May 24 - 30 ... Perth

The first few days of this week were mainly taken up with domestic duties. It was showery and cool, so it was a good opportunity to get the gardening done, the cars cleaned, hooks in, paintings up, and the French Assignment completed! The French study has not quite worked out as planned yet. It was meant to be something enjoyable and beneficial to do in my many "free" hours, none of which have I experienced so far. Thankfully there is no real pressure in that I do not have due dates, but it was still mad to think I may have had some idle hours on this trip. However,I will definitely finish it and hopefully, next year in France, it will pay off...and, the "slow" times may be still to come!

We did find time on Thursday afternoon to go for a walk down to the river. It took about 20 mins from Morgan's place and we had lovely views for most of it. The suburb is Attadale and it would be a great place to live. It prompted me to explore some Real Estate websites when we got home. Something decent for under $500k is feasible should we ever decide to make the move west. The Swan River has walking paths along most of its banks and lots of picturesque picnic areas that are easily accessed, so it is always tempting to get out and enjoy the sunshine.

Friday dawned a perfect day..sunny, blue sky and 25 degrees, so we set out for Kings Park. We ended up spending over 5 hours there and every minute was pleasurable. We walked all the main tracks and the views were fantastic. This is an amazing resource for Perth and it is good to see that it is valued.

The Entrance to Kings Park

City views from Kings Park

River views with the old Swan Brewery in foreground

The Treetop Walk in Kings Park

Morgan's flight was very late in and she arrived tired so we had an early night and left playing "spot the changes" till the morning.

One of these is 750 yrs old!

The Women's Monument - Kings Park

Perth from Mt Eliza - Kings Park

Saturday was a special day because Morgan and Garry finally got organized and bought her new car. It took most of the morning and I had some quiet time to take phone calls from our friends and family as it was my birthday. It was lovely to hear from everyone and I enjoyed catching up. It also gave me time to prepare a picnic lunch because, again, it was another beautiful day. The new car owners returned around 1pm but have to finalize some details on Monday. We just drove down to the end of Stock Rd (basically Morgan's street) to the river for lunch at Point Walter. There is always plenty to watch and it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Birthday Picnic Lunch

Relaxing by the river

The black swans of Perth

Point Walter Picnic Area

When we got home we had "birthday cake" and coffee as we trawled the internet checking out "suitable" housing in the local suburbs. This turned out to be quite a funny exercise as people's taste in decor can be wildly varied.

56 today !

That evening we drove in to South Perth, picking up some gourmet pizzas en route to have with our champagne. It was cool and I hate being cold so I was well rugged up. The park we went to is opposite the city and the view of the city lights is really special as they are reflected on the water. In response to the energy crises, many of the city buildings have toned down their night lighting but it still looked great. One building in particular has an incredible display of ever changing colours.
We got home after 9pm, all well satisfied with our day.

Pizza Picnic - 28/5/11

Perth at night

And then it was Sunday, Melville Market day again. I had a ball and it was an excellent market with lots of quality stuff. I bought quite a few things both for Morgan and myself.

Venetian glass bead necklace ... $20

Basket of shells ... $10

Huge shells ... $15

We were also very fortunate because Morgan spotted some art work that she really loved and so we were able to buy her two paintings for her 30th Birthday in July. I had been really stumped on what to get her so this was a lucky break. Of course they are already on the wall but she will be on site for her birthday anyway so there will be no surprises for her this year.

Kitchen "Flowers" - $50

"Magnolias" for the lounge room - $200

It clouded over in the afternoon in preparation for the bad weather that is forecast. We don't mind a few rainy days as we have lots to catch up on. It is surprising how busy we have been. We have now been in Perth four weeks and we are yet to find the time to read or even watch television. Maybe that will change this coming week!

May 19 - 23 ... Perth

We put Maurn on the plane home on Thursday morning after a busy and very interesting week. From the airport Morgan and I drove to "Carousel" for a sushi lunch and some serious shopping. While we are here we wanted to "finish" off all the little bits around the house. To this end, Morg bought some tin flower panels for the side of her shed which is about a metre outside her bedroom window and clearly visible, and a few decorative pieces for inside the house. It was a late night but we enjoyed the retail therapy.

