Days out – Travels with Ali

~ Postcard from Perth ~ Swan River and Heirisson Island

At the beginning of the month I had an overnight stay at the Crown Perth with my lovely friends. The hotel sits right by the Swan River and even though none of us had taken the correct walking shoes we still managed to have a wander by the water.

I was happy to see some sculptures along the way too.

Spanish Black Granite Sculpture
Oushi Zokei

Willem de Vlamingh was a Dutch sea captain and arrived in Perth during the late 17th century. He named the Swan River after the large number of black swans he saw. He and his crew first landed on Rottnest Island and saw numerous quokkas (a native marsupial), and thinking they were large rats he named it ‘t Eylandt ‘t Rottenest (“Rats’ Nest Island”).

The reason for our stay was to have our last girls’ hurrah before the lovely Lisa departs for good back to the US. A few photos below of the fun we had.

Having our own rooms was a luxury.

**High Tea complete with gluten free and vegetarian options.**

Next was a swim by the pool and then off to the casino to try and win some of our luxury stay back! Sadly we didn’t hit any jackpots.

Then some fun in our rooms before checking out.

🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂

With school holidays on at the moment I thought I would take the munchkins to Heirisson Island where there is a kangaroo sanctuary. It’s not far from us but never having been there I asked Anthony along to be the driver. We easily found a carpark and proceeded along the river in search of kangaroos. Rosie didn’t bring shoes so all I had to offer was an old pair of Lachie’s wellies, which were a tad tight! After walking for ten minutes she started to cry saying her feet hurt, so onto Anthony’s back she went.

With the extreme hot weather Western Australia has been experiencing, everything was very brown and scrubby.

We walked along the river for a while and there was a lovely breeze blowing off it, but once we were in the middle with no shade it was fairly hot.

Still excited and not too tired yet!

We finally found a bench to sit and have some snacks but no kangaroos had been sighted.

Thinking we would have to walk back we came across another family who were looking at their phone. I went up to them and said have you seen any yet, and was informed that the husband had found a group but we had better hurry as they were bounding away.

They were hard to spot, being camouflaged by the brown grass. As you can see Lachie was very happy that we finally found some.

Heirisson Island was named after French midshipman François-Antoine Boniface Heirisson in 1801. It was once home to the Nyoongar people.

Also linking to Jo’s Monday Walks

🚣‍♀️ An Afternoon in Richmond-upon-Thames 🚣‍♀️

One sunny afternoon during our stay in England we drove to the picturesque town of Richmond. It’s long been on my list after watching the fabulous Ted Lasso and I had been urging Anthony to spend some time there.

It was a Bank Holiday Monday when we headed off and I thought I was being clever by taking a longer route from Basildon to Richmond to avoid the ULEZ (ultra low emission zones) charges! Just before entering the road to Richmond we saw the sign “you are now entering ULEZ”. Anthony said what to do? We circled the roundabout once again and drove down another road to check the map again. Sadly we were not going to get away with this. It’s a £17.50 flat rate, cheaper than the train I suppose.

It’s important to remember to check this up on your return by typing in your number plate on the ULEZ website to pay this fee. I imagine many overseas tourists get caught out by this with hire cars only to find weeks later a huge amount from the hire car company on their credit card for the charge, fine and administration fee.

Once into Richmond it was then a case of looking for a carpark, as you can imagine everyone and their dogs were out in force. Eventually we found one, worked out the meter (why can’t they all be the same) and off we went in search of lunch.

One of the main attractions of Richmond is simply the river itself and despite the grey clouds with imminent rain, there were people aplenty rowing up and down the river. We saw many cafes and restaurants but all looked to be very full. We ended up in a pub called the Pitcher and Piano for a pint and a pinot.

After this we took a leisurely stroll along the river and through one of the parks and headed to the high street, where to Anthony’s delight there were many clothes shops open. He was over the moon with some new purchases he found on sale.

We tried to eat here but they were full, looks so quaint.

Seriously! They couldn’t think of anything better. I definitely prefer Aphrodite.

As we walked away from the high street and towards the Green, I saw what I had been looking for, alas not Ted but the street where he lived and the pub where they met for drinks. Oh the excitement.

I stood here and shouted this is it, this is the place. So very satisfying!

