Boxing Day

We went to South Beach Fremantle for a morning swim.  After a hot night, it was a good place to be.  Claire swam to the pontoon and dived off it.  JL watch the proceedings from his deck chair.

On Saturday evening, I had booked a special treat for us: dinner at Nobu, the Japanese Restaurant at the Casino. The service and the food were both excellent!  We ordered some of their recommended speciaties, including black cod miso, soft shell crab with watermelon and spicy tempura prawn. Claire wanted to try the yellow tuna sashimi and JL the ocean trout with crispy spinach.  Everything was delicious!

Claire with her sashimi

John shows off his Christmas braces

The chefs are busy

Afterwards we had a look at the Christmas decorations in the foyer of the hotel.  JL is in silhouette.

Christmas 2015

Christmas lunch in the garden at Como was a small but select gathering.  On the menu was blinis with caviar, barramundi on the BBQ, followed by a mini Xmas pudding with brandy flavoured cream. To drink, there was a bottle of Veuve Cliquot provided by one of Claire's clients.

Cooking blinis and modelling my Christmas apron from Christine

John looks forward to the blinis and caviar

Claire mans the BBQ in the hot sun

Barramundi is served!

A small piece of Christmas pud

Summer Trees

Nothing says Perth in November better than the Jacarandas in bloom everywhere.

Jacaranda near Victoria Park Library

Partisan Cafe, Claisebrook

Not to mention the gorgeous Illawarra Flame Trees.

The Circus, Burswood

Illawara Flame in Georgian style terrace, East Perth

Then there are the bright orange Australian Christmas Trees.

Bushland near Burns Beach

Waterbirds resting under the trees at Lake Monger

Voyager Estate

We booked a tour of the winery followed by tasting of 6 wines and a set lunch for $75 pp. It was extremely informative and a most enjoyable experience.

Voyager Estate Dutch Colonial architecture

The second largest flag in Australia.  To its left is the litte red vehicle which took 10 of
us around the estate

Our guide was from Bordeaux and had previously worked on the Leuwin Estate next door. This photo was taken at the "Old Block", where the vines are about 40 years old and still producing.

Our guide was French, with a degree in viticulture

Inside the cellar

The cellar is built partially underground to maintain an even temperature of 15 degrees.  The roof is arched, to allow airflow up and over, so that any hot air rises and then falls again.  The cellar and the stock of barrels seemed incredibly small to me; last time I was in a wine cellar was at Sandemans in Porto, which is enormous by comparison.

The wine casks are French oak and only used for 4 years

The tour concluded with wine tasting - 6 wines, including my favourite Girt By Sea Cabernet Merlot, which is 70% cabernet and 30% merlot. as well as an older Cab Sav Merlot, with only 7% merlot and 4% petit verdot, selling at $70 per bottle!

Then, it was time for lunch, with 2 courses, a glass of wine, followed by coffee.  Everything was elegant and perfect. The menu read: Black Angus Beef Fillet, Celeriac Puree, Kale, Broccolini, Purple Carrot, Faro - these veggies are all the rage at the moment.

Delicious Black Angus Beef Fillet for lunch

Rose - Prospero

The rose garden was at its best in late October.  There was also a vegetable garden, where all the broad beans were crying out to be picked, but had been evidently ignored by the chef!

Rose - French Lace

Busselton (cont).

We had another delicious meal from the Dutch chef at Al Forno.  JL had Beouf Bourgingon and I had Seafood Chowder. We had filled ourselves up with a starter of Patatas Bravas, so we couldn't finish everything and tools doggy bag for next day.

JL wanted to spend a morning at Cape Naturaliste, doing a 2.5 km walk from the lighthouse to the whale watching lookout.

We managed to see 2 or 3 whales but they were very far offshore.

Then we spent a few hours at Meelup Beach having lunch and then venturing in for a swim. It was a beautiful day for it: about 26 degrees and no wind.  This must be the best swimming beach around with plenty of shade and picnic tables set up under the Peppermint Trees.

Second Busselton Trip

School holidays over, JL and I decided on a mid week, child free, relaxing few days in Busselton.  We are staying just along the coast from Mandalay at the Sebel.  Our studio apartment is nicely done up, with a luxurious spa bath, but it is a bit too near the road. There is a big indoor and outdoor pool, and an excellent small shopping centre next door at Broadwater.

On Tuesday I wanted to do part of the Rails to Trails Track from Cowaramup to Margaret River.  It was a beautiful warm sunny morning, 19 degrees and perfect for walking.

There were lots of wildflowers on all sides. My eyes were swivelling from one side to another like a tennis match!  There were lots of cowslip orchids, one or two spider orchids and a lone donkey orchid, which I nearly sat on when I had a coffee.

JL picked me up at Carters Road and then we went to have lunch near the boat ramp at Cowaramup Bay. JL poked around on the beach where he had played as a boy.

On the way out of Gracetown we saw an adult Dugite sunning itself on the roadside. I managed to photograph it before it disappeared into the bushes.

Government House Open Day

Government House is open to the public once a year, so we went to inspect it on Sunday. We started off with Morning Tea and scones in the downstairs supper room, courtesy of Rotary.

Then we went on self guided tour: the ballroom, dining room, drawing room and the governor's study. There was a superb collection of aboriginal paintings on the way in. E was impressed by the chandeliers and the elegant table settings in the dining room. She wanted to see the bedroom where the Queen slept, but the hoi poloi were not allowed upstairs!

We explored the gardens and then had lunch overlooking the lake. We watched a mother duck trying to look after 10 ducklings. E fell in love with a baby rabbit at the petting zoo.  JL was busy identifying all the plants and trees. We saw the Governer, Kerry Sanderson (the first female Governor of WA)  going round thanking all the volunteers.  Soon she will be entertaining Charles and Camilla.

Spring excursions

An unusually hot day in the first week of October prompted a swim at South Beach Fremantle.

On my regular afternoon walk near the river I noticed a black swan with five cygnets.

Claire's wisteria at Como is a picture:

In the middle of the school holidays, we went to Busselton for the weekend and rented a chalet in the Mandalay Caravan Park.  It seemed like every child in Perth was there, enjoying the bouncing pillow and the heated pool with slide.  We went whale spotting at Point Piquet, but didn't see one.

On Saturday evening we had a superb meal at Al Forno restaurant, said to be Number One in Busselton.  Claire enjoyed a large plate of grilled prawns.

Our Sunday Bushwalk was the Ghost House Trail at Yanchep. It was supposed to be an easy 13 km walk, but it turned into a very hot day. Everyone was exhausted and out of water before the end.  We also added an extra 2 kms by not watching for the signs. One lady

- a new member - was totally worn out, so I called JL who was parked at the end to come and collect her in the car. We later read in the paper that heat exhaustion had caused a fatality in the Perth Oxfam 100 km fundraising event the same weekend. All the participants had been short of water- they simply couldn't carry enough for their needs in that unseasonal heat.

Yellow tailflower at Yanchep

Granny Moth sitting on the wall at our lunch stop

Ellie and I went to the Art Gallery to see the Treasure Ships exhibition;  Ellie spent a long time copying a complicated tree of life design from an Indian tapestry whilst I looked round.  It is well worth a second visit.

Traders visiting Japan

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