Time Warp

Note to Readers: Sorry for the delay since my last post. Most of you know of my blond moment on the day of my departure. Obviously I'm home now, but very behind in everything. And the transition from very cool weather in Fremantle to 95 deg. F (35 C) here made me a little woozy for a while. Another thing about the Blog, please remember I still have dial-up and loading photos is taking a long time. Be patient, some goodies to come.

So, picking up where I left off. Another Road Trip! This was Tue. 19 May. Jenny and Don took me for a really nice ride in the hills east of Perth ending up in the town of York, established in 1831 and was the first inland European settlement in Western Australia. The main street is lined with restored buildings dating from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's. If you were to park a bunch of old cars and trucks along the street you would have a scene right out 1955.

This wonderful old hotel, restored in great detail, sits right in the center of town.

York would make a perfect movie set, just add period cars.

Don is at the right, window shopping(?).

A very friendly and curious Emu.

We had a nice lunch at a sidewalk cafe (mmmmm meat pies!) and walked around some looking at the shops. Also found an Emu in a fenced yard so we had to go say hello and get a photo. This was a great trip, the drive out went through some very scenic countryside. And we had a stop in Sawyer's Valley on the way home for me to do some shopping at a saddle and tack shop, and wouldn't you know the Sawyer's Valley Pub was right next door so we just had to go in for a quick cold one and to admire the fine architecture.

The next day Jenny dropped Don and I off at the Royal Australian Air Force Association's Aviation Heritage Museum of Western Australia. I could have spent much more time than we had to enjoy the displays. The centerpiece of the aircraft restored here is an Avro Lancaster, a British made 4 engine heavy bomber. First time I've ever seen one in person. They also had a beautiful PBY Catalina, a nice C-47 Dakota, a De Havilland Vampire jet fighter, a Sopwith Camel, a Mark XXII Supermarine Spitfire, an old De Havilland Tiger Moth, and a Canberra Mk. 20 that was a Vietnam vet, as well as many other aircraft and aviation displays. Much fun for this old pilot. Thanks to Don for putting this stop on my tourist agenda,which, as you can see from this blog, remained quite full.

P.S. Yikes, I'm gonna have to get upgraded computer service, dial-up took forever on this post. -RAM

Time Out

Dear Readers, I am a little behind with posts, been staying very busy as the days countdown for my time in Oz. Please be patient and I will get caught up soon. Meanwhile here are a couple of group family photos to enjoy.

This one is from a dinner party at Marnie & Tony's house. Front row l-r: Tony, Leeane, Don and the dogs Daisy and Poppie. In back l-r: Sophie, Uncle Bob, Rob, Marnie, Barry, Glenda, Thomas, and Jenny.

This one is at dinner party at Jackie and Simon's house. In front l-r: Kim, Sophie, Leeane, Don.
Back l-r: Braden, Simon, Jackie, Michael, Jenny with Jack, Rob, Tony hiding behind Marnie, and Uncle Bob.

So long for now, will finish up as soon as I can. -Bob

exit

Out and About Fremantle

Starting my last full week in W.A. (Mon. 18 May) Don and I took Jenny to lunch at a great seafood restaurant at the Freemantle fishing docks. I had a huge order of fish, chips, and squid with a side of fish chowder. Yum! Beautiful day too.

Jenny and Don. Mmmmmm fish & chips dockside.

After pigging out on seafood, I needed a little walk. This is a shot of the original pier pilings for old Fremantle port. The port is situated at the mouth of the Swan River with the city of Perth up river a few miles. Remember, we're on the west coast, so that's the Indian Ocean.

I wish you could see how clear the water is. Fantastic.

Jenny had errands to run so Don and I walk around old town Fremantle. The city has done a wonderful job of preserving the old buildings, some dating to the 1880's. For anyone interested in traditional turn of the century architecture, Fremantle is a perfect walking tour.

The following photos are a collection taken on several different days. They are in no particular order. I just wanted to give my readers a general feel of the Fremantle area.

A splendid example of typical hotel and pub common to Australia during this period. The thing with the hotel/pub combination is that by law of the time, in order to serve beer, the owner had to also serve a certain amount of food and provide overnight rooms. Obviously the consumption of beer in Australia is legendary, so at least the poor bastards had a place to crash afterwards.

A street lined with history.

Honestly, I could walk around Fremantle for hours and hours. Not only for the history, and fantastic old buildings, but the "atmosphere", interesting shops, outside cafe tables everywhere, and the old pubs, coldest tap beer you could ever have.

Scots Presbyterian Church Fremantle c. 1880's

Swan River looking upstream from Sterling Bridge. Don's former sailing club, the East Fremantle Yacht Club is not too far up river.

The tall pines on the left (these are rather young) are Norfolk Island Pines. They were first brought to this area to provide material for building masts for sailing ships. A very important industry in the early years of Fremantle.

