Time travel

The problem with always having been the 'good' kid growing up is that I'm finding that every now and then I revert back to my teen years and act like everyone else was doing back then while I was busy being responsible.

And so for the past TWO weekends (yep, count em) I've found myself getting rather pissed. The first weekend Christian had some people round to celebrate his last day at his job. I hadn't planned on drinking much because I had to have an early night for my market but I didn't quite pull off that plan. It made for a rather uncomfortable day in 40C heat at the markets.
Then last night one of Christian's mates came round to watch the footy and somehow we got to talking about which pubs and clubs we've been to in town and we decided to go out. Tash had had a bit of a rough weekend and so I called her and told her to come out with us. We had pre-going-out drinkies here and then headed out to The Court for several more.

Which leaves me at lunchtime on a Sunday feeling rather seedy and looking through the few random photo albums I have on the HTPC. I came across some pics I took last winter up at my mother's place and although I'm pretty sure I have them in an album on FB I figured I'd share them on here since it's my blog and I'll do whatever the heck I want lol.

Most of them are of old figurines and things from Mum's garden.

Owl!


Purdy flowers.


I just love the fact that I found a rubber duckie in the yard. Nestled against the decaying leaves it gave me a bit of a Chernobyl feel for some reason.

I'd love to say time and spiders wait for no man but considering this is a thermometer it's a bit pointless...


My fave photo.

There's a bear in there...

My mother's freaky ashtray.

This 28 wanted...

...this chicken. Nom nom nom cheeeeeeekan!


Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the blast from Nettie's past for today. Please remain seated until the internet comes to a complete stop and then make your way in a orderly fashion to the door. Thank you for frequenting The Natterings of Nettie and have a pleasant day.

A day at the markets

My cousin Sarah is one of these annoying crafty people who have awesome ideas and the actual talent to execute them. A while back she started making jewellery and accessories and started an online business called Bits and Bobs. As well as making items, she also started sourcing jewellery online to supplement the handmade items. I think it started by her sending me links to items she was thinking of buying and then me searching for other cool things but before we both knew it, I was also buying things to sell.

And so it eventually evolved into us getting a market stall up in Mundaring on the second Sunday of the month. We’ve just had our second one and it definitely seems worth the effort. The market is open for six hours and of course there are quiet times and so there’s lots of time for people watching. People and things we’ve seen include :

*A mullet on every second person.

*The mulleted women opposite us deciding that bras are so yesterday.

*The local church have a tent and they just love venturing out to hand out pamphlets and scare away customers.

*A lovely lady called Judy who is a newbie too and has been next to us both times.

*Irresponsible pet owners walking their dogs on hot bitumen on a 40C day.

*Two girls dressed in head to toe vinyl devil outfits, handing out pamphlets to a car show. I dared them to hand the church tent some brochures and they totally did! Best expressions ever on Churchlady’s face! I swear her mouth drew into such a thin line she almost sucked her nose off her face!

*A man with his beard dyed purple.

*A chain smoking grump who sells wrought iron candlesticks and snaps at you if you accidentally lean a table against his curbing whilst setting up.

*Gaggles and gaggles of teenage girls there for their cheerleading stand.

Things we didn’t see

*The git who nicked one of our rings.

All in all it’s a great day out and making a bit of cash on the side is always handy. I’m putting it aside for November because FLORA IS COMING!

NB - I have photos of the items I have gotten to sell (or some of them anyway) but my puter has been having some reconstructive surgery and is out of action at the moment and I can't be arsed uploading them to the HTPC.

An unfortunate event

Last week whilst driving her fire truck through King's Park, Barb failed to see Darcie skipping through the playground.
This is a photographic montage of the events of that day.

A little bit of this and a little bit of that...

AND SHAKE YOUR BUM!!!

*cough* Sorry bout that...a conversation I had with Boo yesterday involved my old neighbour who used to play his music so loud that it sounded like it was being played in my house. One of Andy's favourite songs to play was The Chicken Dance...do I really need any further explanation? lol
Unfortunately, Andy passed away last August. I say unfortunately because although his music drove me wild (mainly due to the fact that he would play the same song over and over for hours) the new neighbours are complete and utter ferals.

