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Wednesday 4th – we had nothing planned for this morning which was just as well as we both felt shattered and Graham also was still struggling with his cold. We had a very casual morning and a salad lunch. Later in the afternoon I had a hair appointment at a salon at the local shopping centre. The lady who did my hair was very nice but slightly eccentric with her gypsy like dress and very, very long nails. Anyway, she did a good job! Graham had taken me there but I thought I could manage the one and a half kilometer walk back to the caravan park. The receptionist at the caravan park had said it was a pleasant walk TO the shops through the local park so I set off across what I thought was probably the other end of the park by the shops. It was very nice but it finished a long way short of where I wanted to be – I think I should have gone left instead of right! Fortunately I hadn’t gone too far out of my way when I asked a young lady who was out walking her dog if I was going in
the right direction for the caravan park. No, she said I needed to go back the way I had come and at the roundabout I should go right. The critical roundabout had been some way the other side of the park entrance so it wasn’t surprising I had gone the wrong way. Not too much damage was done but I was nearing the CP when I spotted Graham emerging in the car – he was just beginning to get concerned and was coming to look for me having already walked the route there and back without seeing me! (Oh well, he needs the exercise!).
Later in the day we were relaxing with a cup of tea - I had the laptop on and spotted Barb on Skype. We hadn’t chatted for about a week so it was great to catch up. Grandson Charlie was home from school not feeling too well and Tony was dashing off to take over from Kevin to look after him so we hope he’s OK now.
I remembered that our nephew, Grant, his wife Anna and their two girls Charlotte and Amy were within a couple of days of setting out on their
own world wide adventure: they fly to Los Angeles on Friday, then go on to New York, Boston, Montreal, Toronto and then they go to the UK where they’ll spend time with different members of the family before going to stay with Sarah and Darryl in Moira which will include a trip to Paris for them all. We feel rather sad we won’t be at home to offer them beds for a few nights and return some of the hospitality they’ve shown to us but hopefully there will be another time when we’ve finished our own adventure! So I rang, chatted and wished them all ‘bon voyage’ – they were all so excited and couldn’t wait to be on their way. We hope they have a wonderful time.
Thursday 5th - and a very Happy Birthday to sister in law, Tania. She and hubby Rod (my brother) are spending a few days on the south Devon coast to celebrate – Happy Birthday Tania.
Today we did what was always high on our “to do” list but hadn’t got round to doing yet. We visited King’s Park in Perth. For us, it is one of the best parks in
terms of beauty, location, content, flora and fauna etc anywhere in the world. It boasts some fantastic botanical gardens and simply the best view of Perth and the Swan and Canning River estuaries. We bought Day Rider tickets to get us into Perth on the bus as we had done last week. This time, once at the bus terminus, we asked about city buses that would take us to the park. It was probably walkable but as we wanted to walk a lot around the park, and the access to it is up a long steep hill, we thought the bus would be the better bet. The bus stop we needed was only a two minute walk away and we thought our Day Rider tickets would cover the fare. As it happened, it was a free bus but at least it saved us an arduous walk up the slopes of Mount Eliza.
Once off the bus we meandered along the edge of the park that overlooks the city. There are some magnificent monuments there and a very special war memorial with a perpetual flame. First though, we came to the memorial for the victims of the Bali bombing which
killed over 200 people including 88 young Australians of whom 12 were from WA on the 12th October 2002. I only took a photo of the plaque but the whole memorial is made up of sandstone walls and is meant to be a place of reflection. There is also a very grand statue of Queen Victoria although the park was renamed from ‘Perth Park’ to ‘Kings Park’ in 1901 in honour of the newly crowned King Edward VII.
The view of the city was spectacular, just as we remembered it, and the path swept around to overlook the river estuaries. There was quite a lot of boating activity - we could see the ferry that goes backwards and forwards between The Bell Tower and South Perth. Similar ferries came up into Perth from Fremantle and pleasure cruises were departing regularly. The occasional huge private launch drifted by on its way down towards the ocean at Freo. It was at this point we chose to sit on one of the many seats to enjoy the view and to eat our sandwiches - it was a perfect spot for a picnic. The weather was glorious and we meandered on through the
park following the path for the Elevated Walk. Although not as dramatic as the Tree Top Walk at Walpole, it is a well constructed walkway which, at its highest, is probably 25 meters above the ground. It led us to The Water Garden, a series of 5 ponds connected by creeks, waterfalls and small bridges. The garden was expanded and refurbished in 1999 to mark the centenary of Women’s Suffrage in Western Australia. It was beautifully serene and its final water feature, a memorial to pioneer women, was a large fountain with a variety of ever-changing sprays.
Although there had been plenty of cars in the car park, lots of other people arriving on buses and plenty of lunch-time joggers doing their stuff, the park and gardens were so big that people were well dispersed - we hardly saw anyone in the places we walked. There were plenty of people back at the main complex where there was a gallery and a large café/restaurant. It was here we caught the bus back down into the city and made the short walk back to the bus terminus. We had a little wait before the next bus appeared – it was
a double length “bendy bus” – the first we’d seen in Perth. We wondered why it was being used and how it would negotiate some of the turns and roundabouts on our journey back to Forrestfield. Up until now, the buses hadn’t been particularly busy but this one filled up quite quickly as we progressed out of the city so the “bendy bus” proved its worth and the driver had no difficulty at all with the various manouvers except when pulling into a couple of small bus laybys and the back end was left sticking out!!
Back at the caravan park we relaxed for a while and then I did a bit of ‘house-work’ before getting supper which was salmon and veggies. Early in the evening the heavens opened and there was a torrential downpour for about an hour – it took us completely by surprise but everything was under cover so it didn’t matter too much. Then the skies cleared again and the rest of the evening and night were calm again.
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