The Crown and Anchor in Ted Lasso, in reality The Princes Head

**The Old Tower in Friars Lane, part of the site where Richmond Palace once stood**

We really enjoyed visiting Richmond and it was a gorgeous afternoon. It’s definitely worth a visit especially if you can fit in the Deer Park as well.

A Family Trip to Melbourne – Part one – Prahran Market and Legoland

The day finally arrived for our trip to Melbourne to visit Laurence and Maddy. It was a bright and clear day in Perth and there was so much excitement as we packed up two cars to drive to the airport. We parked in the long term carpark and then caught the shuttle bus to the terminal. When we arrived at the airport, Lachie was already saying “are we in Melbourne yet”, a phrase that was heard very often over the next few hours.

On the bus to the terminal

As we prepared to print our luggage tags a Qantas assistant came up and did everything for us, so helpful, then walking through immigration we were once again assisted through the hand baggage check. Of course poor Anthony gets stopped every single time because of his titanium shoulder and always gets frisked and patted from top to bottom.

The plane was almost full and we were all sitting in a row. Masks needed to be worn which was a great game for Rose as she tried repeatedly to take mine off. Although it was nice to be travelling to Melbourne again the masks are a pain to wear! You were only allowed to eat at designated times, when the food was served and masks were to be placed back again when the time was over.

We were staying at The Hamptons in St. Kilda in a two bed, two bath apartment. We had decided not to rent a car as it is hard to park in Melbourne for any length of time.

On our first day Elena and I took the kids to Prahran Market where there was live music for kids. It’s a wonderful market with lots of cafes and food stalls selling all kinds of fruit, veg and baked goods.

We couldn’t believe how helpful people were assisting with the pram and giving us the correct directions to the market.

I had to stop and take photos of the great murals always found in Melbourne.

After the market it was home again for nap time before our visit to DiscoverLego at Chadstone. This is something Lachie had been looking forward to for a long time. It’s a great experience if you are a lego enthusiast, young or old. The work that goes into creating these exhibits is astounding.

As we were technically still on Perth time we went out for dinner to The Grosvenor Hotel within walking distance from our apartment. That’s the best thing about Melbourne you don’t have to go far to find a pub, restaurant, cafe or bar!

A lovely end to our first day, hopefully tomorrow goes as smoothly!

🎡 A Royal Day Out 🎡

When I first arrived in Perth, WA in 2004 and had reason to visit the Claremont Showgrounds, I was amazed at the size of this small enclave of buildings. It seemed like a well kept ghost village. There was a ferris wheel and a chairlift that goes all around the huge perimeter of the showgrounds, mostly unused for 90% of the year, I thought what a colossal waste. Sitting on 32 acres of prime land and home to The Royal Show for a week in October. Since then I believe it has opened up much more to concerts, events and markets. Also it is now home to the Covid Vaccination Clinic.

On the last day of The Royal Show the whole family visited. For me it was only the second time I had been to a show and for Lachie and Rosie their very first.

It wasn’t as busy and crowded as I thought it would be, although there were still small queues for the mini rides for Lachie. It was quite funny really, five adults all standing around waiting for Lachie to hop on a ride and shout and cheer him on while he passed slowly by. After lining up for one ride and getting to the front, he declined to board a truck wanting to wait for the black truck to become vacant, it was worth the wait just to see his face.

**Soaking up the atmosphere and enjoying the view**

I ended up buying far too many tokens thinking Lachie would want to go on all the rides but he was more interested in the animals.

At first I thought most of the owls on display were stuffed! They never moved a muscle or blinked an eye.

A wonderful array of animals

With so many animals to see it was hard to choose a favourite. There was baby chick holding, kitten cuddling, pig patting and goat stroking. The queues for the kittens and baby chicks were far too long for a three year old to wait his turn so we had to miss those out.

We walked down side show alley and purchased a show bag for Lachie, Laurence tried his hand at shooting hoops and managed to win a prize for Lachie on the rifle range, what a great shot.

After a few hours of walking around we were all in need of a stiff drink and food. We found a bench outside and enjoyed cocktails, wine, beer and a few tacos. Rosie was getting fractious by now and it was time to leave. The noise levels were well beyond my capacity by now and I needed to get back also for a lie down. But it was a great day out, to be repeated again in another ten years – maybe!