quarry camping!

talk about an absolutely amazing weekend! our good friends in town told us about this place and showed me a picture. i couldn't believe i'd never heard of it before.  we decided to go out camping with them this weekend to the same place - an abandoned quarry up the windjana gorge turnoff just before fitzroy crossing.  it has been raining a fair bit here so the road into the quarry was liquid mud...we got to test our our new car's 4 wheel drive and my skills driving it. it was a bit scary but also kind of fun. i wish i'd gotten a picture of the car - it was absolutely covered in mud!  we got there early on saturday morning and had the entire place to ourselves the whole weekend.  the dogs (miski and mango) had the best time ever.  the quarry fills with rainwater in the wet season and is one of the few places you can swim without fear of crocs.  so we made use of that multiple times during the day.  it was absolutely gorgeous.  had great camp food, great conversation, great company, and a lovely relaxing time.  a bull ran into our camp towards dusk and miski went crazy - chased him off - which is pretty incredible because he was huge!  it was a very steamy, humid, drizzly night so it was hard to sleep because of the heat, but the next day was gorgeous and clear and we had a lovely swim, a great breakfast and headed for home a bit earlier than expected because the dogs were completely pooped out and had sore paws from all the running and playing.  miski even went swimming a few times!!  for some incredible scenery click on the quarry camping album

we're moving to albany!!!

 

i am SO excited!  i just found out i got the job i wanted down in albany (western australia), which is 3200kms / 2000miles from where we currently live. it's also apparently awesome...i mean check out the photos.  it has some of the most beautiful beaches (dog beaches too!), hiking (bibbulman track), national parks (sterling ranges, etc), farmers market, cafes, cycling, kayaking, camping, whale watching, and you get the picture. i have to say as much as i love and will miss the kimberley - albany looks like it has a lot more of the activities i love.  here's hoping i do a good job and that jose and i love it there!  i know miski will. it'll be a lot colder too...finally get to break out my jackets! think we'll be there in May this year.

the cuteness of miski

seriously. i think she is the cutest thing in the world.  also naughty yes...but still cute.  she will often sneak into our bedroom if we don't shut the door properly and help herself to our cozy bed until we come looking for her.  no guilt at all. i think it might be because i laugh and can't bring myself to tell her to get down.  at bedtime she'll often go into the room to lie down before we do, which i find rather charming.  lower picture is miski sporting her valentines gift from grandma! a new puppy blanket.  she loves it.  she has a new puppy friend named mango and she loves her SO much...just taught her to swim the other day. 

the many sides of jose

i love this!  the top two pictures show jose training for emergency response task force. he is now fully certified to be sent all over the world when an emergency arises in any affiliated facility to take down the bad guys.  pretty awesome superhero suit. or something like that.  and yet...he still finds the time to cuddle with our puppy.  how cute :)