.......Love is the answer....At least for most of the questions in my heart..... Like why are we here? And where do we go? And how come it's so hard? ...... It's not always easy and Sometimes life can be deceiving....... I'll tell you one thing....... it's always better when we're together.....

Looking forward to seeing my sis on Wednesday....

I'm in the middle of a Jack Johnson-a-thon .... and so I guess, feeling pretty alright so far too.

It's Sunday.... Thursday was implant day and my days have been relatively good. If I jinx myself by writing the following then <insert "F-style" curse word here>

Anyway here goes.... so far, no temperature, the anti-nausea drugs are keeping things at bay, no diarrhoea... the worst so far is the irritating Dracula's neck jewellery (Thanks Nigel - liked that one !!). But even that is beginning to settle and not be as annoying.

OK Coldplay-a-thon now..... JJ was getting a little melancholy for me......

I've been very careful so far. Bucket loads of anti-bacterial hand wash, lots of water, hydrating fluids and no contact with anyone or thing. Although I have managed a couple of trips to the park with the pups. I've also been sleeping well(ish). The olympics have helped too. Live streaming on the iPad on the middle of he night is great. I'm back on the Dexamethasone so that may explain some slight insomnia. 

I'm now on a neutropenic diet too. And it looks like I'll have to stay on this for the unforeseeable future. As I now have no immunity I won't be able to combat food bacteria. I'll have to start from scratch with my body. One of my biggest disappointments would have to be that we will not be able to visit "Sizzler" for the next year !! Oh woe is me..... how will I survive ?? !! No salad bar or all you can eat soft-serve is allowed to pass my lips !!! Looks like it will just have to be fine dining establishments and home cooked delicacies. 

I have a bowl of drugs I have to take every morning..... 

• Dexamethasone - Anti-sickness 2-3 days after chemo (all good now)
• Metroclopramide - Anti-sickness 20mg 2 tabs up to 4 times per day
• Pantoprazole - Antacid (and for nausea) 40mg 1 tab per day
• Fluconazole - Anti-fungal 200mg 1 tab per day (for the foreseeable future)
• Valaciclovir - Anti-viral 500mg 1 tab per day (for 3 months post transplant)
• Filgrastim - 300mcg Injections daily in evening D+5 onwards
• Gastrostop - 2mg Once it starts.... max 8 per day !! eeuww

I have my first check up appointment on Monday morning. I'm hoping Tina (my Nurse) will be very happy with me. 

My beautiful niece - who's birthday it was yesterday

And so back to the couch and the relaxing.... my Blue boys are about to start. I haven't picked them to win and after the WCE performance yesterday I'm hopping for some winning vibes in the house. I must also say that as my first year as an Aussie I'm a little disappointed at the performance of the number of Olympic Gold's for Australia!!! Go Team GB !!! Just saying......

Oh yes one last thing.... we've booked our wedding venue. Looking forward to Jan wedding......

And if a double-decker bus.....Crashes in to us......To die by your side......Is such a heavenly way to die........And if a ten ton truck........Kills the both of us To die by your side........Well the pleasure, the privilege is mine........

So I'm lying here as we chat, and my old (new) stem cells have been put in !! Omg !! What a feeling !! ...... Actually there's no feeling at all. Just lying on a bed with a drip hooked up. I've had 2 liters of saline for hydration, phenergan (anti-histamine ... To stop the preservative in stem cells from reacting with me) my stem cells ( that smell like creamed corn) anti-biotics -Vancomycin to prevent infection.... And after that I stopped retaining information !! And I keep needing to go to the toilet !! Too much information ?
I woke up this morning feeling a little nauseous. But after downing a coffee, 2 x pramin, 2 x dexamethasone and an pantoprazole (ant-acid) I began to feel a bit better. Yesterday was a good day. No side effects to write home about. Just the frustration of the cvc in my neck. Uncomfortable and a bit itchy from the stitches. I'd only been able to sleep about 2-3 hours on Tuesday night. But last night managed to catch up with about 6-7 hours. Nice !!
Straight home from here and onto the couch... Will see what's on tv and wait for the drugs to kick in...... No visitors for the next few weeks. We even cancelled the cleaning lady !! WTF !!! Luckily on my "take home notes" it actually says no cleaning or gardening !! Haha ... Fabulous I say !! Now if we could just get the dogs using the anti-bacterial hand/paw gel i reckon we'd be good to go.
I've been told I'll get very tired soon, so will pause for now and catchup later.
This is all I have at the moment..... Just saying !!

