It was a wonderful Sunday morning.
Actually, it was an exceptional Sunday morning.
One can't help but feel like a Princess when you open your eyes in the morning to see your favourite person in the world walking into your room, arms laden with an assortment of brightly wrapped gifts.
Not only is it my birthday, it was also day 1 of vacation, our road trip up north of Western Australia.
We had a bit of work to do in the morning, having had a really hectic week and needing to do a few things before we left the house to the house-sitter, but seeing as our first overnight road stop was Dongara, around 4 hours drive away, we were not in any hurry to leave. Normally when we go to Exmouth we leave at about 4am to try and arrive before the sun starts to go down. Driving in Australia is best kept to daylight hours as most of the wildlife is active from dusk to dawn so to avoid hitting and killing our beautiful animals we try and stick to sunlight hours. By 12 we were on our way after a hand over chat to the house sitter (our wonderful, beautiful, trustworthy house sitter, bless her!) and a lot of checks to make sure all was in order and packed.
Now, if anyone knows my hubby, they will know that he is very much a creature of habit and getting him to do things different is quite the chore. This can very much be a good thing, but sometimes it can also be frustrating. Well, I am very proud to say that for this trip I finally got him to shed his reliance on CD's for music and over the last few weeks I have been loading a 2nd hand ipod I bought. So this is our first road trip using an ipod! Welcome to the 2'000's hahaha. So far it has been a great success. A great shuffle of music both of us love, and the ability to change the mood with different playlists.
Our first and only road stop was at Eneabba roadhouse. Upon arrival I didn't think much, but as a regular road tripper I know better than to judge a road house by its cover and this ran true of this place. We ordered a bit of lunch each and it was cooked to perfection. Hobbit had a roast roll with gravy and I had a chicken cheese toastie, both being delicious and really well made. We were very sad to read about the owners losing their beloved roadhouse kitty 10 weeks ago, apparently it was very friendly and they think someone must have popped it in their car and driven off. Hopefully they get it back.
Arrived in Dongara at 5 and despite arriving at the wrong holiday park at first, we found our way to the place we are staying - the Dongara Tourist Park. Our cabin is absolutely stunning with ocean front views and a lovely well laid out setting. We are right at the edge of town so our chalet has no neighbours, very secluded. We emptied the car then went for a beach walk straight away. Saw the memorial obelisk and walked the harbor groin to watch a very magical Dongara sunset over the ocean. Pure magic.
For birthday dinner we got my favourite take out - fish and chips with salad! and watched Star Wars on the telly. It was lovely fish and chips and I couldn't have asked for a better way to end my birthday. Hobbit crashed early as he had slept really restlessly last night, so as I write this I am enjoying the sound of him snoring and sleeping soundly in the room next door. That means he is relaxed and catching up on well deserved rest.
After this, I am going to delve into one of my many birthday presents, the first book in a series written by my favourite historical novelist, Alison Weir. The series is called "The Six Tudor Queens" and first book is called "Katherine of Aragon, the true Queen". I will really enjoy getting through this, Hobbit chose my birthday gifts really well! I also got a boxed set of Prince previously unreleased songs on Vinyl and CD, bloody awesome! One of the things I was very excited to do when my ADD treatment had begun was read. Previously reading was always difficult and pointless as I never remembered anything I had read, now that I have focus and the ability to concentrate I can't wait to be nose deep in the pages of many great books, and believe me I have LOADS to read. Over the years I might not have been reading much but I still bought them.
I have attached some photos of the first day of our journey, I am sure you will enjoy them. I love nothing more than showcasing the magnificent north of WA, we are so very lucky to be living in the most spectacular place on the planet.
So, I enjoyed a very happy birthday, thanks to Hobbit, holidays, wildflower season, sunsets, Dongara fish and chips, and many wonderful messages from beautiful friends and treasured family. Aren't I so very lucky xxx
