Tag: travelswithali

Another Year Over…2022

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.

Also posted as part of The Changing Season and Sunday Stills hosted by Terri

~ Most things look better when you put them in a circle ~

Another fun photo challenge from Cee, and you may have guessed from the title that she’s asking for circles and wheels.

Once again I’ve combed my archives and put together a gallery.

“Life is a full circle, widening until it joins the circle motions of the infinite” : Anais Nin

Cottesloe, WA

South Bank, Melbourne

Looking through volcanic rock, Iceland

To finish, some jokes I found about circles!

said the square to the circle

Art in the Forest, Northcliffe, WA

The featured image is titled ‘Treecycle’ by Cecile Williams. It is indeed made from recycled books, wood and screws.

These are more artworks that we discovered on our recent tour of Pemberton, WA. It’s an amazing trail of nature and art, cleverly designed to blend in with the natural surroundings of the forest.

‘Written on the Wind’
By Norma MacDonald

‘Sundew’
By Nat Williamson
‘Competitive Ground’
By Peter Hill
‘Whole, You Were Meant To Be Here’
By Lorenna Grant
‘Australia House’
By Cornelia Conrads
‘Rising From the Ashes’
By Kim Perrier

There is a whole community of artists and sculptors in this small town and you can read there story here.

Posted as part of Cee’s photographing public art

👯‍♀️ Dancing in Dunsborough – Days Three and Four 👯‍♀️

Day Three

What a fun day today was going to be, a mystery tour had been planned for a coachful of women! Reminiscent of a school outing with our names being ticked off by Vicki as we boarded. It was non-stop chatter from the moment we sat down and Laura our lovely instructor had to whistle very loudly to get our attention. We boarded at 10.30 am and would be back at 4pm, no-one had a clue about where we would be going.

Our first stop was a winery for a quick tour and of course the requisite wine tasting. The winery was Aravina Winery, a 180 acre property with a surfing museum attached in Yallingup. The owners were very accommodating and explained each wine as it was tasted.

👰 A great place to get married 🤵
Just a taste
A step back in time

After sampling many wines we were back on the bus and onto our next mystery destination. This time also stopping for lunch. With much guessing going on we finally arrived at Black Brewing Company. Two large tables had been reserved for us and the staff did an excellent job of serving so many ladies! I was one of the lucky ones who was served very quickly, some were not so fortunate and waited for a while.

A few of the ladies that were still sitting by the time I got around to taking a photo

This place had the most amazing grounds, so after lunch I had a walk around to snap a few more shots. There was intermittent rain so it was a case of dodging it while walking.

A small island sat on the opposite side of the bridge with a stunning gazebo.

Each of the glass windows had a story of winemaking written on them with wonderful artwork. The photos didn’t quite come out the way I wanted.

Back on the bus and our next two stops were more about shopping. The first one was Vasse Virgin Olive Oil. All products were natural, made with olive oil, plant extracts and essential oils. We had a great time here sampling all the products and getting hand scrubs.

What finishes off a day nicely, a trip to a chocolate factory goes down very well with anyone, and that’s where our last stop was, The Margaret River Chocolate Factory.

I bought a few gifts to take home and all the ladies were given a bar by the lovely Laura.

So this was a no dancing day as everyone was pretty tired after a hard day’s touring. A very quiet pizza party was planned for the evening with cupcake decorating for dessert.

Day Four

More eating today with morning tea at Cape Lavender Teahouse. Devonshire Cream teas with lavender scones, cream and jam, just the best start to the day.

I was so happy that they did gluten free also, enjoyed every bite. There was also a gift shop, so did the obligatory shop and came away with even more gifts.

Yallingup Maze was next and then lunch at another brewery. Lisa and I opted instead for more shopping and a walk along the beach before a zumba class at 4.15.

Geographe Bay

Our last night’s party had a Bollywood theme with everyone invited to dress up and bring a curry. The outfits were amazing and everyone made such a great effort and the food was gourmet standard.

And so ends a fantastic five nights of dancing, eating, drinking, making new friends and catching up with old ones. A magnificent achievement by our zumba instructors – maybe next year back to Bali!

🏝 Palm Sunday 🏝

A few palm trees for this rainy cold grey day in Perth. Something to cheer me up and bringing back memories of times gone by.