And that is the nicest possible thing I can say about them.

I think it's three generations of the same family - grandmother, mother, kids, and due to the slight elevation of our block and their impressive vocal projection abilities, their arguments (of which there are many) sound like they are taking place in my lounge room.
*sigh*
And when I say feral, I really do mean feral. Who speaks to their children (or any child for that matter) thus : 'You stupid f*#king little c#*t, get your f*#king arse in the house right now or I will make you curse the f*#king day you were f*#king born'???
Ferals I tell you! Only ferals!
I curse the day that these people were allowed to breed!
They yell and scream and swear all day and night, till the wee hours of the morning, and there is never a respite unless they have gone out. It's state housing and although I have nothing against people who need state housing to survive (my older sister has lived before in state housing and is on the waiting list for another place) these people just ooze the stereotype. None of them appear to have any form of employment which leads me to believe that my hard earned taxes are going towards not only paying their rent but also paying for the cigarettes they smoke one after the other, the booze they consume only to leave the empties littering their yard and also, judging again from the rubbish carpeting their front lawn, the sheer quantities of fast food they consume.
Yet again, I don't have a problem that my taxes go towards helping those in need, even these people in particular, but I just wish that they had been placed elsewhere. I really don't want to have to hear every conversation and every argument at top volume, I really don't. And I have proof that they can be heard as far away as Scotland! Just ask Boo!

Alas, I know I should confront them and ask them politely to keep the noise down but I must admit I am too chicken shit to even try. I fear I would be either a) beaten to a pulp or b) wake one day to find my car and front yard trashed. I guess these are the perils of living in a slightly dodgy suburb.

Anyway, onto more enjoyable matters...
It's four months tomorrow that I leave for Scotland! Yay!
I seriously cannot wait, I am so excited. I'm probably driving everyone batty over here because I've been going on and on about it so much. But I don't care because I am so very very excited!
I will try not to bore you all to tears with it now and will leave it at this, but I just needed to release a burst of excitement lol.

I had a very weird dream last night that I had broken my mobile phone and I was running around and around trying to get it fixed and worrying because I couldn't return messages. I guess it's a reflection on just how much I rely on that little piece of plastics and electronics but honestly, I don't think I could live without it. I would go insane. I am truly a child of the electronic age.

Easter is just around the corner...mmmmmm, Easter eggs. Nom nom nom. For the first time EVER I was going to go away with my family for the long weekend. My nightfill shifts are Friday and Monday nights and so due to public holidays I was going to actually have the entire weekend off. We've never gone away before over the long weekend and it was something that my sisters and I had been talking about. Unfortunately Barb didn't realise we were actually that interested and booked a camping site for just her family and Jo wanted to go down to Wave Rock and invited Christian and I along but it's just not going to happen. Christian's aunty has been diagnosed with Gall Bladder cancer and it's very advanced and so I think we're just going to spend as much time as we can with his family.

And on a final, happy note, April sees the return of some of my favourite tv shows! SGU, Glee, Doctor Who just to name a few. Yay!

(Note - for some reason Blogger is screwing with my font size, sorry if this looks weird)

SPACE RAIL!!!

A couple of years ago I bought the kids a couple of sets of a toy I found at the two buck shop. It's essentially some plastic rails that you build up however you fancy and you roll marbles down when you've finished the track. The kids, especially Darcie love playing with it when they come over.
Whilst looking around for ideas for a birthday present for Darcie, Christian came across this online.
It's essentially a high tech version of what we already have. We figured that it would be a great thing to get for all of the kids to play with here and so Christian ordered it from Deal Extreme, a dodgy Chinese site that has free postage. Other exciting purchases from there include piggy LED keyrings, a line of LEDs for our patio and a cute necklace.

So it arrived today and although we haven't had the excitement of putting it together as yet, we have derived many minutes of entertainment from the box.

