And so, Saturday morning was upon us. We were up bright and early as we had planned to visit a rural fair at Mullewa. So having had a breakfast of coffee and toast, we headed to my grandsons house where we prepared the convoy. With the loading of buggy, kids, kid related paraphernalia, snacks, and adults completed, we set off on the hour long journey.
It wasn’t long before we had to stop. With two girls fighting and a baby that refuses to sleep, Mum needed to get in the back. So, Talullah and seat were transferred to our car and the journey continued. Oh, the joys of parent/grand-parenthood.
Pretty soon we arrived at the Mullewa Showground, disembarked and started in to watch the displays.
Entry was free, and making our way inside the show grounds, the first sight, and sound, that we were confronted with was a wood chopping competition.
Not so much chopping, as chain sawing. Needless to say, the Monty Python lumberjack song entered my brain and stayed for quite a while.
As you can see in the pictures it was a fine day and the girls were keen to get amongst the sights and sounds of the fair. Unfortunately, due to their young age, and small size the girls weren’t able to sample all the rides.
However, mum and dad were able to take them on the Tea-Cup ride and, with no queue, they had the ride all to themselves.
And then on to the pony rides. Here it was a different story. There was a queue, but the girls were very patient and it wasn’t too long before they were in the saddle and doing circuits of the arena.
While the girls were waiting for the pony ride I took the opportunity get some food. Which meant that, while I was in the queue for some Moroccan food, I missed getting close to the stunt bike show.
But, I did get some distant shots of the bikes grabbing some air. Definitely not for the faint of heart.
For the girls, Old Macdonalds Farm was the next destination. Here the girls were able to get up close and personal with rabbits, chickens, sheep and goats. And last, but not least, a huge turkey that was just crying out for cranberry sauce and stuffing.
Of course for the kiddies getting amongst the livestock was the priority. However, my focus was on the farm mechanicals. And I wasn’t disappointed. There may not have been many units on display but what was there was truly impressive. The thing with the caterpillar tracks would have had Jeremy Clarkson green with envy.
There was also a small automotive display. Although not on a par with the Goodwood Breakfast Clubs back in the UK, those vehicles on show were pretty unique, interesting and impressive.
What with the drive and the warm weather the girls were getting tired. To be honest, so were a few of us in the upper age bracket. So we ambled slowly back to the site entrance and our cars.
En-route the girls dropped in for a spot of face painting.
They certainly looked happy enough with the final results.
And so it was back to Geraldton for dinner and sleeps all round.
Following on from my previous post, Friday morning arrived and we headed back to the chaos that is my grandsons house where it was agreed that he and I would go out and do that touristy thing while the girls stayed to look after the smaller girls.
During a previous visit to WA Gerry and I took a trip up to Exmouth and on the return leg it was planned that we would make a stop, just south of Kalbarrie, to visit the Pink Lake, aka the Hutt Lagoon at Port Gregory. Back then our plans were thwarted by bush fires and we were diverted away from the area.
So the plan was for us to take a trip up to the lake and have a spot of lunch. It was also a great opportunity to spend some one on one time with Ryan. After a pleasant drive, we arrived at Hutt Lagoon with the water being a beautiful pink.
Guess Who? – Yours Truly
However, no sooner had I reached for my camera than a breeze blew up, ruffling the waters surface, and the pink colour disappeared. Ryan had warned me about this but we had hoped to avoid it happening. It was still very pretty, judge for yourselves.
Hutt Lagoon – Port GregoryHutt Lagoon – Port GregoryHutt Lagoon – Port Gregory
Thankfully the wind reduced and normal service was resumed.
Hutt Lagoon – Port GregoryHutt Lagoon – Port GregoryHutt Lagoon – Port Gregory
While climbing up to the view point there was plenty of flora and fauna to view including this perky little fella, a Western Bearded Dragon.
Western Bearded Dragon – Pogona minor
Once we had satisfied our curiosity at the lake, we headed off to the small town of Northampton for lunch. But lunch was delayed whilst we took a small detour
….. to visit the Lynton Convict Depot or alternatively known as the Port Gregory Convict Hiring Station. Convicts were brought here to provide workers for the Geraldine Lead Mine and for local settlers.
