Trains, desert plains and a rusty Holden ute Funny quip to epitomize what makes Carmine exactly so Charming currently pending.

The following narrative features trains, sprawling desert plains, and possibly as many ladybugs as stars in the sky. It is a bumpy ride through the innocent mind’s eye of a three year old on her first journey to what seemed the other side of the world, with a new found awareness. So buckle up as she shares this colorful experience with you.

Today mummy, my little brother and me are going on a big train ride to Perth. We are going to see daddy where he works on a gold mine and nana and pop too. Mummy says I haven’t seen them since I was a baby. It is going to be a long journey that will take days and we will see many new things. We are going to live on a mine town. I will miss home but I am excited.

The train is very long and fast. We have our own cabin and I like to look out the window at the changing land. Everything is red and sandy now. We saw a family of kangaroos but we went past them so fast. Mummy says we will see more.

It is night time now and there are lots of stars. The sunset was so colorful and the moon is so big. I saw a big, big star in the sky. It looks like two big stars together and makes me think of the star of Bethlehem.

Today we got off the train and daddy picked us up. We went to nana and pop’s house. They have a dog and she is so jumpy and she pushed me on the ground, but I wasn’t hurt and I laughed. The house has a vine all over the wall and I saw like a bazillion ladybugs on it and they were all over me. I laughed so much and I had lots of fun.

Now we are in the mining town called Kalgoorlie where daddy works. Daddy’s friend told me it is from an Aboriginal word that means “place of the silky pears”. It is very hot and dusty and I saw more kangaroos and I saw a joey in its mummy’s pouch and we saw emus with their big feathery bodies and long necks and small heads. They walk funny on long legs and can’t fly and the daddy’s look after the babies.

Today we went for a ride in daddy’s car. It is so high I am too small to climb in myself. We had to hold tight onto a bar as my daddy drove real fast over the dunes. It was so bumpy and fun. We laughed so much, even though we were scared too.

We go home today. We are catching the train back to Adelaide. I am now 4 years old and I am starting kindy soon. I can’t wait to make new friends and learn new things. I saw so many things and made so many friends in Perth and Kalgoorlie and I want to tell my new class about it.

I must say goodbye to my family now so bye-bye.