I just love bad Chinese translations, don't you? ;-)

Here are my favourites...(oh, the spelling, spacing and punctuation are directly quoted!)

'SPACE RAIL is a suit-toy which could be assembled freedom with its base, shaft and rail. the steel ball could run on the two lines sometimes snail and sometimes scour, it is for adult playing indoor.
How to play the SPACE RAIL:For the loop-rail installed already.It just need take little time to adjust the corner of railto ready the rail.
It will bring the sweetness and exciting feeling of the SPACE RAIL word to you although it just for playing indoor.'

'The primary mold for the beginner.
For the loop rail assembled already, it just only need little time to ajust corner parts to finish loading the novel SPACE RAIL mold
(average time: about 90120 minutes)'

Only a little time???

Now that you have a clearer idea of what the SPACE RAIL is, it's very important to take into consideration SAFETY!

'*Please don't put your fingers to the elevator when it on running to avoid hurting accident.
*Please don't put any article except the steel ball into the elevator to avoid breaking it or falling off
*Please don't force the motor to stopping to avoid scalding or other risk caused by the overheat of motor or battery
-Caution: the battery would appear overheat, blow out or leak risk for misusing.
*Once (Not if - ONCE lol) the battery liquid spurt into the eyes, please washing it with clean water at once or ask help from doctor
*Please don't use the rechargable battery'

'Please don't cumber the elevator (motor) running when the power offering to avoid risk caused by the overheat motor'

Once we have the SPACE RAIL built and running, I shall post photos and/or video of the finished product. If this is the last you hear of the SPACE RAIL, then it must be assumed that we could not follow the instructions or due to a catastrophic overheat we are dead or seriously maimed.

A dilemma

Quite a little pickle I've got to share with you today.
(You know who I like? That pickle stork. You know...the one with the pickles...no? *cough* sorry, I thought a little Frisky Dingo early on may lighten this post a little...)

Anyhoo...so, the dilemma...first, some things you should know (if you don't already).
- I was sexually abused as a child.
- My mother was sexually abused as a child.
-My uncle has just been released from prison for sexually abusing a child.

Heavy issues...

Ok, so basically several years ago my uncle was caught molesting a child he was babysitting.
My mother was extremely upset, as you can imagine and basically disowned him. Having being abused as a girl, she was horrified he could do anything like that, especially when he'd seen first hand the lifelong damage it causes.
However, it was left up to my mother to become the executor of his estate so she could ensure that his daughters (late teens) would be cared for. During the course of this time my mother spoke to my uncle regularly and came to understand his remorse for his actions. He had refused bail so he would be removed from temptation and he eagerly attended courses and counselling whilst in prison to learn to cope with the compulsion he felt (one of which actually meant an extension of his sentence so he could attend as it was only held at a regional prison).

When he was released, my mother was there for him and helped him get on his feet again. Both of my sisters have refused to have anything to do with him but apart from a quick glance at the shops, I had yet to have any contact with him that forced that decision upon me.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I received a request via Facebook that was from someone I didn't know with a message attached. It was actually from my uncle, explaining that he was using a different name and just to see how I was.

I was torn. Having been abused, I felt a lot of anger towards him, and I didn't think it was my place to offer forgiveness - it wasn't me he had wronged so I can't grant that.
On the other hand, it must be hard, trying to rehabilitate into society when society isn't allowing you the chance to prove you've reformed.

And so I debated about it for a while and finally decided to accept him on FB.

Of course, I'm not a complete dimwit. I did go and edit all my security settings so he has no access to any of my photos, only very very basic information. At the end of the day I may be trying to help him reform but the well being of my nieces and nephews comes first.

