Disappearing photos

Today the temperature reached 40 degrees in Perth. I had an early swim in our pool and then shut myself indoors for the rest of the day. I’ve been reading through last year’s blog on the Camino. It was sad to see that all the photos had disappeared, leaving only text. The problem seemed to be with BlogTouch, the app I used posting, as it is much easier on my phone than going straight to Blogger. I discovered, too late, that the photos disappeared after one month.

This is just a test to see if it’s still happening. I’m posting a couple of photos of the ponds below my block. It seems that they are being drained: not a pretty sight:

Sailing for Oranges

This is an unusual name for a restaurant, but it’s a very special restaurant.

My sister in England had seen a TV foody programme, featuring a restaurant called Emily Taylors in Fremantle. I went to investigate, thinking to have breakfast on Sunday morning. When I arrived, I found it didn’t open till 9.00 am. That can’t be right, I thought. Since it was just next to the markets, very busy with early morning shoppers, I went to see what was good and bought a tray of figs.

At 9.00 am, Emily Taylors opened but only for yum cha (not at all what I fancied). They advised me to walk down the road to their sister establishment: Sailing for Oranges. I had a luscious plateful of French toast cooked in the style of Spanish churros:

Best breakfast ever!

Looking across the street at SfO

Breakfast menu

What is behind the name?

On a ‘free settler’ ship called 'Sophia', that sailed to Fremantle in 185O, the journey was long and hot, so one of the sails was filled with seawater for bathing, and oranges were provided.

The restaurant serves many Spanish-inspired dishes. I want to come again for more! Just about everyone commented on the innovative menu as they went up to pay their bill. 

In the meantime, I had to go home and attend to my figs. We used to have a big tree at Quinns and figs in red wine was a favourite dessert.

Ready for the oven.

Stingers

It’s no fun when you go for a swim and find you are sharing the sea with stingers!

E is back from a holiday in England (cold and wet, I imagine) so we made a plan for an early morning swim and breakfast at South Beach. I took my own packed breakfast: if I eat any more of their delicious pancakes I’ll be enormous!

The water was lovely- at first!  Then C felt something on her arm. All around us, other people were stopping in their tracks and examining their limbs. Oh no, there was a plague of stingers! These are small underwater creatures whose defence mechanism is long stinging tails that brush against you, leaving nasty welts. For some people, a bad attack can be fatal.

I noticed two women catching them in a red washing up bowl so I went to talk to them. They were walking up and down in the shallows and taking any captured stingers to be buried alive in the sand. They had already eliminated 35 and counting. They told me that the recent hot weather had brought them all into the bay. I have never seen them here before, though I have been attacked on Rottnest. It seems an impossible task to try to get rid of them, one by one.

This one has beached itself.

Stinger in the bowl.
Another on Instagram.

Do I look fat in that?

Later on the TV news, we heard that the warm water had caused a toxic algal bloom at Mullaloo Beach and the beach has been closed. Summer in Perth is not without its dangers.

Succulents on my Balcony

On another day of “extreme heat” I was up at 6.00 am to go for a walk. Then I gave my plants a good watering to prepare them for the ordeal ahead.

Unusual flowers on a succulent.
They only last for 2 days.

A souvenir from the main street in Albany.

Present from C.
Succulents planted in a lump of Kimberley stone.

Beetle on the edge,
foraging on a bird dropping.

New Years Day

Our last day dawned with complete cloud cover and only 23 degrees. As soon as we opened our curtains at 6.30 am and realised this, we were up and out for an early morning walk. Across from the resort was a sandy track through the red dirt to a small hill with a lookout. There was a slight breeze and it felt good after the stifling dry heat of the past few days. First disaster of the day: I got a splinter in my thumb from one of the wooden benches up there.

We returned to Sails in the Desert via the Camping Site, thinking that it must be the very worst time of year in which to be in a tent or camper van. We were early to get into breakfast before the crowds and enjoyed selecting goodies from the generous buffet:

C watching the chef make a perfect omelette 

Complete with special bush-tucker relish

Afterwards we sat out on our balcony for the first time, watching the world go by. C had paid for a late checkout till 12.00 pm (extended from 10.00 am) for $100. By this time, we had become accustomed to the high cost of everything! This gave us plenty of time to have a swim, a shower and pack up without any rush. I even climbed up 3 flights of stairs to the resort’s own lookout tower:

The view of the rock is spoiled by the communications mast

Second disaster of the day: I must have entered the wrong combination and we were locked out of our safe, which contained my handbag and C’s purse. We had to get maintenance to come and open it for us. Then, third disaster occurred when (in our bathers) we were locked out of our room, since our keycard didn’t recognise our late departure booking!

Waiting in the lobby for our departure at 2.00 pm, I had a long conversation with Stephen Scourfield, the organiser of our tour. He is the Travel Editor of the West Australian newspaper and seems to be always away on trips, having just returned from 2 in India. I asked him how he could possibly edit the weekend travel supplement when he was away from the office. He pointed to his laptop and said everything is online. He receives about 50 emails a day, some from his readers, which he always answers. This weekend, he has been writing pieces non-stop, to be published in the next few weeks.

Stephen always wears his trademark Akubra hat

Finally, after a quick transfer to the airport, we were up and away with a last sight of Uluṟu in the distance:

No wonder we have been so hot!

Artists

There is a lot of indigenous art on display around the hotel. My favourite is in the foyer, but I can’t afford it! (In fact, everything here is super expensive - due to the remote location, I suppose). After an early morning swim at 6.15 am and a leisurely breakfast, we walked into the “town” centre to visit the GoCA (Gallery of Central Australia). C was tempted by a big red dot painting, but again the price was beyond her means and in any case it would require a bigger house in which to display it to its best advantage.

There was also a gift shop to explore and we both bought ourself a lovely China mug with an aboriginal design. I can add this to my collection at home (stop at 6 now?).

My favourite 

Inside the art gallery 

C looking through the piles of paintings

My china mug has the following inscription inside it:

“Seven Napaltjarri sisters were pursued by a Jakamarra man. Helped by spirits at Uluṟu, they rose to the sky forming part of the Pleiades.”

Even the carpets have interesting designs:

The Rock

We were up at 4.00 am to catch our AATKings bus for a drive into the National Park, to view sunrise over the rock. There is a special viewing area for this. Our driver/guide, Jacob, aged only 20, was full of info as he drove us along. The bitumen road travelled all around the base of the rock, with stops at various points with little walks and photo opportunities. 

It grew progressively hotter as the morning went on, ending up at 39 degrees by 11.00 am when the trip ended. We had a packed breakfast with us in a pretty bag: C read out the ingredients for each packet and they all started with sugar. We had been advised to bring 2 litres of water with us, which seemed an enormous amount. In fact, the hot, dry air makes you need to drink and drink and drink some more. The bus carried a backup supply.

We walked to the Muṯitjulu Waterhole, where a bird sat in a tree observing us all. We also saw an ancient “family cave” with paintings on the wall and ceiling. All these are sacred sites for the traditional owners of the land. The final stop provided an opportunity to walk into the base of the Waḻpa Gorge. I was flagging by this time, so I sent C ahead over the rocky ground. It was 30 mins in and 30 mins out for those who managed it.

Back at base, the only thing to do was go to bed for a couple of hours in the blissful aircon.

Sunrise viewing platform

Sun’s rays changing the colour of the rock

Cave paintings 

Waterhole: rain streams down the rock
in the wet season.

Bird watching us and the waterhole

Breakfast

Looking towards Waḻpa Gorge