Bath Night At Northcliffe W.A.

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After my husband passed away I went for a holiday to Northcliffe down the bottom of Western Australia where my son and his family were living on a disability pension. He was attacked by a mental patient one night when he was on duty as a charge nurse and now, after operations on his spine, he was reduced to living on the benefit. They moved down to Northcliffe where life was eco friendly and the living was cheaper. The house they were renting was made from hand made mud bricks and the joinery was all recycled materials. Try to visualise a ceiling lined with beautiful old jarrah floorboards.

These homes were deep in the forest and about a half mile from each other with lots of privacy. Rain water was collected for drinking, and water for other purposes was pumped from a huge dam situated a long way from the house, into a large tank sitting next to the verandah, which went around all four sides of the house. The house had electricity but cooking was done on a wonderful wood stove. A bathtub was sitting in a corner of the verandah in a space cut away to allow the water to flow into the ground when the plug was pulled, and a fire to be lit. The bath would be filled with water through a garden hose and a fire lit underneath to heat the water. Then one just bathed amidst the harmony of nature.

My daughter-in-laws parents had been over before me and the clever man that her father was helped my son to erect walls and low windows around the bathtub, as they found it chilly in the winter. Then they acquired the pipes at the recycling yard and these resourceful men plumbed the bathroom across the verandah ceiling to the tank and the wood stove so that taps now supplied the bath with hot water. Then I arrived from super civilised living conditions. I was totally amazed at this back to nature living way of life and envious too, though I knew It was not for me on a permanent basis. The window in my bedroom was, of course, recycled, but had not been filled in around the edges. At night I would awaken to the feeling that something had run across my face, but closed my eyes in case I saw it and had hysterics. Every evening hundreds of frogs would start up a chorus of croaking which lasted until sunset blocking out the ability to hear each other speak.

My turn came to have a bath, the water was usually shared with the children. Son turned on the taps and, as it took sometimes over a half hour to fill deep enough, we just had tea in the interim. Son went to inspect the bath, and we heard him call us to come quickly. In we rushed to find a cooked frog floating in the bath, belly up. My stomach gave a flip as son explained that the occasional frog would enter the bath house and straddle the pipes for the warmth. It must have been scorched by the hot water travelling through and fell. Poor little froggy!. If the frog added any therapeutic elements to the water I never noticed and it was a wonderful experience as I sat and looked through the windows and listened to the birds evening chorus. One evening we heard a crash against the long window at the front door. A frogmouthed owl had been attracted to the light and was now lying stunned on the verandah. We watched as it recovered, and with a sudden metre spread of its wings, it soared into the evening sky and we were emotionly impressed to see this awesome spectacle.

As my son had to find wood to keep the stove burning it was hard on his back. I had a chat and suggested he go for a degree at Uni. and find a new job. This he did and was able to do it extramurally with two trips to Perth annually. He received 2nd class honours with a double degree, I was extremely proud of him and pushed him further, as a B.A. on its own is common today. So he be came a High school teacher but did not care for it. Today he works in Brisbane happily with his business and though his back is still painful he is coping well. On the whole, isn't life full of twists and turns with opportunities to be grabbed.

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