I told my sisters what had happened and what precautions I had taken and they reacted in rather the manner I was expecting. Basically they flipped out. They feel a lot of hate towards him and don't want me to have anything to do with him. I had to assure them of the precautions I had taken to prevent them from de-friending me.
But the way I see it...both my sisters have a lot of friends on Facebook (until a week ago when some glitch went and deleted a heap of Barb's friends, she had over 350! ). Just how well can you know 350 people??? At least with my uncle, we're aware of his past and can take the measures to ensure the safety of not just the kids in my family, but also that of children of our friends (and by this I obviously don't mean physical safety, but the safe use of any photos on FB). But any one of those 350 people could be dodgy, you just never know and they have complete access to Barb's profile and photos. So in this case I really feel it's better the devil you know...

And ultimately I really, honestly hope that the man who abused me has been given this chance by someone out there who has faith in him. Because if he hasn't, that means he's still out there, still a potential threat and for all I know, subjecting other little girls to the same fate as me.

So, what do you think? Have I done the right thing? Or do you agree with my sisters and think I should delete him and have nothing to do with him?

The garden and Darcie's birthday outing.

A garden post for Shawna and Boo! Enjoy ladies :D

Last Friday I wasn't being paid to do anyone else's garden so I thought I'd take the time to actually do something in mine. It had begun to look rather sad and neglected and lots needed to be done. On the Thursday night I had headed to Bunnings (the major hardware and gardening store here) and had what I like to call 'A Bunnings Orgasm'.
You see, I have a Bunnings fetish, I simply cannot walk out of the store without something for my garden, usually over a hundred bucks worth of something for my garden...
And this time was no different. $115 later I had compost/soil conditioner, petunias, garden ornaments, a dwarf apricot Oleander (one of the Mighty Tough, Super Hardy range lol), a new miniature rose and some sheep poo (yay for manure!).

I was kept rather busy on Friday. Apart from taking a slight break to drive the twenty five minutes to Christian's work to pick up some house keys after accidentally locking myself out (loooong story) and another trip to Bunnings when I realised I didn't have near enough plants to fill my empty pots, I accomplished quite a lot.

These are my pots out the front (please note the soil here is shocking and so I have a mainly potted garden). I replaced the miniature rose on the right after the last one succumbed to the intense heat we've been having lately and replaced the annuals I had in the small pots with some white Petunias. I also swept around and picked up all the dead leaves and it looks much better.


Out the front we have two garden beds my Dad built, the only ones we have. The beds have been built right up but the soil is still pretty bad. I weeded and then dug in compost and sheep shit and I'm hoping it will improve the soil a lot.
Apart from some bulbs that aren't out at the moment, I've ripped out everything from the beds apart from the Frangipanis.
We have two Frangipanis, one scarlet which is a very traditional shaped Frangipani...



and our white one which is not so traditional...
It seems to have the traditional shape with a smaller flower in the middle. My gardening bosses are coming round in a couple of weeks for a party and I'm hoping to get their opinion on it as I've not seen one like it before (not that I in any way, shape or form claim to be a Frangipani expert)


I forget what this small tree is called (something like Snow Bush I think...) but it sits to the right of my front door and in summer has thew most glorious pink leaves. This photo just doesn't do it any justice at all. The dog stake is new :)


This little guy is another of my new ornaments and he's sitting the rose closest to the door. When the wind moves him, he waves!


Just a general view of my front garden (please ignore the dead and uncut lawn!)


A while back I was doing a job of laying roll on lawn and there were six rolls left over. Our back lawn has been in a very sad state, full of weeds and so we let it die off this summer and our plan was to rip it up and start new with seed. Six free rolls of lawn though was too good an opportunity to pass up and so we laid it a couple of weeks ago. It seems to be taking nicely. Our plan when it is fully established it to rip up the rest of the grass, fence it off to keep Molly out and plant seed. Hopefully we'll swing it so the seed and roll on merge nicely together.


And moving out the back. I just hope you're not too thoroughly bored as yet ;-)
On my second trip to Bunnings I picked up several Gerbras because they were just so pretty and as they like full sun should do well in this spot.


Just a quick shot of some of my pots. Nothing much has changed here except a tidy up and a Petunia added. Boo wanted to see it though :)


Oh and this little man...


