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Published: January 23rd 2014
Despite the fact that initially we only spent two days in Perth (thanks Anne and Bob for your wonderful hospitality) we managed to fit a lot in. Swims in the pool and visits downtown where the places we wanted to visit -WA Museum, WA Art Gallery and the WA State Library - are all in a cultural precinct in the city, the James Street Mall.
So our first stop was the library where there was a fabulous exhibition - "Picture a Story" - which was all about the illustrators of children's books from 1970 to the present day. The works of Shaun Tan, Alison Lester, Leigh Hobbs, Graeme Base, James Foley, Matt Otley and others was on display. It was a great journey through the imaginative world of picture book illustrators and well worth a visit if you'll be in Perth before 27 February when it closes Do check it out.
From there it was off to the art gallery to view the "A Private View: Modern Masters from the Kerry Stokes Collection" which is on until 3 March. Enjoyed that and a look around some of the other artworks there. Very impressed with the cavaneous space which was
the foyer too.
Then it was off to the museum to see "Frock Stars", a behind the scenes look at the glamour, achievements, history and highlights of the Australian Fashion Week and a 30 year retrospective of the designer Aurelio Costarella's clothes. Of course there was much more to see at the museum but with only a short window of opportunity that was our choice.
I also managed a visit with Anne to a local Farmers Market which I enjoyed despite the fact that we actually left home at 6.15am...and I'm no morning person!
Other activities included a visit to Bob's golf club (very impressive), coffee overlooking Floreat Beach and lunch at a Cottesloe restaurant which also overlooked that beautiful beach...and the food was scrumptious too!
We then said our goodbyes to Anne and Bob and headed south to Margaret River, a drive of around three hours. We spent our first night at the Margaret River Hotel followed by two nights at Basildene Manor which was just heaven, set in beautiful gardens with a swimming pool and tennis courts and lovely accommodation - we'll be back!!
Words are somewhat inadequate when trying to describe the
Farmers Market
Much better than shopping at Coles or Woollies!beauty of the WA coastline around Margaret River. Clear blue water, beautiful soft sand and some serious surf makes this part of Australia well worth visiting. And then there are the vineyards which the area is famous for.
We've also been back to see where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet at Cape Leeuwin, the most south westerly part of mainland Australia. Originally charted by the masters of the Dutch vessel "Leeuwin" in 1622 after which it was named. The Dutch thought it was a small island but when Matthew Flinders sailed around the continent in 1801, realising that it was not an island he re-named it Cape Leeuwin in honour of the earlier Dutch explorers. We did a tour which took us to the top of the Cape Leeuwin lighthouse which was built in 1895. There were 22 shipwrecks before the lighthouse was built and only one since. It was very windy at the top of the lighthouse so I had to take action so as not to loose my famous hat!
Following that little adventure we visited Jewel Cave, the largest cave in WA with four massive chambers. It is one of around 350 caves hidden
within the limestone ridge under the Margaret River area. There were many others we could have visited but we decoded to stick to just the one!
Today we leave Margaret River and are now about to head out to Dunsborough.
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Beryl Stephens
non-member comment
Great photos
Hi Michelle Loved the photo of Kevin "Heavenly blue ..." and glad you are both having such a good time. Beryl