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!