Mummy & Daddy

Bloody hell Australia is a big country. I was happy to have my knitting to keep my company for the 4.5 hour flight time. Having already flown Qantas and Jetstar, I was now with Australia’s third major airline and wow have they put a stop to anything complimentary. I’m glad I had a big lunch in Melbourne otherwise I’d have been starving.

Mum, Dad and Tina were staged nearby ready for my landing. Dad was driving Mum’s lovely car and I was happy to slide into the back of it. My first time seeing Tina in about five years, there was no song and dance. She’d landed off a 17 hour flight from London earlier in the day so it was only the beginning of a long day for her.

We drove to Geoff and Denise Piper’s vacant house (they were holidaying somewhere) which was to be our base for the night. We had a couple of hours to kill so we sat on the back porch next to the pool and Dad caught me up on the Port Bouvard presidential drama over a cold Carlton. He was a happy recipient of some Pebble Beach swag – my Continental tyre stubby holders.

Tina and Mum took front seats this time as we drove to Tina’s mate Shirley’s place. What should have been a twenty minute drive turning into a 1.5 hour cruise down to Fremantle and back since Tina had put the address into Google maps wrong. Nothing like more travel after a full day of travel!

Shirley is a lovely girl who we picked up at her apartment then walked to the local strip looking for a pub. Mum and Dad had met Shirley while visiting Tina up in Kununurra and it was nice to hear her story. She was excited to announce she’d just put an offer in on an apartment of her own (only $450,000 for a two-bedroom!) and asked Dad if he could help her navigate the particulars, including an inspection of the place before signing. He was more than happy to oblige.

Tina was fading from her jet lag so that brought an end to the night and we were all grateful for only a fifteen minute drive home.

Home to My Mini

We had nowhere to be in a hurry in the morning so after a leisurely breakfast around the table where we debated the function of guttering and pipework leading into and out of the pool, we went out for a walk. I took the opportunity to snap a family photo because who knew when we’d all be together again.

We walked around a nearby park, joining other locals in their jaunt around the sports fields and bush land but we had our jumpers on to protect from the ocean wind. Back at our rooms, we had some morning tea and watched the tennis (US open).

After that, it felt a bit like cleaning up before leaving an AirBnB but it was light work and we were out the door pretty easily. This time, our destination address was confirmed before driving off. We were dropping Tina off at another mate’s house where she would hang out before going back to the airport to fly to Broome and start the next chapter of her life there.

Lisa was a heavily pregnant woman who was proud to show us around their humble home, especially the recently re-done bathroom. The small dogs barked at us from inside their enclosure and when we went to leave, proceeded to link the front windows incessantly.

Bye sister, nice seeing ya. I gave her a hug at least. Just another goodbye for Mum & Dad – I wonder if they’re used to it by now? Seeing their two children coming and going at random intervals.

It was my turn to drive now, all the way home to Dawesville. What a beautiful car Mum’s got. I can see why she likes it so much. It was nearing lunch time by the time we got into Mandurah so I floated pies as an idea and it was picked up. I am shameless! There was a great bakery around the corner from home so we pulled in then enjoyed the smell of them before digging in sitting at the outside table.

Felt good to be “home”. Even better, was the vanilla slice from the Roadhouse that we had for dessert. Shameless!

Always the family to be juggling logistics, Mum left us soon after to head to Gran’s. She was having a minor operation and needed a pick-up. That meant shed time for me and Dad. What a pleasure to see my car again and to sit in the brand new leather bucket seats (without the red piping). It was parked in the front position so it was easy to roll it out for a wash. When Dad started hosing her down, I took the sponge from him. My car. I’m washing it.

With it sitting there all sparkly and clean, we couldn’t resist taking it for a drive. We cruised down to the Estuary and within seconds of being behind the wheel, I remembered everything about this car. The way you lean forward to start it so you can hit the fuel pump switch and turn the key shortly after, the way you dip the gearstick into second gear before engaging first, the specific pitch of the engine at high revs. I couldn’t stop smiling.

We toured the bowls club and the yacht club with Dad pointing out different people’s houses as we went along. They sure had found themselves a nice neighborhood to call home.

