More English folks in our lives

Doesn't matter where we go, English folks seem to be going there as well. Not quite certain why this is .. maybe the English people just enjoy the sun more than the rain and cold. 

Early in April, we met our new English friends, Rachael and Garry. They are living in our neighbourhood (30 metres down the road). Garry is a train driver who's working long hours driving trains to/from mines at Kararra and Rachael is enjoying her free time until September. Then, she will need to go to work -- like anybody else. Rachael is a great asset to our family and also my current businesses adventures. She's been doing my Pilates classes, and also a bit of modelling for my portfolio (see some pics attached). 

 Rachael posing in porch setting

Rachel's profile at sunrise

Garry and Rachael have two additional members of their family - boxers Tilly and Uki (will show you some pics next time). 

Not much has changed in our lives since June. Rob is literally working 24/7, and it doesn't look like it'll change anytime soon. I'll leave it to him to say more about his current status. However, the Rob's backyard is making progress every single day. 

Since July, I've been teaching three Pilates classes per week, doing some marketing for my own business, and also thinking about what else I can do to get back my financial freedom. 

Last week, I started a Street Photography course that I hope will give me more insight into the art of seeing. My course notes are talking about Henri Cartier-Bresson who's considered to be the Master of Street photography. Make sure you watch his video The Decisive Moment which makes it clear that good photography is not about what camera you own and it's more about understanding light and the ability to see and feel the right moment to press the shutter.

 Let's see who's going to get there first ..?

Down under

'Photography is an immediate reaction, drawing is a meditation.'- Henri Cartier-Bresson

Trip to Greenough with a Kiwi

Early in June, we met Noel. He's recently relocated from NZ to run a Communities and Technology project for Mid West Development Commission. He's nice guy (even though he's from Kiwiland) and what I really like about him is his contagious passion for photography. He gets on his push bike and travels around the town until he finds some pic opportunies. Then he stops, takes a pic and has a cigarette to gain more energy to peddle.

Look closely and you can see Noel right underneath of the sun

Three weeks ago, we went to Central Greenough settlement village where we took some pics. The scenery was just amazing to watch during sunset. For those of you who've been in Australia since 1993, this place may sound familiar due to the tragic event featured on the Australian TV show Crime Investigation Australia - Greenough Family Massacre. 

 St. Catherine's Hall

 St. Catherine's Church

 Hackett's Cottage 

We also went to the Walkaway Wind Farm that has 54 wind turbines and is WA's largest renewable energy project. Unfortunately, it was little bit late for the sunset photoshoot as the sun was already coming down. Therefore, a couple of weeks later, we decided to make another trip there. This time, we had to get up at 5.45am (on Saturday) to be in the Wind Farm for a sunrise  photoshoot. I think, it was worthwhile.

 Rob and turbines ... and the wind! 

 The sun is trying to find a way up in between 54 turbines

Upside down turbine blade..

What else is new? We have new friends (our neighbours) in Drummonds - Rachael and Garry from the UK. I'll write more about them in our next blog. Until then have a great time wherever you are. 

Gero is my oyster

Things are looking up in Gero -- I'm more contented with our new hometown and our current lifestyle--despite the fact that I'm still wanting some things to happen faster. I'm finally beginning to accept somewhat the WA="Wait Awhile' state of mind and just realise there's not a lot I can do about it. On the other hand, I love having a free hand to take on new challenges like teaching Pilates at a health and wellbeing retreat, mastering my culinary skills in the kitchen, meeting new people (online and offline) and exploring further my great passion -- photography.

Rob is posing for me during the sunset

Sunset in Drummond Cove, WA

Last week, we stepped into what is the Geraldton version of "Indian Summer" that is just a beautiful time of the year here. Still hardly any rain after the storm a few weeks ago. Warm and sunny days, and tiny bit of rain definitely helped our garden to look more greener than last week but still needs watering a couple times a week. We hope to start our first harvesting soon with bok choy but the rest of the group will take a bit longer.

Corn is doing really well

Bok choy, tomatoes and black kale

Next week, I'm looking forward to new challenges or opportunities, including the commencement of a brand new website. Stay tuned and thanks for reading!

“The world is your oyster. It's up to you to find the pearls.” 

Chris Gardner, The Pursuit of Happyness

Week 10--a taste of winter...

Resisting the temptation to plant the entire garden after watching it grow like crazy for the past few weeks. Bok Choy, Kale, corn, spinach, beetroot, carrots, rosemary, basil, rocket, and on and on...Rain came overnight, the water tank must be getting full by now. Sunsets continue unabated -- not that I get to enjoy them except on the weekends but it's worth the wait. Big storm cleared out all the bushes along the beach -- as well as the basketball court. Kinda enjoying the cooler weather this week--"down" to 21C tonight, feeling a bit "wintery".

 Yeah, we definitely had a bit of wind today...

 

Yep, windy.

Gero sunsets -- can't beat 'em!

Mmmmms

Garden. Growing.