The Lynton Convict Hiring Depot (1853–1857) was the first convict depot north of Fremantle, Western Australia. It was established on 22 May 1853
Magistrates QuartersSite PlanThe Depot SummaryThe Lock UpDepot – Interpretation Centre
The depot was operational between 1853 and 1856, and was designed to hold up to 80 convicts although it is believed that actual numbers varied between five and forty. However, most would have slept under canvas as the depot wasn’t completed unti 1855.
When the convicts eventually moved into the building their accomodation would have looked something like this. Sorry about the image quality.
Convict sleeping arrangements
I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be in close proximity to up to forty bodies with dubious hygene habits. Especially during WA’s summer heat.
An interesting site with an interesting history. Should you visit, wear tough footwear as the ground is somewhat uneven.
Linga Longa at Lynton
Having had our fill of WA history it was time to attend to our bellies, and so we continued our journey to Northampton. Rachel had done some research and suggested a coffee shop, on the main street, named The Shearing Shed.
Parking up, we ambled across across the street to a small but busy cafe with a huge menu. Ryan had a burger while I had a “Boss Cocky” which is basically a filled, two egg omelette served with fries and salad. Very tasty. These we consumed, sat outside at a picnic bench style table.
Rush Hour – Main street Northampton WA
According to Wikipedia ……
Northampton is one of the oldest towns in Western Australia, having been declared a townsite in 1864.
Opposite The Shearing Shed – Northampton WA
Replete, we clambered back into Ryan’s car and headed back to join the girls. It had been a really nice day out.
Back at Ryan’s it was time to join the fray and engage with the girls. Or should I say whirling dervishes. They really are a pair of pocket tornadoes, and both with the boundless energy of a Duracell Bunny, they soon had me exhausted.
And so, after the evening meal, and with the girls in bed, we headed back to our chalet for a little R & R.
First and foremost, the trip was for us to visit family. My grandson Ryan, his wife Rachel, and their three daughters, live in Sunset Beach, just outside of Geraldton. And this was the first opportunity for Gerry and I to meet the girls. The eldest, Talullah, was born in 2022, the middle girl, Loxley, was born in 2023, and the youngest, Sunday, was born just over a month ago.
Mid morning, car packed and my daughter, Denise, took the first stint of driving, primarily to get us clear of Perth city and suburbs, but also because she knows the route like the back of her hand. Driving through the city, the traffic was quite heavy but thinned out noticeably as we headed north on the Tonkin Highway. Near Muchea, we jumped onto the Brand Highway and then with a few kilometers behind us, we made a pit stop at Cataby.
From Cataby, I took over the driving for the run-up to Eneabba. At times the road ahead, and behind us was, pretty much, empty of any traffic. Although, occasionally, we would encounter road trains thundering down the road towards us. And, of course, the ubiquitous “grey nomads” with their off-road vehicles and caravans.
One feature of our journey was the vast fields of Rape, or Canola as my daughter calls it. For clarification the term “canola” denotes a group of rapeseed cultivars that were bred to have very low levels of erucic acid which is mildly toxic.
Rapeseed Crops – Canola
The glorious yellow of the flowers spread across the land on either side of the road. Prior to this trip, I had only ever seen sights such as these in the UK.
Rapeseed Crops – Canola
At Eneabba, we stopped for a loo break and also to grab a bite for lunch. Lunch consisted of chili sausages for me, some sort of pie for Gerry, and a burger for Denise. All of us thought the fare was of mediocre standard, but it filled the void, and we had the promise of a roast dinner to look forward to.
From Eneabba its about another hour and forty five minutes drive to Geraldton and Sunset Beach. Denise resumed the driving and it seemed that in no time we had arrived in Sunset Beach.
We had booked a chalet, at the Sunset Beach Holiday Park, for the weekend. And, arriving at reception, we checked in, and were soon esconsed in our accomodation. From the outside it looks a bit like a shipping container but inside was very fresh and modern looking, with all amenities. More than we needed as we were only going to sleep, shower and brew coffee here.