I'm working on a dream ......Though trouble can feel like it's here to stay .......I'm working on a dream ....Well our love will chase trouble away.....

I really don't know how I would get through all this without Dirk. And I'm not sure I can put into words how much I love him and appreciate how he has been there for me. I know if the tables were turned I'd do the same for him (I'm not sure I'd be as good as he is though) ..... but it's not the other way around. And at the end of the day he is putting up with everything.... and not complaining, and doing everything & anything for me. And his support has been relentless since January. For any carer out there... I cannot begin to think how hard it is for you. Thank you seems so little for what you do...... BIG love to you all. But ALL my love to MY carer. (he won't like this mushy stuff, but it has to be said) I love you Dirk......

I finished work on Friday..... I won't go into it too much... needless to say, I may have overdone the "farewell vino's". Maybe not the best idea, but done now. Apologies have to go out to my work friends that had to see me that way !! (hopefully by the time I get back to work it'll be forgotten !! ) awkward !! But I had fun... so that's what's important right? 

Yesterday was D-3 (the format my hospital use for transplant day calculations) Transplant day is D 0 then D+1, D+2 etc etc. until you are discharged. It was an easy start to the week with just the blood test. I managed to get sorted after that, with shopping, washing and last minute house stuff. Knowing that I probably won't have the energy or strength to do much. I wanted to get my sister's room ready and looking nice. I also needed to buy a heater for her room so she's not too cold. I'm really looking forward to seeing her, and I know it will also help Dirk. Just having the extra support here. He will be able to go out and even go back to work without having to worry about leaving me alone. So got that sorted, and then we went out for a last "drug free" dinner.

Today (Tuesday) was CVC (Central Venus Catheter) and Melphalan (Chemo) day. I was a little nervous about today. I guess knowing that someone was going to cut into my jugular and then pour in a drug that will make me feel like shite will do that to you !! So I put on my colourful jumper and even made up my face to help make me feel happy and not sick looking (it may sound vain, but it makes me feel happier to look healthy) and we drove into hospital. As always, the nurses were great. I was taken to theatre "recovery" for the CVC to be fitted. It's done under local anaesthetic - not the most pleasant experience - I felt most of it. The needles going in to such a soft area was probably the worst feeling. Then all I could feel was the pressure of the wires and needles. But it was bare-able. Afterwards an X-ray is done to ensure the CVC is situated correctly, then I was wheeled back down to the Haematology Care Centre (HCC) where everything is done for Haemo patients. I'm calling the CVC my new jewellery, as it dangles around my neck, and I'll be wearing it for the next couple of weeks until I'm discharged.

Dirk was waiting for me with a muffin, as I hadn't eaten anything yet. I managed to scoff a little of it before I was prepped for the infusion. To stop the mouth ulcers and probability of Mucositis they give you ice to suck before, during and afterwards. My nurses told me to continue for at least a couple of hours afterwards too. If there's one thing I've learned so far, it's to listen to the nurses and Dr. They go through this everyday, with a variety of patients and situations. They Know !! So I have listened to what they've told me so far and followed it to the hilt. 

The day was relatively painless and we returned home around 2pm. Mav had decided to eat his bed !! lol... we had left both dogs inside as it was raining badly and we didn't want to get home to wet dogs !! We knew they'd be a surprise at home, we just weren't sure what it was going to be.

I continued to eat ice until just before 4pm. Then I called dad to let him know about my day before I fell asleep until 7:30pm. We had some tea and watched some TV and now I'm in bed... they also put me back on the dexamethasone (hence being awake still at 12:45am !!) but I'm also paranoid about how I feel... silly I know, but I'm also watching the Olympics so it's not all bad !!

Tomorrow is a "rest day" and I intend to rest before the implant on Thursday. Drink lots of water and stay away from germs !! Fingers crossed all will be un-eventful.....

Once again, thanks for all the messages, posts and emails. I know I may not have responded to all of you, but thank you all the same. I've had some great emails from people I haven't spoken to for a while, it's great to hear from them. Also from people I don't even know. I'm sorry if I haven't responded yet... I still intend to. But I hope this blog helps in some way to anyone that may not have the support I have, or is just interested in the whole process....