Back home, we parked the Mini back in the shed and got onto concreting the edges of the garden shed. It was easy work with two people and a wheelbarrow full of beige cement. He hadn’t intentionally color matched what was already there, but hey, it looked pretty good. After cleaning up, it was time for another Mini drive to Gran’s house.

We put in an order for fish and chips at the Canal Shop (because it’s Friday) not far from Gran’s house. Gran was still asleep when we got to her place so Mum gave me the grand tour. She’d swapped the views of the canal for a smaller place that was nicely enclosed to protect from the wind and to keep her dog Lady safely at home. Having kept the same furniture, it felt like Gran’s place, especially when the cuckoo clock made noise every hour!

Gran came out and joined us watching the footy final with her hair colored a bright purple from the dye they’d put into her neck for her procedure. She was still a little out of it, but we had a nice chat.

I went solo to pick up dinner and it threw me back to old times when I’d just gotten my license and jumped at any opportunity to drive my car. I felt about as happy as I’d been back then. It feels good to still have things from my past that anchor me to those times.

Gran was off to bed at half time but we stayed having a couple of beers until the final siren. Mum was staying the night in her role as carer but Dad and I said goodnight. It was probably the first time any of the Minis was driven at night and we discovered the headlights don’t point straight by a long shot.

Firewood

I was up early to watch the US Open Semifinal between Medvedev and Alcaraz. Mum had done the same and we were texting back and forth. It wasn’t a very dramatic game but was a good watch all the same.

Mum got home before the end so we watched together as Medvedev won the fourth set to seal the match. Dad had long since gone outside to muck around so we went out to see and were soon moving firewood logs.

Dad had borrowed a petrol-powered log splitter from the neighbor and wow what a great piece of machinery it is. Tell you what, it made a hell of a noise cracking the big ones in two.

We had a whole trailer load of wood from a neighbour’s cut down tree to get through and by the end of it we had two full rows of firewood inside the garden shed. It was satisfying work and though it seemed like we were being a little greedy with all this wood, Dad assured me that they would burn it all through the next winter in their pot-belly stove.

We were overdue for lunch when we were done and poor Dad knew that the price of borrowing the log splitter would be getting stuck in an endless conversation with the neighbor upon its return. While he was gone, I got to work water-blasting the tiles down the side of the house that had grown green with moss. Another satisfying job.

When Dad finally escaped the neighbor, he was sat inside watching another footy final on the phone with Tina. Mum and I wanted no part in that so we set to relaxing outside in preparation for Mum’s Saturday night fire ritual. We got it going and sat by it chatting, rolling our eyes every time there was a cry of “Eric!” or some other quip we didn’t understand.

As the sun was fading, Mum remembered they had a fun game we could play called Finska (or Battle Blocks) so we played that (I destroyed Mum) until it got dark.

Inside, we heated up some leftovers for dinner. Mum and I retreated into her TV room (the final was still going) and watched My Kitchen Rules. It had gone noticeably quiet in the main room because the Brisbane Lions (Dad & Tina’s team) were ahead by a margin. They’d made it to the top eight.

Coffee and Cars

Dad and I were up at 7am, had a quick breakfast, then had enough time to wipe down the cars to get the bugs off from last night’s drive. Sil then met us in the driveway with his 1948 Ford F-Truck Panel Van. A custom monster with a beautiful paint job, done by him, a talent in the automotive painting world. He’s a lovely old guy that Mum happened to meet when walking down by the estuary and what a great friend he’s become.

We drove in a convoy into Mandurah and Sil later said that he felt like mother duck watching over his ducklings as us two in our Red Minis pottered along infront of him.

We pulled into a nice open park and paid our $5 entrance fee to Coffee and Cars. This is a few-times-a-year event so I was lucky to have been here at the right time to experience it. Coffee and Cars is a worldwide Saturday morning phenomenon but this was my first time attending one, and what a great way to start by showing off my pride and joy!

There was a turquoise Mini Clubman that had recently parked up and when he saw us, he moved over to join us Minis. The Clubman owner, Edward, quickly got talking to Dad and they talked history of their cars.

Sil was a regular to these events and seemed to know everybody so I followed him as we started wandering the field. Dad soon joined us with a coffee for the boys and then we really got our stroll on. It was exactly what you’d expect at a low-key car show.

