For reasons best known to the Happiness Engineers at WordPress, Paol Soren's most recent post threw up a link to an older one of mine. Some of the links were broken and I updated them with alternatives, so if the wording does not make complete sense, that is the reason. Also a couple of the … Continue reading My Woolly Memory
Musings on Retirement
Full Day Cape Leveque Adventure & Kooljaman, Western Australia, May 2016
We are just home from a friend’s 88th BIRTHDAY, at which one of the guests talked about hopes to travel to the Kimberley Region of Western Australia. Which put me in mind of the day we travelled to CAPE LEVEQUE. Many of you commented at the time, but I thought it worthwhile revisiting our big day out…
At Cape Leveque, Kimberley Region, Western Australia 2016-05-27 photo by Bill
Day 10 of the “Ultimate Australian Rail Holiday” Friday 27th May 2016
Oh my giddy aunt (I picked that saying up from a neighbour – M – I know you are reading this 🙂 ), this day’s touring is going to be one of the hardest to write about succinctly. Between us, Bill and I took more than 300 photographs, plus several videos. On top of which, I have about 1000 words of notes. I really don’t know whether I am coming or going . . .
We are driving on a long, lonely, open road, and we are headed for Cape Leveque, which is situated on the northernmost tip of the Dampier Peninsula in the Kimberley region of Western Australia – pretty much the north-west corner of Australia. Cape Leveque is another place named during the 1801 Baudin French expedition, but the traditional owners of this…
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Wonderfully Wacky White Cliffs
It’s not a lack of ideas that have kept me from blogging in recent weeks. I have been hectically busy for reasons which may become apparent at some time, and then again, maybe not. But a recent comment on a six year old post warmed the cockles of my heart, and prompted me to reshare it – even those many of my regular followers have read it before. But! What a thrill when a relative of who you have written about takes the time to comment, and praise what you have said. As a writer, for me, that is the biggest reward of all.
Day 6 of our Broken Hill adventure (lunch and after)
Whoever said you should “never judge a book by its cover” might have been thinking of White Cliffs, home of Australia’s first commercial opal fields.
On the surface, despite the pretty blue of the sky, the landscape seems a wasteland, a moonscape dotted with craters:
Opal Pseudomorph, source http://whitecliffsopal.com
Below the surface though, are some of the most magnificent opals available, including the unique speciality, the “pineapple opal“, whose correct title is a pseudomorph.
The other thing you will find underground is the people. Not just while mining. Under the surface is where most residents choose to live, in homes they call dugouts (self-explanatory really). Life underground is a year round 22’c (71’F), while up top, temperatures can range from freezing to 50’c (120’F).
Some businesses must operate above ground though, and we stop…
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The Reluctant Retiree 