The opposite fence. This is a trouble spot for my poor plants and some things just don't do well at all. I had several pots, the gloomy graves of long lost plants, that needed to be filled and so I used up the last of my Petunias and my remaining Gerbra. The plant in the white pot on the far left is the Oleander and I hope it will go well there. It's a funny spot. Just out of sight on the left are my ferns and palms that do really well in the shade of the house but that one spot gets morning sun but afternoon shade. My Geraldton Wax carked it, I think due to not enough sun and the rose I used to have there just never flourished, possibly for the same reason. I'm hoping that being Mighty Tough and Super Hardy will help increase it's chances...


I can never remember what these two trees are called. Some kind of Elm maybe? My Dad potted them when he lived here and shortly after I moved in I repotted them in these massive pots (that Bunnings encounter was much more expensive...) and they have just gone berserk. I have strung up some solar powered fairy lights in them but unfortunately I have been unable to get a good night shot of them so you'll just have to use your imagination.


So there you have my garden. Still a lot to do but looking much better than she has lately.

Now my niece Darcie has grown up all of a sudden and next week will be ten. Ten! Can you believe it! It's scary to think that a whole decade will have passed since she was born. I feel old!
I told her I would take her shopping for her birthday and so she came over today (Saturday) and we went out with her mum, Jo.

Before we went out though I told her I needed pics of my garden and we inevitably got more than just the garden.

This is Miss Molly Moo wanting us to play ball with her.


Darcie pulling a face...


I don't think she realises that is the wind changes, she'll be stuck like this forever...


We were heading out to Carousel, a huge centre in Cannington but on the way I told her we had a stop off to make at our small local centre. She didn't know what was install but when she saw him, her face just lit up.

Isn't he beautiful???


However, after months of wanting a ride in the Snoopy kennel, Darcie came over shy and refused at first to get in. Eventually she did though and found that one of the down sides to being almost ten is that you're not the target group of shopping centre ride inventors.
It was a little small...


Oh the disappointment!


After that we headed out to Carousel and while there I tried to find this shirt. I bought it the other day from a surf shop ( I never go into them! Ever! I lost my surf shop virginity!) and was wearing it this morning when I rang Boo. I described the shirt to her and she said that she'd rather like one and so I figured while I was out I'd pick one up. Unfortunately, they seem rather popular and they only had XXL ones left :( So I will probably have to get one online but for some reason they don't ship direct to the UK so it'll have to take a roundabout way to get to her!

We were all pretty tired and the three of us traipsed around numerous toy departments, getting more and more exhausted each minute. I explained to Darcie that she didn't have to chose something right now and she didn't even have to get a toy/game/dvd but could save the money and use it to go to the movies or play mini golf in the future. This appealed to her but since she also had some money that Nanna had given her, she eventually got a skateboard from Christian and I (all broken bones will be entirely out fault!) and kept the money from Nanna for future use.

We then headed down to Scarborough to the beach to have fish and chips for dinner and to have a play on the playground and to chase the waves. Darcie was very eager to get down to the water...


I love this photo even though she is a little poser!



It was rather overcast and we'd had a few spots of rain and so the ocean was rather wild.


Look! Some freak with only four toes has been down this way! lol



Wondering if it's too rough for a dip...


Darcie and I just before we left to go home. As you can tell, it was rather windy.


And so I got home, exhausted and sleepy and had my first bath of the year! I love soaking till I get more wrinkly than a Nanna and it gives me time to read so now I'm feeling quite relaxed.
After I finish this post I'll probably have an early night and sleep cannot come soon enough!

Father figure

I'm going to tell you the story of my hero. The bravest, most courageous, generous and loving man I know. My Dad.

When Dad was a young man he trained as a carpenter before joining the Australian Army. He did two tours of Vietnam, the first as a Tunnel Rat and the second as a Vampire. When we were growing up Dad spoke little of his time in the war but he collected all the books and literature he could about it. Both of the roles in which Dad served put him into situations in which I'm sure he witnessed countless horrors and so none of us ever pushed Dad into talking about it. He played a vital role however and his children are immensely proud of him.

