Balingup, WA

This weekend I went to the Small Farm Field Day in Balingup with Kerri-Anne’s family. Her brother, Mat, drove us down there on Friday afternoon straight after school to meet her parents there. We left about a quarter to 4 and didn’t get there until close to 8. The traffic was pretty bad but it was a fun road trip. The three of us together reminded me of Pete, AB, and me. I can’t wait to be reunited with those little rascals! I want to play mean dog, release the cougar and the everlasting car game when I get home!! haha oh the mems we have together! I am so blessed to have them and I seriously do not know what I would do without them. 4 days baby! Anyway, the house was awesome and her mom lives down there full time and her dad goes down on Thursday or Friday and stays until Sunday night. They have a lot of property with alpacas, sheep, chickens and dogs. The alpacas look like a llama. They had several grown ones and a cute baby one too. Mat and I fed them on Saturday morning. I also got to hold a chicken, they call them chooks! And the coolest thing that I did down there was ride a camel! It reminded me of the annual church picnic when the kids ride the pony or horse around for a lap or two except I was on a camel! It was pretty awesome. The one that Kerri-Anne was on kept making noises at me and was getting really close to me, I thought he was trying to bite me or something. The farm field day had lots of food booths and market type booths set up for people around Balingup to sell the things they make. I liked being out in the country and seeing farm life for a change. All of the towns around Balingup end in the suffix ‘up’. Mat said that in those cases ‘up’ means ‘the place of’ so I think they are indigenous names. My favorite name was Manjimup. There was also Nannup, Karnup, Dardinup and some others. Kerri- Anne and I walked around the town and went into the shops and took us about 20 minutes that is how small it was. And we even went into the stores and were just strolling around taking our time. I bought a new puzzle. I thought it was going to be similar to the difficulty level of Tangram Master but it is easy peasy japanesey. Kerri-Anne’s mom is a wonderful cook and she made kangaroo the first night and I actually liked it. They are a cute animal but I tried not to think about that too much. Saturday night her dad put a lamb on the spit. I think that is the way to say it. I was tasty too!

Sunday morning we went for a drive to see if we could find some wild emu’s and roo’s. We were successful but it took as a while and I don’t think we are really sure where we went but I reckon it was a nice little country side drive. Then we got a meat pie at the Magic Mushroom Restaurant and came back to Perth. We made it back by 3:00 which was plenty of time for me to get ready for Palm Sunday church. Brittni picked me up and I was really glad that it worked out for me to go one last time to Kingsley. During the announcements, the pastor, mentioned that it was my last week there and they have enjoyed having me be as a part of their church for the past few months. I really am so happy I have had the experience to get to know them and I hope I can keep in touch with them. Ash and Steve’s dad said the opening prayer and he mentioned me and asked that I have safe travels. It made me feel like I was part of their church family even though I have only been there a short time. They have a solid congregation and I like that it is a small church because everyone knows each other and they are caring and you get the feeling that they are a family as you walk in.

Tomorrow starts week 12 of Term 1 which means I only have 2 more school days and then Wednesday to pack and say my goodbyes and then I’m comin home!

John 17