Anyway, as usual this is a late night entry, which means, when I read it again in the morning I find spelling mistakes and incorrect grammar (which I hate) and sometimes cringe at what I've written. But I guess that what happens when you share your personal shit with the world !!

Night, Night, God Bless xxxx 

The title is dedicated to Dirk - "Working on a Dream" by Bruce Springsteen.

Such is the way of the world...You can never know.... Just where to put all your faith.... And how will it grow? .....Gonna rise up ....Burning black holes in dark memories....Gonna rise up...Turning mistakes into gold...

It's been an interesting week. Trying to come to terms with mum's death. It still seems all so surreal. Things at back at home in UK are settling (I think... do they ever?) My sis is back home with her kids in NZ and I guess all we can do now is start to move on, with our beautiful memories and know that she will always be in our minds..... and not too far away from each of us. I was talking to my sis the other day and we talked about how it is going to hit us over and over again at different times. The first time dad comes out to visit ..... but mum isn't with him. The first birthday, first Christmas in fact every one of those occasions time and time again. I chatted with one of my besties last night. He was at mum's funeral so it was nice to chat about it from his point of view. One of the things he said was that it was a fantastic do. Not too maudlin and sad at all. IN fact the only person missing was mum !! haha. She would have loved it. We had a few tears and a laugh - it was good. 
I spoke to dad this week too. He seems to be going really well. My bro and sil and nephew are heading down again this weekend. They are taking nephew (aged 2) to Thomas (the Tank) World. I'm not sure who will be the most excited... dad or brother !! Dad also mentioned he had received close to £3000 in donations to mum's Bladder Cancer Foundation UK and to The Leukaemia Foundation of Australia. This is fanTASTic - thank you to everyone that has donated. I think there are also people that have donated directly online to both.
This past week I have been drug / chemo free for six whole days and for the first time in over five months had started to feel less fuzzy and foggy. Even Dirk mentioned my acerbic wit had returned. We found ourselves laughing and joking like "before". The regular banter was back on.... it was good. We also had some fantastic news that some very close friends are going to have a baby. With all the sadness that had been around, this was such great news and we were very happy for them.

Seeing as I was staring Autologous Stem Cell Replacement this week, and I also wasn't sure how it was all going to pan out, I thought it best to advise work that I may or may not be back in for a while. As I've said quite a few times, they have been absolutely amazing.... so I left work on Thursday - prior to starting treatment on Friday - complete with laptop, paperwork and lots of best wishes. We went out for dinner as my taste buds were back for the first time in ages and my iron count was lower, so what do you do? ..... go out for a steak !! We found a fab little place locally and had an amazing meal.
I think the people around me have been more nervous about the start of this stage than me. I haven't been scared or nervous at all. It may because there really isn't a great deal of information on what actually happens in the first stage..... or should I say the way it makes you feel....so by not really knowing what happens, and by feeling pretty good - albeit sad about everything that has been going on - I'm in a pretty positive stage of mind. 
Tuesday this week I had to go for a heart scan - it was a little like an MRI.... first they inject die into you and I had to sit for about 1/2 hour for it to pulsate through my veins. Then lie on a scanning machine, very still for about 20 mins and they take pictures from a noisy machine.
Back to the hospital on Thursday for a lung function test. This one took a little more effort. Lots of huffing and puffing while hooked up to a machine. If one result wasn't good enough, then I had to repeat until it was !! Some of the other test were "take the average reading of six attempts" So after an hour of that I was told I could go..... to pathology for more blood tests. Luckily I managed to beat the rush and was in and out (with another band aid on the other arm) in 20 minutes...... Luckily I made it back to work for a meeting with MD / COO with some interesting company news. It was so interesting that I had to miss a pre-booked lunch engagement with half of Perth's mining elite. Never mind I go every month so there'll be more. And I had also vowed not to drink this week - in order to cleanse my liver - so missing the lunch meant I wasn't tested with the offer of vino on tap at every table.....
So ..... Friday.... up and at it early so we could get to hospital. We made it on time and got a park outside the back door which always seems to have free parking spots.(probably because it's $2.50 an hour) but we weren't sure how long we were going to be there so we thought "what the hell". Into the Haematology Care Centre where we were welcomed, and the sat and waited for our turn. I was called a few minutes later and showed to my IV chair. My nurse remembered me from my bone marrow biopsy the previous week. She spent a few minutes letting us know what I was going to go through. 
1st - some Dexamethasone via the IV - 20 mg
2nd - and anti-nausea drug
3rd - Mesna - to protect the bladder (the chemo can cause irritation and sometimes bleeding - like cystitis)
4th - Cyclophosphamide - the chemo drug
All of the above were given over 4 1/2 hours along with approx 5 litres of fluids too.
So I was in the chair for about 4 hours. But it was comfortable as went prepared with iPad, iPhone and Dirk !! He spent most of the time entertaining the people around him and the nurses. Everyone had a "buddy" with them. It was a warm and happy environment. The nurses were caring and very informative if you had questions. It was nice.