Shed wall decorations

On Friday the serious new car shopping began. This was a Morgan / Garry activity so I was able to get stuck into my French assignment. They both did a bit of a tour of the car yards, eliminating some vehicles and listing others. Fortunately, all of the major car dealerships are very close by so a lot can be accomplished in a small amount of time, and the internet helps a lot too.
Saturday morning, after a very late start, Morgan went for a few test drives. This sorted out some of the contenders and the field began to narrow. A little bit more French got done but I am still way behind and will have to make more of an effort.

Sunday is my favourite day in Perth. I get to start with the Melville markets, and this week was a particularly good one. It was huge and I found lots of good stuff, most of which I did not buy, fortunately! But I did get some large shells to paint up for the house and some herbs to plant. I had to drag myself away as Morg was going for her usual run and we decided to join her for a walk.

Melville Markets

It was a beautiful day, all sunshine and very warm. Morg's "track" is along side the river, starting in Bicton Park, through some natural bushland and out into another park at Point Walter. The views are wonderful and the water looked especially nice today.

Bicton Park

The Swan River Pool

View towards Fremantle

View towards the city

The cliffs beside the river.

The Swan River

After our exercise we had a drive around looking at particular cars and now had it down to two! When we got back we decided that the day was just too good to stay at home and do the jobs we had planned, so we drove up to Swanbourne and had lunch at The Wild Fig. We had a table looking out over the coastline where Rottnest Is and the ships waiting to enter the harbour were clearly visible ... and the food was fantastic!

Lunch in Swanbourne

The Wild Fig Restaurant

Around 4pm it came up quite cloudy and cool so we returned to do the jobs that just could not be put off ... the sewing! Morgan had to hem her work shirts and she wanted to develop her sewing skills so we got to it. Her machine was still brand new so it was pleasing to know it worked well and she did an excellent job.

On Monday Garry and Morgan were off again for more test drives and ...da da ... a choice has been made!! The Mitsubishi ASX came out a clear winner and now she just has to organize finance and place an order. Due to the tsunami most car orders are taking some months to be filled so let's hope the old Kia can keep going for a while yet.

Mitsubishi ASX in Kingfisher blue.

As usual with Morgan, our days are very full, very busy but we don't seem to get much done. She returned to site this afternoon so Garry and I now have 4 days to tick things off our list. Already we are thinking we might be here a bit longer than planned!

May 18 ... York

We decided to take Maurn out of the city for her last day in WA so she could see some of the countryside. York is less than 100kms from Perth in the Avon Valley and it is a lovely little historic town. We knew it had lots of  very old buildings and the Town Hall was one of these. It was fully restored, including its extensive pressed tin ceilings; but it was very unfortunate we chose to go to York on a Wednesday when many of the "tourist" places were closed!

Morgan outside the Motor Museum

The Settler's Shops

An historic York Hotel

The York Town Hall

 Basically the success of York was due to it being a convict depot in the 1800's. These cheap workers allowed the surrounding area to be opened up, and much of that history is still visible today, particularly the wealth of the early settlers.
Our first stop was the Tourist Information Centre and from there we did a bit of a drive-through of the town. It is only small but there was an excellent cafe at which we had lunch and then we went for a walk to check out what was open.

Lunch in York

We found some really trendy little boutiques, all closed!, and a traditional lolly shop, at which Maurn finally got her nougat. We tried to visit The Mill, an old flour mill which is now a gallery and conglomerate of tourist shops, but it was closed. However,The Sock Factory was open, after which, and some pairs of socks later, we drove up to the town lookout. It was a great view but the country is definitely reflecting the drought of the past few months.

 York WA

Leaving York we drove back to Perth and took a small detour to introduce Morgan to The Honey House in the Swan Valley. This time we all enjoyed some fantastic honey ice-cream, and we bought even more honey products. From here we slowly headed home, with Perth's peak hour traffic, and enjoyed a left-overs tea to finish off another good day.

Yummy Honey Ice Cream

May 17 ... Swan Valley

Maurn felt she would like to see more of the "traditional" Swan Valley with its vineyards and other farms, so we headed back that way this morning. Morgan had to work so it was only the three of us. First we drove to Guildford where we discovered the best second-hand bookstore EVER. It was all organized and easy to navigate. Maurn and I bought a couple of books each but I could have gotten dozens.

