Wednesday 31 October 2012

{Wordless Wednesday} I was wrong.


Remember when I told you about Mr Hausfrau and his new addiction and I laughed and said it wouldn't last long?

I was wrong.












Intervention time?

I can totally do that yeah??




You can also follow me on
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If you've been following me on facebook you may or may not know that I have registered for a 220km bike ride  for the Perth Ride to Conquer Cancer in 2013. This is a cause close to my heart as I have lost some very special people to this horrible disease. As part of my entry I need to fund raise a minimum of $2500 to take part in the actual ride. I really hate asking for donations but I've been told that it's the only way! Do you have a spare $2? Every little bit helps. All money raised will go directly to support cancer patients and their families and all donations $2 and over are tax deductible. Thank you!!






I'm linking up with Twinkle in the Eye and My Little Drummer Boys for Wordless Wednesday
My Little Drummer Boys




Tuesday 30 October 2012

My Ride to Conquer Cancer


Sorry, I don't mean to offend anyone, but really... f#ck cancer!!




 I was 8 when cancer first visited my family. The year was 1986 and I remember seeing my Dad very upset and telling me that he had to fly to Melbourne. His sister had lost her battle with bone cancer. I was too young to remember her as we lived in North Queensland and she was in Victoria but I remember how it hurt my Dad.

In 1992 cancer struck again and I lost part of my heart. My Mums sister, my beloved Aunty, lost her battle with cancer. She had Hodgkin's lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph tissue. She was only 30 years young.

I was 14 when she died and I'd watched her suffer for over 2 years. I remember feeling so helpless that I couldn't help her. 

She was a very special part of my life. 


It sucks but I don't have any photos of Aunty other than these old ones. No such thing as digital cameras back then and all the old photo albums are with her kids now. She didn't like photos in the last few years of her life anyway :(


My weekends were spent at her place. Riding horses and running amok! She taught me to drive, took me where ever I wanted to go and pretty much spoilt me rotten! 

She left behind 4 kids. 4 year old twins girls, a 6 year old daughter and an 8 year old son. Four children would grow up without a Mum and I lost my gorgeous Aunty.

Life went on. Somehow.

Then 4 days into the new millennium in 2000 my Granddads body couldn't take any more and cancer took another member of my family. This time is was bowel cancer. He was only diagnosed 6 weeks earlier. I was 7 months pregnant and he was 46 days short of meeting his first ever great grand child. My Nanna was to be a widow, my Mum and my other Aunty lost their Dad and me, my siblings and my cousins were without a Granddad.

Cancer had taken yet another member of my family and it sucked! But what could I do? I was young and didn't really know anything.

Now that I'm older and as fit as I've ever been I think it's time to give back! I heard about The Ride to Conquer Cancer for 2012 but not with enough time to fund-raise.

The one for 2013 is different! Way different! I have 354 days left to do it!



The Ride to Conquer Cancer is a cycling journey throughout the scenic countryside of Western Australia that I'm embarking on to fight cancer. It will be a challenge in a number of ways, but with my bike, my helmet, and hopefully, maybe, possibly, your generosity, a real impact can and will be made!


Funds raised in The Ride to Conquer Cancer will help support ground breaking  critical cancer research being undertaken at the Western Australian Institute for Medical Research (WAIMR), Western Australias premier adult medical research institute, investigating the genetic and environmental causes of a range of diseases.


I'm doing this in honour of my family members lost to this horrid disease and to give others the opportunity for more time with their special people!

As part of my entry I need to fund raise a minimum of $2500 to take part in the actual ride. I really hate asking for donations but I've been told that it's the only way! Do you have a spare $2? Every little bit helps. Any donations, however big or small will go a long way to supporting this amazing cause. All money raised will go directly to support cancer patients and families. 


Your donation will be paid directly into a WAIMR bank account, so funds will be available for its immediate use. There will be no need to wait until the event is over for the presentation of a big cardboard cheque.

WAIMR is registered with the Australian Taxation Office as a Deductible Gift Recipient, so everyone who donates $2 or more will receive a Tax Receipt.


I'm hoping to also hunt down a few big sponsors in the way of Perth businesses  If you have any other ideas or experience with fund raising large amounts of money I would absolutely LOVE to hear them!! I'm thinking car washes and sausage sizzles. What else???

Please click here or any picture above to donate!

Please feel free to share my plea for help!

Big smooshy thank you kisses in advance!!








Doing it for

Theresa Ballantyne passed away on the 30/08/1986
Veronica May Stuart 05/05/1962 - 17/11/1992
James John Stuart 01/03/1932 - 04/01/2000

and everyone else who has been affected by cancer





Joining up with Jess for her last ever #IBOT over at Diary of a SAHM before her big unveiling over at Essentially Jess!





And because this is such an awesome important cause I'm also flashing my blog over with Bree at Twinkle in the Eye and flogging my blog with Grace at With Some Grace




 



Sunday 28 October 2012

The time we went camping without a plan - final instalment I promise ;)

Sooooooo, to recap for those of you just joining our recent camping with no plan adventure

Part 1 we left Perth late and travelled to Dalwallinu

Part 2 we drove all the way to Meekatharra

Part 3 we had heaps of fun exploring some places around Cue

This bring us to this part. The last part. I promise. Yeah I know, sorry to draw it out over 4 instalments. I just didn't want to bore you guys too much!


