Travelog for: Jimmy D

Hey! who hasn't seen Rebel Without A Cause? You haven't?! You're joshing me aren't you? What about Giant? No?! Where are all the James Dean fans?

I know, I know, I'm supposed to update my travel log. That's hard when I haven't travelled anywhere yet!
I want to go to America!

Nik said she's trying to get me on the USATVT but it doesn't look like she's trying very hard...

Well at least I'm going somewhere - Western Australia!

I will be visiting Emmicoa 

Well! It's been long enough between updates, for feather's sake! I'm still stuck in boring old Stroud because Nik hasn't bothered to drop everything and get me an envelope! Doesn't she realize I'm JimmyD?


And this, this thing I'm forced to paddle in! (it's not even deep enough for a swim)

Hmph. About time. Nik just showed me an envelope she bought for me to travel to Western Australia in. It's hardly worthy of me, but it will do...this time.

Look out world, here comes jimmyD!

Today I finally arrived! It was a long journey and very uncomfortable To make matters worse, I had to sit in the post office waiting for an extra day because SOMEONE forgot to check the mail 

Luckily I was rescued just in time to be able to wish Nikki

I wish I was there to share it with you, but hopefully some pics of me will make your day

We had a very lazy day, I relaxed outside in the sun with Palmeke and Shaun.


Then Emmi took me to the Telecentre in search of a postcard. I was very eager to write home.

and while I was at the Telecentre, I got to choose a Beacon badge of my very own!

Today was very busy with lots of preparations for our long drive. Emmi is taking us to Perth for the school holidays, its about a three and a half hour drive to get there.

Once we hit the road I looked eagerly out the window. Gee the places around here sure have some funny names


Its a bit hard to see on such a small pic, but the sign says
Wongan Hills
Cadoux
Dowerin (all straight ahead)
Kallannie
Goodlands (turn right)

As we neared Cadoux, we saw several signs marking where some of the earthquake fault lines lay

Cadoux Earthquake 1979
TANK FAULT


Cadoux Earthquake 1979
KALAJZIC FAULT


Cadoux Earthquake 1979
LONE TREE FAULT


Cadoux Earthquake 1979
CUMMINGS FAULT


We stopped at Cadoux to find out more about the earthquake. Can you see me sitting on the edge of that hollow tree stump with Palmeke & Shaun?




As we drove out of Cadoux we saw another CBH grain receival point. We have seen several of these so far & Emmi explained that this is where the farmers take their grain to be stored & then loaded onto trains for transporting.


The road streched out in front of us far into the distance

After a while I decided it might be a good idea to have a nap

The sleep must have made time go quickly, because before I knew it we were in Dowerin!

Every year Dowerin hosts a big event called the Dowerin Field Days (www.dowerinfielddays.com.au) The event is a serious expo of farm machinery and equipment, from headers to water tanks and everything in-between. There are no livestock displays and certainly no sideshows, however there is a very large Family Interest Display section, situated under cover and featuring a vast array of products, from honey to craftwork through to kitchen accessories. People travel from all over the place, and children in surrounding areas even get a day off school to go


Emmi's kids were very excited when they saw the Tin Dog in Dowerin. They told me that when they see the Tin Dog, they know that we are half way to Perth Dowerin is in "Tin Dog Country" and the giant Tin Dog sits near Tin Dog Creek


Across the road from the Tin Dog, there is some old farm machinery on display at the information bay. We stopped there for a while so we could have a bit of a play

As we drove on, the roads gradually got wider than they were in Beacon, first we had a single lane road with dirt on the sides, then it changed to a dual lane road at Dowerin (one lane in each direction) until finally at Northam it became a multi lane highway I noticed that the wider the roads got, the less people liked to wave when they saw us

This is the view of the Avon Valley and Northam, from the Great Eastern Highway



Looking out at the crops near Northam, some in the front look almost ready to harvest, and some behind that are still green.


In August, Northam is the staring point for the Avon descent, the worlds greatest white water event for paddlers and power dinghy racers (www.avondescent.com.au)

When we finally arrived I was exhausted! Thank goodness Emmi found a nice quiet spot for me to rest!

Today we travelled into Perth City. We had a bit of a walk around before heading down to the foreshore for a play at the park





View of the 'skyscrapers' in Perth. The Bankwest (the pointy looking tower) & Allendale (just to the left and behind the Bankwest tower) towers are the tallest buildings in Perth


View looking towards Kings Park, with the Swan Bell Tower in the middle


There is a lot of construction going on in Perth at the moment. We saw so many cranes! Here are a couple of them. Some of them were flying the Eureka flag. This signifies that the building site uses Union labour (all workers on site must be a member of the Builders Union to enter)

Today we went to Fremantle for lunch, but Emmi forgot the spare batteries for the camera  Fremantle is a Port city and most people call it Freo for short.

We had fish and chips at Cicerellos and watched the boats come and go. One even collided with the jetty which gave everyone some amusement  The seagulls were everywhere and desperate for us to throw them some chips. After lunch I had a BIG strawberry ice cream

Back in Beacon once again, and I had an encounter with some wildlife - a bobtail lizard! There were two sleeping under the tree, but one was scared and ran away

Today was a playgroup day I got to go to playgroup & play with the children and do some activities.

This is my collage. Im very proud of myself and I especially like all the sparkly glitter



Palmeke helped me to do a puzzle. Its Bananas in Pyjamas!

Its playgroup time again Hooray Today I learned how to thread string though the holes on different shapes. It was a lot of fun




Shaun, Palmeke, Ballet Cindy and I had a ride on an aeroplane! It wasn't quite flying but we had a great time

I went out to a dam today! There were wild ducks when we arrived, but they were scared of the car & flew away


I got to have a little bit of a swim and cool off


I learnt that there are yabbies living in the dam & you can catch them by setting traps with meat in them. I watched very carefully so that I can try next time


We looked at the wheat crop, but it isn't looking very good There is a drought here




Later on we came back and emptied the traps. Look at our haul!