After the Storm

Yesterday's storm was more puff than wind here at Preston Beach but I decided to do a tour with camera to capture some shots of a winterised Preston Beach.  There's nothing more captivating than seeing water in our lake.

Everything has been washed clean by the heavy rains which have fallen through June.  The golf course is beginning to green and the park at the beach is looking great.  Noel said the overnight campers rate it is one of the nicest stops on the coast.  You can use the car park and facilities at the Preston Beach free of charge for 24 hours.  The locals like to see visitors here on a regular basis because the presence of motorhomes, caravans etc is a deterent to vandals (yes unfortunately the facilities here have previously been subject to damage by vandals).

A wet car park

The brush pile next to the northern access road grows faster than a mushroom on steriods!  This is fine when the vegetation being dumped is suitable for brushing the dunes, but apparantly some people can't read.  Take this pile of palm tree trunks for instance; dumped directly behind the sign!

Can you read the sign?

The ocean was pounding in and the tyres have taken a battering but they stand steadfast against the onslaught of the swell and the tide.  There is a little weed on the the beach but not too bad for this time of year.  The sand is quite hard and easy to drive on at the moment and despite it being a wet and cold day we found Noel carrying out his Ranger patrols as usual, picking up flotsum and jetsum and looking for drivers in distress ('idiots who get bogged')!

Every time we have constant and heavy rain, the old part of town suffers.  In Surf Street, Siesta Street, Oceanview Road, Lakeview Road and Southern Road there are washaways and sand drifts.  This will continue to happen until the Shire install kerbing and upgrade the old roads.

 

Ian Curley has been in town inspecting this kind of damage recently.  Without funds there is little can be done but it is distressing for the home owners in these streets and nothing is more frustrating than watching the Shire throw good money after bad doing patch up repairs on these roads.

The new fire shed looks like it might be near completion but still needs internal fitout, fencing, driveways and other costly items for which further funding is required.  It looks like it might be some time before this building is functional, let's hope not.

Cleaning Up

Sunday was our annual 'Clean Up" day at Preston Beach and fortunately the weather was kind to us.  The Golf Club members did their bit on Saturday (as they have their club champion round every Sunday) and I have a feeling some of them may have got wet! 

Picking up other peoples rubbish is not what you would call fun, nevertheless, there's plenty of community spirit goes into the event which always brings out the best in folk.  The event was organised while we were away on our road trip, bringing together the PB Volunteer Fire Brigade, PB Golf Club, PB Progress Association, the volunteer rangers and the Shire of Waroona.  Around thirty volunteers turn up.  Great effort everyone!

This was the first 'official outing' of our new Suzi.  We loaded Doug and Jan into the back 'Dickie' seats where they looked quite comfy as we set off to clean our allotted stretch of road.

The target areas were Preston Beach Road from the highway to the causeway, the corners of Coronation and Johnson Roads, the Causeway and Mitchell Road.  Fred coordinated the teams to maximum efficiency, armed everyone with pick up devices and we set off to do what we've done many times in the past.  Pick up rubbish.

Now I would be the first person to say that a blog about rubbish can't possibly be interesting but it sure is interesting when you see or smell what people bring back with them!  There was definitely some carrion in that lot. Talk about a reeking pile!!

Barry came in with the corner of a $10 note which we estimate is worth $2.50, it's a pity he couldn't find the other $7.50; there were marine buoys, asbestos fencing, a pile of tyres, a baby seat, mountains of beer and other beverage containers but most disturbing of all were two caches of hypodermic needles.  Noel had warned us to beware of broken glass and needles before we set off, and to be honest I thought the last thing we would find would be needles so I was very surprised at these discoveries.

Just one of the needle finds

Noel organised a BBQ lunch of sausages in bread rolls, washed down with beer and a Houston's white.  What a good idea.  For Lew and I this was a great opportunity to catch up with folk we hadn't seen since we left on our road trip in early May.  It's nice to be home and great to see everyone again.

