The Bloody Slow Cup

Another weekend, another part of the Pilbara. It's all getting a bit boring now really:)

Gina and I headed over to Newman, for the 'bloody slow (beldisloe) cup', an annual rugby game (Aus v. NZ) paying tribute to the lives of 4 WA police officers who died in a plane crash in Newman in 2001. Thousands of people attend, and it's incredibly competitive!! Gina and I drove over on Saturday, and were perhaps the only vistors to Newman that weekend who didn't prebook accommodation... We ended up with a camp spot and the intention to sleep on the air-bed in the back of the truck... Pleasant... if only it wasn't 42 degrees!!

The game was brilliant, sadly the kiwi's won. Even sadder, I lost a bet and had to wear a Kiwi jumper! Afterwards, we headed over to Newman's nightclub! AMAZING! You had to signed into the club by a member... and all members were kiwi's! Now, if I hadn't mentioned it before... almost everyone in the Pilbara is from New Zealand... clever buggers. Taking all the big money back home:) It was so much fun... dancing, shots, karaoke... all the great things that seemed to banned at the Tom Price pub!! And... I saw my cousin Tom, for probably the first time in 12 years... of all the places:)

We left the next day... tired (the hot car was not our best idea:), covered in mossie bites, with some of the pub's pool balls (oops!) and most importantly, with some great memories of Newman!!

Flasher

Again, I have managed to flash half of the Pilbara...

Saturday the 5th of November was shaping up to be a great day. It was the annual breast cancer champagne breakfast in Tom Price, and I was heading out with a lovely group of girls. I woke up at 7:30am, stripped off, and sauntered (half asleep) out of my 2nd storey room towards the bathroom. Now my shower is directly opposite the guest bedroom, and the curtains are of course up.... it's a lot less gloomy and I can see the beautiful Pilbara countryside whilst showering... AND, I'm fairly safe on the 2nd floor. Or so I thought... After 5 minutes of very unsexy showering, I sensed some movement. I turned to look out the guest bedroom window only to be face to face with 2 workmen in a cherry picker, painting around the guest bedroom window. Their jaws were dropped, and we made eye contact! It was mortifying, and I STILL have to cover my face when I leave the house in the mornings. Funnily enough, since 'the incident', 3 workmen have introduced themselves to me....

Thank god it was a CHAMPAGNE breakfast... definitely eased the pain.

Team Glee Glamp in Karijini

I seem to be on a roll with amazing weekend adventures! This past weekend, my friend Prid cam up for a visit. She arrived on Friday morning just in time for french toast and champagne. She also managed to coincide her trip with the rio tinto picnic day, and what a day it was!! Prid and I had our own picnic in my backyard to kickstart the night, and enjoyed chilli and garlic prawns, chorizo, fantastic cheese and of course... a few wines. We then headed down to the oval where rio had organised a band, outdoor movies, showbags, magic shows, a licensed bar area (phew), boost juice, and ... fireworks!! A group of us then headed off to the pub... I obviously had to show Prid how pumping the pub can get .Our table was on fire, and we actually attracted a huge group with our games of fingers and general rowdiness.

We learnt the hard way that this probs wasn't a fab idea as we had to get up early to begin our Karijini Adventure. We headed off in a convoy, trailing Megan, Brent, Andew, Matt and Ciara. Luckily for Prid we played a quiz on our two-ways the entire trip... I'm pretty sure we won too! The other alternative was listening to me belt out my recently purchased 'glee' cd.... sub-optimal... (This gave us the nick name 'team glee'. Despite surely losing the quiz, the other car seemed to think they were the A-team!?) Our first stop was Weano, where we smashed Kermits and Handrail pool, spider walking and everything. It was such a lovely day, with a great group of people. We even took tyre tubes to just relax in. Prideaux and I actually had an S-tube, a tube in the shape of an S, (so that your chairs are romantically attached...) sparking many renditions of S-club... "there ain't no party like an S-tube party!"

After this Prid and I checked into eco retreat, camping (glamping) in pretty great style. It was the perfect way to relax after a hard day of climbing. We felt so pampered... we had dinner (australian game) under the stars, wines on the balcony, showered in the open (with about 7 frogs) and relaxed in our cosy bed reading matching 'red dog' by the gas light! (We seemed to have a lot of matching things that weekend...)

The next day started with breakfast on the barbie and ended relaxing in our s-tube at Dales gorge. It was heaven. And lucky timing... Since Prid left there have been flash storms. Right now I'm actually watching a lightening show in what must definitely be the cyclones eye!! It's scary (exciting!!) Surely my next few weekends can't be this great...I am living the dream!!