The Pilbara Trifecta

An enforced day at home prompts this post. Red Alert! Severe Tropical Cyclone Lua is pretty much on our door step, in Pilbara-distance terms, and we’re not allowed outside. So we’re getting to know our fibro-walled, lino-floored, proper hovel rather intimately. And to its credit, it has not shuddered yet. Excitement, bordering on anxiety, has been building in our town for the past couple of days. The checkout line in the supermarket extended to the back end of the shop, and ditto for the bottle shop. And we missed the boat there, because once it goes Yellow (Yellow Alert, not our skin from jaundice), the bottle shop had to shut. So we’re sober, but alert, as the coffee machine is well stocked, to see this one out. Let me see, we’ve suffered through 45 degree plus days, swallowed flies, paid $6 for a sausage roll, become blind to the general red stain on everything, and now a cyclone. Thoroughly christened to the Pilbara, indeed. Question is, do we like it? The Streety boys (junior) are quite oblivious to where they are. They are so adaptable and have not complained yet about moving to the other side of the country. Mikey and I are both so proud of them. They enjoy seeing lizards, hermit crabs, the odd jabiru, sand crabs, tiny frogs (no cane toads here yet) and just generally playing in the red dirt. They have become quite adept at pulling out from their feet the huge ‘triple G’ thorns that thrive in our prickle patch of a yard. We are well-known patrons of both the local pool and recreation centre, the latter which offers rollerskating, the rollerskates being the ones you and I used to hire at the local rink. And for the record, the falls hurt just as much as when we used to go at the rink at Burleigh 30 years ago, given Magi’s expressions and bruises. And parents should wear steel-capped boots when accompanying two roller-skate -clad newbies. Fishing, both from the boat and bank, has become a pastime for us, with a notable catch of a sizeable barramundi by me the other weekend. Well at least we think it was a barra as it flipped around on the muddy creek bank, extricated itself from the hook and bounced back into the creek before our surprised eyes. Mikko insists that quad bikes, a very popular ‘toy’ around these parts, are not as fast as motorbikes, but I reckon neither of the boys would say no if they were offered a ride on one. The big Mick reckons quad bikes are for retards, quote unquote, for those who can’t ride a motorbike. So I don’t think we’ll be joining the Pilbara chapter of that club. We don’t have the inkwork to go with it, anyhow. So that’s a yes for the junior half of the family. And far from landing in a culturally-deprived mining-town, I am now the dance teacher at the local high school, which runs a Specialised Arts Program. For the first few weeks I was feeling muscles I haven’t felt for years! I’m quite enjoying it, but working full time makes for a busy week and we’re all pretty tired come Friday morning. Mikey works long days and likes to get out and explore on his only day off. He frequently mistakes the Big Green Bus for a Big 4WD Bus and pushes the limits as to where it will go. So the BGB may be retired for something more Pilbara-appropriate. Just something we can hose out, is my request. What do I miss? I miss a corner store, swim squad at Yeronga, cycling around Brisbane, kids playing on Bolan Street and friends. Do I like it? Yes. Does Mikey like it? He’s coming around. I think the new 4WD that’s been occupying his thoughts for a while will take the edge off. So friends, we’ll be back in Brisbane around December 8 for a few days so please keep a day free and we’ll catch up and you can comment on our tans (it’ll just be fine grains of iron ore embedded in our pores, but I like to think of it as ‘mineral tanning’). See ya.

The Tassie Clubhouse

Finally! A place of our own in this stunning part of the world. Geographically and geologically very far removed from the Pilbara. It's been like Christmas coming here, as all the decisions about tile colour and carpet type and appliances are now staring us in the face and we like it. So have a look and come and stay sometime!

Christmas in the Pilbara

We personified the meaning of a 'quiet Christmas'. The words laidback and fuss-free come to mind as well. Santa found the boys no worries - he actually had a reccie here the week before just to check. And the flies apparently got an invite to someone else's party because they weren't around. You know, living here has slowed me down somewhat and I like it. I no longer feel in a rush to get anywhere, because the furthest place is 15 minutes drive away, and there's not a lot of choice so the decision making about lots of things is pretty easy. I feel really fortunate our house is airconditioned, but it is really nice in the shade with a breeze. Brisbane humidity sticks to you but the Pilbara desert heat brushes off your skin with a breeze. And you do make your own fun, as you may gather with the slide show below. Little things become big things that you get a lot more out of. Like a Boxing Day trip in the Pilchard, and our housemate Californian Sarah nabs a shark! Who would've thought? Stay tuned for the Tassie Update. See ya. Christmas in the Pilbara on PhotoPeach

