Hopetoun, Mason Bay Trip. Day 2.

Saturday, Day 2 of Hubby's work-trip and I stayed in Hopetoun while he went off and did more of yesterday.

There was a market in town that morning so that was on my agenda and I had planned on riding out to Five Mile Beach as well as a few more things.

I was up by 6 so went for a walk into town and down to the beach.  Around a few of the streets then back to the house for a coffee with Hubby.
We had seen a sign for a garage sale so went looking for that before he went to work but as we were too early I got him to drop me off at a lookout sign I had seen as we passed..  He went off to work, I went off exploring.  There were paths leading away from the lookout platform so I wandered down one, along a road, down another path.  I was looking at the view and some of the flash new houses but eventually I was ready to go back to the house and...Which way is back?!  Didn't know.  I kinda knew the direction I had to go and after a few dead end steets I found the path to the lookout so I backtracked to that and got my bearings from there.
The photo below was taken from the lookout.  That mountain in the background is East Mt Barren, on my list for when Hubby wasn't working.

 Once I was at this lookout I knew the way back to the house so went back and had breakfast.
Come 9.15 and I walked into town again.  The CWA was have Devonshire teas and I was planning on having one.  I get there and the markets are setting up close by and the CWA also had stalls but I changed my mind about the coffee and scone.  Wandered around the markets, didn't buy the fairy floss I wanted...I see a trend here.  I haven't had DT or FF for years and was looking forward to both but my *don't spend* mentality keeps stopping me.  I regret not buying the FF, maybe next time.  I did buy a small salt and pepper set though, both grinders so they will be added to my van and a hand beater, the oldfashioned kind with a wooden handle.  The daughter borrows mine quite often so now she has her own.  $2 each and there was a nice yellow fitted sheet for $1 so I bought that as *someone* hadn't put a sheet on the swag and I like sleeping on sheets!  All up I spent $6, all on stuff that was better for me than DT and FF.

After the markets it was another walk to the beach, just because I was there, the beach was close...
The beaches here are lovely, clean clear water and though there is weed along the beach the bare sand is clean and firm to walk on.

 Back to the house to get the bike and ride out to Five Mile Beach.

Started out riding but something had happened to the handlebars, they were loose and kept slipping so after a couple of wobbly km's I thought I'd better not risk it and pushed it back home.  Had lunch and a read of a book instead.  Another walk into town to see if there was anything new at the markets then back home to find Hubby had finished already and was there too.

My first day in Hopetoun seemed to be full of walking.  The house we were staying in is only about 1/2km from town, not far at all but after the 5th or 6th time it did became a bit old.

We fixed the bike handlebars that afternoon, I couldn't do it earlier as I didn't have the right tools and I say "we" but really, Hubby did it for me.

Then fishing out at Culham Inlet. 

Back into town to the fish and chip shop for tea!

I had a great day but am looking forward to tomorrow when we attempt to climb East Mt Barren.  That is that mountain that can be seen in the background of the photo above.  Should be *fun*

BEEn Away.

*nucleus.  Small hive with a new queen bee to requeen some of the weaker hives.  These Apiarists breed their own queens. 

Hubby had to go down to the Hopetoun area to put some nucs (*nucleus) on so I sweet talked him into taking me along for the ride.   The plan was for him to do a few days work then we would have a day or 2 to ourselves for camping.

This work site is a good 7 hour drive from our home so we left the night before, hoping to get an early start and therefore getting more time for ourselves.

After getting to where the nucs were he needed to unload the water tank from the trailer.  Check that there is no water in it, unbolt it...then pull....

 Keep pulling....

 Gently does it....

  And it's off...

Now drive a long way away to where the nucs are and load the trailer with them.

  Get the smoker going as the nucs need to be smoked to calm the bees before they are lifted onto the trailer.


Then drive all around the bush to the different sites and unload 2 or 3, drive some more, unload some more, and so on until they have all been dropped off at the right site.  Some of the sites are only a few kilometres apart but because of the rough roads and the need to go so slow it can take nearly an hour or so to get to the next one.

The bees in the nucs need to settle down for awhile before they can be added to the main hive that needs them.   Usually this is done the next day but we had 2 sites a looong way out that would have added an extra half days work so we decided to wait and do them while we were there.  Because we had his car set up as  our camping vehicle it was just a matter of pulling out the small stove and the smoko box and we settled down to wait an hour or so.

