Day 56- Saturday 2nd September,
JD-
The nights are a bit cooler in TP, this time of year. Probably 8-10 degs cooler than what we have experienced further up the coast, in the Kimberley and N.T. We certainly have enjoyed the warm weather and are not looking forward to returning to the cold, but cooler nights do make for a better nights sleep.
Refreshed and fed it was time to get organised for our dirt squirt. Tim had borrowed his boss' KTM450 SX-F (and all his gear!) and Tim has a KTM 450 EXC so we were very well equipped! A quick check over the hardware, safety gear on, bikes started.......Houston, we have a problem! My boof head is too big for all three helmets that Tim has borrowed for me! Surely not! I tried again, with a lot more force! No way it wasn't going on! Undeterred Tim got straight on the phone to his trucker mate (who obviously had the biggest head he could think of!) to borrow his helmet. A short drive to said truckers yard to collect it (perfect fit) and we were off to conquer the Pilbara. Well conquer as much as one tank of fuel and our time restraints would allow! We blasted around for 3 hours or so, Tim pointing out some of the local landmarks, BMX track, Tailings dam, Light Industrial Area, a few laps of a motocross track, side by side flat out down a track under the High Voltage power lines! Great fun, just like old times! As we rode back through the culvert pipe under the Hwy just out of TP it looked as though we were going to arrive home unscathed without any dramas! Unusual for Tim and I. Usually one or both of us breaks a bike, gets a few bruises, looses some skin and on the rare occasion ends up in the hospital! Not today, thank goodness, the thought of Nicole driving home from TP with me in plaster was less than appealing. No today was going to be drama free until, to avoid riding past the Police Station, (my borrowed bike is not registered and both are loud enough to put a Harley to shame) Tim decided it would be best if we crossed the Creek that drains stormwater through the town. He's an "ideas man" is Tim, it's a family trait and this was mostly a good idea. It hasn't rained it TP for a good while so the water in the 30m creek crossing is murky green with floating patches of slime on top, boardered on both sides by kumbungi reeds. Vastly different from the hot dusty iron stone gravel we had spent the last few hours riding on. Tim has two speeds in most things he does, they are flat out and stopped and they probably best describe his attempt at the crossing. He went flat out for the first 15m, water and slime going in all directions, right up to the point where the water fully covered his bike. At this point he stopped. As he waded back toward me with the green water well up his thigh, he removed his helmet and with a nervous smile he yelled "Well! That's not good!" and I agreed. Liquid cannot be compressed so it's trouble to say the least in a compression engine! What was going to be even bigger trouble was if Tim was late to help Fidge with the junior footy sausage sizzle and trophy presentation and time was getting on! We weren't far from home so we decided the best plan was to ride two up home and come back with Tim's ute to tow the bike home. After a quick squabble over who was going to ride and who was going to be dinked we headed back home got the ute and retrieved the water logged bike.
While I assessed the damage to the bike Tim had a quick shower and headed off to help Fidge. As the shower was free and various parts of Tim's was bike pegged up on the clothesline to dry, it was my turn to get cleaned up. In the bathroom, I gave myself a bit of a fright when I looked in the mirror! My face was completely covered in red dust, I looked like one of those blokes who hangs out in a capital city mall, moving slowly pretending to be a golden statue!
Cleaned up I strolled down to the oval to find everyone and be part of the presentation! My part, it seemed, was to clap, smile and eat most of the sausages!
To fit in the motorbike ride Tim and I had had missed Lotte and Archie play two games of Tee Ball each. It was unfortunate because both the Agnew offspring love their sport, Archie even scored three home runs and a double play in his games.
Next up was Fidge's game of footy. Fidge, or "Lovely" as Tim prefers to call her is not much over 5 foot tall, slight in build, very feminine in fact she looks as much of a tom boy as I do a ballet dancer! As they say "don't let looks deceive" she was a star on the footy field. After the initial confusion, that she was playing for the opposition (they were short on numbers so Fidge played for them) we barracked for Fidge while still barracking for the locals! The women's game was high intensity, with some skilled players. Fidge booted three goals for her team of the day, contributing to the local teams defeat.
Next up was Archie's game of football. The youngsters play a slightly modified game of 3 x 15 minute plays. The oval is divided into thirds so each player has a turn up forward, in the centre and in defence. I have an obvious bias toward Archie but he was truely impressive the way in which he commits himself to the game, in fact the way he commits himself to all sports. Archie plays in the next age group up so that he can be challenged. He is particularly tenacious in his tackles, bringing down the bigger lads with an audible thump then he gets straight back up in pursuit of the ball. He will be a force to be reckoned with in the future, no doubt.
Archie's game concluded a particularly full day of sport, for us anyway, but nothing out of the ordinary for the Agnew clan we walked back to 6 Lilac Street for showers, a quick bite, some down time for the worn out kids and a refreshment for the adults. Not for long though because tonight was the Grand Final between Tom Price and the next door neighbours,Paraburdoo.
The WA government some time ago implemented the Royalties for Regions policy which, in my opinion quite rightly, redirect mining royalties back into regional areas. Some of these funds found their way to Tom Price building the town a quality oval and a first class grandstand with function area and bar. All areas were packed, most of Tom Price were there (those who weren't on shift anyway) and a fair few Paraburdoo supporters. We chose to watch the game from the boundary fence and from the first bounce it was quite clear that this was a serious game, both sides were particularly skilled and tough as nails. By the middle of the third quarter, the girls were frozen (particularly cold night in TP) and the home side were down by 20 points so we decided to spectate from the grandstand. Now those who know Nicole well will know that she is not a great fan of sport. Particularly football. But when Tom Price staged their comeback from 20 points down in the last quarter, to win by 2 points, she was TP most vocal supporter, followed closely by myself! We stayed for the speeches and a final bevie before rounding up the kids and shuffling off home as we had an early start and another action filled day tomorrow at Karranjini National Park