When Dad returned from the the war he became a Prison Officer and started off working at Fremantle Prison. Once he was fully trained he was transferred to several regional prisons, including Wyndam where he met my Mum. Mum actually lied about her age when they met as there was a nine year age difference between them. I don't think it bothered Dad much that he had a younger girlfriend as they became quite serious and after the birth of my older sister Jo they married (the second marriage for my Dad as he had married earlier and had had a son, my half brother Scott).
Dad was soon transferred to Pardelup Prison farm where I was born and a couple of years later we were transferred again to Roebourne where my younger sister Barb was born. We stayed in Roebourne for about eight years and in that time Mum and Dad went through quite a lot. I was constantly hospitalised with my asthma and Barb came down with chicken pox which led to a rare blood disorder in which her platelets were destroyed. She was kept in isolation for months and if anyone even brushed against her she would haemorrhage. Several blood transfusions later she was released home but it was years before she was well again.

Eventually Dad was transferred to Bandyup and we moved down to Perth. Dad has a wanderlust that he has passed on to all of his daughters and so none of us can ever sit still. Every weekend that Dad wasn't working he would take us out and about. Almost all of the places that I'll be taking Boo and Mouse in October are 'Dad places'. He would take us to Mundaring Weir one week, Hillaries Boat Harbour the next, then we'd be off for a bbq at John Forrest National Park or swimming at Lake Leschenaultia. Dad also introduced me to Cricket and whenever there was a game on at the WACA he'd take us there or we'd watch the away games at home together. When Barb started playing Dad would take her to the games and I'd tag along to watch. He was always interested in getting us out of the house and we always had so much fun.

Mum and Dad split when I was 17 and that was really rough. I remember one night when Dad slept the night in the spare bedroom - I stood in the hall knowing that Mum was down one end and Dad was down the other and I just burst into tears, knowing that it was never going to be the same.
Dad moved out shortly afterwards but we still saw him as much as we could. Jo had Darcie and he became such a doting Poppy. I was working as a manager at KFC at the time and when I had days off during the week I'd meet up with Dad and my sisters and we'd take Darcie out to new parks and 'Dad places'.

Dad was still working at Bandyup as a Senior Prison Officer even though he'd passed retirement age. On the 27th of September, 2001 a cell fire broke out and Dad was the first on the scene. He risked personal injury to help several prisoners to safety and was awarded a Commendation by the Justice Department for his 'dedication, courage and outstanding commitment to duty'.
Dad eventually retired but continued to work at the prison on contract.

Soon Dad met Dianne online and we all knew that it was getting serious. Di lived in Canada and it wasn't long before Dad booked a ticket and headed off for a few weeks to meet her in person. He returned but not for long, organising to go back to Canada for a six month stint. He did this several times, staying there for six months and then coming back here for the next six to spend time with his growing brood of grandchildren. Barb has three children and all of them dote on their Poppy.
Christian and I married in 2003 and Dad and Di came over for the occasion. Di is a lovely woman and we all got along like a house on fire. After returning to Canada, they two got married and we couldn't be happier having Di as a step mother. Dad had to come back here to apply for residency over there and I must say we were rather heartbroken at having Dad leave for good. The kids were miserable and miss him as much as us older kids do.

As the trip of Boo and Mouse comes to an end, I'll be getting ready to fly out to Canada to spend some time with my Dad and I am so excited. Jo and Darce are going too but are flying out several weeks before me. We have so many plans and it's going to be fantastic to catch up. There are so many things Dad wants to show us and his wanderlust will be well taxed. I doubt we'll be spending much time in the house while we're there.

I guess the whole point of this post is that sometimes we take certain people for granted and don't fully appreciate them while they're here. So I'm going to say this...

"Dad, we've never been a family that really vocalise our feelings but I want you to know that I love you and you're the best Dad a girl could hope for. Thanks so much for everything you've done for me and I cannot wait to see you come October."

