A funfilled week was had last week, starting with Bank Holiday Monday and a trip to the zoo. As you can imagine it was packed, but Elena holds a zoo pass so you need only spend a few hours each time.
We were lucky enough to see a Tree Kangaroo with her baby, who just happened to stick his head out for a photo. Also a sausage tree in bloom!
On Wednesday I spent a lovely morning at the beach viewing the sculptures which I’ve already posted about.
With the weather getting cooler in the mornings I’ve been able to go for a walk around Lake Claremont.
Which direction shall I go?We need rain!
“There are plenty of difficult obstacles in your path. Don’t allow yourself to become one of them”– Ralph Marston
Vivid green grass blowing in the breeze“We know we are on the right path. Our journey is not finished, but we have come a long way.” Muhammadu Buhari
It wasn’t that long at all, just a 40 minute circuit around the lake!
Sunday afternoon we had a drive out to one of our favourite wineries in Bickley Valley. We had a table on the terrace overlooking the vineyards and shared a bottle of wine and a charcuterie board.
Next Postcard will be from Seminyak, Bali for a short break!
Linking to CWWC (Cee’s Challenge on Which Way) and Sunday Stills (This week Terri is asking for Green).
Changing Seasons is really the correct phrase to describe Perth at the moment. We had a mini heatweave last week, like a summer’s day but it’s Spring and a few days later wind, rain and cold nights again, but another heatwave at the end of the week.
The first ten days of September I was still in the UK, where they also had a late summer heatwave. The trouble there is you can’t sleep at night as there was no breeze at all! Just can’t be happy can we? I spent those days going to visit my mum in the care home and catching up with old friends and family members.
Bye for now
My mum was so sad to see me go, it was heartbreaking for me. She had forgotten that it was time to say goodbye. She has made a new friend though.
I also had a quick visit back to my childhood home to clear out some more “stuff” with my brother. It will be odd not staying here again.
I popped outside to take a few photos of the garden and saw this cheeky fox, which is undoubtedly the fox I have taken many photos of before. Peeping through the fence (which ties in with Sunday Stills – Fences).
Soon after I returned to Perth we had a visit from Laurence and Maddy, which I’ve already posted about. That was a wonderful week. Rosie also turned 3!
It was also half term here in Perth and I was on duty with “Ninny Daycare” for the munchkins for two days. Exhausting but loved every minute. We made cookies, went to some parks and a cafe. They are such lovely playmates and Lachie is so patient with Rosie. I remember when my brother and I were a similar age and all we did was fight, it was always my fault though, I was a mean girl! Luckily we get on so much better now, well most of the time anyway. I’ll never lose that bossy streak.
Rosie telling Lachie not to put so many smarties on one cookie!
The Perth Royal Show was on in the last week in September, I didn’t go this year, but I could see the fireworks from my bedroom window.
Not great images but not too bad for a free show!
Lastly for Brian’s last on the card is my attempt at snapping the full moon with my S22.
There goes another year. I feel it has been a long one, maybe because we have travelled a fair bit. When I think this time in 2021 we were travelling back to the UK, it seems an age ago.
January: After receiving bad news about my Dad we decided to go back to the UK for a few months. In the end we stayed ten weeks. I’m happy to say my Dad is still thriving and is the original Iron Man after receiving many iron infusions and blood transfusions. I have to say a big thank you to the NHS for keeping him here.
Arriving in the UK at the height of the pandemic was stressful as was having to wear a mask. Perth was still barricaded against the rest of the world and we were living in our own little bubble.
River Crouch, Essex
February: Still in the UK and both of us caught Covid, even though we had just had our third vaccine. We had time to travel to Devon for a few days to a dear friend’s funeral before this. During this time we also had the pleasure of Storm Eunice.
Hope Cove, South Devon
February was also the start of the horrendous war in the Ukraine which everyone thought would never happen.
March: We headed back to Perth in the middle of this month only for Anthony to get Covid once again, this time with some serious health implications for him. The year hasn’t been wonderful for him health wise but he is definitely much better now. It was strange returning to Perth and having to wear masks after leaving UK who had dropped the masks!
St Katherine’s Dock, London
April: We celebrated Easter during this month and a short visit from Laurence and Maddy, always a happy occasion.
Swan River, Perth
May: We travelled to Melbourne to celebrate Laurence’s birthday, taking Elena and the children with us.
A family day at Melbourne Zoo
June: For our wedding anniversary we took a trip to Penang and Langkawi. Unfortunately Anthony fell very ill with salmonella poisoning and ended up in hospital for an afternoon! We still managed to enjoy most of the trip.
Langkawi Island, Malaysia
July: A mini break down to the South West of WA, Albany and Margaret River.
Coalmine Beach, Walpole, WA
August: Back to Melbourne again to see Laurence and Maddy. Making the most of the borders being open and marvelling at travelling again. I don’t think I’ll ever travel again without having that doubt about flights being cancelled or luggage not turning up.