2 Bed Chalet – Sunset Beach
And so, with car unpacked, we headed up to Ryans house where we were made to feel really welcome, greeted as we were by two very excited young girls and a small dog. The adult welcome was a little more restrained.
The next few hours were spent with the adults chinwagging, getting to know the two girls and the glamourous grandmothers taking it in turns to hold the baby. As promised, we were fed to the point of plumptiousness with a fabulous roast cooked by Ryan after which we bade our hosts a temporary farewell and headed back to our accomodation for a good nights sleep.
Aka The Pink Lake, near Port Gregory, WA. Hutt Lagoon is Australia’s Most Unique Lake
Hutt Lagoon, or the “Pink Lake,” is a marine salt lake in Western Australia, famous for its vibrant pink color caused by the Dunaliella salina algae and high salt content
When we arrived the lake was a beautiful pink colour. Then the wind got up and the colour disappeared. Thankfully, the wind dropped away.
Earlier this year my daughter lost her husband. Anyone who has lost a partner will know what a difficult time this can be.
Over and above the funeral arrangements there are many administrative and bureaucratic tasks to be fulfilled. For the most part, banks and insurance companies, local councils and utility companies, know what has to be done and execute the processes efficiently.
These companies have displayed a singular level of ineptitude that defies belief.
Over the last four weeks my daughter has contacted Exetel to explain that her husband has died and that his credit card, to which her broadband account is tied, has been cancelled. She has explained that she wishes to keep the account, just transfer it to her name so that she can take over the payments.
She has contacted Exetel via telephone and email. Has provided proof of identity as well as other supporting documents.
She has been handed off from Exetel employee to Exetel employee over three weeks. Despite their promises, not one of these people has taken ownership of this issue, neither responding to emails or returning phone calls as promised.
On Friday there was a light bulb moment. Albeit a dim one. One of the Exetel employees explained that my daughter had to make a new account application via Superloop.
Superloop are the parent company of Exetel. And, if you go to their website, it tells you that they cannot supply broadband services to my daughters address. Which is strange, as they have been supplying this service for several years.
To continue, on Friday my daughter fired up a new account with Superloop. She had requested the same services and also confirmed that her (VOIP) telephone number would be transferred
Imagine her surprise when later that evening her landline (VOIP) stopped working.
So, yet more phone calls to find out that her phone number had stayed with Exetel even though the broadband had transferred.
By then, at the end of the Friday fiasco, Superloop had created a separate, dummy acount, in my daughters name. Supposedly, this was to allow Superloop to capture the phone number.
My daughter was promised that Superloop would call her on Monday, during which they would merge my daughters new account, with the dummy account, to return things to normal.
And so, here we are on Monday afternoon and, surprise surprise, no phone call from Superloop. My daughter has called them to find out what is going on. More confusion as they seem unable to find any record of the dummy account. My daughter is now back to waiting for Superloop to sort things out.
Meanwhile, my daughter was just checking her husbands email account.
Exetel have sent an email stating that his account has been closed and how sorry they are to lose him as a customer. But they just wanted to let him know that he is now liable to a charge for the early closure of the account.
Needless to say, this has triggered another phone call to point out that he didn’t leave Exetel, rather, they booted him out, that they would not be getting paid. In order for them to forgo this payment, my daughter has now been requested to send a copy of his death certificate. This she has done.
By the way, the clown at Exetel, despite moments earlier, having been told of his death, asked to speak to to account holder.
We are now awaiting the next episode of this unnecessary saga.
My daughter cannot be the first person to have gone through this process.
Did they go through the same degrees of stress and upset that such a simple request has caused?
We have been in WA for nearly a month now. Having travelled out from the UK to support our daughter following the passing of Steve, her husband.
Up until now, our time has been filled with preparations for the funeral and general mundane household shopping trips and, most recently, collecting Steves ashes from the funeral home.
To be honest the weather hasn’t been the best but yesterday we managed to get out of the house for a couple of hours. This is the first time that a trip out hasn’t had a purpose. By that, I mean it was, just to get some fresh air, for a change of scenery.