No Basketball today

Watch yer step

Ahhh. Bit of bad design work.

Woof.

Beach hangout at the end of our street

Ditto above

Gav's and Heike's place.

Autumn is here

Autumn! Cool nights, a few showers -- well, actually, a few totally crazy storms! Half the beach washed away last week in a big swell and storm, but along with it all the ugly bushes so now we have a better view of the ocean!

The garden is growing, the farmers are happy and the rainwater tanks are filling up. And no more 45C days! The rain is actually kind of nice for a change. It never sticks around for long so the sun is never far away. The cool air is refreshing and we're even wearing our Ugg boots!  Mmmmmm!

Well, the sunsets just keep coming. Almost every day. Wow. Never get tired of those amazing red sunsets. Oh, how's this rainbow from this morning out our front door?

In the meantime, I've been trying to master the latest social media platform Google+ that is apparently not as easy to understand for women ..? By the way if anybody is going through the same learning curve as me make sure you read What the Plus? by Guy Kawasaki. I can recommend this book/ kindle to anybody who's trying to figure out what "the plus" stand for and how to use it effectively on this platform.

Last weekend, I went to the Orchid and Garden Expo where they allowed me to take some pictures of flowers (orchids) that were grown by local people .. aren't they just beautiful.

Socialising again

KAT SAYS:

We (FINALLY) moved into our new house on April 3rd. Took forever to find the right one but it was worth the effort -- 2x bdr, 3x ensuite, studio for Rob, office, Pilates studio for me, massive garden and shed, 2 minutes walking distance to the beach ... well what more to be said "it was worthwhile waiting". In addition, there are lots of fish in "our back yard".

Jewfish that was about 1m long - a beautiful catch. 

Rob says, he'll catch one like this for me one day. 

Two weeks later, all boxes have been emptied and things put in the right place. We still need to buy some things that we left behind and these are not required right now.

In March, I was doing a Portrait Photography course, amongst everything else and I must admit that it's not easy to produce a satisfying portrait shot. However, here is one of my pictures that I took  during this time and I like it.

Rob with the Monster look. 

A couple of weeks ago, we went to Perth where I did a course "Pilates for Pregnancy" with Pilates International. It was nice to be in a "Big Smoke" again (not that we had time to do much) and Rob was very happy to go back to our little town. We stayed with Melanie and Christopher while in Perth and finally, we met James Baudia, their ten weeks old son (no picture to show this time).

Last weekend, we had Robyne Glover and Don (Chris Plaat's parents) popping in while they were passing through Geraldton. It was nice to have them with us, even though they stopped only for a quick visit. They're now somewhere around Carnarvon visiting stromatolites, and hoping to dive with Whale sharks in Ningaloo Reef on the Coral Coast of WA.

ROB SAYS:

Nice to finally not be living from a suitcase after nearly 9 weeks. Was almost like Christmas finding all the stuff in the boxes we hadn't seen for so long. The movers however were bad news in every way imaginable (except for the local guys here who were great) but at least the stuff finally arrived--albeit half of it trashed. Allied Pickfords=BAD news. 

Work hours not improved much but did manage to get on the water last Saturday for a couple of hours with the small kite -- though the locals tell me that the season is already over.  Hoping to one day get a chance to explore the region a bit beyond the local spots. The area to the North looks fascinating and am told you can 4WD all the way to Coronation about 25km along the beach. 

Great to see Robyne and Don. Delivered big hug from Chris. We had a chance to have breakfast and a good chat and waved them off toward Ningaloo way as they kindly left us some fresh green coconuts and Champagne!

Looking forward to seeing them again on the way back in few weeks.

Visitors!

KAT SAYS

Last weekend and also Easter weekend, we had visitors -- Sarah and Silvan popped in and stayed with us in our latest "temporary accommodation" -- with an astonishing ocean view. Their visit was a reason for some further exploration of local restaurants and bars. We went to the Indian Sunset restaurant and also The Provincial wine bar.

During the Easter break, we didn't do much and Rob managed to squeeze in two (three) kitesurfing sessions in Coronation beach and The Moore Point Lighthouse -- he's now very happy boy.

I've started to teach Pilates and so far, I've been getting very positive feedback. I'm starting to run my regular Pilates classes in a local Medical/Health Centre. In addition, I've also started leading one walking group that is targeting people lacking any movement.

In the meantime, I've also started to work on my logo and website for marketing consultancy for local businesses. It's been a full-on week, In particular, dealing with 28 designers and revising/commenting on 175+ designs got a little bit overwhelming. However, the contests will go for another two more days and I'm now dealing with six designers only to polish their final submissions. I promise to show you the final design in my next blog.

What else is new? Next week, on Wednesday April 3rd, we're finally moving into our new house - 3bdr + study, theatre room, 2 bathrooms, double garage, backyard and also MASSIVE shed. The only thing that's missing is an ocean view. However, the house is located about 2 mins away (walking distance) from the beach where we can (according to the locals) catch lobsters so, it's not bad.