The girls were extremely excited to see their friends and Amy again and immediately settled back into station life.
New Van!!
Horse riding, collecting eggs, dodging numerous snake, riding in the back of utes and even learning how to drive a manual car all became part of day to day life once again. Add to that swimming in tanks and homemade pools, Amy's dog having 10 puppies and the girls were in their element.
Our Caravan unfortunately was showing some real signs that it may be time to retire her.. Lucky for us we managed to find another one in Port Hedland to replace to replace her with and for a really good price. After a few modifications by Gary, mainly adding a bunk bed, we now had ourselves a much more reliable van that is more suitable to our needs.. Though I must admit I was sad to see the old van go.. So many happy memories and great adventures were had in the time we owned that van. But many more I'm sure will be made in our new one!
During our stay on the station I was kept busy cooking meals, looking after baby Megan, washing (and sometimes driving) trucks, running all kinds of different errands on the station and into Port Hedland and pretty much helping out with any other job that needed doing! I made countless Birthday cakes! Seems like everyone had a birthday!
We even celebrated Halloween by having a Halloween Party and all the kids got excited when I dressed them up and took them trick or treating around the station.
Tori
The Christmas Party was yet another great night. I loved organising this one especially and getting to decorate the lawn area with Christmas lights and tinsel. I also got to meet many faces that I had only ever spoken to on the phone, but had never met in person as they work down on the mine site on another part of the station. So was nice to put names to faces. All in all it was a great night but there was defiantly some sore heads the next morning!
The girls!
The weather was certainly different to what we are use too.. We had numerous days that reached 50 degrees and then many nights that were filled with quite spectacular lightning displays. We only had one day when it really rained.. But for the 20mins it rained, the sky's really opened up and the kids loved running around jumping in all the puddles!
With the weather so warm the kids found plenty of different places to cool off!
Snakes... What can I say...?? I have well and truly given up trying to keep count of how many I have seen this trip! I couldn't even tell you how many I have seen over the past few months on the station alone! They are pretty much around every corner! Argh!! But somehow you just learn to watch out for them and dispose of them when necessary ;)
The most memorable for me was opening the kitchen cupboard on what was I think my second or third night back at the station to get the kitchen scales.. As I reached in I noticed a Python sitting right next to the scales! Funny enough I didn't even freak out and still grabbed the scales before calmly mentioning to everyone else that there was a snake in the cupboard! I even let it hang out around my neck for awhile.. Hehe
Training.. I decided it was time to get back into some more regular training. Since we planned to stay awhile and I figured with just a little imagination, some tyres and a welder, I had myself a GYM!! Yes!!! Happy Days!!
I even had the kids training boot camp for awhile before the weather really warmed up!
It wasn't all fun though.. I mean to get the full station experience one must be rushing back to the station to cook dinner and run around the back of the ute you are driving.. And smack straight into the metal sheet one has hanging slightly off the back of the ute.. Whack ones forehead, throw your head back and nearly slice your nose clean off! One trip to the hospital and 14 stitches later and there you have it! A mark that will remind you of Wallareenya for life everytime you look in the mirror!
Lucky for my the doctor seemed to know what he was doing and did a great job stitching me back up! 1 month later and I only seem to have a thin red line which hopefully in time will pretty much disappear...?!?! Hopefully....?!?!
Both the girls worked on their driving skills and Ella pretty much mastered driving a manual car! Impressed! And just a little scared!! Tori.. Well.. She probably needs a little more practice!
Me, well I managed to drive a few different trucks around the station again! Might sound odd, but I loving driving trucks!!
After 2 and a half months it was sadly time to leave. Port Hedland/station life may not be for everyone, but it is for me! I certainly have fallen in love with not only station life, but I do have a soft spot for Port Hedland itself. The days and couple of nights that I spent in Port Hedland I couldn't help but notice how hard working, happy, welcoming and friendly everyone is. Everyone I met was more than happy to help everyone else out and I just love the community vibe/spirit that this town has. I found it quite hard to leave this time.. But with plans to return once again and more adventures to be had, we said our goodbyes and headed off back down the Coast!
Next stop... Exmouth! Time for a few weeks of Rest and Relaxation by the pool and beach!!
Some of Wallareenyas amazing sunsets!!