I was sent home with two bags of drugs... a list of instructions and a hope that Dirk understood everything that was required !! I didn't feel too bad, better than I was expecting.
The growth hormone injections start on Tuesday. Twice a day for 10 days. These injections help to stimulate the production of bone marrow, to the point that it causes bone pain as it over fills the bone cavity and spills out into your blood stream. This is when stage two starts.....and I will go into more detail about this later....... 24 hours later I'm still feeling OK. I'm "just" beginning to wonder if I might take a Metoclopromide drug (for anti-sickness) as I've just had a bit of a burgh feeling as I've been writing this.....
Next week I'm working from home and going to see how I go. Then on 9th I'm back in for the harvesting part. I have a feeling (based on what the nurses said) that I'll then have a couple of weeks off before the implant happens. So I'll probably go back into work for a couple of weeks. Again... play it by ear....
Not much planned for now.... Dirk has upgraded his iPad today - Noice !!
Once again, I have to say thank you to everyone that has been sending me good wishes and messages. The past couple of weeks have been a roller coaster. I haven't responded to too many messages. But please know that I appreciate each and every message and they really help. I smile when each one comes in. So please don't stop !! xxxx Vix 

you brought hope, you brought light……..conquered fear, it wasn’t always easy……...stood your ground, kept your faith……….

And as The Royal Barge moors against the banks of the River Thames..... I search for my bed. It's 12:30pm on this little Commonwealth country and as happy as I am to sit & watch Lizzy all night, I have things to do tomorrow so can't stay up much longer. I will have to watch the replay of the highlights. But I must say, at least our public holiday WA Day (previously known as Foundation Day) has coincided with Diamond Jubilee day. Although having said that I'm a little disappointed that the whole Commonwealth doesn't see fit to give us 2 days off to celebrate our Queen !! ..... I'm just saying.....
 We've had a fab day today... I made some macaroons to take over to our neighbours (G & C) where we were invited for lunch. Loved it. They are great entertainers and we sat outside looking over our roof at a slightly better (?) view than ours (higher than our place but couldn't see the city.....) and ate and drank and talked non-stop. Before I knew it myself & C had polished off 2 bottles !! As I said lovely. I was feeling pretty druggy. Yesterday was the start of the "run out of pills cycle7" Dr B told me to carry on taking Thalidomide every day, but to just run out of everything else. So Saturday I took my second to last dose of Cycloblastin and then yesterday, today & tomorrow is all I have to take of Dexamethasone and then that's it !! wahooooooo !! I won't know what's hit me not having to take those drugs..... although with the next appointment with my new Dr B looming, who knows how long it's going to be before he sends me in for the mega doses of chemo and the start of the Stem Cell Replacement !! ah well... mentally it's nice to know I'm nearly out of pills. It's been 129 days of them so far.
So anyway, back to today and my baking !! We got back from G & C's and I needed to prepare for tomorrow. It's Dirk's dad's birthday and he has requested everyone to bring a curry. I decided I needed to bake more macaroons too, oh and a birthday cake for him. So we hit the kitchen. My macaroons were ok-ish.... (ok so the last batch "may" have been out of a Donna Hay box) and mine were a real recipe..... the weren't shiny !! Does anyone know why? They looked a bit matt and not smooth.... I'll have to google why. They tasted bloody lovely though. The chocolate ganache filling works a treat!! I made the cake, but am filling it tomorrow with jam & butter cream. And the Rogan Josh is in the slow cooker over night ..... smells bloody delicious.... I'll be dreaming of India tonight..... or maybe Leicester !!!

