Surfing AUS

I love surfing.  Well I love to watch people surfing.  I did try it when I lived in Australia but never got very good at it and certainly never did "hang 10" or perform an aerial.

We visited lots of good surfing beaches and I saw women about my age taking lessons.  It is the thing to do on a weekend morning in Australia.

Instead of taking swimming lessons at an indoor pool kids join surf clubs and learn how to rescue people. The red and yellow flags indicate that the surf club is on the beach.  Most beaches have a surf clubhouse and some even serve refreshments.

The waves may not appear large but it isn't easy to stay upright.  Unlike skiing you wax the top of the board to get a grip!

In my next life I want to be a surfer chick!

WA

Australians are notorious for shortening the names of their favourite places. WA is what the locals call Western Australia and Freo is short for Freemantle, our first stop for a couple of days on the wild and wonderful west coast.

A local butcher shop that had everything you could imagine, floor to ceiling. 

From Freo we drove south, enroute we stopped to dip our toes in the warm, vast Indian Ocean.

Parakeets and other colourful songbirds are commonplace. 

 We spent a day in the wine district around Margaret River where there are hectares of vineyards...

and hundreds of wineries.  A Grasstree - unique to WA - in front of one of the wineries.  Later on our trip we saw fields of these unusual palm trees.

Many wineries sell jams, jellies, nougat, chocolate, tapinade and other yummy items that you can taste before you buy.

But we went for the wine.   "Hmmm which one should I try next?|"

Movical Interlude

You might be wondering why I haven't continued to blog about our amazing trip 'Down Under'.

In the past year we planned a major renovation to our house.  We knew we had to vacate the premises on May 5 and had made alternate living arrangements.

We were having such a good vacation that we didn't think much about it and certainly never anticipated how much work it would be to pack everything up!

Nor did we anticipate the jet lag or the flu I caught on the return flight or that Keith had a 4 day business trip just after we landed.

Lots of stories, lots of work, but the move finally came together.

 Most of our furniture is in this 'sea can' in our driveway.

 The walls, 1960's valences, trim and door and window casings are gone!

Now back to Australia!