Western Australia is wind, waves, wine and wonderful!

NEWSFLASH! Jenna and Matt ditch the kids! At the beginning of February Matt and Jenna went SOLO (as much as 2 people can be solo) to Western Australia for 5 days-nowhere near long enough for such an amazing place.  Away from the girls for the first time in nearly 10 years-never before a night together with out children. We flew into Perth withe VirginBlue (waaay better than CrapStar) on the 6am flight out of Sydney and rented a Britz campervan for the 5 days with the intention of meeting our good friends Glen and Brenda who had arrived the day before and rented a house on wheels it became our joint mothership for sunrise tea and sunset wine:

Cape to Cape lighthouses. In between these two lighthouses is an amazing stretch of the Australian coast-with waves and scenery to take your breath away.

Map of the Cape to Cape Region WA

Glen and Brenda were also ding their first ’solo’ trip away from their 2 girls,for the first time in 8 years. It was great to feel like kids again. Western Australia is a very beautiful place and the area we went to between Cape Naturaliste and Cape Leeuwin (main town being Margaret River) is a lovely limestone stretch well known for the Cape to Cape walking track and the many outstanding wineries in the region. We spent the first night at Yallingup and woke up to an amazing vista of desert like flora, bright white sandy beach and clear blue water:

Our trip was really too short and was basically a reconnaissance for a future grander trip.  We were lucky to arrive just as a new swell came in from the SW-the downside was that we arrived on a Friday and the swell on the Saturday, together with hordes of  surfers for Perth searching for ‘the spot’ to ride the new swell.  It was good to see a heap of places firing, we started off surfing Supertubes at Smiths (Yallingup) and then headed South to Gracetown as the wind started to come in from the SW.  We then headed south to Indijup Point which looked really good and was protected from the wind-BUT the hordes had decided it was the Spot so we headed further south to Gracetown where South Point was offshore and firing, unfortunately North Point which is by far the better wave was too wind affected-had some size though-would be great to catch with swell and an offshore wind.

After Gracetown we drove straight to Margaret River to meet up with Glen and Brenda-Matt and Glen went kitesurfing substantial waves and 25+ knot winds. Unfortunately Matt’s 6m Boxer SLE kite had a leak in the leading edge bladder-resulting in him having a kite deflating out the back reef in double overhead surf and lasting wind-unfortunately ending the session early.

We slept at Gnarabup that night overlooking Boat Ramps looking north towards Margaret River main break.

Next day the the swell had dropped but the wind went straight offshore and the waves were epic everywhere.  Unfortunately Matt spent 4 hours repairing his deflated kite in expectation of session later-meant we missed the best waves of the day and the peak of the swell-at least he’s good at repairing kites now!

A couple stand up paddle surfers went out early from Gnarabup to ride some double overhead waves at Boat Ramps-good to see them getting amongst it.  Also had a bunch of surfers launching jet skis from Gnarabup in search of some mysto outer bombie waves. We went surfing at Main Break Margaret River in some fun overhead waves which were surprisingly uncrowded-we both caught heaps of waves and had a great time.  After that it was back to the same spot at Gnarabup with Matt waiting for the wind to swing cross-shore to go kiting out at Boat Ramps.

Matt and Glen had a great afternoon kite out at Boat Ramps in overhead waves and only 2 others out.

That evening was a lovely simultaneous ocean sunset and full moon moonrise.

Next day was Jenna’s birthday and we surfed great fun little right handers at Main Break Margaret River back beach:

and went for a walk on a track next to the Margaret River:

to some limestone caves.

That night we had a birthday dinner for Jenna in the Glen and Brenda super camper with wine compliments of the local region and chocolate mud cake from Brenda:

 

 

 

 

 

Next day we went south to wards Augusta and Cape Leeuwin where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. 

 

 

 

 

 

We stopped in at Hamelin Bay and patted the local tame stingrays:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next day we headed north to Perth and Fremantle and visited a few vineyards on the way back. Left at midnight to return home-Matt went straight to work that day and Jenna that night-we suffered withdrawals for the next week or so…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

School holidays and Xmas Daze……

The girls (including Jenna) are on school holidays now-makes for a MUCH more relaxed atmosphere in the Leigh-Jones house. Xmas tree is up and the presents are starting to arrive-from friends rather than than the fat guy. Everyone has been surfing and sunning and just doing their own thing with the restrictions of school day schedules off the agenda.

Cedar finished her time at Palm Beach Kindergarten and next year she’ll head off to Kamaroi Rudolf Steiner School with her big sisters. Because Cedar is young for kindy she will go for two years rather than the usual one.

Our new puppy, Koa, is ever growing, the girls, particularly Sequoia, are in love with her-just what they have always wanted. Makes for happy kids. Matt’s mum, Leah, came and puppy sat for a week when we were all at work or school-we call her the ‘dog whisperer’ because of her affection and affinity for dogs. She was great and a huge help.

