a day in Albany

Correction: our cottage is not unchanged. Rather, the original cottage is a clear part of the current structure.

There is a two-room cottage made up of bedroom and other room. The "other" room has -- perhaps had originally -- a fireplace, the room may have been living / kitchen / anything else. There was (I believe) a verandah front and back.

The front verandah is still there, with a view past the Entertainment Centre and across the harbour. We're on Frederick St, btw. #26. The back verandah is now kitchen, dining room, bathroom. With a second bedroom added on the side.

All walls look the same from inside. Well lined, nicely painted. The older walls are more solid, brick or stone. There is an online reference to "an 1800s cottage", that would be the older part. I suspect it was all thoroughly restored, relatively recently.

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We have two full days in Albany. Day one, we tested the start of the 4wd track. Learnt enough that we will bypass a lot of the start of the track.

Today we explore the town. Sorry, the city.

Deb has decided the we should walk along Middleton Beach to Emu point. It's a beautiful day for a beach walk: cool but breezy. After a few km I ask Deb, Is this walk to replay childhood memories, or is it because she has always wished to do the walk ? It's quite a long walk.

Nearly 5km along the beach and we finally reach the Emu Point cafe. Just in time, a drizzly rain starts. No worries, we sit inside with an iced coffee, a pot of tea, a shared white chocolate brownie -- a "blondie". Delicious :-)

We walk back. The wind is howling in off the sea. The drizzle is light, intermittent. We start by walking along a sealed track, sheltered from the wind. The flies also appreciate the shelter.

By a strage coincidence it is also nearly 5km to walk back... We feel that we have done our exercise and can relax for the rest of the day. After, that is, walking a bit extra to find a geocache.

We find one cache on the walk out. We fail to find the one at the end of our walk. But we do find a few more, as we drive round town.

First, though, we have lunch. At the Three Anchors cafe at Middleton Beach, the start & end point for our beach walk. Shared fish & chips. Nice.

Our afternoon driving starts down by the docks. We check the giant seahorse painting on the silos, impressive. An unexpected cache by the water's edge, an unfound cache near a sculptural windvane on the mole protecting the marina. Couldn't find that cache but we're glad to have found the sculpture.

Then around Mt Clarence. Up to the top, wander round, find a cache. Admire the views over Frenchmans Bay and the rubbish tip. We also find a cache in a small park called something like Cooija, the Friendly Place. (Or something.) Enormous granite rocks, a bit of lawn, seats, bush. The sort of place which we would never find if not for geocaching.

Enough ! We drive home and collapse with tea & coffee and... doing as little as possible. I sleep for a bit. It's a bit chilly, Deb gets the gas fire lit.

Dinner is caneloni that we had picked up at IGA the other day. Very nice.

An evening spent relaxing. I may be early to bed...

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Real people don't make very good politicians." … Ginger Meggs
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
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4wd track test

We have two full days in Albany. Today, we test-drive the 4wd track...

Saturday night I crash early to bed, about eight o'clock. Wake up at 6am, get up just a bit later. Our plan is to drive to Elleker -- where the track ends -- and follow the track (in reverse) to Denmark. An easy, not too long drive. Testing the track and the track notes.

No rush. We set off after 8:30. Buy coffee at Elleker, head from there at 9:15.

It should be possible to see the track on our gps, that doesn't work, not sure why. Some of the track shows, not today's section. Not to worry, all the waypoints are there. Deb follows the track notes -- in reverse. I watch the gps map and head towards waypoints. It's all quite easy.

Every so often I adjust the tyre pressure, let some air out. I don't have a particular pressure to aim for, I just drive, let out some air, drive a bit more -- until the ride feels smooth enough.

It takes several stops to let out enough air. Not that the track is rough... The truck was recently serviced, I just can't believe how too-hard the tyres have been pumped. In fact they are so hard that I had to let out air on the highway to Albany. It takes several stops to get the tyres down to a comfortable pressure.

Another test of the system: the gps shows track waypoints in red and geocaches in purple. There are two caches just 3km off the track, we drive to them.

Very nice spot -- we have found the Hay River. Never heard of it before, the caches are at camp/picnic spots by a large pool on the river. We get close but fail to find either cache...

The first cache is -- presumably -- in the bush near the parking space. The bush is wet, we don't want to get wet, we give up. At the second cache, someone is camped. We don't want to disturb them. So, back to the 4wd track, caches unfound.

The bush is wet ? Yes... it's been drizzling rain all morning. Annoying drizzle, I'm constantly turning the wipers on and off. A bit of a worry: this track is said to get boggy when wet.

Down a sand track which is interestingly rough. Then a series of "wombat holes" which we could handle -- but, beyond those -- a nasty bit of bog.