Interesting Sculpture – Rockingham, WA
We opted to drive down to Rockingham, forty odd kilometres south of Perth, to walk along the foreshore. After a forty-five minute drive, we found ourselves on the prom.
The sun was shining, and the sky was blue, and with a temperature of 20°C it really was very pleasant. We had already planned to have fish ‘n’ chips, and so it was we found ourselves sitting in the sunshine enjoying an al fresco lunch.
Gerry, Denise & Molly on Rockingham prom
Freshwater Cobbler in crispy batter with crispy but fluffy chips. The Cobbler was a first for me. The lady who served me in Nae’s Seafood & Grill informed me that it was a kind catfish. It was very tasty, but it’s not Cod or Haddock. However, it did hit the spot.
View From Rockingham Foreshore
Then, it was time to head back along the prom and back to the car. And, after a forty minute drive home, we were soon sitting in the lounge with a very welcome cuppa.
The brisk, but not unpleasant, sea-breeze definitely blew away the cobwebs we had accumulated.
Shame the weather forecast for the next few days shows a temperature drop and plenty of rain and thunderstorms.
Whoohoo, we are home. Have been for 19 days. I thought I would fill you in on how we got here and why I am still feeling the frustration.
So BA eventually cancelled the KL/London flight. Basically leaving us stranded. They left us with the options of accepting a voucher, aka an IOU, or taking a refund. I obviously wasn’t going to accept the voucher. Who knows when air travel will get back to normal or even if my wife and I will be prepared to travel during the period of validity for the voucher.
All BAs communications regarding the flight cancellation refer you to their app and website. There you can complete a form to accept a voucher/IOU. What they don’t tell you is that if you want a refund, you have to phone them.
So I rang the Australian contact number, assuming that they would be based over east. I spent two days trying to get through to BA, listening to that awful tune and the repeated message that they are operating on reduced staff, and eventually managed to get through. I spoke to a rep called CiCi. Turns out she wasn’t in Oz, but was actually in Hong Kong. Informing her that I wanted a refund, she proceeded to seemingly put up obstacles. But I persisted and she finally accepted my request, informing me that I would have to wait up to eight weeks for the refund. Apparently, refunds are processed by their office in India and of course they were in total lockdown. I said that I understood, that I was prepared to wait and requested that she send me an email confirming our conversation and that I had requested the refund. She informed me that she was not able to send out emails. I, in turn, explained that I was concerned that there would be no formal acknowledgement of our conversation, that if I waited eight weeks and then contacted BA to ask where my refund was, they could deny having received my request. At this point I started to lose my cool.
Eventually, I cooled down a little, and accepted that she was doing all she could. I really didn’t have much choice. So, there I was, stuck in Oz and a couple of thousand pounds out of pocket.
In the meantime I had been trawling the airlines to see who could possibly get me home. It appeared that Qantas were still scheduling flights to the UK. I managed to get seats booked on the direct flight, Perth to London, for mid June.
Big smiles all round, things were looking up. We were going home, albeit a couple of weeks later than planned.
Then Qantas cancelled our flight and almost instantly issued us with an voucher. Small print on the voucher is that it can only be used for flights originating in Oz and has to be used for flights costing the same or more. That last bit is important.
Earlier in the year I had registered with the UK High Commision. I had a communication from them indicating that Qantas was operating two flights a week, from Perth to London. I immediately attempted to book tickets using my newly received voucher.
I fell at the first hurdle. Apparently this flight was economy only. Our original booking was for premium economy. Therefore, our voucher was of a higher value than the seats I wanted to book, the system would not allow me to proceed with the booking.
After I picked my chin up off the floor, I resigned myself to having to spend ore time waiting on the phone to speak to a real person. Thankfully, I didn’t have to spend too long and after explaining my dilemma to a delightful young lady she told me this was not a problem.
After spending thirty minutes on the phone to her, I not only had seats booked and tickets issued via email, but also had confirmation of a refund of the difference.
So, there we were again, big smiles and fingers crossed, we were on our way home.
