Fox and Hare

Painting of a fox by "Yorkshire Pudding", one of my favourite English bloggers

Photo of a mountain hare in the Yorkshire Pennines, sent to me by my sister

Stadium

The new Perth Stadium opened today with a one day international cricket match, Australia versus England. JL and C were in the crowd, having secured tickets as soon as they came on sale. I dropped them off in the car, then E and I explored the grounds and parklands outside.









This is the view of the stadium at night from our balcony. The lights go round and round and can be changed to reflect the colours of the teams playing. (Green and gold for Australia).

There are lots of playgrounds and picnic areas at the back of the stadium near the river:





It was quite a hot day. JL had had enough by 3.00 pm, when the sun came round and baked that part of the stand. He called me and asked for an immediate evacuation. C remained for another hour or so then walked home, where she could watch the end of the match in air conditioned comfort on TV.  England won!  We then observed the logistics of getting the crowds home by train or bus. All was visible from our balcony. I have never seen so many buses queued up in readiness to move 55,000!

The stadium from the river bank.

Looking downstream from the Windam Bridge. The concrete piers for the new footbridge can be seen near the two boats. This footbridge is still under construction, months behind schedule.

Ferry across the Swan

An overcast day was forecast, so I took the opportunity to do a 7 km walk round the river. I persuaded E to come along as she had no "play dates" lined up. We drove to South Perth and took the ferry from Mends Street across to Elizabeth Quay and walked from there back to the starting point.

Looking across to South Perth. I used to live in one of the high rise buildings when I first came to Australia in 1990.

E posing by a tree with a big ugly burl on Heirisson Island.

Mandurah foreshore

On a day that was slightly cooler, we walked from Dolphin Cove, over the footbridge and along the promenade as far as the new road bridge. The old historic bridge, which used to cause such traffic jams, is being demolished:

We had our photo taken on a "swing" in the wall art.

Sculpture of enlarged fruits of a Moreton Bay Fig.

One of the many paintings in our penthouse, which we don't want to leave!

Gnocchi

We enjoyed the gnocchi dish at Flics Kitchen so much that we decided to have a go at making our own from a recipe on the Internet. E claims it was her idea and she even assisted with the preparation. The sauce called for mushrooms, cream, garlic, blue cheese and spinach. It was as good as Flic produced, though I say it myself! Our penthouse was a superior venue because of the view!

A willie wagtail flew onto the balcony looking for crumbs.

On the beach

Our hotel is right on the beach. We can go for a swim in the lovely calm water of Dolphin Cove every day, or set off for an early morning walk before breakfast. Apparently the sand is replenished every year with dredgings from the Mandurah canals.

A group of oldies preparing for an exercise session at 8.00 am outside our hotel. Our penthouse is the one on top of the circular tower.

More beach pics:

In the dunes:

Flics Kitchen

We discovered a new restaurant- number 3 for Mandurah on Trip Advisor. It is a bit like Bread in Common, with share plates and innovative ingredients. When we arrived at 6.45, it was already buzzing with tourists and locals. We ordered scallops, squid, delicious gnocchi in mushroom sauce and a serve of chips which we demolished rapidly, together with a bottle of Voyager. E had a "virgin mojito".

Gnocchi with pea purée 

Scallops

Desserts - we just tried everything on the menu!

Luxury

We could get used to this! More pics from our penthouse:

Bedroom

TV and reading room

Balcony looking across the river towards the town

  View south at 7.30 pm

View north at 8.00 am

Pasta bake for dinner

Seashells

What did we do to deserve this? We had booked a standard two bedroom apartment at Seashells in Dolphin Cove Mandurah and found ourselves upgraded to a three bedroom penthouse! It is incredibly spacious with panoramic views on all sides, with the beach on one side and the river on the other. It was C's turn for the master bedroom with a spa bath, but E preferred not to share it and chose to have her own smaller room. She swanned around in her complimentary bathrobe, eating sorbets from Aldi!

Champagne is the answer - it said so in the kitchen!

Breakfast on the balcony.

The palatial living room.

Paella for dinner.