We always have a photo call with the rubbish pile but due to a reeking bag of what smells like a dead roo amongst the rubbish nobody wants to stand too close.  You should've heard them complaining when I asked a few people to stand in front of the Coates trailer (kindly donated for the event by Coates Hire in Waroona).  So, if you notice a few screwed up noses and disdainful looks in the photo you know why.  I think this is about the sixth or seventh time I have joined in the clean up and I'm sure this is close the largest pick up ever.

It's not something to be proud of at all.  Visitors to Preston Beach have been steadily increasing in the last few years so I guess it's only natural for the volume of rubbish to increase with it.  The Keep Australia Beautiful message just doesn't seem to be working.

On our way home from the east ten days ago, we drove the highway from Kambalda to Kalgoorlie and were astonished at the rubbish littering this road.  There are forty kilometres of bottles and cans either side of the road and I doubt if you could walk two paces without stepping on them.  It's the most shameful exhibit of littering I have ever seen.  At least we folk at Preston are doing something about our own back yard but wouldn't it be an ideal world if the rubbish wasn't there in the first place.  I think it's high time the deposit system was reintroduced.  It works in South Australia so why not WA.

There was a hint of glamour on the day.  Just because you're picking up rubbish it doesn't mean you can't have a feminine touch does it?

Thanks everyone involved for your tremendous efforts! 

Welcome to the Beach Blog!

It's been almost two years since the demise of our newsletter The Beach Bulletin and still we don't have anyone willing to take on the roll of editor/publisher.  And who can blame you for that.  It was  becoming a daunting task for me to compile ten to twelve pages each month and keep it informative and vibrant, yet still I am asked on a regular basis "when will the Bulletin start up again"?  To which I have had no answer.

Lew and I took a long winter break this year and travelled east by road.  During this trip my daughter began a blog for me and it was then that it occurred to me a blog might just work for Preston Beach.  I believe there are several people out there who actually followed my holiday blog and this gives me great hope.

We're home, refreshed and ready to attack things with a whole new zest so I hope you like this new initiative and embrace it by becoming a 'follower', commenting often, suggesting material and contributing whenever you have something to say.

No sooner had we returned home that I was told of the work going on around town.  Western Power have been back again, replacing power poles around town.  To do this they need to turn off power to the whole town for the whole day.  The only way to deal with it and retain your sanity is to plan a day out, but for those unable or unwilling to hike it out of town on a winters day, it's very frustrating.  The immediate impact is disruption to daily life and frustration because we all know how much we can get done when the power is off - diddly squat!

The more long term and hidden impact, especially for holiday home owners is the effect constant power outages has on timers and automatic devices like reticulation controllers.  Our retic was out of sync when we got home as was the outdoor lighting.  We turned on the television to find most channels weren't working.  This turned out to be the booster which the antenna guy said was most likely burnt out due to power surges. i.e. the constant cutting off and turning on of the main power supply.  I'm trying to stay positive, telling myself it's important to maintain the integrity of infrastructure but I've been told the upgrade of power poles is still incomplete and we have more interruptions to come.  In future I will be able to post Western Power notices on this blog which might be helpful to absent owners.

Other maintenance was carried out recently on the water tank at the top of Beachcast Close.  A team of contractors were employed to scour the bottom of the tank (so I'm told).  It appears that during this process they failed to ensure the water they discharged was running off safely down the hill.  The result of this was massive erosion of the north bank of the hill.  Workers have been busy for the last week filling the wash away with truckloads of gravel.  The estimate at this stage is they have used six truckloads the job is not finished.

On a personal note, some of you may have noticed the old Landy has gone from out the front of our place.  It was a sad day when we saw her being towed away, but we find comfort in the knowledge she has gone to a greater purpose.  The people who collected her run workshops for disadvantaged teenagers.  Their job will be to strip and rebuild the Landy.  The younger ones are also taught to drive. In future you will see us bopping about the place in a white Suzuki Vitara that once belonged to Alf Barker.

Well, I'm off now as the Woolies delivery van has just arrived with my shopping.  Yes, they deliver to Preston Beach for just $5.00!  More about that late.