Sitting in the Chair Relaxing

Zometa Infusion

Seeing as I'm coming to the end of one stage of this health journey and about to start the next, I've been doing a bit of reflecting. It's been a bloody tough 4 1/2 months in some respects.... especially for Dirk who's had to sit and watch, worry and cop every mood swing that he has just happened to be in the vicinity of, when they happen !! (ok not sure if that sentence makes sense but I think you'll know what I'm trying to say) ... but back to me... I'm not saying it's been an easy few months, in fact anything but easy. But I also appreciate how lucky I've been through all of this so far.   Sitting in the hospital on Friday as I had my Zometa infusion shows me this. There are all sorts of people in there for (I'm guessing) all sorts of chemo at every stage of treatment. Some look sicker than others. But they all smile - most of the time - but I see how lucky I've been so far. I've carried on working, and although some days have been a real struggle, I haven't had to quit or even go part-time. I've remained relatively healthy throughout. These next few weeks I need to be really careful. There is a lot of sickness around at the moment, and the last thing I want to do is pick up a bug right before I start the stem cell stage. I'm a bit scared about this next part. Mainly because I really don't know what to expect, how I'm going to react to the treatment and how I'm going to feel. With the way everything has gone so far, I'm sure I'll be fine. I know it's going to be tough.... but I'm young, healthy and strong. So this is a real positive. But it's still scary !! One of the things I'm a bit scared about is all the needles and drugs. I'm not scared of needles at all but I get the feeling that all the needles I've had so far are nothing compared to what I'm about to experience. And the drugs I've had so far..... a drop in the ocean compared to the next stage .... yikes !! Oh well, if I expect the worst, I can look back later on and say "well it wasn't as bad as I was expecting" !! hahaha. And there is always someone doing it much harder than I am, so I do appreciate how lucky I am. No more whinging...... especially as I'm no longer a pommy !! OMG can I say that?? Sorry mum, I'll always be English, don't worry. I know my heritage !! Especially on day like today too !! BTW - the title lyrics of todays blog are from Gary Barlow & Andrew Lloyd Webber's special Diamond Jubilee song 'Sing" I haven't heard it, I just found it and Googled the lyrics, so if it's a really crap ditty, I completely apologise. But I did read that Harry did a tambourine solo on the song which I thought was nice..... wonder if Pippa finds that a turn on?? I guess he'll find that out later at the after party !! And we will read all about it in next week's illustrious and fabulously articled Women's Magazines.... and I will ready said article in about 10 years time in some dentists waiting room and find out what really happened as I don't read the aforementioned mags !!
And so .... time for sleep. Night night, God Bless all and
God Save The Queen !!

and I'll sail her up the west coast…. through villages and towns…….. I'll be on my holidays……. they'll be doing their rounds…... they'll ask me how I got her I'll say "I saved my money"…… they'll say isn't she pretty that ship called dignity.........

What a fantastic few days away we just had. I took my laptop away with me so I could blog whilst away !! Fat chance !! No chance !! Far too busy reading trashy beach novel & basking by the pool.... when it got too warm dipping in said pool and then returning to said trashy beach novel to continue reading about the saga of the girl that lost her engagement ring only to fall in love with the guy she met when she found a mobile phone in the rubbish bin.... I know you want to know so much more about the book but that's all I'm going to divulge to you !! I mean, you might stumble across this book one day so I won't give away the ending..... although I'm guessing you may be able to take a wild stab in the dark as to how it all ends up?

Anyway... Broome !! aahhhhh... total relaxing bliss. Five days was not long enough, but we had a fab time all the same. Great company with our friends Ben & Bec. Just perfect people to travel with. No fuss, same interests and easy going. It took us all a couple of days to wind down from Perth life / work life / the last few months etc etc. We arrived in Broome at midday on Friday so went straight to the pool and lay down. I think I fell asleep. The rest of the afternoon is all a daze. I can't remember too much as we were so zonked from the drain of the past few months. Our friends were't arriving until later that evening so we had a bit of time to acclimatise and get a feel for the resort, get our bearings and arrange a table for dinner. They arrived around 7pm so we went straight to the restaurant and caught up over steak and vino. Not a bad start to the holiday. I started to feel a bit tired and achy so took off around 9pm for bed. I woke up the next day with a pretty bad sore throat. Hadn't slept well, and by the morning was feeling ... well, pretty shit really ! So straight to the local Dr's for something to help. He gave me a 3 day course of antibiotics. Brilliant ! I was fixed within 24 hours. Never again will I opt for the 10 day doses. 3 days and it was all gone.

