A friend in need…

My friend Val had an eye operation this week. When she came out of day surgery, she had been warned she would have very limited vision and certainly be unable to drive. Her daughter lives in Darwin and her son in Albany: at opposite ends of the country. I offered to come and stay with her for a few days, to cook her meals and be her chauffeur. 

Val lives in a retirement village in a two bedroom bungalow with a very pretty garden. There is an indoor swimming pool in the complex and a park across the road. It really is a nice place to stay and it’s like a little holiday for me. I might become one of those house guests that cannot be persuaded to leave!

I am not allowed to post pictures of Val’s eyes. They are not a pretty sight and we can’t imagine why some people go through this purely for cosmetic reasons.

Val and her greyhound in the sheltered courtyard.

We swim every day and the water is a lot warmer than mine at Burswood.

30 degrees!


The very prolific lemon tree.

The very perfumed frangipani.

One of Val’s many pictures. This is a beautiful photograph taken near Esperance, showing the white sand dunes which look exactly like a snow scene.

This is not a bad place to escape the February heat in my apartment!

Scam!

A cautionary tale: how not to get scammed.

A few days ago,  I was just finishing my breakfast when I received a text purporting to come from my daughter. She had smashed her phone and needed me to contact her on another number via WhatsApp. I don’t use this app so it took me a while to set up. Then another message asked me to pay a bill for her. This bill was due that day, the end of the month, and she would pay me back tomorrow. This sense of urgency, and a desire to help your kids, stops you thinking rationally. Of course, I made the bank transfer. Fortunately for me, the payment for $3000+ was queried by Westpac and they held the funds. Wow, that was a close shave! In hindsight the scam depends on no voice communication between the parties.

This morning I’m at South Beach, out for breakfast and reading the paper. I came across this:

The newspaper article gave details about the huge number of recent scams, of various types, and reported that over 65’s were the most vulnerable. All this quite spoiled my breakfast, but the beach was nice:

This is something I’ve never seen before: a giant kite surfer holding two people, being towed by a boat. What next?

Even The Guardian is reporting the scams here

Obituary

Better late than never! Finally, JL’s obituary appeared in the West Australian newspaper:

Ladies who lunch

It’s been a while since we four met over lunch. We decided on Kailis Leederville. (I used my discount card). What a jolly time we had, catching up with all the gossip! This was almost better than the food!

Our waitress had a bit of a struggle getting the cork out of the Prosecco:

I always go for F and C

Chowder looks good, too

These ladies not only do lunch, but make it their business to go out as much as they can, a lot more than me certainly.

Why did I start blogging?

I was on a Nats Club weekend trip, I think to Cheynes Beach near Albany. We were sharing a chalet with Glenda Larke and her sister. Every evening Glenda would sit arranging her photos to put on her blog. It later came to me that blogging is such a good way of recording your holidays, so I emailed Glenda to ask her to help me set up a blog. She replied that no help was needed: everything was available on the internet even for beginners like me. In any case, she said, she was far too busy to come up to Perth to advise me.

Now, Glenda Larke is a published author of fantasy novels. This is her website and blog:

https://glendalarke.com/

I must admit that fantasy novels are not my cup of tea. I did buy one just to see what they were like, but didn’t get past the first 100 pages. The dedication in the book to her husband said that he didn’t read them either! But Glenda and I have something else in common. We both lived in Vienna for several years. She was there with her husband, who was a Malaysian diplomat. I was Librarian at VIS (Vienna International School) and her two daughters were students there. We didn't know each other at the time.

This week I had occasion to look at her blog. Last summer, when the temperatures were in the high 30’s, she published a photo of herself in snowy Vienna. This is a good idea that I’m going to copy:

Claire learning to ski.
Obertauern, Christmas 1984.

Me in Obertauern.

Me, Claire and her friend, Debbie.
Hinterstoder, March 1988.

My ski pass, to prove it!

Learning to ski at the age of 40 was not easy. I was not dare devil enough! I would stand at the top of the slope, wondering if I could get to the bottom in one piece. If I broke my leg, how could I drive to work? The two girls left me behind - but I did it!

So this is a big thank you to Glenda for starting me off with blogging. It has given me hours of pleasure, both writing and re-reading my efforts.  It enabled me to record all my Caminos. Ultreia!

Coogee roundup

It’s been a few lazy days by the beach; worth doing to escape the high temperatures in Perth. The snorkelling was slightly disappointing: not as good as last year. There was quite a strong easterly in the early mornings which stirred up the sediment round the wreck. As it gains in popularity, the number of people seems to scare off the fish and make them too shy to come out of their hiding places.

Evening strolls were good:

Sunset

Moon rise

By Thursday, I was running low on supplies. Kailis Fish Restaurant in Fremantle was calling when I discovered it was only a 15 minute drive away:

Snapper & Chips

The people on the next table ordered this, which looked more interesting:

People watching from my veranda continued:

Cabin 52A - a good spot for future reference

On my last morning, I went for a swim inside the 2-hectare shark net. Lots of oldies were there at 7.00 am just walking up and down in the water. I walked one way and swam back. No wind today: just a perfectly still day with welcome cloud cover.

Image of the wreck from today's paper.
Now there will be even more snorkellers!

Coogee Beach

I was up early today for a walk northwards up the beach to snorkel at the Omeo Wreck. It’s a popular spot, so you have to beat the crowds if at all possible. At 7.30 there were only about 10 people snorkelling. There was a cool easterly breeze but the water felt warm in contrast. I was wearing my ancient wetsuit. This is size 14 and I’ve put on a bit of weight since I bought it. I had to ask a neighbour to zip me up! Luckily he was there on my return to do the honours again. It was quite a struggle to get in and out!

The Omeo was an iron steamship built in Newcastle, England, in 1858. It ran aground here in 1905. I blogged about my visit here last February:

https://caminoconfidential.blogspot.com/2022/02/coogee.html

This is also interesting:

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-24/omeo-wreck-popularity-damage-shipwreck/100855774

There were definitely a lot more fish swimming round the wreck last year. The huge influx of tourists has had its effect!

Most of the day was spent people watching from my verandah. I watched the converted bus depart: Anne and Gerry were on their way to pastures new. Gerry drove the bus while Anne followed in a small white car. Maybe they were doing a round-Australia road trip:

When I woke up from my siesta, they had been replaced by a young family with a toddler. They were towing a very large boat (not a caravan) and spent an hour putting up a very complicated tent:

I'm just going for a walk round the camp before cooking (microwaving) spaghetti with meatballs.

PS.  There are lots of permanent chalets, very well looked after with beautiful little gardens. I talked to a man who has lived here for 30 years, but he doesn't like the new owners, Discovery Parks. They are buying up sites all over Australia, but he believes that all the money is being spent on the eastern states.

Permanent homes.