They had marked the hives that needed requeening so it was just a matter of finding the old queen and getting rid of her and then putting the new one in.  OK, not as simple as that as sometimes it's hard to find the queen and they have to put in newspaper before adding the new frame...He did explain it all to me but I was too busy squealing and jumping around trying to get away from the bees that were flying everywhere so didn't really take it all in.   I then go off for a long walk while he gets to work without the SookyLaLa making a racket and upsetting the bees.

I wasn't completly useless though.  It was my job to check the water tanks.  If they were less then half full we/he would have had to put the water tank back on the trailer go into town then come back out and fill the troughs up. That would have been another days work so luckily we didn't need to do that.

Check out the little frog.  Birds and bugs and other things also use these water tanks.  The floating stuff and sticks are so the drinkers can land and be able to get out without drowning.  Apparently bees drink a lot of water and it was only because it had been raining in this area that these didn't need refilling.

This was all a good days work, after which we drove into Hopetoun where we were to stay the next few nights.  The next day he went out to put the remaing nucs on while I stayed in town and did some exploring.


Going with him when he does the bee work is always interesting.  There is so much involved in keeping the hives healthy and getting the honey.  It is very hard work and me being able to see how some of it is done makes me extra thankful for the yummy honey I get to have on toast for breaky.

She is home...

Oh!! Good news.
When we got home this afternoon Wanda was parked in the driveway.  So pleased about that.  She needs to have everything refitted but that shouldn't take long and a trip with her is already planned.

I'm Ba-aacckk.

I've been away and now I'm home
Come back soon to see where I roam(ed).

Clever aren't I.  Or silly, don't matter which.

I have been away, I will write up about it in a couple of days time so if you are interested come back then.  It was a great trip, lovely place...

Did I?

No I didn't.
I think Daughter was a bit disappointed, we are both looking forward to having our own vans again but she knows I am happy to let her have Wanda for a while longer.

We think her van is ready but she was busy Saturday, the bloke told them it should be ready on Saturday but didn't give a time, they had places they had to be that morning/early afternoon and rang just after noon to see if it was ready to be picked up...and the garage was closed.  So no van picked up while she was in town and she wont be back for another couple of weeks.

As luck has it that suits me anyway as I a will be too busy over the next couple of weeks to get it set up again let alone go anywhere so there is no big drama. We did talk about if I had time I could pick it up myself and drive down to Nannup, stay the night and bring mine back but I won't be able to now.

There is a chance that her husband might be able to do that but that depends on his work commitments.

So no van BUT!!!  I have a definite 5 night adventure coming up real soon, without the van so a bit colder and rougher in places but it will bee SO MUCH FUN!! 

Will I or Wont I?

Daughter will be in town over the weekend.  IN MY VAN!  If hers is fixed I will get mine back.  But the guy working on hers didn't seem to be that interested a couple of weeks ago.  It needed a new radiator, he has that and has had a month to put it in but last time I spoke to him he didn't seem in too much of a hurry.  He may need speaking to again.  Or I may be saying stuff out of line and her van might be all ready for her to pickup and I will get mine back.
I will find out tomorrow.  If not, well, so be it.  I will just go out for the day in the car.  I have decided that I can still wander even without the van.  Won't stay away overnight but I can still explore close to home.
 And, I'm agunna!

No Van But Lotsa Goodies.

It's been nearly a month since I posted about getting the van back *in a week or 2*  
Plans change and it didn't happen but it WAS going to happen today. 
But it didn't. 
It will now be another 2 weeks.

But, the daughter that is borrowing my van is in town for the weekend and today she came for a visit and because she was expecting to return my van she brought presents.  As a thankyou for me lending her Wanda.  So no van but lots of thankyou gifts.  How cool is that.

The fruit cake is yummy.  So are the Mulberries.  There are still a few Loquats left.  I will look through the books tomorrow and some of the lentils will be sprouted for lunches and some will be planted out.

It was worth being without the van just to get all these goodies.  I will freeze some of the fruitcake so I will have some left to take on my first adventure when I get the van back.  I know exactly where I will be going and coffee and cake, overlooking the river, will be something to look forward to.