Back in Northcliffe

We arrived back on the farm in Northcliffe at my favourite time of day- as the sun starts to come down it catches the light on the Karri trees so beautifully. It felt a bit odd being back at first, I was staying in Jenny's empty house and my caravan was gone. The house felt like it had more stuff in it, yet less life as we used to have three bodies there and people in and out all the time and now it was just me. I made myself comfortable in the back room and very quickly found myself in the garlic shed, looking at the rows and rows of hanging garlic that needed to be cleaned. Not a lot had changed there, apart from a cow hide was hanging from the ceiling drying out.

Even though I had eaten a huge lunch I had dinner at Cat and Dave's house and a few glasses of wine. Then we all hit the sack. I could not believe how quiet it was, there was not even a sound of insects. I found myself staying awake in bed kept awake by the silence, which was an odd concept. It must have been this quiet before, I had just forgotten it. However I woke at 4am to the sound of a cockerel and decided my earplugs were needed now that the animals were waking!

Saturday was a busy day as I had limited time after spending so long in Denmark. After a hearty breakfast I cleaned some garlic for a couple of hours with Dave, Cat and Darryl. It was just like old times! Darryl used to clean garlic in return for free rent, but now his house was owned by someone else he didn't do it anymore-had just come by to see me and got roped into it!

There was a heatwave across the country and it made Northcliffe seriously hot, so we headed down to Windy Harbour where Dave and Cat have a holiday home. We all had fun in the sea and Dave brought a new boat down for a ride. Of course, the wind was present (where the name comes from) but in this heat it was refreshing.

Then on the way home we stopped at Tash's house. She has just moved into a beautiful house in the bush. A bit of a dream property. The kids occupied themselves rescuing tadpoles as the damn was soon to dry out and us adults occupied ourselves with wine and gossip.

Again we got home at my favourite time of day and so I went for a walk to take photos and enjoy the moment.

The day rounded off at the working men's club where we watched an 'Irish' band who turned out to be 66% Australian. It was a nice evening and set me up for a very cosy sleep.

Next morning I went for a run, one of the routes I used to do often. As usual kangaroo bounced in front of me on my path, emu cut across the path and I spent the whole time looking out for snakes. In this heatwave they were even more likely to be out, but thankfully I didn't see any. Or my footsteps scared them off. I just love that run so much, it is so beautiful and the wildlife is still a treat even though I have seen them every day for months before. This time I also saw a beautiful fox and a wild cat. I stopped at the fruit paddock to have some blueberries for breakfast before returning for another heart farm breakfast.

Before leaving Northcliffe I went to see the cricket start, where I saw some old faces. It was going to be 40 degrees and they were playing a 4.5 hour game of cricket in it. I was secretly quite glad to be getting on an air conditioned bus instead of sitting in the heat watching it!

I left Northcliffe wanting more time and regretful for having booked a flight to Bali so soon. So I made the most of the journey and watched the view out of the window the whole way until Bunbury, where I boarded the train.

Although it is so far away it is worth every km of the journey. South West Australia remains one of my favourite places in the world.Baca lagi