We’re really looking forward to Xmas time when everyone is on holiday and we can catch up with friends. We’re not going anywhere this year overseas this year-no flight benefits with United anymore-boo hoo-but we made the most of it. Matt and Jenna ARE doing a solo surf trip to WA in early Feb (Jenna’s birthday) and the off to Byron Bay in early March (Sequoia’s Birthday) so we’re seeing more of our own country these days-beautiful as it is.

Now a family of 8!

In a moment of weak insanity I said yes to a dog, we’ve now gone from a travelling couple to a trio, to a quartet to an ensemble of 8, mother, father, three kids, two guinea pigs and, now, a dog.  She’s a half Staffordshire Bull Terrier half Labrador mix-a very pretty and happy floppy eared dark bundle of contention over who can hold her NOW! Her name is Koa, for those that know, yes another tree.

Definitely a further clipping of the wings and yet another interesting change.

School holidays-exhale……back at school-inhale…..

The girls have just been on a 3 weeks school break-which makes things deliriously easy in the house with none of the school daze morning rush to get ready, get lunches, grumble about clothes, hair, lost books, bags, wallets etc. and then the mad rush out the door. At the beginning of the holidays a mate of ours, 1988 world champ surfer Barton Lynch, runs his BL Blast Off grommets’ contest.  It’s a great event for the 14 and under surfer attended by hundreds of kids and their parents and a great launch off into a summer of surf. First year Bodhi came 6th and Sequoia (in her only year) 5th in the under 8s, next year Bodhi came 2nd in the under 8s and this year Bodhi came 3rd in the under 8s. Below of Girl U8 presentation-Barton in the background on the left (looking at photo) Bodhi on the right:

Bodhi still has another year to grab 1st place-she tells us that next year is her year!  The girls love the camaraderie of the contest and new friends are made every year-this year became new best friend with Rose Henry, who is the 8 year old daughter (and 2nd place getter in the comp.) of my childhood sweetheart Georgia.  The girls became almost inseparable for a large part of the holidays following the comp. Photo below of Bodhi surfing in the BL Blast Off Surf Comp:

Girls are now back at school and so far all is well-every afternoon they’ve been surfing after school and loving it-warmer water, sunny days and fun waves. I will update with some pictures when I get a chance.

Indo Wanderings

Matt is just back from a 3 week trip to Indonesia to the island of Sumbawa surfing and kitesurfing at Lakey Peak, near the small fishing and farming village of Hu’u.  Matt went there with a friend, Jason, from Australia and met another friend there, Andrew, who lives in Bali.  Unfortunately the friend from Bali injured his ankle quite severely kitesurfing-on the third day of the trip-putting him out of action for the rest of the time.  It was his last trip before moving back to Australia after living in Bali for the past 12 years! The trip was fantastic-3 weeks solo with a buncha’ blokes surfing and kitesurfing, hanging with the local people, particularly our good friends Sufradin (Jhos), his wife Tica and daughter Suci that live in Hu’u and work with Matt when he is there.  The waves were fantastic, although the wind would come up a little early on some days blowing it out- thankfully, that made it great for kitesurfing. Hopefully the whole family will be able to go back next year. Matt made some great new friends from around the world.  Happily, he returned safe, well and fit. The trip was made possible by the gracious generosity of Matt’s good friend Michael, who gave Matt frequent flyer points to make the trip.

Peak – view from the restaurant

Low tide boat waiting

Sumbawa sunset

Tika, Suci and Safrudin (Jhos)

Jason and his bottle

Donut lady – earning money for her childrens’ education

Our new house

Matt kiting Nungas, Sumbawa

Matt surfing Lakey Peak Right

Matt surfing Lakey Peak Right

Matt surfing Lakey Peak Right

Matt kiting Nungas, Sumbawa

Matt kiting Nungas, Sumbawa

Matt kiting Nungas, Sumbawa

Ahhh, Kiss the Ground

Finally made it back to Sydney on Thursday morning-thankfully we had a whole row of 10 seats between the 5 of us.  Girls we dropped off at school on the way back from the airport and Matt went to work. Made for a tired day but made sense in an attempt to get back onto normal time as quickly as possible.

At least our final trip with United was made more memorable as a result of the hassles with getting back.

Stuck in America

We’ve had a very trying past 3 days and things are not getting any better. Part way through the trip-we found out that United had cut Jenna’s passes on a technicality-as a result we are stuck here without the ability to get home without paying ridiculous amounts of money for last minute 1 way tickets. We have managed to get onto a supervisor who has allowed us to travel but on standby with NO seniority which means we’re at the end of every standby list-this coupled with United pilots conducting a quiet strike-by calling in sick and therefore causing flights to cancel-summer madness travel in the US and reduced flights due to airlines cutting back-we were stuck in Pittsburgh for a day and then Washington DC for 2 days and are now in Vancouver, Canada-all with the final aim of trying to get to San Francisco to get to Sydney-we’ve had 7 hours sleep in 48 hours and have been spending days in airports going from gate to gate hoping to get on a flight-to top it off every time we pass through security-we are sent to secondary screening as United has put a notation in our file for this to occur-despite the fact that we’re actually travelling outside United’s normal employee system-or maybe because of that…….It’s all been extremely draining and trying-but we know it will end-unfortunately we all need to be back for work and school-and hanging at airports for days on end is no fun and bloody expensive.

