Friday, September 30, 2011

Mr 225.

Farmer Bren's morning tea masterpiece.

110 carriage train crossing our path on the way into Port Hedland.

A mountain of salt at Port Hedland.

Miss Pepper test driving Bren's new ukelele.

Honeymoon Cove - Point Samson.


The other day we were driving from 80 Mile Beach to Port Samson and pulled off the highway for a lunch break. The hot and dusty rest stop was deserted, with only one other car and caravan in sight. They looked like they'd been there for a while with their laundry hung out to dry and their solar panels lined up to charge.

We cut up some vegies and started assembling our sandwiches.

After a while, Indi looked around at the other car and asked if we thought their number plates, MR 225, were personalised and if so what they meant.

We all thought about it for a while and then I told them all a 'once upon a time' story about a man who had had a very poor upbringing and was living on the streets when one day he found or got given a metal detector. He spent years traveling around the country with it, metal detecting and digging. One day in the middle of nowhere he heard the thing beeping and carrying on like crazy. He started digging immediately. And digging and digging and digging. And there at the bottom of his very deep hole he found a box full of gold coins and bank notes. When he measured the hole he found it to be 225 feet deep. Of course with his fabulous find he bought himself a car and a caravan and the rest is history for MR 225.

Miss Jazzy then piped up and disagreed, saying that she was certain he was born on the 22nd of May.

Farmer Bren had the idea that the woman we now saw camping with the man was his 225th wife!!

Miss Indi was certain he had made his fortune playing Tats Lotto once and his lucky winning numbers had been 225.

And Miss Pepper thought that was his name. Mr Twohundredandtwentyfive. Oh yeah!

So what do you think? Who was this mysterious MR 225? Can you solve our mystery?

Have a wonderful weekend and happy travels.
I'm off to do a bit of crochet - yes! there still is a little bit of craft going on around these parts.

29 comments:

  1. At the hospital where he was born all the babies got given a number instead of a name. And he was Mr 225.
    Or was he prisoner 225 somewhere???

    the plot thickens!

    Happy travels!

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  2. maybe he got it for $225.00 on e.bay? or perhaps it is his 225th vehicle.
    I am going to enjoy these answers!!

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  3. I can't beat Miss Peppers idea. And aren't those trains amazing!

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  4. It was his placing in a Mr Universe competition. he keeps looking at himself in the side mirrors and crying Why???

    Laurie Freeman xx

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  5. Oh Kate, what a treat it has been catching up on your week's worth of posts... like reading a really great novel, you just can't put down :o)
    Love the imagination here in this post and your photographs are incredible, yet again!
    Mr225? Well, I think he has big plans to travel around Australia in 225 days. Though I do think Miss Jazzy might be onto something... and Farmer Bren is just plain funny!
    Enjoy your crochet time Kate xo

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  6. Did you think that your post would have people all over the place staring out of their windows, cuppa in hand, wondering about Mr 225. My kids are wondering what I'm doing! :)
    Maybe it's MR 'two and 25' representing them and their 25 kids. And the fact that there is 25 kids is why they've run off in a van and are hiding out on the west coast somewhere!
    Have a great weekend!
    Jenny

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  7. Maybe they are secretly super-rich oil barons who are getting back to nature, and the inside of their caravan is gold-plated with velvet curtains. And that car is their 225th car.

    Although Pepper's idea is probably more likey!

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  8. I googled MR225 and it came up with an old white valiant in reallly good condition.....just wondering if it is the same car?
    Maybe he will only work for $225hr (but then who wouldn't).

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  9. Oh Kate, I wouldn't have been able to leave without actually asking them why their number plate was MR 225..............
    Now you will always be wondering, but I do like Jenny's idea and they have run away from their 25 children, lol........

    Have a fab weekend,

    Claire :}

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  10. No idea about MR 225, but my brother and I still joke about a ROB 180 who camped at the same spot with us 17 years ago!
    I think you'll be remembering MR 225 for a long time :)

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  11. I love all these stories!!!

