More Spring doings

The Sunday Bushwalk was an easy one: less than 10 kms from Point Walter along the river to the Zephyr Cafe and back again. It was sunny but quite windy. We had lunch in the park near the Zephyr and posed for a group photo.

Group photo after lunch

Out on the spit

Back at Point Walter, we went out on the spit. The wind was even stronger there, and even the black swans were keeping their heads down! We had to watch for the tide coming in as the spit gets covered in places.

Black swans in the wind

On Wednesday, it was Ellie's school visit to Kings Park and I had volunteered to go along to boost the adult numbers. This was no easy job. I had 6 kids to look after, but there were crowds (about 2000) to contend with, and many activities to choose from.

My group wanted to look at the stand for the animal rescue sanctuary and then they discovered that the Santos Energy stand was giving away "slinkies" which were the must-have items of the day! We had to queue up a long time to achieve this goal!

Stroking the echidna

Ellie cycling on the Santos stand:  45 mins to re-charge an iPhone!

Ellie and friend dancing at lunchtime

Display of everlastings

Spring is here

On Saturday we celebrated Claire's birthday with lunch at Sandalford's in the Swan Valley.

John and Claire enjoy their wine.  Guess who had to drive?

Ellie and the giant candelabra in the dining room

John carries off his booty

On Sunday - a glorious spring day - we went to have another look at the flowers in Kings Park.

Donkey orchids

Donkey orchids in profusion

Kangaroo Paw

Blue lady orchid

On Monday, with my new Fitbit spurring me on, I walked along the river where all the birds were out enjoying themselves.

Shall we go in?

Ellis Brook Bushwalk

This was another good day for wildflowers. It was a walk of about 11 kms, starting with a very steep climb up from the car park. 15 people turned up - just a nice number not to lose any! The forecast had not been brilliant, but there was no rain to spoil our day. It had rained during the night though, so the streams were running.

Ellis Brook Falls

Common White Spider Orchid?

Blue Lady Orchid

Banksia dallanneyi or Couch Honeypot

Bracket fungi

White myrtle

Leschenaultia

Kingia Australis, or Drumsticks

Grass Tree, or Blackboy, with curved flower spike

Barrington Quarry, seen full of water for the first time

Jurien Bay Weekend (cont)

Wristwarmers

Ellie tests the Royalties for Regions Playground

John goes for a drive in an Ariel motorbike sidecar

Ellie and Margaret at the Pinnacles

C, E and J pose near a phallic pinnacle

Ellie climbs a pinnacle, which is not allowed!

John picks ripe quandongs, which he has not done since he was a boy!

Stewed quandongs and their interesting stones

Jurien Bay Weekend

We arrived at Jurien Bay Tourist Park just before 6.00 pm as the sun was going down. The drive from Perth took 3 hours on the Indian Ocean Road. We checked into our 2-bedroom chalet. A delicious meal of pasta elbows with Kailis fish chowder was quickly prepared, enhanced by some fat Geraldton prawns.  There was a small entree of sushi and a bottle of Madfish SSB.

During the night there was a storm with rain lashing the windows. By morning it had cleared up and a sunny day was forecast for our expedition to Mt Lesueur. C, E and M walked to the top of the plateau, from where there were views on all sides, including the sea north of Jurien. The top of the plateau, which had suffered a huge bushfire 4 years ago is now completely covered in waist high yellow hakeas and none of the trigger plants at ground level observed on a previous visit with the Nats.

Ellie and Claire near the summit

Looking across the plateau towards the coast north of Jurien

Ellie and Margaret near the old survey post

There were lots of wild flowers out beside the path going up and down, about 4 kms round trip from the car park.

Bee on a dryandra flower

Dryandra

Chittick

Blue tinsel lily

Cowslip orchid

Growing near the carpark.  What is it?

Creeping fringe lily

On returning to Jurien, we had a short siesta and then went for a walk out on the new jetty, followed by a beach walk to the remains of the old jetty.  Later we went across the road for dinner at the Beach Bistro, a small restaurant owned by a family from Glasgow.  It was surprisingly good!  We enjoyed a bottle of Yilgarnia Merlot.

Old jetty

Entree:  "Mediterranean plate"

Ellie's F and C in a bucket