Carnarvon to Nanutarra Roadhouse

The days are getting hotter, though it was a cold start from Carnarvon as I enjoyed my complimentary continental breakfast at the Hospitality Inn. Lots of people had raided the buffet before me at 7.45 am.

On the road again, I drove through the banana growing fields on the way out of town. I didn’t need to buy any, as I’m still eating the ones I bought in Perth before I set off on my trip. (These small Carnarvon bananas are the best!)

I stopped for coffee at Minilya, where a woman was intrigued that I was travelling alone. She and her husband were from Wickham, near Point Samson, and they were on their way for a medical checkup and scans in Perth: the perils of living in the regions.

At Nanutarra, I was all prepared for a night sleeping in my car as I had no accommodation booked. But when I found there was a nice cabin available I couldn’t refuse it.

View from my cabin.

A beautiful tree just opposite. There was a bird singing, but he escaped.

Just before sunset, I walked across the old bridge over the Ashburton River:

There was still some water in it, unlike many of the rivers I had crossed today. I had a chat with a young indigenous couple, who were from Karratha and currently working on a restoration project of the Nanutarra Homestead.

At the roadhouse, all these road trains were queuing for fuel, or maybe for a hot meal service at 6.00 pm.

--------------- ???? -------------

No idea where this came from!  It's a post from my road trip to Broome, earlier this year, which seemed to have gone missing when I wrote it originally on my way up north.

Return to Kings Park

 It's that time of year again, when the Bushwalkers return to Kings Park for the start of the wildflower season. The weather opened a window of sunshine for us. Val was in charge and had planned a walk through lesser known tracks, impossible for me to follow later, even if I wanted to:

Val gave a little introduction near the Women's Memorial Carpark:

There were plenty of wildflowers out, with a promise to be more in the next few weeks:

We stopped for an early lunch near the Zamia Cafe. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jack appeared. He had got the dates wrong and gone to the Camel Farm, which is our next walk in two weeks. That's the kind of mistake I would make. It gave us all a good laugh. He had been chasing around Kings Park looking for us!

Gathering of Vietnam Veterans

Birdflowers near the cafe

Qualup Bells

The last two pics represent flowers from both the north and south of the state. I last saw the bird flowers up near Port Hedland and the Qualup Bells down near Albany. It's amazing that they both grow well here in Kings Park.

Birthday!

My friend Val and her daughter Rachel celebrated their joint birthday this week with a select gathering at Pinelli Wine Estate in the Swan Valley.

The meal was delicious.  Have a look at the menu:

I chose the beef fillet. It was extremely rare. I had to send it back to the kitchen to get it cooked a bit more.

This was the generous selection of starters to share:

Then it was time for blowing out the candles:

                                                                            Cheers!

Before driving home, I had a walk around the vineyard (primarily to allow the glasses of Prosecco to disperse):

Saving Burswood Park

Our community action group has been working hard.  Many residents have posted this placard on their balcony:

 I've been busy sending off a few emails to politicians, but who knows if they actually read them. This is my latest, sent to Daniel Pastorelli:

As a new Labour MP, you have to toe the party line. I understand that. However, I think you have been handed a poison chalice as the Project Steering Committee Chair.

The Cook Government has vastly underestimated the amount of opposition to the development of Burswood Park. There are so many of us who want to see the project scrapped.

Even if we can’t actually prevent it happening, we can delay and delay it, so that it will not be completed on time.

Nor will it be on budget - nowhere near!  My apartment overlooks the park. At present it is virtually underwater after all the recent rain. The water birds love it!  But money is literally going down the drain, as testing of the ground proceeds. I watch heavy machinery coming and going and wonder what all this will cost.

Please reconsider! If you would like to come and have a cup of tea in my apartment and look at the scheme from my point of view, I’d love to see you here.

Meanwhile, there has been a lot of action on the site. Main Roads Dept have been sending down bores:

In our community newsletter, Sue Quinn summed up the situation:

Cold, Wet and Windy

I know it is winter, but to me it’s the worst one in living memory here in Perth. The early mornings have been incredibly cold and the days full of downpours of heavy rain. It’s been hard to find a space between the showers to take my usual walk down to the river. I can’t believe how much rain has fallen and the pools on the old golf course in front of me never seem to drain away:

I’ve been watching a series on TV entitled Families Like Ours. All this water reminds me of it. The story is based on the premise that rising sea levels have caused the evacuation of the entire country of Denmark. The Danes have become unwanted refugees as borders are closed against them. It’s really quite scary. I can’t watch it late at night. What if the Swan River were to rise, flood the area around here and leave our apartment blocks marooned? 

