Well we got out of Perth after getting all the things on "the list" done.

While in Perth we decided to buy a Waeco Fridge/Freezer. We bought up big and put 3 weeks of food into the freezer and 4 days later it still hadn't frozen. After a few calls and a visit to the repair centre they finally decided it was faulty and gave us a new one. 24 hours later it was beginning to freeze most of the food.

Limited phone service out here so I have combined the months and will update the pages when I can.

We contacted Peter and Dulcie who have just started caretaking Lake Mason Station for Conservation And Land Management (CALM). We headed off to Sandstone with an overnight stop at Paynes Find. Arriving at Lake Mason we were soon talking our heads off catching up with 12 months of gossip since we last saw them at Munglinip Beach down south of WA.

Peter and Dulcie in the kitchen, unfortunately no power yet just candles and torches.

Put the CD's on and Sandy has to dance!

Lake Mason Station

Shearing Shed and quarters in the background.

Peter took me around the area explaining the different soil and rock types and where you were likely to find gold. Using the Geographical maps we found a few old mineshafts and explored different fault lines through the area. Most areas are covered by mining leases but there are still areas you can go but not where the gold is! I've only found 3 small pieces so far.

A few years back Dulcie's uncle had been housesitting for them while they went to Perth for a few days. They received a phone call from a very nervous uncle saying that someone was outside the house shooting a gun and the dog was dead. He said he would lock himself in his room until they got home the next day. When they arrived they soon sussed out what had happened. They had brewed some alcoholic ginger beer, which had started to explode causing the "gunshots" and the dog had lapped up the beer until he passed out dead drunk!

100 year old mineshaft

Another one

From Woodley Bluff looking back over Lake Mason

Late in April Dulcie had a stroke and was flown to Perth by the Royal Flying Doctors (RFDS). Peter followed her down to Perth 2 days later. We were now the temporary caretakers of the one million acre pastoral station. We didn't see that coming when we retired to travel. It turned out that Dulcie had a brain tumor which was safely removed after a 9 hour operation. What a fighter!

Cindy and Ted

Sandy feeding the chooks.

While Dulcie was in Perth we had a visitor from Esperance, Rex, who helped Sandy rebuild a chicken run as Dulcie was planning on getting a few chooks. They did a great job. I spent 3 days doing a major service on the car then a couple of more days producing a birdhouse as a present for Dulcie when she gets home.

New chook run for Dulcie

Birdhouse complete with water tank

We left the station in the hands of some friends of Peter and Dulcie whom they met at Starvation Bay, Ian and Leslie. Heading further east we met up with Jacko who took me for a drive north of Leinster looking for gold. We picked up 9 pieces in around 5 hours of detecting with Jacko getting the largest one at 4 grams. We are staying at Leinster Caravan Park (free to all travellers) while our food freezes. It appears to take around 48 hours on the maximum setting.

Station caretakers / gold miners

Peter and Sandy