We were up super early in Cue as we had at least a 650km drive in front of us and we wanted to detour to check out a place we had heard about.

Since we were looking for some adventure we decided to detour the safety of the Great Northern Highway and took to the back roads! The dirt back roads!

We headed back towards Walga Rock, passed it  and praying that the basic map we clutched to was correct we headed towards Yalgoo.




With a quick toilet pit stop in the tiny town that had emus roaming the streets we drove towards our destination. Jokers Tunnel.

Wow! What a site to marvel at!

The tunnel was hand carved (pick axe thingys) through the solid rock of a mountain by early gold prospectors.






It's a pretty spectacular tunnel!



The light at the end of the tunnel!




Big "snake warning" signs sort of detured me from walking through but we hopped in the car and drove around the other side.




Back on the road and we were back on the red dirt. Orginally we were going to be heading  back towards Paynes Find but being the adventurise risk taker that we are we followed some different signs back to the highway. 

The risk paid off and after about 200km of gorgeous red dirt landscape we came out 109kms of Wubin where we decided to stop at a road house for lunch.


Burger time!!


Then it was Perth or bust! Passed some HUGE trucks on the way home. Some that blocked the whole road and saw us and 20 other cards pulled over in a rest area waiting for them to pass!





After over 1500kms of adventure we made it home.




It was an amazing 4 day road trip. The perfect way to spend the lead up to our wedding anniversary!

Amount of km's travelled  - 1527
Number of live kangaroos seen - 4
Number of Emus seen - 15
Number of lizards seen and not run over - 6
Number of goats seen - uncountable
Number of snakes seen - 1
Number of towns visited - 14
Number of huge rocks climbed - 1
Number of ghost towns explored - 1

Number of new memories created - endless



Can't wait until we can do it again!











You can also follow me on
facebook | www.facebook.com/TheAussieHausfrau
Twitter | @AussieHausfrau
Instagram | @aussie_hausfrau

If you've been following me on facebook you may or may not know that I have registered for a 220km bike ride  for the Perth Ride to Conquer Cancer in 2013. This is a cause close to my heart as I have lost some very special people to this horrible disease. As part of my entry I need to fund raise a minimum of $2500 to take part in the actual ride. I really hate asking for donations but I've been told that it's the only way! Do you have a spare $2? Every little bit helps. All money raised will go directly to support cancer patients and families. Thank you!!

Thursday 18 October 2012

The time we went camping without a plan - Part 3



Welcome to Day 3 of our little adventure. Today was an active day!





First. Have you read part 1 and part 2? No? I'll wait while you go catch up

*hold music*

All caught up? Good.



So. Had big plans to get up and watch the sunrise. Well, I was up. The sun rose. Didn't see it though. Crappy view.



I dragged Mr Hausfrau out of bed and we started the morning with a 3km walk around the Meeka Creek Trail





OMFG!



The entire 3km was littered with crap and most signs had been vandalised! The further I walked the more pissed off I got!



Grrrrrrrr - don't. even. get. me. started.


*mutter* disrespectful - disgraceful - disgusting *mutter*

Afterwards we walked down to the truck stop, you know the one, the one with the freaking trucks that kept us up all night, for a nice coffee. Then we packed up camp, hit the road and headed back towards Cue. We had some exciting places to visit!





First stop was the tourist info shop for some town knowledge. Mr Hausfrau had been to the area a few years back but says he doesn't remember. He didn't even remember that he had stayed in Cue before! I say old age. He says it wasn't memorable enough to remember.




We missed the Outback Triathlon by 2 days! Bugger! I would have loved to have seen this as I was meant to be doing the local Duathlon back in Perth on the Sunday but the chance of a getaway won out over it though... Meh, next year.



Anyhoo...



All info'd up we hit the road and started the drive towards the historic ghost town of Big Bell. Once a thriving mining town it's a shell of its former glory with a few remaining building and tributes to its glorious history.








We even got to see our only snake of the whole trip! It's a Ringed Brown Snake!



The pics on the left and right are the ones we took and hard to see. The middle photo is one I prepared earlier from here.

It was down the bottom of an old well type concrete thingy. We were perfectly safe.






Next stop was the absolutely amazing Walga Rock!










It is the second largest monolith in Australia. First being Uluru.








First we explored the cave with all the aboriginal rock painting.







Next we drove around it.










Then. Yeah you know what's coming don't you?



WE FREAKING CLIMBED IT!






IT. WAS. AWESOME!










Heading back to Cue we checked in at the Cue Tourist Park. What a great place! (free plug! free plug! free plug!) They've just expanded and have all new facilities. Very awesome facilities! They even have a TV room! Not that we needed it but would be great if camping with kidlets!



We found a spot right behind the old gaol and set up camp.





After lunch and a refreshing shower (in the awesome shower facilities) we were off again to walk around the town and checked out some historic buildings.





After such an active day it was dinner and early to bed.

No trucks.
No Belgian chitty chatty back packers.
No cold weather.

Still no sleep!!



To be continued.......

(only one more post I promise!)










You can also follow me on
facebook | www.facebook.com/TheAussieHausfrau
Twitter | @AussieHausfrau
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