This view of a stand of Norfolks is at the Esplanade Reserve near the docks in Fremantle, looking straight up. They are easly over a hundred years old and about 100 ft. high.

Here's Don at the Fremantle Fisherman's Memorial. Fishing, of course, was a vital industry which made Fremantle an important city on the west coast. The names of men who were instrumental in helping to develop this industry in Fremantle are engraved on stainless steel plates on the pilings at the left.

Jenny's brother Sim is one of those honored at the Memorial. (Hoogarwaard, Sim).

This was at the Maritime Museum. I am standing next to Australia II, the sailing yacht that won America's Cup in 1983, the first time ever that the cup had left the New York Yacht Club.

Australia II from above.

A mural on the side of a building downtown Fremantle. Dates from the 1983 America's Cup race.

The boxing Kangaroo logo is the symbol of the sailing team of Australia II. The primary finance for the effort came from Alan Bond, who at one time owned the Swan Brewery in Perth, hence the can of beer. This logo has remained in Aussie culture to represent to determination of the Australian people. The green and yellow colors were, and still are the "sporting" colors of Australia. "Go Aussie Go". Onya Mate.

Bazza's Bar-B-Que

Barry and Glenda hosted a fine bar-b-que for us on Sat. the 16th. What a spread they had! Seriously, they had food for at least a platoon. Their guests were Don & Jenny, Rob & Leeane, Leeane's parents Diane & George, Marnie & Tony, the Hollitt's daughter Justine with her two daughters Lucy(16) and Holly(13), and yours truly. Our host and hostess had seen to every detail and we were treated to some most exquisite cuisine. And I must add a little comment about the homemade stout beer that Barry had - very first rate.

Our host (edged tool and beer in hand) breaks the most fundamental rule of kitchen safety. Our gracious hostess looks on with less than complete approval.

Chef B'rie showing off his favorite tool. Oh yes, and there was sausage on the menu as well. Note absence of gracious hostess in this pic.

Jenny talking to Justine(back to camera), Tony, Diane, Bob, Leeazza, and Rob.

Glenda just in the frame at left, Jenny, and Diane. See what I mean about all the food.

Me, Don just visible talking to Tony, Rob, Leeane, Justine, Diane, and Jenny.

Our banquet table and Barry's bar-b-que pit, set up to use household natural gas.
No, really, it uses natural gas, not that other kind of natural gas.

"Hey guys and gals, could you look this way, yo!, guys, trying to take a photo here...hello!"

Capt. Bob sez: "Great beer, good wine, delicious food, good friends, and family, what more could a bloke want?"

I think this was about the time Marnie told the story about the old woman that ran over her husband's wheelchair, twice, then I about snorted a mouthful of food.

Tony, Don, me, and Marnie.

The sun is starting to fade but the fun never did.
L. to R.: Don,me, George, Rob, Leeane, Diane, Jenny, Glenda, Marnie, and Tony.

And finally, one of my favorite photos: "The Girls" : Jenny, Justine, Glenda, Leeane, Marnie, and Diane. Here's to ya gals!

Many thanks to Glenda and Barry for a super day full of great memories. Cheers to ya.

Catching Up Part 2

The day after Rob's birthday party, Don and I were off to Rockingham again for the regular Friday ritual of "morning tea" with the veteran's group. This time Peter Roper brought his fantastic Excalibur car. Don't remember what year is is, built in the US of course, it has a 454 ci Chevy Corvette engine. And when he and Barry took off from the parking lot, Peter really got on it, ahh nothing like the throaty sound of a big block American V-8.

Don is thinking "I'd sure look good in this rig".

Get on it Peter! Hang on Barry!

We got back from tea, had a quick lunch, and were off to the Army Museum of Western Australia. This is one of the best I have ever seen, and created and maintained by volunteers only. Don has been working here as a guide for about 10 years. The museum is housed in the Old Artillery Barracks in Fremantle first occupied in 1912.

Main Gate to the Artillery Barracks

Static display of tanks. These buildings remind me a lot of those at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma.

Don has donated a combat uniform of his, complete with actual patrol equipment, to the museum and it in a display case in the Viet Nam era room. The photos are not too clear because of the glass, but I just had to add them. Remember, you can click on each photo and it will enlarge it.

This photo at the foot of the mannequin, is of Don and other patrol members in Viet Nam, 1970. Don is in the back row on the right.

This is the placard between the feet of the mannequin.

The museum also has a fantastic P.O.W. room, which we spent a lot of time in, remembering Uncle R. C. (Ike) and his own experiences in WW II and his time at Stalag Luft III. After our time in the museum, which for me was over too soon, we walked down to a couple of nice local pubs, inspecting the architecture and woodwork, then caught our bus back home for a nice chinese dinner set for us beautifully, as usual, by Jenny. Great day.

Rugby Union!

