WAKING UP IN PERTH

Well – we got to the airport to find out that our plane to Perth had been changed to a smaller one and we were bumped so a delay of 2.5 hours for the next flight from Sydney.  When travelling you have to flexible (not talking about Skycouch flexible) things happen that are out of your control.  So my dictum is to smile and go with the flow and you are much happier. (Colleen you must be laughing at how calm I can be when I’m not at home.)  We were each given a $20 food voucher and I could call Diana in Perth for free from the desk telephone.  After all, our flight was never cancelled so she would have had a terrible shock if we weren’t on board. 

Some good news - after our almost lost bag yesterday, my came­­ra was found at the pub and is safe and sound.  I couldn’t check this morning before we left as being Sunday they didn’t open until 11:00.  Thanks to Qantas, another free phone call to them from the desk and they will fedex it overnight to me in Perth.  Cheaper by far than a new camera and I get to keep my new spare battery and my 16 gig and 8 gig sd cards.  Wasn’t concerned about the pics as I had only taken 3 – but for sure I will be uploading to the little puter each evening and never fear losing holiday photos.  I will be sure to write a most wonderful review of this pub on facebook and on Trip Advisor - as soon as my camera arrives that is. 

Diana took us on a lovely long ride to her home in Freemantle.  How beautiful to drive through Kings Park and alongside the Swan River.  We saw Captain Cook Bottle Brush Trees, a cormorant, gulls, other flowering shrubs and lots of beautiful white gum trees.  They are spectacular!  When we arrived at her house we were greeted with freesia growing quite wild in amongst the shrubs by the carpark.  Imagine a small child bringing you a fist full of freesia instead of a bunch of dandelions in their tiny hand.  The same meaning in their heartwarming wonderful bouquet – but still know which ones I would prefer in the windowsill. 

Galah

So waking up our first morning here – I am assaulted (in a good way) by the amazing bird calls.  I can’t wipe the smile from my face.  I hear pigeons, magpies, mourning doves, a pair of cockatoos, a bird they call the twenty eight parrot, galahs, rainbow corellas, wattle birds, other “parrot sounds” and a crow (is there anywhere in the world that doesn’t have crows or pigeons).  But for the most part, how different…how lovely…how noisy!  The word cacophony comes to mind – although never used that to describe the birds in my backyard before – but it works very well here!  And all of this on our first morning!

First stop of the day was for a coffee at Jeff’s coffee truck – Diana’s son – called Heavenly Brew.  It was delicious and a nice start to our day.  We then had a walk along the bank of the Swan River down in East Freemantle.  Although the day started out very cool, it warmed up nicely during our beach walk and then was quite hot by the time we went to King’s Park.

 

Boab



We spent a lot of time walking amongst the beautiful native plants of Western Australia.  How lovely and how very different – the Boab tree was quite unique – it had very fat trunk and then slender branches and the specimen we saw was 750 years old.  I was especially attracted to the Kangaroo Paw, the state floral emblem of Western Australia.  It was so intricate and well named as you can see in the picture.  We were surrounded by lots of spring colour and beauty!

 

Kangaroo Paw

 

 

 

We arrived back at Diana’s around 2:30 after 11,200 fitbit steps!  Glad to enjoy a late lunch and a chance to sit and enjoy Diana’s garden and a lovely cup of tea.  Thanks to Diana today for the loan of her camera....still waiting for mine to arrive.

 

 

Tomorrow a trip to the Swan Valley has been planned and a possible visit to a quilt shop.  We are excited to see what is in "store" both figuratively and literally!