Possibly our new home????

So  as i was saying, "yesterday" we went to Mandurah to see Abingdon Miniature Village and got terribly sunburned at Halls Head beach. 'Today' we were all still keen and headed out on another day trip.

Now on the radio here we keep hearing about this 'chocolate factory' and as well as a old mill that has been converted into a gallery and what-not. so we decided, also on the advice of Grandma Lesley and Steve to visit York, about an hour away from home. Again mammoth planning and camp fridges packed and EVERY other thing Jamie could think of.... including a 'sink'.

So one-ish hours later at about 8:30 in the morning we arrived in a very quiet little town. The tourist info centre was shut, so we were directed to the council/library office next door. Upon asking the clerk about the chocolate factory, i received quite a blank look LOL, not wanting to waste  our morning getting here, i asked about the town's other attractions,  *faith in idea wavering slightly* as i receive another almost blank look with an almost shrug of her shoulders :) After reminding her of this mill we had kept hearing about, FINALLY we had a flood of ideas and sights to see :D Apparently the chocolate factory is a local lady who makes choccies on site at the mill.  So off we went for a drive around town visiting a great park she had mentioned and for a walk across the "swinging" bridge, apparently a highlight for the town.

Me, trying to get 'evidence' of their sunburn. :O

The ramp up to the  swinging bridge

walking across the swinging bridge

almost as soon as I'd taken this shot, the scared cries started from the 3 younger girls as the two big ones started the bridge swinging.  The water below in the Avon river was far from inviting, full of rubbish/lost hats and various other debris :( while at the park we also noticed a sign advising against swimming (not that you'd want too - yuk!) due to the risk of contracting Amoebic meningitis

Also while at the park we noticed another sign, one that made us a little bit more enthused.

....... a FOR SALE sign.

Our new home???????

Across the road from the park, behind the main street in town, right next door to the local grocery store was a 1/4 acre of land, so while the children played, we made some phone calls. $215,000 would buy us that parcel of land........... with conditions, the first 15 metres of land were designated as 'flood zone' ,ok we can deal with that - the block was over 100m long. but when we got home that afternoon and checked out the email from the agent we discovered.....

Can you see the blue dash dot line on the left hand side of the plan?? that's the "flood fringe" Well, with a stark and very recent reminder that "once in a hundred years" doesn't necessarily mean one hundred years apart! We certainly won't be signing on the dotted line for this one!

It has, however sparked our interest in the little town and we have been busily researching land and even "2nd hand" houses, as Jamie refers to them ;) We are quite excited about it,  as the town is undergoing a surge of development, so there are a lot of people selling to make a profit, but there are also lots of great bargains!! including buying 100 acres for $120k......... as long as we supply our own power and water! LOL

any way back to our day trip adventures.

It was now 'smoko', so we headed back to town - a whole street away ;p back to the mill, we had a wander through looking at all the BEAUTIFUL!! handmade/timber carved OVERPRICED!! furniture and pieces, there was one stunning piece - a table about a 12 seater made from sawn timber, you know with all the 'rough' edges and knot holes all kept for character, how much do you think? i know you're already thinking big because i said overpriced, but are you thinking in the realms of  like $25,000!! just for the table!! the chairs were another few thousand i think, and they were UGLY! like something you'd pick up at the dump 2nd hand shop!!Anyway, we made our way through the ground floor, and as usual with 5 children, someone was in need of a potty break, so we found the toilets and you may be asking "why is she telling us about the toilets?" well because they were pretty spectacular - that's why.

So spectacular in fact, you can buy photo magnets of the toilets as souvenirs! Jamie was correct though, after teasing him and asking if his was better (being stinky boys toilets) he replied yes, so i had to stick my head around the door, it was a much darker timber in the boy's toilet, much more dramatic. Apparently these toilets are one of the most  photographed toilets in ..... WA?Australia? the world??, sorry can't remember which. - the toilets at DREAMWORLD are pretty  awesome too, but you're not allowed to photograph them ????

Then we climbed 3 extremely narrow and very steep stairs to the upper 3 floors, the first 2 floors were galleries, so no photos allowed, and the top (4th) floor was empty open space, great views across the town, i was going to get photos, but after shushing the children for stampeding like elephants, and then persuading Sophie and Claire to NOT climb back down the almost vertical steps without us, we thought it better to head back down anyway :)

At the bottom, outside, was a little cafe, and since it was a scorching day, Jamie stopped in for a beer, but due to licensing laws,  he would also have to buy a meal, so considering we would be waiting, we also ordered a 'spider' for me and 5 baby chinos (yum yum ) so $46 later we sat down to wait for our bowl of chips and drinks while the children played on the playground. 5 mins later, out came a beer, a 'spider', a bowl of chips and a baby chino....... hang on... A baby chino? as in 1? how are 5 children supposed to share 1 babychino? all the children were beside us when we ordered, why Oh WHY would we order only ONE babychino?? lol good heavens! so another  5 mins and we finally had our refreshments. While the children played, jamie and I flicked through a real estate catalogue/book we found, wondering what it was doing in this little cafe, well halfway through the book we discovered that the  old york mill was for sale and going to be auctioned next month, we spent the next 10 mins fantasisng about THAT purchase LOL

How awesome would it be to say "yes dah-link, that's my house over there,
the one that's 4 storeys high, do you like what we've done with it?" LOL

look it even has a dolphin slide! Kaytie would be rapt!! :)

Lily taking photos of her sisters :)

So after morning tea we headed across the carpark to the truck, where, before  anyone realised, Sophie burned her little feet on the stinkin' hot dirt, because she refuses to wear her shoes. Thankfully the truck has a water tank under the tray so we quickly cooled them off for her. We went for another drive around town, before heading up Mount Bakewell to the lookout over the country side.

We went back to the park after this and i had the task of cooking 1 kg of spaghetti noodles in a pot too small ,on a portable gas burner! in the wind! Was all good though. we stayed at the park for ages before heading home at about 4pm

Oh yes, the chocolate factory lady, well we didn't even bother asking about her as York is a 'weekend' town, with lots of activities happening, including local markets every weekend, that are apparently different everytime??

So i will sign off on that adventure, and fill you in on the last couple days.

Since i have dragged my feet in posting this, it is now Australia Day and Jamie has gone back to work as of Tuesday.... straight into TC Bianca!, he rang last night letting me know they were in "Code Blue", than again this morning telling me it was "Code Yellow" predicted upgrade to "Code Red" by 5pm!

Never fear though, he was sent 'home' at lunchtime after tying everything down as well as possible and was on time and a half (or double time??) sitting on his bum watching the cricket all afternoon... in Airconditioning! Though he lives in basically a shipping container, the rules and regs are very thorough and his 'home' is more of an aboveground bunker, he has shown us photos, but i can't find the files .His camp is run on generators so there is no worries about power loss. The predicted Code Red was pushed back to 9pm as 'Bianca' was moving Sth South West, so would hopefully only 'skim' them. My only concern is tidal floods and storm surges as they are right on the coast, but then again, i think everyone is nervous at the mention of water countrywide at the moment?

See that little bump near the K in Karratha? that's where Jamie is.

He was completely unfazed by my concerns and was happy to get to watch the cricket... boys ;)

It's getting late and we are going out tomorrow, so i best head to bed.... unlikely story though as i will find SOMETHING to distract me from sleep no doubt :)

OX(OX)oxoxoxoxox
B(J)slkcs