That first full day (Day 2) we all pretty much zombied out by the pool and did a lot of staring around. The days are around 30C. We did head into town briefly and did a quick shop for snacks & drinks for the room. I also had to purchase a jumper as it gets quite cool at night. Down to about 17C which is chilly when you are sitting outside and have only bought light summer tops or singlets to wear - gotta love Best & Less for a bargain !!! But that was about it. Evenings were always at The Sunset Bar & Grill where you could watch the amazing sunset and then the camels coming in from the beach. The hardest decision is whether to order a cocktail, a beer or a glass of wine.

Day 3 we decided to plan our daily tourist duties. 

There were only a couple of things we wanted to do.... a camel ride and a sunset cruise on a yacht (well an old pearl logger) I had decided that I'd rather like to go out to a pearl farm so Dirk & I decided to do that one by ourselves. 

So at 4pm on Sunday we took to the beach and were introduced to the camels... I got Alice ..... Alice? ....who the fuck is Alice? She was a sweet thing, pretty friendly and liked to be scratched. We became firm friends in that hour.... I'm not sure she'll remember me now but I'll never forget her !! Apart from the annoying backpacker in front of me that thought she knew everything about sand crabs and photography it was a really enjoyable ride. ("Get a big black dog up ya" ......Backpacker !!! - that's for you Nags) After the sunset ride we headed back to the hotel, quickly freshened up and we had booked to go to the Thai restaurant at the hotel - very nice - a perfect way to finish off the day. We were well and truly beginning to relax now. The boys had played tennis and crazy golf the previous day and had a date with a table tennis table to decide who was the overall winner..... all bets were off .... Bec & I went to bed !! 

Day 3 was the day Dirk & I had decided to go Pearl shopping .... <cough>.... I mean go and learn about how Pearl farming is done in Broome. We had to be outside the hotel ready to go by 8am !! yikes... which also meant breakfast was at 7:30am !! Double yikes.... that's the earliest I'be been up in ages. But I managed it.... just. We were squeezed onto a bus with a bunch of over 70's. We were the youngest by about 30 years - at least !! It was 1/2 hour bus ride to Willie Creek Pearl Farm - actually just the next beach from Cable Beach which was only approx 5 km's away up the coast, but 38km's by road. Most of the trip was on a dark red, iron rich, dirt track. Straight past the Police lines and the protesters against Woodside's Gas Hub at James Price Point. And up into Willie Creek farm. We were introduced to the "gang" (more backpackers) and then shown to a tin shed where we were taught about the history and how to's of pearl farming. It was actually very interesting. And I also got to stick my fingers into a oyster's scrotum and pull out the growing pearls. There were four of them in there !! Bloody hell - even the backpacker was also amazed !! Said he hadn't see 4 come out of a scrotum before !! Yeah right, I bet he says that to all the girls !! After the lesson, we were treated to morning tea and then were whisked away to a small tinny (boat) and taken out to the creek where they had a "simulated" oyster string out in the ocean. We were shown how they are cleaned and told about the history and procedures of cleaning and checking the shells. The a boat ride through the estuaries... everyone had their eyes peeled for crocs but we didn't see any. After we returned to dry land (and lucky as Dirk was getting queazy from the 20 minute boat ride) we were then taken to the 'pièce de résistance'..... the shop !! However, at this point we were reminded that during morning tea, I had excitedly signed us up for a helicopter ride ...... suckers !!!..... so we were whisked away to the Helipad (dirt gravel clearing) next to the shop and taken up on a 5 minute ride over the bay and estuary - by another backpacker - I have to say though, it was totally amazing. The views and scenery were fantastic and you couldn't have seen it that way any other way. Totally worth being ripped off for. So back to the shop, where we now had only 5 minute left of shopping. I saw something I liked, but there wasn't the exact one that fitted me available. I'm pretty sure the poor bugger that was serving me worked on a commission, as he had just about every pearl in the shop on the counter and was doing the most amazing sell job on me. But I left confused and empty handed..... a little disappointed ..... but I had a plan.......