From here we started up the valley. It is only about a 20km circuit but it is really packed with places to stop at, and all of them involve food and drink(mostly alcohol).Our first stop was The Margaret River Chocolate Factory where there were lots of yummy things. We settled for a couple of very chocolaty mochas and Maurn bought some gifts to take home.

Excellent coffee

Before anyone asks, Garry has not technically hurt himself. He wears this muscle support because he has "golfers elbow" and apparently it gets quite sore, so he will probably continue to look like a war veteran !

From chocolate to coffee at Mago Coffee and Cape Lavender. The latter is a beautiful shop where we enjoyed all the free samples and the former had lots of delicious things, including freshly made gelati. I bought some crostolli and biscotti and Maurn also picked up a few treats. Our next stop was The House of Honey. Here I could have spent heaps as they had lots of tempting things, like honey ice cream. Before we left I bought two bottles of honey and some sparkling honey drink which I think will be perfect one hot afternoon. And then on to The Mondo Nougat shop where we had a variety of sticky, teeth challenging nougats to choose from.
 Finally we arrived at the Houghton's Vineyard where we planned to have lunch. We had been there before so we knew it was a really nice setting with tables under a vine covered pergola. We ordered the platter of mixed goodies and it was superb. There was plenty for the three of us and it was perfect with a glass of classic white burgundy. 

Linda and Maureen at the vineyard

Our delicious lunch

It had been overcast all day and by now it was about 3 pm so we picked Morgan up from the city and continued home for coffee and a movie, having spent a very pleasant four hours in the Swan River Valley.
To add to all this wonderful food, Morgan had made an excellent tiramasu and we have been enjoying this for desert these last few nights.

May 15 ... Guildford / Swan Valley

Not such a great day with showers forecast but we headed off for the markets at Guildford. These were very small and disappointing, but the town itself was lovely ... very old and very historic. We did a little driving tour of the main sites including the Chapel of the Guildford Grammar School; and we had a look around the town which has some unusual and interesting shops. Unfortunately they know how "quaint" they are and the prices reflect this, but it was fun browsing. We also had lunch there, with mixed results, before driving on to Whiteman Park.

Guildford Grammar School Chapel

Maurn and the Melbourne Tram

This is a huge complex, mainly aimed at families and children. There are lots of picnic areas and kids activities, animals and rides. We had a bit of a look around and then we took the tram for a ride. It was about 6kms round trip and Mum enjoyed it as she has very fond memories of the trams in Brisbane many years ago. This was a Melbourne tram, so not "authentic", but it was a nice experience.
While we were doing this Garry had taken himself off for a happy hour perusing the Motor museum. It was a particularly good one and he actually had an enjoyable afternoon that did not involve shopping!

Model cars similar to the ones Jae and Llewen collected

1931 Cadillac Series 370

1935 Packard Model 120

Motor Museum

May 14 ... Rockingham

Morgan had to be up early today, Saturday, to be assessed for her Surf Bronze Medallion. She has worked hard for 7 weeks so it was good she was successful. It will allow her to be an active member of the East Fremantle Surf Club  next season. Her testing gave us a bit of time to get organized before heading south for the afternoon.
Our first stop was Myer but I will spare you the details of that, suffice to say, we got lots of nice things, then we took the coastal road down to Rockingham where we enjoyed a delicious afternoon tea.

Afternoon Tea at Rockingham

 It was a bit of a bleak afternoon but there was an art exhibition on that I wanted to see. It was called "Sculptures By The Sea" and it was set up on and above the beach. All the artworks had to be made of recycled "rubbish" and this year's efforts were both talented and interesting.

"Pelli"

"Sea Dancer" - she bobbed around with the water movement

"Bloom"- Hanging baskets, plastic milk bottles, ring pulls, aluminium cans

"Fish Called Wonder"

"Drawing The Line" - The Winner - Tuna can lids, pipe, wire mesh

"Motorcycle/Recycled"

"Angry Planet"

"Spill"

"Free Range"- Hanging baskets, wire mesh.