I step across the bog -- and sink in. I think we could drive across with at least two wheels tracking on solid ground, two in the mud. Can we do it ? Probably. But that's not good enough. (a) I don't take risks with just the two of us in the one truck. (b) The track notes mention more bog and two river crossings still to come.

We turn back.

Past those geocache sites. We stop for lunch -- a very pleasant spot looking over the river. We eat in the truck, it's still drizzling rain. We don't look for the caches.

There are some mapped tracks following the river, that would lead to a later point in the track waypoints. By going beside the river for a few km we could cross that river on a sealed road.

Wrong ! The river-following track has bog holes. Okay, we may be able to hug the edge of the track and squeeze by. Again, we don't. We turn back.

Back to the highway, along the scenic drive back to Albany. It's a nice drive. It's not the 4wd track. We managed to follow perhaps 50km of the planned 160.

We spend the afternoon sitting in our cottage. Reading. Relaxing. Listening to the rain.

Evening, we decide to go out for dinner. "Rustlers". It seems to be an American franchise. Friendly -- almost smarmy -- staff, food is good. We share ribs and share dessert. Then set off to look for the lights.

There is a WW I memorial light display at the top of Mt Clarence. Takes us a while to find our way but it is worth the visit. Very atmospheric as long as we avoid the loud talkers and shouting children. There's a chill wind but the rain has stopped.

We appreciate the display then head back to the cottage.

Somewhat disappointing test of the track. On the other hand... This section is (I think) the only part with boggy bits. And -- as we travel north -- the weather will improve. Deb has checked the next part of the track notes, only one bog hole. And it seems that we can drive around that one.

Tomorrow we stay round Albany. Next day we try the next section of track.

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Real people don't make very good politicians." … Ginger Meggs
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====
   

it's another holiday :-)

Today, this blog shifts back to its original intent: a holiday journal. We are on holiday, a few days in Albany then driving home -- via 4wd tracks. Civilised, though... no camping.

The Mundaring to Albany ("Mundal") track is newly defined, various 4wd tracks linked, where necessary, by ordinary roads. The Mundal Track runs -- no surprise -- from Mundaring to Albany.

We will travel the track in reverse, starting from Albany. There are track notes in the form, "TR" at a given latitude/longitude. No worries with the lat/long, all waypoints are in the GPS. Deb -- as navigator -- will need to translate TR for north-to-south travel to whatever it is when driving south to north. Lucky Deb is a good navigator.

We set off on Friday but the fun really starts on Thursday:

I start loading the truck (ie our 4wd Prado). Just a few odds and ends, either straight into the truck or onto the family room floor, waiting to be loaded. Two days till we leave, on Saturday.

Deb goes to the hairdresser. Just as she's returning home, I'm taking the cat to have an ultrasound. Yes, we're going on holiday and the cat is sick. I spend an hour with the cat at the vet hospital. Deb, meanwhile, is off having lunch with a friend.

Later in the afternoon the vet phones. The cat has no internally visible problems. An earlier urine sample shows no infection. So it's an unpronounceable name for inflammation of the bladder. Daily medication is required. Deb phones Tim, who will be looking after the cat while we are away.

In the evening we have a bit of time to think about what we will need to take with us.

Friday, we look after our grandson. We drop him at home an hour earlier than usual, this gives us time to pack. Deb starts packing clothes, I spend ten minutes and have my own clothes packed. My more important role is to pack the electronics...

GPS for in-car navigation: good maps but battery good for only ten minutes, only good when plugged into car power. GPS for geocaching, multi-day batteries but no proper map. Oh, and a wrist-watch GPS in case we walk any long distances. We have no intention to walk anywhere at all. (Okay, *I* have no intention to walk.)

Tablet for this blog, for emails, for Deb to watch videos -- when I don't need the tablet. Mobile hot-spot for the tablet. Various plugs and wires for recharging. Deb's camera, recharge then pack. My camera, with spare batteries. I shave, then pack the shaver with its recharger. Phew.

There's a bit of food to be packed. Not much, we intend to eat in towns. Except for lunches, which will be between towns. Either sandwiches bought at the start of each day, or pot noodles... there is a small gas cooker in the truck. And I fill up the large "fitted" water tank, just in case.

Deb watches some television, I play World of Warcraft... then, an early night.

Saturday: no great rush to leave, we are just driving down the highway to Albany. Deb finishes her packing. I load everything into the truck. Breakfast... cat medication squeezed over the cat's food, she seems to accept it... we leave at about 8:30.

Our plan is to drive to Albany, stay there for three nights. We'll spend one day on the track, 4wd-ing, then back to Albany. A "free" day in Albany. Then get back on the 4wd track... with accommodation booked at two towns that the track crosses. Once I told Deb that we could stay in comfortable accommodation she would not allow me to pack a tent. So... no emergency back-up, we must reach those towns. No worries... I hope.