There was a guy with a dark green old Holden and a knitted cardigan to match, the old couple in their deck chairs sitting right by their machine crowd-watching and the hands-in-pocket stance of many a Dad with the head tilted down to inspect the inner workings.

The sun came out giving us a beautiful morning to enjoy. Unfortunately Sil had to make an early exit when he got a call from his wife reporting that she’d fallen into a bit of a hole while walking the dog. She was ok, but hey, duty calls.

After we’d toured the paddock we meandered back to our vehicles and when a 7-ish year old boy showed a keen interest in the Minis, I offered for him to sit in it and he thought that was just great. He couldn’t quite reach the pedals though. That got us talking to his parents, a European couple who were the proud owners of a Tesla but ashamed sellers of a Mini Moke. You could tell he regretted letting it go.

Just as we were about to make a move, a guy showed up with a dark green Mini Moke (that really tugged at the European guy’s heart strings). It was his dog walking car and his big Aussie shepherd had no qualms about perching in the rear tub of the Moke during the drive. He usually drove down to this park for his weekend walk so he figured he might as well park up with us.

As we left, I laughed at the “dickhead” sign which gave appropriate warning to prevent unnecessary burnouts and was stoked at the beautiful photos the organizers took of us as we drove out.

We stopped in at Jaycar Electronics for a pocket transistor radio. I was going old school in preparation for the Singapore GP. Having an AM tuner is the only way to get the trackside commentary through your headphones as opposed to trying to listen to it over the track speakers (which are never loud enough). Dad graciously spotted me the $15.

Just for something different, we swapped cars and I drove Dad’s Mini home.

Mum was just heading out to the shops as we got home so I parked the Mini then hopped in with her. I didn’t want to miss an experience! I got a tin of Milo and Allen’s Party Mix to take back to the Gooding kids. We barely filled a small trolley and walked out $300 poorer. Ouch.

After chowing into hot chicken sandwiches for lunch, we finally had time to sit and watch the women’s final that had been on last night. It was a great three set match won by the local girl, Coco Gauff. She was 19 years old. When I’d mentioned at the start of the match that I thought it would be her first Grand Slam if she won, Mum looked it up and said that she’d won the US Open before, when she was 19. Little did she know, she’d just read a spoiler but thankfully she didn’t realize it!

After that, I was itching to do something so Dad and I spent the afternoon cleaning and dismantling the subframes from the spares Mini. It was going to be a case of choosing the best pair out of the ones of the spare and the ones off the Cafe Racer.

Mal and Tona came around just as I was changing out of my Dad-provided rag clothes. These are great mates that Mum and Dad made when they were living out at Wandering and Dad has done many a job for Mal out at their roadhouse near Boddington. Mal has been a mighty great help for me too, serving as Dad’s back-up when he didn’t know the answers to my mechanical or auto-electrician questions. The most recent quest Mal had helped me through was with Berta’s air conditioning.

We sat outside and chatted over a few drinks then enjoyed a lovely BBQ dinner in the same spot. Both Mal and Tona are just so down-to-earth and they say it like it is. We talked frustrations about getting a long term camp spot for the winter months, bakery business ventures gone wrong thanks to Covid and the latest goings on with the roadhouse.

Once it was properly dark, we went inside to play Queenies. This was a game taught to Mum & Dad by Mal and Tona and one that I’d DESTROYED my parents at while we had a long wait in a United airport lounge a few months ago. My talents had dispersed and I barely won a round. Dad and Mal were meant to play cards together, they have the same attitude towards destroying their opponents.

As we were winding down, my new hobby of knitting came up and Dad instructed me to do a show-and-tell. I did so happily and when I did a demonstration, Tona leaned back and said, “I know how to knit and that’s not how you knit” Haha! Turned out I’ve been doing it left-handed (and therefore wrong) this whole time! I was grateful for the quick hands-on lesson she gave me since I’d been working off a little written booklet. Now I was on my way!

Mini Moke

We watched a bit of the men’s US open final (Djokovic vs. Medvedev) over breakfast then all drove together to the bowls club. I was going for the Keep Fit experience that Mum goes to twice a week and Dad, though not president anymore had to do some floor mopping?

An 80-something year old club member led a group of about thirty in some gentle exercise aimed at keeping the oldies fit and healthy. It was great fun and she made me and a few other newcomers feel very welcome from the outset. She had a great playlist and kept everyone together nicely. Some of the leg exercises I found to be quite hard!

