A Fantastic Long Weekend

Hi all

Last weekend here in WA was our Labour Day Long Weekend and I managed to get away and go for a "social" visit to my cousin and her family down at Esperance - located on our south coast of WA - and Grass Patch - a 45 minute drive north from Esperance on the way to Kalgoorlie (WA's big goldfields town). Esperance is well known for its beautiful white beaches (and has the whitest beach in Australia) and the beautiful Cape Le Grand National Park! Now I normally go down to Grass Patch for my big annual stamping weekend down there but when I was down there last year, Narelle said I had to come back down for a 'social" visit. So early in the new year, we agreed that it would be this long weekend! I was really looking forward to the weekend as I had had a busy month of workshops for Saleabration and was ready to relax a bit!

So instead of spending 7 1/2 hours in a car driving down there (I don't mind the drive honestly!), I flew down on early Friday afternoon after Skywest brought forward my flight by about 2 hrs (which kind of threw our plans out the window a bit LOL!). The flight down there is only approx 90 mins or so and I arrived down there just before 4 pm. Narelle and the boys (Reilly and Myles) were waiting for me at the airport and we went into Esperance to unpack at the town house and did a food shop across the road at Woolies before heading back out to Gibson (approx 15 mins north) to the Gibson Soak Hotel for dinner and to meet up with Marcus and Chris & Roger (Marcus' parents). Dinner was absolutely delicious, us girls had the Snapper Supreme which was a grilled fillet of Snapper with creamy garlic prawns on top with chips and salad, Marcus had this massive T-bone and salad, Roger had the Fishermans Basket and the boys had pizza and chips. So if you are ever near or driving thru Esperance make sure you stop off at the Soak for a meal it is well worth it.

We had an early night as we were all pretty buggered and we had sort of an early start the next day. So on Saturday, Narelle, Reilly and I went and helped Marcus unload his things for the wedding he had booked as a DJ, and then while Marcus finished setting up, we went off to the shops and do what girls do best - SHOP! To say that we did a little bit of damage to our purses in a couple of hours of shopping is a slight understatement! However, the damage could've been a bit harder if the shops in Esperance stayed open past 1 pm on a Saturday. The big talk in town also was the Esperance races which was on that day! In the afternoon, Narelle and Chris wanted to go and see Australia the movie, so we toodled off to the cinemas for the afternoon but had to be back at the house straight after it finished as Marcus had to go off to his gig! We ordered Pizzas for dinners from Riccardos and had some sparkling wines while watching Sister Act 2 on tv (and trying not to fall asleep towards the end of the movie!).

On Sunday morning, we went to the Tearooms for breakfast which was also yummy and then while Narelle helped Marcus pack up his things from the wedding gig, Chris and I went for a walk around the Museum Village Markets. Once we had packed and tidied up around the town house, we headed back out to Grass Patch and the farm as Marcus had to get back to work and get on the harrower. Narelle and I watched a movie and then went for a walk down to the front gate and back again (about 6kms return trip) with Maggie their dog, before getting tea ready. We took Marcus' tea out to him as he was still on the harrower and ploughing the paddocks and as we were driving down the track we saw through some trees a big kangaroo bounding alongside us in the other paddock! Oh yeah, nearly forgot, we also checked out SU's retirement list while drinking our G&Ts before getting dinner ready!

On Monday, we had a sleep in and then around lunchtime, Narelle, the boys and I went to visit Cheray to do some stamping - in between drinking champagne and eating nibblies! We didn't get much stamping done - Narelle and I did two cards and Cheray did three! The girls advised me to call Skywest to check that the flight was still leaving that night - they were secretly hoping it wasn't - as it was a bit wild and wooly down there on the Monday, and apparently if there is poor visibility and after doing three circuits over the airport Skywest can't land they fly back to Perth or if the weather is way too rough, they won't take off! Alas, the weather wasn't that bad and the flight was still on! So we left Cheray's place just after 5 pm to go back to Narelle's so that the boys could have their showers and have dinner before she had to take me back to the airport!

So before I knew it my long weekend was over and we all agreed that it had been a great weekend with (in no particular order) great food, drinking, shopping, time spent with loved ones (and friends), and great fun was had by all :o). Big thanks and hugs to Narelle, Marcus, Reilly, Myles, Chris, Roger and not forgetting the animals - Maggie, Hagrid, Brock and the chooks (especially for the yummy freshly laid eggs - sure beats the ones from the supermarket any day LOL!) for a great weekend!

Lynda xox