Getting to grips with Canva and experimenting with old photos.

Tree Squares for July and Water Water everywhere

Faces in Objects

This week Cee has asked for faces in things for CWBC. I’ve found a few that I’ve edited with a bit of colour splash! My favourite thing to do.

I do miss my days out in London

Sitting Pretty

A few for Cee’s CBWC and Xingfumama’s Pull up a Seat.

With a touch of green!

A stroke of red

From a bar in Stanley, Tasmania

A very moth eaten chair found in the Prison Officer’s quarters, Tasmania
In sepia

ℬℒ𝒜𝒞𝓀 𝒜𝒩𝒟 𝒲ℋ𝓘𝒯ℰ

Touring Tasmania – 9 Day Itinerary

Our last day today and finally breakfast for four! After a full English breakfast at the hotel, we packed up the car and drove off to Launceston Airport to drop Laurence and Maddy off. We then drove back to Hobart for our flight much later that evening.

We had enough time to stop at Swansea which is on the East coast of Tasmania for lunch and a quick wander around.

Plans are already being made to visit this wonderful state again and visit the parts we missed.

Tasmania definitely exceeded our expectations, especially hubby’s! The seafood and the wine were the favourites of course. But there is no denying the beauty of this State. It is absolutely true what they say that around every corner or bend there is something to see and take photos or just stand in wonder and stare.

The stunning bay of Swansea

A complete itinerary of our nine days.

Days 1 to 3 in Hobart, including MONA

Day 4 – Richmond

Days 5 and 6 – Stanley

Days 6 to 9 – Launceston – including Cataract Gorge and Tamar River Wineries

Some of the fantastic places we visited along the way:

Port Arthur

Mt. Wellington

Sheffield

Highfield House

A Few Highlights

Thank you everybody who has followed me on this journey and made some lovely comments. It makes it all the more fun when you know someone is reading!

Touring Tasmania – Sheffield, Town of Murals

I was very excited to see this town, a whole place dedicated to murals. I find murals very intriguing as there is so much to see in them. Like an outside art gallery. It is the mural capital of Australia and it is modelled on a similar place in Canada.

As we were still driving towards our last destination of the day, Stanley, and it was getting late, we only had time for a very brief stop. I did managed to take quite a few though.

I tried to find out more about these murals, some have descriptions but some only have the artist’s name.

The titles mentioned are ones I have made up myself!

The featured image is of Cradle Mountain by John Landis

Friends and Strangers

Artist: Kerry Nicholson

Sports around the world

Artist: Kerry Nicholson

A day away from the city

Kerry and Malcolm Nicholson

The above murals were at the beginning of the road before entering the town itself, they didn’t seem to have much information on them.

There is so much colour and details in these murals, I think the above is my favourite, an afternoon quilting by the river.

There is a message in this one, I can only guess by the image of the old man on the left and what was inflicted on the indigenous people with the arrival of the explorers and convicts from England.

The end of the road

I did take more but am saving them for Monday Mural

Even a Broken Clock is right twice a day! 🕰

I recently read a post by Anabel at the Glasgow Gallivanter all about clocks and clock towers and suggested that she should create a challenge. She has written some interesting facts which you can read on the link. I thought I would check my archives once again as I haven taken a fair few photos on my travels.

The former Kowloon Canton Railway Clock Tower. The railway station was open from 1916 until 1975 and the building later demolished. The clock tower was left standing after protests from The Heritage Society of Hong Kong. It is now a declared monument.

Royal Arcade, Melbourne. The most famous feature, the carved mythical figures of Gog and Magog, flanking Gaunt’s clock, which triggers the arms of the figures to strike bells each hour. There is a fascinating history behind Gog and Magog which can be found in the link.

St. Mary’s Church, Ely built in the 13th century with the tower added in the 14th century.

Albany Town Hall, Western Australia. The clock was started on 15 April 1891 at 3pm and made by William Potts of Leeds, England. Albany is the oldest settled town in Western Australia.

The iconic Spanish Bay Rolex Clock at Pebble Beach Golf Course, Monterey, California
I took this photo when we stopped here for lunch on our trip around the 17 Mile Drive in 2015.

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