We were escorted back to our retiree coach and started the trip back down the bumpy red tracks also known as the Broome Highway !! On the way out that morning, just before our hotel, I had spotted a Willie Creek Pearl Showroom. This was my cunning plan..... I got the bus driver to drop us here on the way back (much to Dirk's dismay - I think he thought he had got off lightly... asif !!!) ..... and low and behold.... they had the exact bracelet that wasn't available in the other store. Can you believe it.... I mean... what luck !! I didn't leave empty handed after all !!! hee hee !! Fabulous !!

We (finally) returned to the resort to find our friends, have a dip in the pool and have some lunch at the pool bar. Lots of oohs and ahhs from Bec over the pearl <insert happy grin here> That evening we ventured into town and went for tea at Matso's Brewery - where Dirk decided to share the beer tasting with me and got quite merry very quickly !! Hilarious for us all.
It was now Day 4 of the hols and I was beginning to realise that this was our last day. So I had better make it a good one !! 3 straight hours on the sunbed getting as golden as I could - there was no way I was returning to Perth without some summer glow about me !! And at 1pm we were once again in reception waiting for a bus to take us to our sunset cruise. The demographics this time were much more mixed and relatively younger ( I was pleased to say)
The bus was also full so this was obviously a popular one !! We were driven just a few minutes south of Cable Beach and onto the sand. Then asked to remove our shoes and jump into a tinny where we would be taken out to the boat (yacht?) The Intombi - a beautiful old Pearl Lugger that had been painstakingly restored and was now used for sunset cruises. Once on board the bar was opened and orders were taken. I decided it was a Bacardi & Coke kind of day.... just perfect. We were brought drinks and then told we could jump into the water while the boat slowly cruised up the coast line. There was a long rope to hold onto and also a boom net to sit in. Drinks could be passed down to you too if you liked. About 10 people jumped in (all of us included) and after getting kicked and almost drowned by some fat twat I decided to get back out.... easier said than done. I nearly lost my top and bottoms hanging onto the rope (and I'm sure the skipper of the boat started going faster as he saw I was loosing them) but eventually managed to pull myself up the rope and then steps and back to my B&C.... nibbles were offered around and we cruised on. It was gorgeous. The four of us found a nice little spot at the stern (?) (back) of the boat and settled in for the cruise. Ben & I decided to have one last swim - this time none else did so it was just the two of us - much better. The once back on board the sunset part of the cruise started. More B&C's and the sun started to set..... There was almost no wind, the sea was felt and still and the sun sank into the horizon. The perfect end to a perfect holiday (almost) 

We returned to the resort, quickly showers and changed and met at the Italian restaurant within the resort. This was a nice one !! I ordered a champagne cocktail while we waited for Ben & Bec and we relaxed.... some more.... again......

The food was fantastic.... I had tortellini with soft shell crab and pearl meat (from the menu - prawn & pearl meat tortellini, shaved fennel salad, crispy soft shell crab, lime & herb butter sauce).... bloody gorgeous. Best tasting dish I've had in AGES and would highly recommend it. Still dreaming of it now as I write this (btw it is now 3:27am - I am soooo in trouble tomorrow morning when I have to get up !!..... must finish)

So this was the perfect end to a perfect holiday..... great friends, great location, great weather, great sightseeing.... what more could you want?

We got home around lunch time on Wednesday - I was absolutely knackered !! I think my pills had finally got the better of me. I'd also forgotten to take my dexa's with me so had to take them as soon as I got in - better late than never - we cuddled and cuddled the furries. Decided to bath them and then took them to the park to dry off. Our legend of a house-sitter had once again done a fantastic job. As much as we hate leaving them all, at least we have someone that looks after them so well and they don't have to go into a kennel when we go away..... after that we pretty much collapsed on the couch. Only to catch the weather forecast and be told it was dropping to 5C overnight !! WTF !!! Dirk was very quickly sent into the garage to bring up the gas heater !! Winter is finally here !!

Work today and back into the slog.... Being on Dexa's always helps as it gives me the energy I need. The downside is my loss of taste and then the coming off them..... I have 2 more days then will bomb out !!

Well, I'd better leave it here as it's nearly 4am and I'm in more trouble than the early settlers. I've been busy baking sausage rolls and cupcakes for tomorrow's (todays) Biggest Morning Tea for Cancer Research..... Feel free to donate !!.....

   

 

    

    



       

Footnote: no responsibility is taken for the layout or spelling mistakes found on this entry.... it's too god-damn late to check .... I'll do it tomorrow - if I have the time !!!
Thanks :-)