Blogs from Perth, Western Australia, Australia, Oceania - page 7

he next day I got up over an hour earlier at around nine o’clock for a bit of a longer trip for birding. We headed to a slightly further away area to visit some parts around Beelu National Park. We parked in a place called Fred Jacoby Park which is an area planted with some introduced plants however despite this some slightly more unusual birds were around including Grey Currawong and Splendid Fairy-wren. We then continued further away, passing a few extremely noisy Red-tailed Black Cockatoos, and into some more natural woodland where some very cool birds started to turn up. These included several lifers such as Varied Sitella, Western Spinebill, Western Yellow Robin, and some unusual birds that I had seen in the past such as Rufous Treecreeper, Golden Whistler, and Red-capped Parrot and I ... read more

Day 4 Happy Mothers Day Beraking Shelter to Mt Dale Shelter 11.6 km Today was going to be an easy one at only 11.6 km. The decision to have such a short day today was made largely due to the next shelter - Brookton, still being closed after the 2015 bushfires and Canning (the one after) having a diversion in place for prescribed burning. After a fairly wakeful night (the youngest child staying in the hut was really sick with a sore throat and fever- poor little thing) I set off late but in very good spirits after my most favourite breakfast to date (banana porridge with cinnamon and pecans). My body was feeling very good this morning- could I be getting my trail rhythm together already? Fingers crossed. I had three big highlights today: 1. ... read more

C'est par le plus grand des hasards que nous avons rencontré Gustave (plus familièrement Gus) et Monique il y a 3 mois 1/2. Le matin de notre départ de Sapa, un groupe de retraités australiens de la région de Perth en visite au Vietnam arrivait à nôtre hôtel en compagnie de l'un de leurs prêtres et de 2 nonnes. Au petit-déjeuner, nous nous sommes retrouvés assis à la table de certains d'entre eux qui, apprenant que nous étions français, nous ont introduits à Monique et Gus. S'en sont suivis des échanges intéressants au sujet de notre voyage autour du monde, de l'Australie, de la France, et du Vietnam. Pressés par le temps, nous avons pris leur contact électronique et pris congé en promettant de leur donner des nouvelles à notre arrivée en Australie, et pourquoi pas ... read more

Four Nights in Perth, the luxury of a large home and Mary Walsh (Peter's Sister) going out of her way to look after us all. Meals prepared, tourist guide and assistance with the loads and loads of washing. We caught up with Cousins, Lachlan, Alistair and Cameron. All in Perth for Lachlan and Zoe's wedding. Kate is the youngest Cousin of the Dyall family. Amelia (Cameron's daughter) a second cousin. We also had a fantastic night out with old friends Leslie (Lil) and Adrian (Sancho) plus 3 great kids. Thomas complained of a painful upper molar when arriving in Perth, so it was a trip to the dentist and removal of 2 baby teeth, to make way for big teeth pushing through. His teeth perfect, just an inflamed gum. Visits to King Park, National Gallery, State ... read more

On Friday (Apr 22) Mike and Mephisto (our trusty Land Cruiser) depart Perth for Onslow, the springboard location for this trip. After working his two-week swing in Onslow, Mike and Mephisto will blast off on an overnighter to Broome to meet Fi and begin the trip in earnest. For those interested, Mephisto is named after a World War One German tank, captured by the Australians and now resident in Queensland. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mephisto_(tank)... read more