the journey to these far flung clinics. But in recent weeks I have made the trip a couple of times just for the day! That's six to seven hours on the road to visit for a couple of hours. Yep. Very tiring. But quite a challenge and it does make my working day a bit different to the mundane days that others may be experiencing. Just as well I like my journeys!!
That's why I have a craft room to escape to!!!
I guess we all have different life journeys. What we do, how we enjoy these journeys makes us who we are.
GRUMPY at times.
SAD sometimes.
HAPPY often (to be home)!
I hope your life journeys are as special as mine are. I am grateful to have the experiences I do.
In this photo: My work colleagues (Dental Assistant and Dentist) and I, at the Yongernow Centre for the endangered Mallee Fowl, having lunch. My travels do have the added advantage of seeing and enjoying the local tourist attractions! And if you are travelling to Esperence don't miss a visit to this tourist attraction! You will be pleasantly surprised.
This is the interpretive centre where you will learn about the history of local farming and the preservation of the Mallee Fowl.
Wild flower season here is magnificant!
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