How time flies when you're having fun

Today is our 12th anniversary from when we got together, not when we married (only been married just over 4 years).
Since rain has been forecast for most of today we had to cancel plans for a picnic at Kings Park so instead we went to a movie last night. Went and saw Forgetting Sarah Marshall and I must say it was much funnier than I thought it would be. The only reason we picked it was because it looked the least crap out of a whole line up of crap but I really was surprised at how good it was. At the beginning I thought the only funny bits would be the numerous full frontal male nudity and Billy Baldwin's lines from the crime show but it turned out to be more than just that.

So it was a fun night out and I'm glad we did it. After so long these things kind of get forgotten about. We don't do the whole present buying thing any more but it's nice to acknowledge the day and enjoy each other's company. Sometimes things get so hectic around here with work and everything that we don't seem to have a lot of time to just hang out together.

I think today we'll just get out a dvd and relax at home, maybe walk the dogs if the rain lets up. Just spend time with my adorable hubby.

Work, work, work

I've been rather busy lately, work has been rather hectic and by the time I get home after going to the gym (I do try and get there but it all depends on how buggered I am), watered my garden, cooked dinner, had a shower, all that jazz, I'm finding it difficult to get online. So no one's really seen much of me over the past couple of weeks.

So what have I been doing?

I went out to dinner with some work friends last Saturday and that was really nice and we have a leaving do for one of the girls this Saturday. We're all going out to an English pub in the city (Laura is British) and to make the night even more special Laura, her partner Leanne, Christian and I are going to catch a limo in.
Yay!
It's ever so exciting.

On the Sunday I took my nieces to Adventure World along with my sister Jo. It was a good day but we didn't stay too long. I was rather surprised at my nieces, especially Chiara. Chiara is the sort who loves rides and she went on the kiddie roller coaster and Bounty's Revenge (a big boat that swings you up to a 75 degree angle) and a dragon ride but refused to go on the paddle boats. I really thought the roller coaster would have been too scary but apparently it's not as scary as a paddle boat. Darcie is a little chicken and doesn't go on anything but she loved the paddle boats and even went on the roller coaster. Of course she screamed the whole way and all you could hear from the ground was 'Mummy, stop it, stop it! Why? Whyyyyyyy? Mummy please make it stop!'. Poor thing, she was sobbing and shaking afterwards and it only did three laps...
The girls seemed to have fun though and didn't want to leave but Jo and I were exhausted after three and a half hours and over-ruled the girls!

I'm going to buy a tent this weekend so I'm thinking of going camping over the Easter long weekend, even if it's just overnight. I'd love to camp at Lake Leschenaultia in Chidlow as it's just gorgeous there and they have great facilities (like showers and toilets). I like camping but I do like my little luxuries too! We go there rather often for barbecues and I think it would be great to spend a longer period of time there. There's heaps to do, canoeing, swimming, bush walks, lounging around on the beach. Should be fun!

Baby making is still in progress and with any luck we'll be pregnant soon. I'm very hopeful for this month - we did everything the doctors asked plus more so fingers crossed people! I am trying not to get my hopes up too much but dammit, I'm sure it's time for luck to look our way!

That's about it really. I'll keep you posted about how this weekend goes and I'll make sure to get photos of us in the limo!
Take care and I'll see you later!
xxxx

Like a Japanese Tourist

I've got a rather large photo post for you lot today, mainly due to me playing tourist this weekend. I'd gone up to visit my Mum on Saturday and while I was up the hill Jo and I decided to take a run out to the weir. I took lots and lots of photos, and was so excited by some of the content of these photos that Christian asked me 'Are you a bloody Japanese tourist???'.

Not quite Christian but I do get excited about things that you have obviously become apathetic towards.

Shall we begin?

First of all I've got a few pics that aren't from this weekend but from last weekend. Their purpose is to show you my new hair colour because that's the most important bit, yes? ;-)
This is Jess, Clelie and I from Clelie's leaving do at the Riverbank Winery.