The Pilbara Periodical

After talking about it for what seemed like an age, we finally made the move to Port Hedland in Wah Wah. So it was bye-bye to Bolan Street house and our lovely neighbourhood, bye-bye to Balmoral High and bye-bye to friends and familiar faces, sounds and smells. And hello to the balmy evening air of Port Hedland (International Airport!). That balmy evening air doesn't get any cooler, either. Actually, it's quite a relief from the desert heat of the day and quite pleasant with the breeze ( or cyclonic wind, depending on the month of the year). Life in Heddy (we live in South Hedland, 12km inland) is really quite nice for us, at the moment. I'm on long service leave (how adult I feel being able to say that!), Mikey works enough hours for two people I'm sure, Magnus is finishing off the school year in school-based Kindy (uniform and all!) and Mikko is without his big brother for the first time at a local child care centre two days a week. All of our stuff arrived, including Sally and the big green bus, and we've even aquired two house-mates along the way - a lovely couple Jason and Sarah (distinguished by their Kiwi and Yankee accents respectively). And a pool! Kmart does a roaring trade here, I tell you!

Mikey and I have realised how city-fied (do I say urbanised?) we have become in our general thinking and expecations of things. Rules and regualtions, for instance. City-thinking is: roads are for driving on, drive on the road to get to your destination. Yes, yes, yes. But when the streets of the town are designed to be like petals of a rose (ie circular patterns that challenge your sense of direction big time) and you can see the place you want to get to, but the road gently curves away from it, you just jump the gutter and drive through the creek bed/spare block/ bit of desert bush to get there. General crowds is another example. Beautiful Saturday morning (as is every morning here), we'll head down to the beach and I'm thinking "there'll be heaps of people here this morning for sure". Nup. Two cars, two people and a couple of dogs. Where is everybody? There's always a car park at the shopping centre and the playgrounds are pretty much empty (except for some tall lady with fly-away hair and her two rambunctious boys). It's a boiling hot afternoon and there's 10 people at the local pool. I feel a bit like I'm in the Twilight Zone.......

Some other observations:

· Pilbara prices. This region may as well have its own currency as it is running its own economy, I tell you. $104 a day for child care. Real estate prices make Sydney look like a bargain. Honestly.

· When you see a road sign for The Great Northern, it's NOT directing you to the pub in Byron Bay. Damn.

· Is it sand or is it dirt? Is it bush or is it desert? This landscape definitely challenges your mind as well as your body. As Magnus said when we were choosing appropriate postcards, "Are there any of just red?"

· Bush flies. So many of them and they stick to you like glue. Walking along you'll see the person in front of you wearing what looks like a randomly spotted t-shirt. Until a few spots fly away. Then you realise what YOUR back must look like and begin swooshing your hand for little effect.

· The desert keeps reclaiming. A patch of red sand one day gradually becomes a small sand blow.

· When cycling through said small sand blows, HIT IT WITH SPEED!

Merry Christmas everybody. I hope you can viewethe little film showing bits of our life here. We'll be cherishing the cool climate of Tassie for a few weeks in January, in our new house! So stay tuned for a visual feast of the southern parts of this truly vast land.

It's Springtime!

And both our little lambs were indeed spring babies. Magnus is 5, Mikko is 3, the double pram is just about obsolete (and quite unroadworthy), and pretty much all baby goods have been given away. I may have snaffled a 000 singlet away just to remind myself how little they once were.
Enjoy the show:

Birthdays on PhotoPeach

20 years and the manifestation of exponential

Toby, Liam, Magnus and Owen

Magnus, Mikko, Owen and Liam

Kirsten, Fiona holding baby Roma, Jodi, Sarah & Liam (photo by Magnus!)

Half a football team with baby Roma cheering them on from her cot.

In the not-so- old-school Maths 1, there was always a lot of talk about n, and it's good mate exponential. I like to talk in concrete terms so Maths 1 didn't suit me very well, but today I was part of an excellent example of a mathematical formula. Take four PBC girls, add almost 20 years of life experience, do the brackets first and what do you get? Definitely not zero, as Miss Priddle insisted, but a bunch of beautiful children.