Lost in America

In Canfield, Ohio at Jenna’s dad’s house.

It was a mission getting here 3 flights and 28 hours of travelling-Arrived in SF yesterday morning. Arrived in Chicago early afternoon. Arrived in Pittsburgh midnight. Picked up the ‘mystery rental car’-paid for a compact and was given a flash new 8 seater van-kids waaay baaack and grovin’ their own time through the night (1am local time-3pm Sydney time). Arrived at Jenna’s dad’s place at 2am. 28 hours later. Tired-but it’s very warm and sunny and the gardens and trees are lovely in full bloom and the girls are loving their granddad’s pool and garden etc. Interesting being here again-last time likely-so kinda’ sad too.

Sequoia got to fly business class with Jenna from Sydney to San Francisco and then First Class with Bodhi and Matt from Chicago to Pittsburgh-hope she doesn’t expect that every trip…….unfortunately Matt’s bag which was gate checked in San Francisco didn’t arrive in Pittsburgh with us (Jenna’s did)-it went on a small 2 day trip from San Francisco to Phoenix, to Philadelphia and eventually to Pittsburgh and then driven to Jenna’s dad’s house. Allowed Matt a quick shopping trip to the local used clothing store and some slick new Ohio stylin’ threads-$2-shorts, $1.50 tees…….at least Matt looks a local-until he opens his mouth and then heads get tilted slightly sideways, mouths agape and a sort of lost puppy look-Jenna’s the translator.

Had a great traditional cherry pie made by a neighbour.

Hit the spot. Went to visit the girl’s great-grandmother in a nursing home-not a lovely place.

Looking to go up to Sandusky on Lake Erie over the next day or so to Jenna’s dad’s boat-play on some of his jet skis etc.

On a political note-note much Obama/McCainism going on around here-something needs to change however-so many properties for sale and the shopping areas are nothing like they were-the American consumer-the driver for the economy over the past decade or so-is exhausted and has finally given up on the absurd mass consumption of the useless and unnecessary…….

Catch up to today

It’s been over a year since we’ve posted a blog on what the family is up to with our lives. In that time:

• In January 2007 we went on a great family ski/snowboard trip to Winter Park/Mary Jane (www.skiwinterpark.com) in Colorado with friends of ours who live in Bali, Indonesia.
• In May 2007, just hours before we were to leave for Bali, Matt lacerated his hand, severing an artery and went into emergency micro surgery at the local teaching hospital, waking up in hospital on his birthday.
• In July 2007, we bought a house in Palm Beach (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palm_Beach,_New_South_Wales), a lovely three story home with 4 bedrooms, a pool, a big garage and self contained cottage for friends and family-hint hint-nestled amongst mature spotted gums (eucalyptus trees) and tropical palms with an outlook over the waters of Careel Bay.
• In September 2007, we went on our delayed family surf/kitesurfing trip to Bali and Sumbawa (www.amangati.com) in Indonesia. We all had a great time on that trip.
• In October 2007, Bodhi placed 2nd in the under 8 girls division of the annual BL Blast off surf competition-the year before she came 5th-so we’re hoping for 1st this year (www.blblastoff.com.au).

Bodhi surfing in the competition:

• In December of 2007, Jenna completed her teaching degree with High Distinction in her English specialisation.
• In February 2008, Bodhi started year 1 at Kamaroi Rudolf Steiner School (www.kamaroi.nsw.edu.au), where she went to kindergarten and Sequoia is in year 4.
• In February 2008, Cedar started pre-school at Palm Beach Kindergarten-a lovely local kindergarten where Bodhi went for 2 years.
• In February 2008, Jenna started casual teaching at the local high school, Barrenjoey High School (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrenjoey_High_School or www.barrenjoey-h.schools.nsw.edu.au/)
• In March 2008 we went on a great family ski/snowboard trip to Mount Bachelor in Bend, Oregon (www.mtbachelor.com or www.visitbend.com). We did a non-simultaneous home exchange (www.homeexchange.com)-our house in Palm Beach in summer for their second home in Sunriver, Oregon (www.oregon.com/towns/sunriver/sunriver.cfm). We visited family:  Doug and Valerie and their children Delaney and Mikayla-Doug is Jenna’s cousin-who live in Bend, having relocated from Washington DC nearly 2 years ago.

Photos from Bend Trip:

View of Broken Top Mountain

Beautiful cold Deschutes River

Log cabin delight…..

Girls and gear drying around the fire

Cedar and her skis

Sequoia and her snowboard

Matt snowboarding on Mt Bachelor backside

Jenna skiing down the mountain

Weather gnarled Mt Bachelor tree

Post snow-happy family

Update on our bloglife…..

We’ve finally moved our old web-log (blog) over to WordPress-highly recommended-and will now more actively keep the blog updated with news and photos about the Jones family-particularly of course the girls. You will see below this post that I have copied over from the old blog the posts and photos which were put up there. We will update this one very shortly and then, as mentioned above, regularly thereafter.

Matt