Once exercise hour was over, Dad met us in the carpark for some social chat (unfortunately about Covid) then we were home to finish the tennis. We didn’t quite get that far because Dad needed a trip to Bunnings for an irrigation part and that meant a drive in the Moke!

Having not left the shed in a while, we gave her a quick wash, made sure the roof was tied down securely and then we were off, with me at the helm. We didn’t get very far because we pulled into the neighbor Brian’s driveway for a look at his project, a Mercedes Log Truck. What a beast of a thing! Brian had been working outside on his Landcruiser which I thought was a little weird since he was situated right outside a gigantic shed that surely would have been a better place to do mechanicals. Well, I understood why, because this bloody great big truck was taking up the space!

We shot the shit with Brian for a good half hour while his dog Izzy made me miss Cleo. She had the same face and gentle demeanor and was the same shade of brown without the white patches. She couldn’t have cared less that Brian’s smaller dog was biting at her ear, she just wanted a little pat to the head. I said to Dad as we left that Brian was Ross. He reminded me a lot of my Aussie mate in Santa Cruz.

Back to our original mission, the roof flapped away as we picked up speed and she pulled violently to the left if you took any pressure off the steering wheel, but hey, she was cruising.

When a guy in a ute kept pace with us in the next lane, I looked up to see none other than mother duck! Sil had found his ducklings! We pulled over to have a chat and he gave us the latest on his wife’s mishap and we talked about paint job options for the Cafe Racer (no painter is every truly retired from his craft). Sil was heavily in the camp of leaving the old rally mini in its patina original colors and we were in ignorance of how it could be done.

We said goodbye and finally made it to Bunnings where it felt a little weird to just walk away from a cary without locking it or even closing a door. Dad got his trickle part and went through checkout on his phone. Sounds like a good idea until we had to wait at the checkout line for the girl to find the correct device to scan his phone. Oh dear, at least they’re trying to be smart.

I was thoroughly sick of of the 70 km/h speed limit by the time we got home. While Dad fiddled with his trickles, Mum and I watched the rest of the tennis. We both feared a five hour match so had our vices to keep our hands busy while watching – me knitting and Mum with her diamond dot.

Roadhouse pies out of the freezer were our lunch and we were still watching the tennis when Dad sauntered off to the club for his evening bar duties (still not the president!).

With the tennis finished (bloody Djokovic won), I was antsy to do something so I went out to the shed to continue subframe work. I water blasted the two we’d already cleaned up and removed the pair from the Cafe Racer. They took some hammering and I was careful to let them down gently without trying to hold the weight myself. When I was tackling the rear frame, it was handy that the fuel tank was just sitting in the boot so I could get to the bolts holding the subframe in place.

I had just enough time to remove both subframes before a sunset drive with Mum. I’d made a big mess on the floor but I could deal with that tomorrow. I shut up the workshop and pulled my Mini out of the shed for us to go driving.

We drove towards the ocean and through the familiar neighborhood that is fraught with kangaroos. So much so that I think people rely on them to keep their lawns trimmed. Within view of the ocean, we drove through the empty development that had been someone’s big dream before walking up a path to the top of the sand dunes to watch the sun creep lower.

The sun dipped behind a band of clouds, then shone out again once more before fading into the ocean. It was a pretty one.

At home, we didn’t wait for Dad but ate our curry for dinner and watched some terrible TV (Bargain Hunters). When Dad got home, we kicked Mum out to her TV room and watched some WRC, even though it was out of context for Dad because he was well behind. When we’d finished that, Dad found some coverage of the Goodwood Revival and we laughed at Jenson Button tearing it up in an old banger with other pundits from F1’s “who’s who”.

Last Catch-Ups

In the morning, the technical center was open for business. The microphone on Dad’s computer had failed him and in trying to fix it, I managed to stuff up the speakers. Embarrassing! After getting on the phone with Lenovo and listening to them suggest a factory reset, I walked away, pissed off.

We went on a walk out to “The Cut” then and enjoyed a calm day. This was where the ocean flowed into the estuary and Dad explained that Sil used to live on the inlet and they’d moved away after only a year because they hated the wind. I could see what he meant. On this, a calm day, you could still see salt spray in the air.

