What a lovely day we had
today! Diana drove us to downtown
Freemantle to see the old part of the city where we saw some beautiful old
architecture. We had a little walkabout
– enough to almost lose track of where we parked the car – but being a rather small
central city – we soon came across it again.
Then we were off to Di’s friend Julie’s house where we would change to
her car and go for a drive to the Swan Valley.
Wouldn’t you know? Two quilt stores were right on the
route! We found both of them with all
our eyes searching, the map book out and Julie’s innate sense of “I think we’re
close”. They were amazing finds and we
each bought a meter or two of Australian print fabric and at the second store –
we found a kit with fabrics and pattern to do a quilt top with native plant,
animal and aboriginal print fabrics. When
completed it will be a wonderful remembrance of our time here.
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| Part of Rosemary Hedge |
In the Swan Valley, we stopped at
Julie’s daughter’s farm to water her
garden and feed the chooks. After our chores were completed we took a
walk in her small orchard. I had no idea
what a treat that would be. We walked
amongst lemon, pink grapefruit, mandarin orange, navel orange, loquat, almond,
mulberry and mango trees. Most were in
bloom and the fragrance….oh if only it could be bottled. The bees were busy pollinating, butterflies
were sipping nectar and the honey eater birds were darting about enjoying the
flowers as well. It was such a terrific
experience.
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| Pink Grapefruit |
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| Lemon |
We had mandarins right off
the tree and tried some loquats for the first time ever (a little plum sized
fruit that is tasty and juicy). These
little snippets when you are fortunate enough to be able to go off the beaten
path of a tourist and see how life is for residents is such a treat! One side of the orchard was a 4 foot high
rosemary hedge...can you imagine? It was
well over 100 feet long. Laureen picked
some to take back to Diana’s house to have with our lamb dinner later this
week.
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| Loquats |
Back in the car for a drive to
Taylor’s café for some lunch. We were
able to enjoy our repast outside under the shade of a beautiful white gum
tree. It was quite lovely and the day
was the perfect temperature – so very warm and pleasant. We stopped at a very old church with a very
old cemetery and there we saw some wagtails.
This bird is quite a novelty for me.
Each step they take and even when they stop, their tails wag from side
to side – I just loved it. They weren’t
terribly shy, but it was hard to get a good picture of them as they are always
on the move! Back in the car and we were
off on our trip home. It was such a
lovely day.
4 comments:
Looks like you got your camera back. What lovely pictures. Imagine, a Rosemary hedge! Do they use it a lot in cooking like we do? Looking forward to tomorrow to see what adventure you will share with us. Love to all!
Super trip already! Yes, Western Australia is a continual garden whether planted or natural. I don't remember the birds (other than Galahs,Tooheys and Kookaburras along with those every noisy Cockies. I am glad you are seeing some of the smaller ones like Honey Eaters and Wagtails.
Great fruit picking as well. Pink Grapefruit off the tree was something we found in Phoenix long ago and I made buckets of juice as the fruit was rarely picked. I guess a Loquat is a relative of a Cumquat but what do I know!
You are in good hands!
Sounds like another lovely day checking out the sites on your way to Swan Valley. Your quilting kit sounds perfect for capturing those memories. Isn't it funny how we can always find those shops to satisfy our hunger for our crafts. We have kumquats in CA and they make the most marvelous marmalade.
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