First stop on the drive is to refuel, 100 litres of diesel. Then we follow the highway.

We stop at Bannister for morning coffee and a berry crumble, very nice. The Bannister roadhouse has an excellent selection of bakery items.

We stop for a light lunch at the Black Cockatoo cafe in Kojonup. We like to stop regularly, to stretch our legs. My legs, really, since I'm the driver.

The bakery just off the highway at Mt Barker has a mouth-watering selection of bakery items... pity we are not after food :-( They are also playing a video of the food being made -- in-house, by hand. Mmmm... All we buy is coffee and tea to take away. It is so hot that it is at drinking temperature when we reach Albany. Just as well, due to a mis-communication Deb's coffee is black. She adds milk once we have reached our accommodation.

Our accommodation is a small cottage within a kilometre of town centre. Two bedrooms, one bathroom, kitchen, dining, lounge, verandah. Perhaps a hundred years old, cleaned and painted but no major refurbishments. We park the truck in a carport next to the house -- sheltered from the occasional drizzling rain -- find the key & let ourselves in.

It's beautiful... not flash but, well, beautiful. I like older cosy rather than modern sterile. It sleeps five or six but the living areas would be crowded with more than just us two. Specially since Deb & I each claim an entire two-person couch. The verandah is above a road, regular traffic but not too bad, from inside we can hear but not see the traffic. The advertised "sea view" is there... but not extensive.

And so we are in Albany. Resting, reading, writing. We need to go to the shops to buy milk, Deb has decided that we will buy a frozen pizza to heat-and-eat at home.

Time to go out and find a shop...

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Real people don't make very good politicians." … Ginger Meggs
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====
   

minor matters

In some matters, my grandson & I are passing each other... For both of us, going to the toilet is a hot topic for discussion. Both of us have moments when we must rush to the toilet: grandson when he was too excited to go earlier, me when I'm hit by a rush of urgent need.

Grandson will get better at toilet management; a few years from now he will be as capable and self-managed as anyone. In a few years... I could be worse. We are at a common stage, passing each other -- in different directions :-)

Years ago I recognised that running is good for the digestion. A long run will -- as my mother would have said -- get me moving. Well, I moved very rapidly after the weekend's trail run ! Now, all is back to normal. It seems that all my activity was pre-run nerves and post-run... get-up-and-go movement.

Incidentally: out of 225 people on that trail run, I beat two of them ! Yeehaa ! :-)

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Did I document my new cancer-related feeling ? Not anger, not misery, not one of the standard reactions. I just have a feeling of, This is ridiculous... Brain cancer ? aggressive ? terminal ? What a ridiculous situation !

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Google mail has gone mad... I'm getting apologetic messages about my last post, google says that it has not been delivered but more attempts will be made. Yet that post is well and truly posted, I can see it on the blog.

If the last post ("going back a bit") appears twice -- blame it on an obsessive compulsive but confused piece of mail software.

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A while ago I posted a link to this blog onto a Cancer Council discussion site  (https://onlinecommunity.cancercouncil.com.au/t5/Facing-end-of-life/bd-p/endoflife). I thought, other people with cancer may like to read one person's views. I planned to post the link then forget about it. One blog at a time !

Then there were four replies. With four different views of the cancer experience. My approach is to post, get it off my chest, stop thinking of the latest issue, feel better, carry on... but I think I should reply to those comments on the cancer council site. Just so I can stop thinking about those four replies :-)

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Relax. Only dread one day at a time." … Ginger Meggs

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/ :-)

going back a bit

It's a few days since my latest all-clear. Time to fill in some details... what few I can remember.

A correction: Whatever part of my brain I may have said had a tumour… the surgery was a "right parietal-occipital craniotomy". That's what it says on the scan results. I read a bit about that bit of brain, in Wikipedia.

Can't find the article now... but I do remember one function that was mentioned: navigation. So that's why I don't win at orienteering ! Not because I'm slow, just because the cancer affects my navigation. Hmmm... no... I don't think that's the excuse. I'm just slow.

=== 

Before getting the scan results: Deb & I are, of course, nervous. I also have a strange feeling of... certainty. I think of it as superstitious learning (it's not): the previous scan was clear therefore this next scan will be clear. Not really learning. More self-delusion.

It sounds positive: "knowing" that this scan will be clear. I don't like it. The more positive I feel before the result -- the bigger the potential let-down. So I treat it like feeling nervous, I avoid the extremes and move towards calmer, only slightly nervous anticipation. With a mildly hopeful expectation.

The scan results -- are good :-) Both Deb & I are pleased. Not, however, over-the-moon. Why not ? I have another three months to live ! But I am still tied to a three-monthly cycle of scans. When one fails -- it's back to cancer treatment. It's back to the expectation of imminent death.

