Mia Mia Station {Caretaking}

Our final stop for the year, is back at Mia Mia Station to care take while the owners head south for some much needed time with their family.

It was a lot of work to pack up out of the cottage and Lyndon, back into the camper and then back into a house again.  Not that, in summer we would ever consider living in the camper up here but I do dread the pack up when we leave here in January.

So far Justin has had a wonderful time, doing an array of different things.  If he had his way and could make it work we would be out here forever and as much as I do love the people and the places, it isn’t a forever location for me.  Realistically it simply isn’t practical.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hard to believe that this was our final stop for the year.  Whilst we’ve had a visit to Lyndon for a birthday party, a Christmas party at Bullara, a day in Coral Bay x 2 and plenty of visits to the neighbours we are really in one place.  One big house with gardens to water and floors to clean.

 

We have been blessed to also have had some visitors while we have been here the last month or so.  Dad surprised me by showing up one night, with no warning and then hanging out with us for a little over a week.

My sister and her family stopped in for the night on their way to Perth for a wedding and Christmas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a good Christmas, with dinner Christmas Eve at Winning and then a nice quiet day at home.  The kids love what they got from both us and Santa, I was also still in awe and our homemade tree and tip found decorations {now to workout which ones we are going to keep for keepsakes of our Christmas here}.

Boxing Dad Justin's brother, Aaron and his wife Ali came up for a few nights.  They brought with them warmer weather and a few passing showers {it also meant we got a few nights with amazing sunsets}.  We saw them off with a trip to Coral Bay, swimming and of course lunch at the pub.

 

 

*sigh* It does make me miss a house and also hope that in 2015 we work out ‘where to from here’

Lyndon Station {Visiting}

Even though it was inland and certainly warmer, Lyndon was a time to stay in the amazing little cottage that Cath has put so much work and love into.  A place to escape the heat, to allow the kids some entertainment {in the form of four other children} and a place to just be.

We moved the day before my birthday and to be honest didn’t make a big deal of my 35^th birthday.  It was hard, surreal, different and a whole array of other words come to mind when you are celebrating a day you arrived into your mother arms, knowing that she is no longer here.  It was a hard ‘first’ and as much as a birthday is always nice, I expect it will continue to be an odd sort of day knowing that she is no longer here.

 

The next week was a blur, to be totally honest.  I remember saying goodbye to October and dreading the arrival of November.  But it arrived, the 3^rd saw tears, quiet moments and memories.  I survived it, made it to the 4^th and kept on going. I still miss Mum, eveyday and those moments I think 'I should just call and ask' are hard.  Sometimes it takes a moment to realise that I can't do that anymore. If I am honest though, I think of her daily, which is more than before and enough to keep me going.

Justin’s two weeks on the mining camp had now become 4 and we drew a line in the sand that he would be finished by the 12^th!  This gave us time to relax a little before our next ‘house move’, a chance for the kids to enjoy playing in the newly painted pool while it filled, a chance to make a little art and a chance to cook dinner for the Lyndon family to say thanks for letting us take over the cottage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Onslow {Working}

Hard to believe that this will be our last working spot up this way for the year.  Time really has flown by and it is a great spot to 'end' the season being it is a beautiful old house, even if the town is every so little.

We arrived in Onslow and set up out the back of the house that J would be doing some work on.  The plan was that it would take two weeks, including a little get away further north to catch up with friends that had just moved there.

While J hit the ground running the smalls and I plugged away with school work, explored the beach, the park and even had a wander around the museum that is attached to the tourist information centre. It is really a small town with lots of wonderful history and I find it sad that it will get lost along the way with all of the greedy people who are after the 'gas'.

{This post is more than a little slack, the pictures aren't in order but you can see what we got up to :)}

I will admit, down here at the very bottom of this post that staying in an old house {that might I had had been done up very nicely} does have me missing having a house.  A house with history, a house with a story and a house that is looking for some love.