Collie Weekend

The Bushwalkers are in Collie for the weekend. We are staying at the Caravan Park in small ensuite cabins. The park is huge and packed with caravans, campervans, tents - you name it. There is not a space untouched! The cabins have good and bad features. The heating works and so does the hot water (and it’s very cold outside). The TV has amazing reception with more channels than mine at home. The cooking facilities are not so great, with everything crowded into one corner, fighting for space near the double powerpoint. Designed by a man? I managed to cook spaghetti bolognaise last night after a struggle and enjoyed it with two glasses of red. Most of the group went into town to eat at the hotel whilst I watched a few favourite programmes on TV.

Bold Park and Beetroot

 Suddenly the cold weather is at an end and summer is here. That's how it works in Perth: no intermediate seasons. Autumn and Spring are virtually non-existent. C suggested a drive to Bold Park and an exploration of the walking tracks:

Rocky also thought this was a good idea, since there were lots of new smells to sniff at:

From our parking spot, there were views to be had on such a clear day:

The city framed by trees.

Rottnest Island in the distance.

Later that day, it was time for our regular Friday night dinner. I had received two massive beetroots in my Woolworths Click & Collect order, so I boiled one and baked the other for pickling. I'm trying to lose a bit of weight, so this was my plate of fish and salad with beetroot:

The trouble with beetroot is that it stains your insides! During the war, women used it instead of lipstick apparently.

Wildberry Wine and Wireless Hill

Tales from my weekend!

On Friday I was going up in the lift when my neighbour gave me a bottle of wine. He was carrying a case of 12 from his car. It was a bottle of Wildberry Chardonnay from Wilyabrup in Margaret River. This proved to be a rather special wine, a cut above my normal tipple of Aldi's casks! Years ago in Vienna, we were listening to the radio when someone said: Life is too short to drink cask wine. C straight away got up and poured a cask down the sink. That was OK when I was earning a big salary!

I enjoyed the Wilddberry with Spaghetti Marinara on Friday night and with Baked Trout and Pumpkin on Saturday. Delicious!

The weather forecast for the weekend was not good, with an extreme weather warning for Sunday morning. In fact, our regular bushwalk was cancelled.  However, there was a window of sunshine on Saturday morning so I made my way to Wireless Hill, the nearest wildflower sanctuary to Perth.

Entry to Wireless Hill Park

The prolific flower of the day was the Bunny Orchid.  I've never seen so many in one place:

But I was really in search of a red spider orchid, which C had seen the previous day on an outing with her disabled client. It took me a while to find the single clump of these, but it was worth the hunt:

Some other things I spotted:

I saw a few Catspaws, which are smaller and closer to the ground than the ubiquitous Kangaroo Paws:

Streets of Lisbon

The recent crash of a funicular tram in Lisbon made me look back on my holiday in Portugal earlier this year and wonder if I travelled on this very tram. 

Portugal is in mourning after 16 people were killed and 21 injured when a funicular railway car derailed and crashed on the streets of Lisbon. Witnesses told local media the car appeared out of control as it sped downhill shortly after 6pm during evening rush hour on Wednesday. (Guardian 4 Sept). 

 The Glória system is made up of two streetcars running in parallel and hauled by steel cables: so as one descends, its weight pulls the other uphill. Witnesses told local media that they saw one of the streetcars careening down the hill, before crashing into a building where the road bends. (Guardian 4 Sept). 

 NB There are many other tram lines, with their bright yellow cars, plying the streets of Lisbon, apart from the 3 funicular lines. One of the most popular is Tram 28, which I’ve definitely travelled on. These lines go along roads that are not so steep as the funicular trams. It’s possible to download an audio guide to this route, and keep it on your phone, which I didn’t realise at the time I was in Lisbon. As I watched the coverage of the accident on the TV news, I tried to recognise some of the places but the clips were too short. Nevertheless, I was transported back to my holiday and wondered if I'd had a lucky escape, although by 6.00 pm I would normally be back in my hostel, resting after a day's sightseeing. 

