Natural beauty.........

Today we went for a drive to a few of the many local places of natural beauty. the first is the 'natural bridge'.............



The swell was pretty calm....only about 2 metres but it's pretty clear how powerful the ocean can be.....this was created by ocean swell working against granite....not bad! Then we moved along the coast to the 'blow-holes' which is another interesting effort were the ocean has worn holes in the rock under a ledge and the waves trap air which is forced up through the holes sounding much like a gigantic whale blasting air through it's blow-hole....



'eL' is looking over the holes which are just down the rock a little...no direct pictures of the holes because they often shoot out spray and occasionally rocks under the pressure of the air....not safe to stand over the top.


The ocean is the Great Southern Ocean....next stop Antarctica!















And finally Goode's Beach....we're thinking that this would be a nice spot to build a house to retire to......and there is land available.















What a horrible lifestyle......but I guess someone has to suffer.....:-)

Night shift..........

Well....I've just finished my first night shift in Albany....actually the first one in about 20 years....so please excuse any spelling or grammatical errors.

I'm astonished at how well I've coped with the 7 days straight of working between 11.00pm and 7.00am........I slept well each day and stayed awake each night without problems.

Night shift brings out the strangest and sometimes the worst in people.....well in our customers anyway. We had people calling '000' to speak to the bailiff or to ask us to make housemates move out (apparently being an annoying housemate is a 'life-threatening' emergency these days!). Sadly we also had an extensive sea search and rescue operation this week involving a Canadian student who was washed off the rocks near a local natural attraction called 'The Gap'.........he hasn't been located since and the weather hasn't been kind. On a lighter note I have found that getting home at sun rise down here presents you with some of the most beautiful natural sights which change constantly........spectacular clouds, fog, and stunning blue ocean on the drive home......it doesn't get much better than that!

Even with the occasional tragic event.......I'm having a ball and really enjoying the 'country policing' environment. The move here has been the right decision ....so far.........and I can't see it changing.

I'm baaaaacck!

After a long and frustrating hiatus from these pages I have finally been able to regain my internet access.......about bloody time too! A month without any internet access was very annoying and getting the holdup rectified was even more frustrating......whilst I now have access I think the billing is still way wrong......and not in my favour!

Anyway..............

The move has gone amazingly well and we had no breakages......don't ask how that happened, I'm not. The new house....and it is brand new, is four bedroom, 2 bathroom and even has a home theatre room! but it's very white bread.......no real character although I would argue that it's gaining character by having us here. The locals are very nice,here is a picture of our next-door neighbour out hunting



Not bad for a picture from the back door......it's a black shouldered kite. We have a fair bit of wildlife around and signs on the road warning to be careful of turtles and bandicoots....apparently they like to cross the road without looking!

Work is going well and is alot more relaxed than the last place......although being a country Police Station also means we are the call centre for local '000' calls which can be very interesting - for example we have a local nuisance caller who regularly phones to report the theft of her clitoris!.....apparently she has also come into the station to make the same report.....it takes a special skill to deal with some of our work.

'eL' has been unpacking and making this place a home...there has been a huge amount of throwing out or donating of old possessions....quickly followed by the purchasing of replacement with 'new stuff'. No surprises there.....

Oh....and we have already started visiting the local wineries and restaurants....of course.