Fire Brigade

Harvey Fire Brigade Demonstration Day

A great Australian past-time, fire brigade.  Children and young adults are taught by volunteer fire departments hose work, attaching and detaching nozzles (breaking hoses), wet and dry work, good sportsmanship and team work.  It is an awesome sport teaching life long skills of working together and being physically and mentally tough.  The practical skills learned, of  how to use fire hoses could be useful one day to possibly put out a bush fire.  Caleb, along with two other classmates have been practicing 1-2 times a week for the past month.  This past weekend was his first competition, where the Harvey Fire Brigade took on Brunswick, Mandurah, Busselton, and Bunbury for the regional finals.  Winners get to move on to the State Competition in Fremantle.

Learning how to attach the nozzle is tough work for a little 6 year old's hands.

Good thing an adult held the hose - we could only imagine his little body flying around like a cartoon character if only he held onto the hose.

Even Jackson was allowed to practice sometimes breaking hoses during dry training.  After several dry practices, the pee-wee team were allowed to practice the wet hose work.  They learned how to attach and start the pump, plus how to aim the nozzle and shoot targets.

Demonstration Day!  The competition has a variety of team activities.  It can include different arrangements and attachments of hoses that can be done individually, in twos, or in teams of four - all against the clock.

Above, Caleb is running with one end of the hose whilst one of his teammates is attaching the other end of the hose to the pump; waiting for the signal to turn it on.  Caleb and another teammate linked the two hoses together, but not tight enough. It broke and water exploded everywhere!  Caleb took a face full of water, splashing the judges and nearby spectators as well.  Most of the pee-wees aren't happy until they are wet 'soaked to the bone' happy. 

The pee-wee team won their side of the competition as well as the Harvey Fire Station 33 won the entire team event!  Above are the team and trophy photos. 

Below are two videos from the demonstration - one DRY competition and one WET competition.

Wildflowers of South Western Australia

As the old adage goes, " August showers bring September flowers", or something like that.  The southwest is well known for it's riot of colour from September to November with several thousand species of wildflowers.  But, it's not just flowers that bloom, the eucalyptus trees, acacia (wattle trees), bush shrubs and hakeas also have their share of colour.  We have very little clue as to what each of the following flowers are called so we'll just create a collage and call it good.  Some of these pictures are taken behind the Harvey Dam and some on our camping trip in around Wave Rock, Dryandra Woodland, Albany, Esperance, Cape Le Grand and Fitzgerald River National Parks.  Below are grass trees with their tall spire of white flowers.

Esperance (Cape Le Grand) and Fitzgerald River National Parks.

Even trees in the Harvey Supa IGA parking lot are in bloom.  Below are two ground cover shots of the aptly named Wildflower Picnic area near Harvey.

Above is a Harvey Dam photo shot.  Below isn't canola, it is golden everlastings in a wheatbelt pasture.

Didn't see too many of the heavily sought after orchids; it is hard to know what and where to look.  Some flowers come out year after year, some only after a fire, some after a drought or a wet rainy spring, some lie dormant for years, and others are just plain rare.  Below is our grand find, WA's State flower, the Kangaroo Paw.

Some wildflower bouquets in Wave Rock and Margaret River areas.

And one picture of a pest, the feral white calla lily.  It is nasty, because it chokes out other native species and competes for water.  

All in all, there was lots of colour in the past month.

Cape to Cape Weekend

Cape to Cape Weekend was a 3 day weekend organized for past and present exchange teachers in the Margaret River area.  We had a chance to hike the trials, sample the local wineries, see wildlife and sea life, check out the tourist attractions, explore a cave and swim at a beach.  The Cape to Cape Track starts from the northwest point at Cape Naturaliste and runs 135 km along spectacular surf beaches, coastline and forests to the Southwest corner of Australia at Cape Leeuwin.  Both areas have a tall working lighthouse as a historical landmark.  Obviously, you can't do it all in 3 days, but they selected a few sections to walk.

http://www.capetocapetrack.com.au/pages.asp?code=15  See website for a map of the track.

The family only went a little ways from the Red Gate Beach parking lot.  Collin and other exchange teachers continued 12.5 km over sandy beach, dunes, a iron walk bridge, a tough 300+ foot elevation hill climb and trail walk through  bushland.  The view from the top of the hill was grand, but seeing the finish line and the surfers at the Margaret River mouth was more rewarding.

Becky and the kids went to Amaze'n Margaret River with a large hedge maze, plus all sorts of ground puzzles and foot mazes to try to solve.  Collin hiked for 3 1/2 hours, while the Becky and the boys played for the same length of time at the mazes. Check out the website -  http://www.amazenmargaretriver.com.au/
Once, we figure out how to get the pictures off the mobile phone, we'll post some.

The afternoon was spent a Giant's Cave.  Margaret River area has dozens, if not hundreds of limestone caves in the area.  Only a few are open to the public and we selected one the best. Giant's Cave is managed by the Dept. of Environment and Conservation so they have kept it more natural.  There are no lights, except for a supplied torch (flashlight), along the self guided route.  We scrambbled over rocks, had a few tight squeezes, and climbed many stairs and some ladders and ropes.

Above is the crew before the big descent and the photo of the weekend... Becky squeezing through a tight turn.  Below are two unique cave formations - one going up stalagmite and one going down stalactite.

Collin holding the rope down the bottom slope and Becky and the boys at the top.  We had so much fun 'down under', that we would highly recommend anyone visiting Margaret River to take the plunge.

Augusta is at the most southwestern point of Australia.  It is where the two oceans meet - the Indian
and the Southern.  At the point is a limestone lighthouse and waterwheel from the 19th century.  Amazing views, but busy with tourists.

In the background is the lighthouse and the far side to the west is the Indian Ocean. To the left is the Southern Ocean.  Next stop... Antarctica, some 5000 km away.   We had fun investigating the rock pools as the tides were changing.  Caleb spotted a blue manna crab hiding in the rocks and Jackson pointed out a sea anemone. 

The place where all the exchange teachers stayed was in the country.  We had a mob of 32 kangaroos (not counting joeys) visit every morning and evening, fairy blue wrens twitter around the garden and possums run up and down the roof all night.  Wildlife is something we never tire of.

On the way home we stopped at the Cape Naturaliste Lighthouse.  We walked the whale lookout path, but took a wrong turn and ended walking a lot further than intended.  Collin ran ahead to a lookout over Bunker Bay and saw some some seals playing and fishing near a rocky outcrop.  He also found the whale lookout and witnessed one humpback breaching as it traveled out to sea.  The last stop of the day was a Dunsborough beach for a swim in the calm waters.