Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Australia - Our Last Day in WA

Tuesday, September 17th, was our last day in Western Australia. Jo and I packed and cleaned up our flat to be out by 11:00am. My Mom picked us up and took us to Peggy's where we spent the day running errands and getting her settled for our departure. We had a great time just hanging around the villa with Mom and Peggy, it was easily on par with Rottness or Caversham. Peggy was in top form and wasted no time putting us to work, the first task to be completed was to wash and wax the Echo.

Peggy's Villa


A Clean Toyota Echo


Next was cleaning and dusting. We enjoyed many stories and laughs while we dusted around Peggy's collection of memorabilia. She had a story for everything.

Sweeping


Tiny Book



As I was dusting a model ship, Peggy told me about my Uncle Derek's service in WWII. He an anti-submarine and torpedo control officer on the British Naval Destroyer HMS Cassandra. In December of 1944 it was torpedoed by a German Submarine while escorting a convoy in the Northern Atlantic. The bow was blown off the ship forward of the B gun, but it didn't sink. It was towed stern first into the Kola Inlet and the submarine was later sunk by another destroyer.

HMS Cassandra



HMS Cassandra after the Attack



Watercolor Painting by Derek


Derek also used to make models and carved this model of the HMS Cassandra from scratch. He used a mix of household items including a block of wood, film canisters, and pencils.

HMS Cassandra Model





For years I have been searching for a Red Collectible M Coupe. I managed to find one in Australia and had it shipped to Peggy's. When it came addressed to her she thought it was a gift from me and did her best to hide her confusion as to why I would get her a model of my car as she thanked me. Then we all burst into laughter once we realized the situation. I don't care what the 40 year old virgins at the comic book store say, I'm taking it out of it's wrapper!!!

Peggy and her Odd Present



After the errands and cleaning we all pitched in to make dinner and took advantage of a break in the passing showers to eat out side.

Cooking



Dinner


Exhausted and Delirious




After dinner Jo and I made the short drive to the coast to dip our feet in the Indian Ocean one last time. As we strolled along the beach in the cold and wind Jo made a new friend with an Australian Cattle Dog while I foraged for sea life. All I could find was a cluster of baby muscles.

Jo's New Friend



Muscles



There were some rain clouds in the distance which treated us to one last spectacular Indian Ocean sunset. It was a stunning scene. In the background the sky turned from blue to orange to purple to red in a rainbow of pastel colors. In the foreground seagulls playfully made passes over the small jetty we stood on while a scary looking fisherman intently cast his rod over and over, only to reel it in empty.

Sunset
(HDR)



Seagull


Going...



Going...
(note the scary fisherman)


Gone



And soon we would be too...


2 comments:

crimptastic said...

Hey bro- please stop leading such an exciting life. It's far more interesting than my own and it's rather depressing that if I were to have a blog the daily posts would read, "I read Alex's blog today.. man it was great" and that would be it

Unknown said...

The plane flight in to broome was successfully uneventful, with no passports or connections lost. Unfortunately, the flight was sold out, so we were packed in like sardines.Arriving at the correct Caravan Park on our second try, we enjoyed a dinner of local fare in local restaurants and sunset on the beach.
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kesha

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