Holidays in my Tiny Mind

As you may have noticed, I haven't written on this blog for AGES. This is because I am obsessed. Obsessed with planning, picking, organizing, packing, choosing, selecting, writing, typing, ringing and what shoes I might need. Yes people, you guessed it. I'm going on holiday.

Well, we're going on holiday. 3 and a half glorious weeks away from the Hedland doldrums (and my mothers group ladies coz I need a break, more on that later) and off to the cold, leafy green slack-jawed yokel-populated south west. And mid west. And mid north. All around WA to be precise.

Every year my family goes on holiday down south. Every June. When it's freezing. This is because my sister Jodie's daughter Tayla was born in June, so it started as being a visit to coincide with Tayla's birthday, taken by my Mum and Dad every year. When I moved to Hedland, Shane and I joined them in the first year and basically continued each June. Later, Jodie politely obliged us by giving birth to Marlyn in June as well. So both the kids get us for their birthdays each year. Nice pressie huh?

Now I happen to love this time of year. Living up here we don't really experience any sort of winter, although it definitely does get colder. In Perth, I got the chance to bust out the woollen coats, boots, scarves and gloves. Once, I even wore a beanie! The only chance to wear a beanie up here is when you go camping in winter and you're sitting round the fire talking about fishing. Then it's freezing coz you're 300 km's inland. Admittedly, 3 months into the chilling winds and rain, I end up slightly over it. But after sweltering in 40 degree heat all year, it's nice to experience some cold and sit around fires drinking Milo (me) and slightly less colder beers (Shane).

Now our itinerary. I won't post the exact dates we are leaving and travelling on, in case someone out there is a burglar and wants to know when the house will be vacated (fat chance, we've got a housesitter!).
We travel from Hedland to Mt Magnet on the first day. This is the main drive as it will take 8 to 9 hours and is very boring, being on the inland road. So, bring on the portable DVD player for the kids, and lots of magazines for me.
The next day we drive through Perth, stopping at the KFC in Midland to have lunch and meet my sister, who is coming down from Geraldton the day before. Then on through Perth and to Narrogin, where both my uncles live.
The next day it is only 3 hours to Albany which is where Mum and us 3 kids were born and all our family still reside. Albany is a beautiful town, with ACTUAL white sand on the beaches. We are lucky enough to be staying at a house on the beach (imagine that, with 5 adults and 4 kids - uproar!), so we plan to do lots of walks along the trails and foothpaths there. Shane's sister in law and kids moved to Albany at Xmas time as well, so we are going to see them and I can give Narelle the scrapbooked photo frame I made a couple of months ago as their housewarming present.
After a few days, we leave Albany and travel to Walpole to go on the Giant Tree Top Walk. We went there with Mum and Dad 2 years ago and LOVED it. This time Cassidy is older and Tayla and Marlyn will be there too and they haven't been, so we are very excited to see the reaction of the kids to the heights and swinging walkways. At the end we will get certificates signed to commemorate the occasion as well. Then onto Bunbury. This is particularly exciting as 2 of my close girlfriends, Justine and Mel, both live in Bunbury now so we are all spending a morning together to see each others kids and catch up.
Another few days more and we drive onto Perth. Mum and Jodie are staying with my Auntie and Shane and I are off to our hotel in the city. Hopefully we get another room high up like last time, as we had a beautiful view of the city and down towards the WACA. Another special place to visit as I get to catch up with my best friend Ani and talk... well, about special things, but more about that later as well! We are also taking all the kids to the Perth Zoo. I haven't been since Tayla was little so I am really looking forward to this as well.
We then move onto Geraldton for a relaxing 12 day break. This, theoretically, should mean less running around and more relaxing. But it never works out that way. There's always one more shop to visit and one more feed of Subway or Hungry Jacks to get. There's also a scrapbooking shop in Gero, but let's not go there!
We are staying at our old haunt which is a house on the beach. It's nice, an old place with brick interior, but plenty of room to spread out and a little patio area out the front where we can sit and watch the water, and sometimes the dolphins!
When we leave, we travel 5 hours to stay in Carnarvon overnight, then we have 8 hours back to Hedland the next day. It's a big trip, a big drive, but I can't wait. Shane my hero will be doing most of the driving, poor thing. Even worse if we realise our dream and buy a campervan while we're away. But I'm not sure about that; at this point we need to take out a loan just to buy petrol! Sigh.

I'd better go. I have been packing for 3 weeks and I still haven't figured out how many pairs of tights Cassidy will need, let alone what colours. And I've got to decant my shampoo and conditioner into tiny little bottles. Phew. I'm exhausted. Hmm, I might just check that my Mahjong game is working first, heh heh. TTFN.