This is what I wrote on my blog at the time:

http://caminoconfidential.blogspot.com/2025/03/trams.html

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This prompted me to look for my DVD Night Train to Lisbon. I had watched it some years ago, before I went to Portugal, but seeing it again was a reminder of how little the narrow cobbled streets of Lisbon have changed over the years. It was worth seeing it again:

Dog Sitting

 I think I need a holiday! I've been looking after Rocky for a week while C and E are on a trip to Vanuatu. This is not an easy task, believe me! Rocky has his routine, about which I've been left detailed instructions. The worst thing is the early morning walk (and we've had some very cold temperatures). I set off, armed with a couple of poo bags, and carefully avoid any encounters with other dogs, especially little yappy ones. Back home for breakfast: 160 g of dried dogfood for Rocky and a Carmans porridge sachet for me. After that, I'm off the hook for a while and can go out shopping or go back to my own apartment. Big dogs are not allowed at Burswood.

If it's a nice day, we can sit outside and enjoy the sunshine, reading a book or snapping at flies. Rocky has another walk at 4.30 pm before insisting on his dinner at 5.00 pm. sharp. When I'm in the kitchen cooking my own dinner, Rocky follows me closely in case there are any tasty scraps coming his way. When I sit down to eat, his big eyes are on me as if to say: is there anything else for me? But he has to watch his weight, doesn't he? Greyhounds are slender creatures, built to run.

The best part is the evening spent sitting on the sofa, watching TV or the flickering flames on the gas fire. He dozes off whilst I do my crochet. Just before bedtime, Rocky goes into the garden for a quick pee. At night, we fight over space on the double bed. I think he knows there is an electric blanket on my side. Sometimes he is a bit restless, changing position or breathing heavily. Last night was very stormy and the gale blew the back door open, which alarmed us both.

Sunbathing in the garden

A walk in the park

Spring is here in the park

Trapped in the car by a sudden heavy downpour

Let's hope all this rain makes the politicians realise that the development of Burswood Park is a non-starter!

A Bit of the Bibbulmun

 It was a beautiful day: warm and sunny and a joy to be out bushwalking, after all the cold wet weather we've been having in Perth. I think it's been the coldest month on record. The plan for the bushwalking group was to meet at the Camel Farm, walk to Hewett's Hill Campsite on the Bibbulmun Track and back again. The walk was timed to make the most of the start of the prime wildflower season and it didn't disappoint. 

At the start, I was surprised and saddened to find that the Camel Farm no longer existed. I had been planning to buy some produce (i.e. some lovely face cream and body lotion made from camel's milk). There is now a tea shop there, the Trails Hub Cafe,  and the woman in charge told me that the owner of the Camel Farm had passed away after a heart attack, the camels are now living in Gidgeganup and the creams and lotions are available at various outlets in Perth and online under the name of DromeDairy.

The main activity seemed to be mountain bike riding. The carpark was full of cars with bike attachments on the rear or on the roof.

Lutz made friends with a tame parrot belonging to the tea room:

When everyone was gathered, we set off on our walk through the woods:

We had morning tea at Hewett's Hut, where the other Margaret pretended to be enjoying the facilities inside:

These Bibbulmun Huts are all built to the same design, with a few bunk beds, completely open at the front and with a separate toilet out the back and a BBQ area to one side.

My attempt at photographing the wildflowers was pretty abysmal, but here are a few examples:

It was hard to focus on the flower as opposed to the background. Must do better next time!

Carnarvon to Nanutarra Roadhouse

The days are getting hotter, though it was a cold start from Carnarvon as I enjoyed my complimentary continental breakfast at the Hospitality Inn. Lots of people had raided the buffet before me at 7.45 am.

On the road again, I drove through the banana growing fields on the way out of town. I didn’t need to buy any, as I’m still eating the ones I bought in Perth before I set off on my trip. (These small Carnarvon bananas are the best!)

I stopped for coffee at Minilya, where a woman was intrigued that I was travelling alone. She and her husband were from Wickham, near Point Samson, and they were on their way for a medical checkup and scans in Perth: the perils of living in the regions.

At Nanutarra, I was all prepared for a night sleeping in my car as I had no accommodation booked. But when I found there was a nice cabin available I couldn’t refuse it.

View from my cabin.

A beautiful tree just opposite. There was a bird singing, but he escaped.

Just before sunset, I walked across the old bridge over the Ashburton River:

There was still some water in it, unlike many of the rivers I had crossed today. I had a chat with a young indigenous couple, who were from Karratha and currently working on a restoration project of the Nanutarra Homestead.

At the roadhouse, all these road trains were queuing for fuel, or maybe for a hot meal service at 6.00 pm.

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No idea where this came from!  It's a post from my road trip to Broome, earlier this year, which seemed to have gone missing when I wrote it originally on my way up north.