Not the best job of portraying the red in my hair but for some reason Mouse seems to like drunk Nettie photos and this is a very drunk Nettie photo. Taken at Mel and Jann's engagement party last weekend.

Ok, onto more exciting photos.
Jo, Darce and I had parked at the main carpark of the weir and were a bit annoyed to find that the usual crowd of roos weren't hanging about. I've lived in the hills since I was a kid and I never stop getting excited when I see kangaroos. I'm such an unobservant person that I tend to miss a lot of stuff that goes on around me (just ask anyone who has ever tried getting my attention while walking past me in a shopping centre) so when I do actually see wildlife, my excitement levels go through the roof.
Anyway, we'd left the carpark and were walking down the millions of steps to the weir wall when we detoured through some gardens into slightly uncharted territory.
Which is to say that we'd never ventured that way before.
We stumbled upon a toilet block and while Jo took Darce there, I wandered over to a huge granite outcropping and was going to take some photos of South Ledge off in the distance.
I heard a crash in the bush and turned to see this fellow staring warily at me.

Looks a bit shocked, doesn't he?
And there were more!


Jo and Darce came out of the loos and I gestured to them to be quiet and scoot carefully up onto the granite. They crept up and we spent a good ten minutes just watching the roos. After a little while the roos let down their guard slightly but always kept one eye on us. I think they were quite happy when we scooted down off the rocks and left them be.

We walked down onto the weir wall itself and took a stroll out to the middle. The day had started off quite overcast and windy, though still warm and the water was quite choppy.

Darcie made it as far as the pump station in the middle of the wall but then freaked out and wouldn't go any further out. I agree with her sentiments regarding this. The first bit up till the pump station is concrete and very wide. You feel relatively safe. The rest of it is a narrow wooden walkway with gaps through which you can see the huge drop beneath you.
I don't feel safe at all walking across it.

While Jo escorted a panicking Darcie back to the safely of solid ground I noticed these doors on the pump station. I rather liked them so I took this photo.

We started to climb down some more steps to the bottom of the weir wall but halfway down we thought we'd check out a track we'd never followed before. It led around the side of the hill and took us out to the bottom of the granite outcrop we'd seen the roos from. We spotted them again, this time slightly uphill from us and had another peek before carrying on.
After a while we came across these ancient stone steps leading up the hill. They must have been built back in the days when the weir was first built and was a popular picnic spot for the citizens of Perth. Of course back then it was a full day trip to visit the weir as the journey was made by train.

The stairs wound all the way up the hill and for some time followed the pipeline.

After we'd finished at the weir we took a drive up to South Ledge. I have only been to North Ledge before and wanted to see what the views were like from the other side.
At South Ledge they've made a viewing platform they call Golden Views, since water is more precious than gold in these parts.

The view of the weir from the platform.

They have these funny little totem pole things at the entrance to the platform and they have the most wonderful carvings on them.



After we left South Ledge we headed back into Mundaring and got some lunch before heading off to Sculpture Park. I'd been meaning to drop by there and get some pics of some of the sculptures there for The Worst of Perth as many of them are quite hideous and creepy.

These are the weird little clone tourists that have been there for years. I remember when they first went up, you'd drive past thinking that they were real people standing amongst the trees but upon closer inspection you were scarred for life by their creepiness.

They're quite small and Darcie looks huge next to them. I'd asked her to pose beside one and she just stood there, looking a bit worried. When I asked her to put her arm around it, she shrieked and moved away several steps. It took a bit of convincing but she finally snuggled up to it and eventually found it quite funny.


Darcie of course demanded payment for the previous photo and that was to let her take a photo of me with the creepy clone woman. I actually look tall! Yay!

One of the other sculptures there has been made into a bench that you could sit on if you found cement to be soothing to aching joints after a long walk.
A bit weird, but arty yes?

Errr, maybe not from this angle.

This is the angle you see from the road if you look far enough back into the park. My gutter mind makes me laugh at it every single time.

And that's about it for now. I'll have another post for you soon as I've promised Neo I'll get my own list together. Till then, take care :)