Back to reality, and the beautiful coral trees are all in flower:

These trees are environmental weeds in the Eastern States, but not here in W.A.

Never apologise, never explain

"Never apologize, never explain" is a motto associated with a communication style of not offering explanations or apologies for actions or statements.

• Assertion of Authority:

  The phrase suggests an unwillingness to be accountable or to justify one's actions, often implying a position of power. 
• Rejection of Public Scrutiny:

  It can be seen as a way to avoid public debate or criticism, potentially by those in positions where their actions are not subject to the same level of public scrutiny.

All I know is that I was sick as a dog after eating breakfast and drinking coffee last week at the Ocean Centre Hotel. The poached eggs were perfect. It could only have been the coffee. There are plenty of videos on the internet showing how to clean an espresso machine. It is quite a lengthy process and I suspect they were in the middle of it when I ordered a coffee. They should have said: “I’m sorry, the coffee machine is closed now. Would you like a cup of tea instead?”

I would have liked an apology, not just a flat denial of responsibility. I realise now that will never happen. It could result in someone losing their job, or a visit from the Public Health Authority or even the restaurant being closed down. It is a serious matter to poison someone (see the case of the Mushroom Murderer). I was lucky not to end up in hospital, but I still feel shaken by the whole episode.

Geraldton to Perth

The last leg of my journey involved a “bump in the road” which caused an unscheduled overnight stop at Western Flora Caravan Park. It was a pretty awful end to my holiday!

As usual, I spent the night at Ocean Centre Hotel in Geraldton. Next morning the drama began. This email to the Hotel Manager describes events:

I have stayed many times at the Ocean Centre Hotel when driving on a road trip up north.
I always enjoyed a very good experience until this week.

I stayed with on you 30th June, departing next day.

When I went down for breakfast at exactly 8.54 am., there was a notice “Breakfast Closed”. I was surprised and checked the time again. Breakfast was supposed to end at 9.am. Why so early?  Then I realised that the times 6.00 to 9.00 reflected the convenience of tradies, not leisure travellers like myself (and I had noticed a lot of tradies checking in).

With some reluctance, the woman agreed to serve me. I had two delicious poached eggs, with grilled tomatoes and a coffee which tasted a bit “off”, but I drank it.

Two hours later, on my way south, I started to vomit - followed by bouts of diarrhoea. My conclusion is that I had been drinking some cleansing material from the coffee machine.

Well, I had to find somewhere to stay. I was close to Western Flora Caravan Park and they let me have a donga. It was a little way from the toilet block, which I had to visit many times during the night, in the dark and in the rain. It was a terrible experience for the last night of my road trip to Broome and back.

I am writing this, to give you a chance to compensate me for the whole experience - and possibly for you to reconsider your alignment to tradies’ hours.

This is what I received in reply:

Thank you for the email and a chance to review some things,

Firstly our breakfast closure, at times depend on supply and demand, if the kitchen hasn’t served anyone for 15 minutes or more after 8.30 then the chef may decide ok well no one else is coming so we start to close up shop to move onto other jobs within the hotel, it’s a very rare occurrence that we have someone come in so close to the time of closure. I am please the staff were able to accommodate your request none the less. I was the one holding the baby and I remember the flat white that was made, I can assure you I was the one to clean the coffee machine down and use the chemical when the machine was closed after my arrival that day. Had your coffee not tasted right perhaps making the staff aware of it at the time would have been beneficial to you and us.

Yes we are a corporate hotel, so our opening times reflect this, 6.30 am-9weekdays and weekends 7.30-10 as this is the most times we have leisurely guests. Our opening ours haven’t changed so on your previous stays have you been in attendance at the restaurant for breakfast?

I cannot answer to what went wrong for you to feel the way you did none the less I will action a $50 refund to you to cover your breakfast charge 
Regards

Jodina Eliassen

When I finally got home, I went down to my local coffee shop and talked to the boss to find out how coffee machines are cleaned. This is what he told me:

1) Clean the machine by sending through the chemical.

2) Wash out the machine twice with water in order to get rid of any chemical residue.

3) Make a normal coffee and throw it away, before using the machine again.

This is the chemical cleanser used.

This warning appears on the Cafetto website:

Ingestion may cause gastrointestinal irritation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhea. Harmful if swallowed.

(Taken from:

Safety precaution instructions issued by Cafetto Espresso Clean).

I'm waiting for a response from the hotel......