The next evening (Sat. 16 May) Rob, Braden, and Don take me to my first Rugby game. Staying with the local tradition, we must stop at a pub and have a few pints before the game, in this case it was the Irish Club (No comments please). And we met up with Rob's old pal from his days at Scotch College, Tim and his girlfriend Ai. I enjoyed the event very much, the game is very physical, and remember, the players wear no protective padding, and a fast paced game as well.

Here we are all decked out for the game. The name of the team is Western Force, this is Rob's favorite team of course, so we all had to wear Force hats and blue. This was taken in the sun room of the house before we left for the game. The guys are trying to convert me to a rugby fan.

In the stands, Braden, Uncle Bob, and Don. Go Force!

The playing field is bigger than that of American football, and in this stadium, Rugby shares it with Australian Rules football, a much different game (i.e. hardly any rules) which is played on an oval field, thus the shape of this playing ground.

Hey Rob, down in front!

It was a great night and I thank Rob for setting this up. Onya mate.

Reply to Comments

A comment about this blog has been posted recently by a reader (who, for reasons of gentlemanly discretion and international diplomacy, shall remain anonymous for this reply) regarding the fact that I have not published a new post in several days and that I might be having too much fun. I feel somewhat compelled to respond to this criticism because , of course, the whole concept of this trip was to have fun. So my response to the reader, in proper Aussie fashion, is: Get Stuffed!
-Capt. Bob

Birthday Boy!

Thursday, May 14 Happy Birthday to Rob.

Don and I started the day with "morning tea" at Kiwi's. I better try to translate that for y'all back home. The thing is about this "tea" event is that there usually is no tea involved. Go figure. It's an Aussie thing. But since I've been here I have gone to "morning tea" with Don, Barry, and a small group of Veterans at a beach side cafe down in Rockingham. Still, there is no tea to be seen although Don tells me it is available. OK? There is some explanation that all this is a hangover from British customs, with Australian twists (which are inevitable and are found in every aspect of Australian culture) and soon enough no one seems to remember how it all got started in the first place. So tea is a very popular beverage, but the "morning tea" event usually involves coffee, and some kind of sweet goodie pastry to eat with it. Right.

Now, what about Kiwi? Well, morning tea at Kiwi's translates to going over to Kevin's house for coffee and treats at around mid-morning. So you ask "Who the heck is Kevin? and what happened to Kiwi?". Kevin is a bloke Don knew in the SAS Regt., another Vietnam Vet. But Kevin is originally from New Zealand, so to an Australian, anyone from N-Zed is known as "Kiwi". Right. Now you're asking what's a Kiwi? Besides a little green fruit full of seeds, it is a small flightless bird with a long beak, found only in New Zealand and...never mind, look it up.

Morning tea at Kiwi's was great fun actually. I got to see Kas again after 20 odd years, and a few other vets, and Kiwi was an excellent host and waiter. Lots of laughs, and war stories. And for those of you reading this that remember the story of how a friend of Don's managed to find me at the VFW in Kerrville shortly after I moved there in 2000, that was Kiwi. So, good on ya Kiwi.

Sorry, no photos from morning tea at Kiwi's.

Later we had the BIRTHDAY PARTY for Rob at the Miller mansion. A nice family affair with Jenny, Don, Marnie, Tony, Thomas, Sophie, Braden, and his girlfriend Nikki, Rob, Leeane and her parents Diane and George, and yours truly.

Happy Birthday Buddy! Tony, Bob, and Rob

The evening was one of those family events that happen and you wish it would never end. I wish I had the words to describe it better. Laughter, the stories, and just the wonderful feeling of being surrounded by family. "It don't get no better than this".

Diane, Jenny, Thomas serving up some delicious sausage rolls he made (Yum!), George, and Nikki.

Birthday Boy, Braden, and Uncle Bob

Braden, Thomas getting some advise from Gumpa, and Marnie.

...and George having a word with Rob, and in the background: Nikki having a heart-to-heart with Sophie.

Sophie and Robby trying to coordinate a shoulder wave.

Jenny in her best imitation of a Betty Miller pose.

Marnie, Rob, Leeazza, Diane, and Jenny.

Hey Gumpa, how about another cold one?

This photo needs some explanation, I don't want to get in trouble you see. Braden is taking the picture, Nikki didn't want him to or something, so she stuck her tongue out at him, not me.

Now it's Don's turn to see if the old Miller charm is still working.

Braden looking far too serious. Probably because he doesn't have a cold beer.

What's a birthday party without a cake. Rob displays the pecan pie cake which was delicious! Like everything we enjoy so much, the evening had to come to an end. I asked everyone to raise their glass in a toast to Rob, and Don gave a nice recital of a toast from Gen. George Patton. It ended too soon for me, as I said in my toast, "I would not have wanted to be anywhere else on the planet than right here, right now".