    In country WA a lot of cars are registered in small towns/shires. These cars have number plates with 1-3 letters at the start (older) or end (newer) of the numbers. For example, Goomalling has number plates that read GO 123 (or other numbers obviously!). I thought their care may be from Margaret River, hence MR, but it seems Margaret River comes under the shire of Augusta (hence AU 123 number plates. Still, some shires have had to combine in recent years so it's possible he's had MR number plates for years and years, before the shires combined?

    Here's a list of number plates, could be a fun thing for the girls to look out for :-)
    http://www.avonvintagecars.org.au/PDF/WA%20Licence%20Plates%20.pdf

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  12. I love a good story telling....happy travels.

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  13. Great story to go with the great food!
    In NSW we have personalised number plates...I always (secretly) try to guess what the car owner's name might be...Mick Ryan, Meg Ryan, Mandy Reddan, etc etc. until I run out of ideas. Of course I never do know what the correct answer is!
    And I've never told anyone before that this is what I do every time I spot said plates.

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  14. The phonetic alphabet would make that MR Mike Romeo so the 225 may well be the number of his children, or his conquests ;D

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  15. Love your shell inventory. Willow loves to sort and arrange...she was very impressed. Ilana

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  16. I think he designed that crane at the salt yard: http://www.activecranehire.com.au/mr225.htm

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  17. oh Kate,
    this could be very favourite of your travelling posts.....
    Hhmmmmm, maybe he'll only drive 225 kms a day??
    I love Bren's idea tho !

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  18. Love it - Farmer Bren must think that he is a busy man:) 225 wifes in a lifetime - WOW:)

    Humm - Who knows - sticking to the married thing. Mark and Rhonda were married on the 22nd of May:)

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  19. Thanks for your comment recently and yes it was me who was born in Port Hedland. Left age 2 so no memories except a love of red dirt. Thanks for the photos,suspect it is not particularly photogenic given that it is a mining town so you did well.
    MR 225, well it's a complicated story of love and loss. Met in Rome on a 2.25 pm train to Venice. Were both too young but promised to find each other later, when she sees those plates she knows she has found him again. Well, it's either that or the total number of his conquests thus far in his travels! melx

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  20. Haaaaaaaa could it be the 225th car he's had while travelling round Australia for 225 years???
    Ooooo am so loving your stories, yearning to be there too ♥♥♥♥♥

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  21. MR 225 used to weigh 225 kgs and couldn't fit into his caravan, then he lost a lot of weight and has been on 225 holidays in it now! This reminds me of 'You've Got Mail'..when she's guessing why his email address had numbers in it. I see you've moved on from Broome..have a good week.

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  22. I think it's his prison number, he's not following you is he?
    I will let you figure out what he was in for

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  23. Maybe he takes a nap each day at ...you guessed it...2:25

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  24. Margaret River have MR plates now, as well as the AU ones. Which means they were from our town!! Margaret River is a beautiful place surrounded by vineyards, farms, and awesome coastline. We get a lot of tourists, especially in the warmer months.

    Happy travels xx

    Laura (in sunny Margaret River)

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  25. I like the stories you had over the number plates! What a cool way to help with creative minds :)

    I came across your blog via facebook - "My Little Drummer Boys" let me know about your twitter profile! So happy that there is another family that is travelling and blogging :)

    Cheers
    Lisa

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  26. I'm sure that the car was a pressie on his 225 birthday!

    We play a number plate game in the car where you have to make up phrases for the letters (usually 3) so MED could be man eats dog or mums embarrassing dress or murdered every driver.

    Loving reading about your travels.

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  27. Just reading Penelope's comment reminded me that my Husband was from Goomaling and the number plates on his first car were like personalized porno plates... GO 469... pretty hilarious for a seventeen year old!

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  28. No wonder you are writing a book. I am really enjoying reading back on your adventures.

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Kate XX

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