Torquay, Victoria, Australia
September was spent in Perth playing Bridge, seeing films and going to a concert. Many nights sitting in front of the fire as it was still so chilly here.
From Point Resolution, Nedlands looking across the Swan River to Mosman Park
October: A mini break with dear friends in Dunsborough, WA
Fun at Geographe Bay, Dunsborough, WA
November: Another family vacation, this time back to Bali, our first time in three years. So happy to visit again.
Breakfast by the beach, Bali
December: Finally back to Hong Kong also after three long years. We had a wonderful week despite three days of room service in the hotel, due to a “quarantine measure”.
On the ferry going to Cheng Chau Island
🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹🔹
Christmas was spent in Perth and it was an amazing fun filled day with all the family at ours for the day. There were so many gifts opened, bottles of champagne and wine drank and turkey and ham consumed. My garage now looks like a recycling centre which will take time to clear.
As I look back at my year, I give thanks for my fortunate life. We’ve had ups and downs with health issues and it’s a miracle that my dad is still here. I’m off to the UK again in January, to celebrate my mum’s 90th birthday and hopefully find them both in reasonable health.
I hope to continue to be part of the wonderful WordPress blogging community, I’ve enjoyed many of your posts and made numerous new friends.
To stay near or go far that is the question that Terri from Second Wind Leisure is asking this week for the Sunday Stills Challenge.
For me it will always be to travel far and hopefully on a plane to somewhere exotic. But any kind of travelling is okay, as long as it involves a suitcase and a new destination. I love the planning stage of a trip and normally by the end of it I know the place inside out! Sometimes I’ve completely changed my mind after sifting through reviews and images of the destination I had in mind.
During the two year “lockdown” that Australia had – no-one in and no-one out – only the most extenuating circumstances accepted, we did a few “home” trips. By that I don’t mean staying in the house but actually exploring Western Australia. Western Australia was the most locked in state, we couldn’t even travel to anywhere in Australia.
We did most of this travelling in the South West of Western Australia and tried to go to towns that we had never been before, although one trip was to Kalgoorlie which is 600 km east of Perth.
I have written posts about most of these mini-breaks but here’s a gallery of some of the photos.
2020 was also the last year that my parents would visit us, so Covid was good in the fact that they had to stay for five months and not their normal three! My nephew was also visiting and we had some wonderful days out.
Gidgeganup
Gidgeganup
Shelley Beach
Cottesloe Beach
Baskerville Winery
“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.”
From a small child until I was 16 my parents took my brother and I off to Devon or Cornwall for two weeks, usually in August. I can’t ever remember it raining that much, just spending days on end at the glorious beaches in the South West of the UK. Around April or May in the earlier years my dad would go to W.H. Smiths and get the latest Caravan Park and Bed and Breakfast accommodation book. How easy it is nowadays with Booking.com! He and my mum would choose a suitable place and make a phone call to reserve our two weeks and pop a cheque in the post. My favourite places to stay were holiday camps or caravan parks with evening entertainment. Everyone was just so happy all the time and I always ended up making a friend or two, who later became pen friends. At the age of 17 I decided I was too old to go on holiday with my parents anymore, I was working full time by then and could afford to holiday with friends.
By the time my own children were born we were living in Hong Kong and the summers were long and hot, but also rainy and humid with the typhoon season starting in June. School breaks were two months long, July and August, and I always took the children back to the UK for a few weeks or so. But I loved the summer in Hong Kong as there was no pressure to get up early. We could go to the beach late in the afternoon or maybe get invited to friends who had a pool. Once we had our own pool, it was used constantly every day.
Now we are in Perth, WA of course our summers are the complete reverse. We have been here 18 years but I still mix the seasons up sometimes! But I love the summers here the most as they seem to last for ages. Although it does get super hot at times, there’s never a time when you have to say let’s wait for a warmer day to do something. I still find it strange having Christmas when it’s so hot outside! When we first moved here I wouldn’t swim in the sea as it was so cold, but in the last few years I have taken the plunge and now go for a swim. Only when it’s a very hot day though! We have such beautiful beaches but of course we have sharks too, so I will only swim in the shallow parts and I don’t like it too rough!
In the photo on the right my two friends are trying to put away one of those beach tents that are supposed to just fold up! It just kept springing open, so in the end we had to jam it in the boot of the car half opened. The photo on the left shows all the school kids having surf life saving lessons. I felt sorry for them having to sit in the sun for so long listening to the teacher giving instructions, still I suppose it’s necessary.
This post was written as part of the challenge Sunday Stills – Summer hosted by Terri at Second Wind Leisure.
“A flower does not think of competing with the flower next to it. It just blooms.” – Zen Shin
Birthday Bouquets
Florist shops from China and Japan
The beautiful Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
A few years ago there were display stalls in our local shopping centre with a device where you could slot your own phone in to take a selfie. Ingenious!
