Week 23 wrap: 23/8/22

Never in our lives have party poppers come in so handy. Heading to Claire’s aunty’s birthday lunch in Perth on Tuesday, we bought a pack of 18, thinking that would be superfluous, only to need them for birthdays of Claire’s second cousin John, and family friend Allan, later in the week. You’re never too old for party poppers!

On Wednesday, we headed to Mandurah for our event there that night, quickly learning that Kate does not deal well with peak hour traffic. Having never lived in a capital city, she’s never had to deal with congestion before, and she’s pretty keen to keep it that way. Phrases such as ‘why are we stopping again’, ‘no, I don’t want to let you in’ and ‘that lane is so much faster than ours’ were uttered very frequently on the 90 minute drive south. The Mandurah event was fantastic, with a great turnout from the local group Apache Rebel Line Dancers. Thanks to Judy, who organised the event for us, we even had a small blue tree in the hall with us! That’s a first.

Thursday was a pyjama day, knocking over some admin, before we hit the road out of Perth on Friday, bound for Coolgardie for the rodeo and ute muster. On this fairly wide open drive, we heard someone on the UHF say ‘you can’t park there’ … this amused us, there’s a hell of a lot of space in the outback, and finding a spot that is unparkable is a feat in itself. We did a whirlwind tour of Kalgoorlie on Thursday afternoon, where we thought the Superpit lookout was phenomenal, and the apparent world’s tallest bin, not so phenomenal. Not as tall as we had expected!

We’ve loved being in Coolgardie this weekend, enjoying the rodeo action as well as the musical acts including Adam Brand, K7 Band, Bradley Hall, Marcus McGuire, Ange Leech, Meggan Carswell and Sally Jane. We cannot sing, and are always in awe of those who can! On Sunday morning, we taught bootscooting for a few hours, and were delighted at an excellent turnout from Pure Gold Bootscooters from Kalgoorlie, Building Friendships from Perth, and an enthusiastic group of guys who joined in dancing in close proximity with one another on a cable drum table. Thanks to Outback Rodeos for having us.

In the biggest news of the week, Claire finally got her watch back – 15,000ks after it stopped in outback SA and needed to be sent off to the watch doctor. She’s very happy.

This week, we’re crossing the Nullarbor, ready for events in Kimba on Wednesday, Peterborough on Friday, and Strathalbyn on Sunday. South Aussies, get your boots on!

Yours in bootscootin,

Kate and Claire.