And sure enough, we left Perth on 31st May and touched down at Heathrow 1st June.
Why am I still frustrated ?
Well I am still waiting on BA to refund me the full value of my return flight tickets and associated charges and taxes.
I have tried to contact them by phone several time using different numbers. There phone system leads you through several number selections. Informs you that they are very busy, operating on reduced staffing levels, thanks you for your patience ……. then hangs up !!!
No queue ….. nothing.
While going through this I discovered that I had received two payments into my bank account which I have determined are the seat booking fees I paid last October. This was a start and I thought the remaining monies would follow fairly shortly.
I got tired of holding my breath and having been thwarted by the phone system I thought I would utilise their email contact form on their website. The day after I submitted the email I discovered that I had received two further payments into my account. Initially I was quite excited and pleased by this. That is until I realised that the total sum credited to my account falls rather short of my expectations. Around £500 short to be precise.
I have since gone back, through the email system, to BA asking for an explaination of where the remaining monies are and for a breakdown of what they believe they have paid me so far.
I do not believe that BA are operating in a professional manner. Since the flight cancellation they have not been proactive to resolve either my flights or refunds. In fact it feels like they have taken a step back and wiped their hands of me. Their web site, Phone App and telephone system seems deliberately set up to frustrate and thwart those trying to obtain a refund.
There have been no communications from them to say they are paying me any money. If I hadn’t been viewing my account for another reason I would have been unaware of the transactions. The funds are just appearing in my account, like the animals on Noahs Ark, they come in two by two. I have gone back through the original invoices and cannot rationalise their refund credits against the amounts the charges.
So, that is why the frustration levels remain high.
07/04/2020 – Update
This morning I tried calling BA and, after 40 minutes of once again listening to “that tune”, I was eventually connected to one of BAs agents.
After explaining that the BA app would not help me sort out a booking for the Perth / KL leg of my journey, even though I had seen flights available on the Malaysia Airlines site, the agent put me on hold while she tried to sort out a flight.
When she came back, she informed me that the flight that I had seen, with availability yesterday, was fully booked in both Economy and Business classes.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. But I am still frustrated that there is no proactive help from BA.
After all, I booked tickets for all of my journey with BA. Their partner airline has cancelled the flight and my feeling is that BA, in sending the email notification have just washed their hands of the issue. If I don’t keep harrassing them then they will forget bout me and my wife.
So, the agents advice is that I should wait until next month to see how the worldwide airline network is looking. That, in May I should try booking flights via BA again and in the meantime, just sit tight.
Of course, that is all well and good. In May I can choose to either re-book, accept a voucher for future air travel or I can request a refund.
If I go down the refund path then I am fully responsible for my own travel. At the moment I have tickets, bought at October 2019 prices. Who knows what the prices will be for future flights.
Who knows how many of the major airlines will still be in existence since most are already requesting government handouts, are laying off thousands of staff and have grounded most if not all of their fleets.
This is a complex problem and I guess I will revisit it in May.
06/04/2020 – Initial Post
This is my first post with a Coronavirus link. Don’t panic, I’m not about to join the ranks of covidiots. What, I am about to share, is my frustration with the folks that I contracted to take me home.
Last October, my wife, Gerry, and I flew out to Perth WA. We booked return tickets with British Airways (BA), the flights being London to Perth via Kuala Lumpur (KL). BA serviced the London / Kuala Lumpur leg and partners Malaysia Airlines serviced the remaining Kuala Lumpur / Perth leg.
The outward journey was almost trouble free, apart from a little glitch over boarding cards for the KL / Perth leg. However, we duly arrived in Australia, met up with our family and here we have been ever since.
Little did we know, at that time, what the world had in store for us. In fact, little did anybody know.
So up pops Covid-19 or Coronavirus, throws the whole world into chaos. Not the least of which is the worlds airlines.
A short while ago I received an email from BA informing me that my flight from Perth to KL is cancelled. Of course behind this cancellation is the fact that Malaysia closed its borders to all foreigners. Amazingly, the KL / London leg is still scheduled.
Which is where my frustration comes in.