We made it out to the point and then wandered through a bit of sandy suburbia situated on man-made canals where there were still plenty of vacant lots where people parked their caravans, boats and other toys. It was a nice spot as long as you weren’t up the end of the canal where all the debris and rubbish ended up.

Back home, I had a light bulb moment with the computer and managed to fix the speakers and figured I was best leaving it at that, despite not having fixed the original problem.

With that done we were off to lunch with Gran at the Ravenswood Pub. No Mini this time to allow for the elderly so we picked her up in Mum’s car. Still with a tinge of purple in her hair, Gran moved slowly and looked smaller than ever as she hopped into the car. While we’d hoped to sit outside, the wind had picked up so we retreated inside. It was my first time inside the establishment and it took on a new “senior’s” vibe, especially when a bus load of oldies piled in, thankfully just after we’d placed our orders.

I ticked another Aussie food box by having a huge Chicken Parma with a couple beers and Gran surprised me by sliding $50 across the table for my birthday. She covered lunch too. Thanks Gran!

When we got home, I took Mum’s e-bike out for a spin. We’d planned on going for a ride together but with rain in the forecast I at least had to see how this thing ran. Like a top! It was quick and nimble to give me the feeling of wind in my hair as I toured up and down the cul-de-sac. The only downside was the weight of it.

In the afternoon, we finished off the subframe work. Surprisingly, the ones off the Cafe Racer weren’t as bad as Dad first thought. We only had to grind off one brake line fitting, all the other bolts and nuts came loose ok.

We got inside and were cleaned up in time to meet Kevin and Dee. Kevin and Dad were ont he board of the club together but this couple meant a lot to more in other ways. They’d helped me through a very tough time in my life despite being complete strangers and on the opposite side of the world. They just happened to have experience with the same situation I’d been dealing with, so they’d been a tremendous support. It was great to finally meet them in person.

Mum put out a beautiful platter of finger food followed by home made sausage rolls and Mac ’n’ cheese for dinner. We talked nonstop about life, travel, club drama, my drama, their son’s escapades in the Birds of Tokyo all the way up until 10pm. After enjoying a hot drink with Mum’s delicious rocky road, we said goodbye and they wished me well for my future.

I went to bed that night feeling content. It was my last night in my home country and now that I’d seen Kevin and Dee, I’d done it all. I’d seen everyone I wanted to see, spent time with those I most wanted to and hadn’t felt out of place once.

Rainy Day Goodbye

When I got out of bed I saw Dad in his work gear so I donned the same uniform. Before shed time through, the technical center was open for business again. This time it was my hardware. My phone had stopped working, turning off at a whim despite a full charge. Good thing it happened now because I’d have been stuck if it shit itself in the next week. Thankfully the phone I’d bought Dad in the US was already an antique in his mind so I snagged it and transferred everything over.

After watching “The Block” with Mum for a bit, I ventured out into the shed through sideways rain and incredible wind.

Just like old times, Dad was on the petrol bath and I was on the sand blaster. Way more upmarket than the old days though. Dad had built himself a sandblasting booth, complete with a sealed glovebox and recirculating system and the petrol bath had a trigger-actuated hose, also recycling the petrol.

We stayed in our positions all morning and I think by lunch time I’d managed to clean two sets of drum brake bits. The rain continued pelting down when we went inside to wash up and Mum already had lamb chops on for lunch.

We watched some more of the “The Block” then I packed my shit up. We were aiming to leave at 2pm and I was ready by 1:45pm so we piled into Mum’s car for a wet drive to the airport. We didn’t talk much in the car, but I made a point of thanking Mum and Dad. It’s a weird thing to say because they already know how grateful I am to have them, but I just wanted them to know how much this time had meant to me and that I was going to be ok. I was excited for what was next.

I smiled the whole drive. I was just so happy at the time I’d had in Aus. To top it off, this was the only bad weather day I’d had and the intensity of it was making us laugh, especially when we came out from under a bridge to a loud smashing of rain on the windscreen.

At the airport, it was more smiles. The last time I’d said goodbye to my parents it had been teary, but not this time. I was smiling big, excited to start my next chapter. Thanks Mum and Dad. Love you so much.

7 – 14 Sep, 2023.