Husband Father Teacher Pilgrim

Our First Trip on the Bunbury Hwy

Carolyn and I went down to Boyanup for a couple of days to get away.

We relaxed, caught up with some reading and simply enjoyed being there for each other without distraction.

C

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On the way home...

We came home via the new Bunbury Hwy.

The image to the left is looking north out of the Shell Roadhouse just outside Bunbury.

Once you leave this roadhouse the road goes through no towns and is 110 - 100 km/hr road all the way into Perth City. Thats a distance of 160 km.

The road does cut about half an hour off the trip from Bunbury to Perth. From that perspective, its great. You no longer have to travel through the 60 km/hr zones and string of traffic light in Mandurah

However, one serious drawback is that there is nowhere to stop. There are a few places where you can pull over and stop. But there is nowhere attractive enough to want to stop. There is certainly no privacy on the side of the road.

The old Roadhouses that have been there for years closer to Bunbury are still there. You could stop there for a toilet break if you had the presence of mind to do so. But after that it is one long stretch of open road.

Carolyn and I were alone without kids. So it wasn't that bad. But I dread the thought of driving that road with young kids in the car. I hope that decent rest stops will be built in the not too distant future.

Below is the file report in the new road from the 9 News network. The link that I got the file from is given below the clip.

New Bunbury Hwy

Celebrating Stuart's Birthday

Fish and Chips in Freo

My middle son,Stuart, turned 14 today.

For those interested in counting years, that means (according to our method of counting birthdays) Stuart has completed his 14th year of life. Remember all the debate about celebrating the end of the millennium?

Anyway, its Stuart's birthday; no time to revive that old chestnut.

We went down to Fremantle to have fish and chips at Sweet Lips. That is the fish and chip place on the corner near the park close to the old jail. Know the one?

Ma and Pa bear had to be patient while the three bear cubs wrestled and frolicked over the park and the streets of Fremantle. I think Ma bear has a harder time with it than me. I've learnt to let it flow over me. Either that or I have just become numb to it.

I think Stuart appreciated it. Its Carolyn's (Ma bear) birthday tomorrow. We'd better make sure we make a fuss of her.

Johno's First Home

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Originally uploaded by montgorp.

I was driving my son home today and we went past the house we brought him home to from the hospital just after he was born,

Its still the same. The block has been subdivided. So there is a house on the back now. But the original house is much the same.

I drove up the street explaining the history of the street to him.

My wife lived a few doors up from this house when I first met her. That house was gone, unfortunately, before we came back to the street to live there.

I pleasant moment sharing memories with my son.

Bathroom woes (opportunity :] )

Under this shower recess lies the cold water pipes for the back of the house (bathroom, toilet and laundry). The shower recess also lies on a solid block of concrete. The pipes travel through this solid block.

One of thes pipes has corroded and is leaking. We could hear it making the hissing noise that pipes make when they leak. We have had the plumber in. He has confirmed that the pipe is leaking and that it is embedded in a solid block of concrete.

Looking on the bright side, it is an opportunity. We have been talking about redoing  the bathroom for years. Now since the bathroom is going to have to be demolished to repair the corroded pipe, we may as well think of it as "redoing" the bathroom.

Ah, procrastination... though hast a sting in thy tail.

Sunday Night with Mr 15

Mr 15 and I went across to the Luna Cinema in Leederville and watched "Standard Operating Procedure". Its a political documentary about the happenings at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. For a synopsis of the film go over to the rotten tomaotes site. It reminds me of  the film Breaker Morant. Its another tale of right and wrong becoming confused in a time of war.

Carolyn and the other two boys are down south with the inlaws for a day or so. There is a place just out of Jarrahdale (about an hour out of the city) where there are chalets, huts, dormitories etc that you can book to stay at. Its a retreat centre that's open to the public. Its managed by a groups calling themselves "Grass Roots Inc.". Here is a link to a photo gallery of the place. The photo gallery is on their website. So you can browse their site if you like.

As you can see from the photos, its a lovely spot. However, Mr 15 has rolled his ankle doing considerable damage. His lower leg in in an open cast and he is on crutches. He wouldn't be able to get around much there and would be at considerable risk of falling and further injury on the loose, rough and steep surfaces there.

So Mr 15 and I are home here in Carlisle, going to the movies, hanging out and trying to not to get in each other's way too much.

I am so proud of my boys

This is a photo of my two older boys with their mother and maternal Grandmother at a recent family event.

Throwing together some thoughts this morning. My older boys went out with mates last night. They went cliff jumping at Blackwell Reach, near Pt Walter.

I recorded a few thoughts this morning in podcast form that I would like to share.

On the right is a thumbnail view from the cliff at blackwell reach (courtesy of Melvile City Council)

A comfortable home... taken for granted

We spoke again with the bank manager yesterday. We are going ahead with borrowing against the equity in the house for renovation work on the house and garden.

We had rather grand plans about french windows and extra rooms but now that it comes down to it, our plans are more modest. We simply want to have a comfortable home.

I have taken what we have here for granted until I started to lose it. We have a nice strong 3 bedroom brick and tile house. it has a lovely established garden. Or it did have until we lost our water source this summer and the garden has died. The front fence has fallen apart.

We share our ground water source with the house behind us and the well and pump is in their yard. The two allotments were once one large allotment and when it was strata titled the block behind got the well. While we knew the people behind it worked alright. I felt able to go to well control box in their allotment in order to manage our water. However, they sold their allotment and moved on. The people who own it now and live there now are good people but they have fenced off their allotment and I am unable to wander in and out.  The portion of the water system that supplies our allotment has broken but we need access to their allotment to fix it. And.. since they have been distracted with family illness, we have not managed to negotiate a solution.

Anyway, the bank has agreed to extend our housing loan. So now, we will have the funds to fix the fence, fix the garden and make the necessary other renovations to the house,  so that once again it becomes a comfortable home.

Mr 15 off to camp

I dropped Johno, my oldest, off at Frazer's car park this morning. He will be away at camp for the next week.

Mobile post sent by montgorp using Utterz. Replies.  mp3

Saturday night at thome

My youngest and I watched "The Enemy a the Gate" while my wife took the two older boys out to the cinema to watch "The Simpsons Movie". I reckon that I got the better deal.

Hanging out together

Hanging out on a Saturday night...