The BA email provided links to change my flights or accept a voucher … aka … IOU or grab a refund. Since I still need to get home I chose to explore the flight change option.
Of course things are changing so rapidly I didn’t really expect this to go smoothly. However, I was surprised that the BA supplied link came back with the following …
This was a surprise since I had already been on the Malaysia Airlines website and it was indicating flight availability.
It seems that the BA app can only see BA flights.
So, I thought I would try going direct to Malaysia Airlines. After a surprisingly short wait I was connected with a very pleasant lady. I explained my dilemma, she called up my details on her system. She then politely explained to me that she cannot transfer my booking to a new flight.
The reason for this, is that my tickets are not on Malaysia Airlines “ticket stock”.
This confirmed, apparently, by the ticket number commencing with “125”. Bottom line was that I had to go back to BA. Obviously I need to speak to a real person, not an app.
The BA Customer Service number is for an office over east. What that means is by the time you get up in Perth, they have all gone to lunch. It’s obviously not that bad but it might just as well be.
I listened to the “all our customer service reps are busy” message many, many times. In between messages, I listened to an ear bleedingly tinny recording of the BA theme, The Flower Duet from Léo Delibes Lakmé. Not the beautiful operatic version but one that sounds like it is being played on a National Steel Guitar recorded through a length of steel pipe. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the National Steel Guitar. Over and over I listen while waiting for a customer service rep. After an hour I have a headache and have lost the will to live. Eventually, I hang up. Resolved to call again tomorrow, earlier.
This is my first post with a Coronavirus link. Don’t panic, I’m not about to join the ranks of covidiots. What, I am about to share, is my frustration with the folks that I contracted to take me home.
Last October, my wife, Gerry, and I flew out to Perth WA. We booked return tickets with British Airways (BA), the flights being London to Perth via Kuala Lumpur (KL). BA serviced the London / Kuala Lumpur leg and partners Malaysia Airlines serviced the remaining Kuala Lumpur / Perth leg.
The outward journey was almost trouble free, apart from a little glitch over boarding cards for the KL / Perth leg. However, we duly arrived in Australia, met up with our family and here we have been ever since.
Little did we know, at that time, what the world had in store for us. In fact, little did anybody know.
So up pops Covid-19 or Coronavirus, throws the whole world into chaos. Not the least of which is the worlds airlines.
A short while ago I received an email from BA informing me that my flight from Perth to KL is cancelled. Of course behind this cancellation is the fact that Malaysia closed its borders to all foreigners. Amazingly, the KL / London leg is still scheduled.
Which is where my frustration comes in.
The BA email provided links to change my flights or accept a voucher … aka … IOU or grab a refund. Since I still need to get home I chose to explore the flight change option.
Of course things are changing so rapidly I didn’t really expect this to go smoothly. However, I was surprised that the BA supplied link came back with the following …
This was a surprise since I had already been on the Malaysia Airlines website and it was indicating flight availability.
It seems that the BA app can only see BA flights.
So, I thought I would try going direct to Malaysia Airlines. After a surprisingly short wait I was connected with a very pleasant lady. I explained my dilemma, she called up my details on her system. She then politely explained to me that she cannot transfer my booking to a new flight.
The reason for this, is that my tickets are not on Malaysia Airlines “ticket stock”.
This confirmed, apparently, by the ticket number commencing with “125”. Bottom line was that I had to go back to BA. Obviously I need to speak to a real person, not an app.
The BA Customer Service number is for an office over east. What that means is by the time you get up in Perth, they have all gone to lunch. It’s obviously not that bad but it might just as well be.
I listened to the “all our customer service reps are busy” message many, many times. In between messages, I listened to an ear bleedingly tinny recording of the BA theme, The Flower Duet from Léo Delibes Lakmé. Not the beautiful operatic version but one that sounds like it is being played on a National Steel Guitar recorded through a length of steel pipe. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against the National Steel Guitar. Over and over I listen while waiting for a customer service rep. After an hour I have a headache and have lost the will to live. Eventually, I hang up. Resolved to call again tomorrow, earlier.
WrAnTz 