The scan results are excellent news. I still have cancer, still hidden.

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No worries :-) We carry on with a busy weekend. Toy library on Saturday morning. Orienteering in the afternoon. I do a short course, I have a trail run tomorrow.

Sunday, I'm up at 4:15am. I could have taken another half hour in bed but like to be early for an organised run. This one is at Yanchep, I'm there as the organisers are starting to give out the bibs, the chest numbers. An hour to wait till the start.

Another reason I like to be early: plenty of time to go to the toilet. Three times.

I claim that my digestive process is back to near-normal but this morning is ridiculous. Three lots of good quality poo in one early morning. My poo-processing goes in fits and starts: nothing for a day or two then a burst of action over a couple of hours. Normal pre-run nerves starts the process. As long as it is all clear before the run, I'm happy.

Yes, no problems during the run. Oh, okay, I do stop running... twice... to pee in the bushes. That's just normal.

The run is fun. Fourteen kilometres round the lake. Four hundred runners. I start near the end of the pack and end even further back. It's my slowest ever pace for a trail run. Not to worry... I'm back to my aim from my very first trail runs: the aim is to complete the course, time is irrelevant. And I do finish :-)

On the way home I buy a Christmas tree, a real tree. The tree farm is near Yanchep, I phone Deb to get the address, I use the GPS to guide me. The GPS tries to guide me on a 100km trek through the city... I reset it and try again. Much better.

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Post-scan. I may not be over-the-moon. But I am cheerful. It's a good weekend. Just one oddity:

After lunch, still in post-run recovery (which I stretch out all afternoon and evening). A sudden rush to the toilet, the sort of rush that will not be denied. This time it's not normal, it's closer to diarrhoea… but black. Very strange. Oh well, it passes (lol).

Now I'm awake for a couple of appointments this (Monday) morning. First, to the GP. I liike to see her after a scan, share the good (so far) news. And to talk with a doctor who is not all-cancer.

Cancer does not stop other medical issues. My non-cancer medical needs are minor. The GP froze off a wart that was annoying me. Today I will ask her to check my ears, they feel full of wax. Minor stuff. But the GP is a good listener.

Then to get my hair cut. It's grown out from the post-radiation shaved look, ready to be cut. I've been waiting... If the scan showed fresh cancer I planned for a clean shave, clear the scalp before radiation cleared it for me. With a clear scan -- I will be asking for a "proper" hair cut.

Breakfast, doctor, hair cut. Then a relaxing day... Deb is on holiday, so I can relax and watch her work in the garden :-)

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Real people don't make very good politicians." … Ginger Meggs
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====
   

clear again :-)

Phew ! Another scan, another all-clear... I'm "cancer-free" for another three months. Quite a relief, for both me and Deb.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

...        Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Relax. Only dread one day at a time." … Ginger Meggs

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/ :-)

it's not just me

I'm not the only one with stressotoxin build-up as the scan date approaches. Deb confessed to "a restless night" before my latest scan. After more than forty years marriage I can tell the difference between a restless night and lying awake in the middle of the night.

When I was first pronounced "sick" and was suffering under the necessary treatment, Deb had many sleepless nights. Now she is sleeping normally -- usually -- again. Worried but not letting it *over* stress her. That's good.

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I'm still waiting on the latest results. Not so much worried as ... restless. Can't settle to anything. Just picking away at a few things that I need to do. Reading, playing, reading, eating, playing. I'm in the middle of reading two books, the final Harry Potter and the non-Potter book by Rowling. Enjoying them both but... I read a few chapters, get restless, do something else. Get tired of other things, read another chapter or two... Restless, can't settle to any one thing.

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Yesterday: At the playground, watching the grandson. A mother notices my polo shirt and asks about the motto: "Enjoy Life, three months at a time". First time anyone has asked. What do I say ? The first bit is easy.

"I get my head scanned every three months. If I am clear of cancer then I can Enjoy Life for another three months. If the cancer is back..."

I hesitate for just a fraction. "If the cancer is back then I'm dead. Or dying. Or something..." Oh, drat, a rapid backtrack, that was a bit abrupt. I hope she is not too upset :-( What should I have said ? I should, at least, have prepared an answer in advance.

Next time -- if the question is asked a next time -- I shall try, "If the cancer is back then it's another round of treatment. Sigh :-( So, meanwhile, I have three months to Enjoy Life :-)" There, that sounds better...

Of course when the question was asked I was down to enjoying life for just three *days*. In just a few days I will be starting another three months in which to Enjoy Life. And that's something to be glad about...

Or not, as the case may be :-)

====    Dr Nick Lethbridge  /  Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Real people don't make very good politicians." … Ginger Meggs
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====