The last weeks of September......

Driving back from Linton we decided that we would return in a fortnight's time, firstly hoping that we might see little Peregrine Falcons and secondly to escape the city on Grand Final weekend.  No free tickets this year so escape we could.

The weekend between we stayed at home to take care of the mundane housework etc and a trip to town saw us stopping for lunch at Mr Tulks, a favorite little cafe at the State Library.  As we were walking up the stairs I was surprised by this funny little fellow.  The Bunyip of Berkley's Creek was installed in October 2012 during children's week.  

During the next week we watched the city slowly turn purple as each day more and more people from the west arrived in town. Yes, the Fremantle Dockers, after 19 years in the AFL, were finally going to play in a Grand Final and It seemed like at least half of WA had made the trip across the country for the big day.

On Friday morning Sandra and Naomi had come to park their car at our place so they could meet their other colleagues to go and see the parade.  Having never been before I decided to join them and so one little Victorian joined eight West Australians and witnessed an amazing sight in the city.  As far as the eye could see the dominant color was purple outdoing the yellow and brown of Hawthorn by about 6 to 1 I would say.  That's not what the news said that night though!

Known as The Purple Haze the Fremantle fans were out in force and when the chant went up as the parade went by it was real goose bump material.  Not that I changed allegiance, I was cheering for Hawthorn no matter what but it was an amazing sight and another huge Melbourne event that I'm glad I've seen.

After the parade I said goodbye to the visitors and they went off to the airport to catch their plane home.  They had all been here for work and while no one was staying for the game they were thrilled to have been able to attend the parade.  I had some shopping to do for our weekend in Linton.  Bill was picking me up around 4.30 and we were hoping to make it before dark.

All went according to plan until we were about 20 mins out of town and then the freeway became a car park due to a huge accident somewhere near Deer Park.  It was almost dark by the time we started to flow again and by now the weather had started to turn again too.  The week had slowly been improving and Friday had been bright and sunny and 24 deg but the weekend forecast was for storms, damaging winds and very cold temps.  Tell me again why we were going camping!

Like clockwork about 20 mins out from our campsite it started to rain but ever the optimists we thought it might pass soon. Turning onto our last road and only 5 mins from our destination we came to a screeching halt.  A very large old cypress had fallen down right across the road making any further travel impossible.  So near and yet so far!  What to do now...

We turned around and headed back towards Ballarat and hoped our 'wonderful' GPS could find us another way in.  Rejecting its first two options as being a bit risky the third option looked OK and soon we were driving though the forest hoping we could come out the other side.  Obviously we did just that and about half an hour later were arriving at our little campsite once more. And it was still raining but these two intrepid campers just put on the wet weather gear and got to work quick smart.  It didn't rain for long so we didn't get too wet and not long after we were inside and dry.  

Once again it was 6 layers on the bed and this time the heater was on as it was freezing.  What happened to the beautiful spring day!  It rained overnight on and off but we stayed warm and dry though I can tell you the next morning was pretty chilly when I ventured outside.  We were told later in the day that it had dropped to 0.8 overnight.  Brrr!  

After spending the first couple of hours with the little yellow robins we left and drove around to see our falcon.  She seemed to be hunkered down in her nest and did not move so after watching for a while we left her in peace and went to 'town' for a coffee. Picking up a little Book on the history of Linton we wandered along the main street learning what the buildings had been.  We had a quick look in the little antique shop which had some interesting bits and pieces and then took a drive around town finding it was a little bigger than we thought.  There were 3 churches here but cant imagine there would enough people to fill any of them.  

We drove back to camp for lunch and as it was still raining  on and off we decided the best place might be the Pub to watch the Grand Final on tele.  A little different from the last two years.

An interesting afternoon to say the least.  This is a very tiny town and we were joined by about 15 locals, some more colorful than others, and watched the game with a drink or two and some nibbles put on by the locals.  I was happy as Hawthorn won though most of the others had been going for Fremantle.  I was rather glad I was not in town with all the very disappointed Freo fans.

Back at home we settled in for a quiet night with dinner, a glass of wine and the heater.  And this time with no clouds I the sky I think it might get even colder!

The next morning was bright, sunny and chilly but we still managed to find a sunny spot and sit back and enjoy the birds.  A large flock of beautiful Yellow tail black cockatoos came in to visit and Bill was able to play with them for some time before they left.  We had a walk through some other areas and a drive though another area a little further away before dropping by to check on the falcon once more.  Again she was hunkered down, obviously she doesn't like these cold mornings either, so with no evidence of baby falcons we said goodbye and went home for lunch.  

We packed up again soon after and headed back to the city this time taking a different route traveling through Bannockburn.  On a very open area of road with a small wet area on the side we were surprised by two beautiful Brolgas.  We stopped and watched them for a while and just as we were going to go they started to dance.  We have only seen these birds in the wild in the northern territory so were thrilled to see them here.

Not long after we were parking the camper in its yard again.  Next time we hook up it will be for our big adventure to the Flinders Ranges in three weeks time.  So now it was time to drive home for another week at work and to get ready for our big trip.

so until next time........