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!

Going "Home"

While Keith was working in Melbourne I flew to Adelaide for the day. 

On my way to meet friends and colleagues at Flinders University I  drove past buildings with the traditional lattice work balconies, typical of Adelaide and other places in Australia.  

Me with my Doctoral Supervisor, Darlene McNaughton - looking great! 

The new Student Hub at Flinders with it's expanded seating, green space and outdoor screen.  A major upgrade since I was studying there!

My favorite view from Uni - out to the warm, vast and blue ocean! 

And speaking about the ocean - my favorite hangout - Brighton Beach! 

My friend and former landlady Deb and I having lunch at our 'go to' place on the Esplanade.

Deb with Bea and Paul - my former neighbours.

Grapefruit ripening in Deb's backyard.

It was a wonderful day and difficult to leave...lots of good memories.

Australia in Autumn

Keith had the opportunity to do some consulting work in Melbourne, Australia in March.

We both love Australia and the opportunity to return to the land of 'mates' and 'no worries' was too good to pass up so I joined Keith in 'Melbun', a city neither of us had previously visited.  It is in the state of Victoria, being a former colony of Britain there are a lot of common place names.

The next several blogs will document our amazing time under the southern sky and amidst the gum trees, marsupials and red earth of this amazing and diverse continent.

Architecture - the contrast between historic and very modern.

 The Yarra River bank is a busy place a nd fully developed with walkways, footbridges, restaurants and hotels.

 St. Kilda - Luna Park and the Palais Theatre

The Melbourne Aquarium - both frightening and cute aquatic life!  The Croc's name is Pinjarra, an aboriginal word meaning 'place of soft grass and smooth water'. He is about 50 years old, was rescued from a farm and is being protected in the aquarium which built the enclosure for him and his 5 metre and 750 kg body.

The first of many spectacular sunsets...

Gowlland Tod Provincial Park

A 20 minute drive from our house is the amazing Gowlland Tod Provincial Park...

with Arbutus Trees   

   , the Cascade Waterfalls

sprouting fiddle-head like fern fronds...

Spectacular views over Brentwood Bay, the Malahat and North Island and as far as the Mainland snow-capped mountains!

 and of course wildflowers.

Stef and I had an amazing 4 hour hike - from the summit to the beach - what views!  

On the Right Edge of Mt. Finlayson

On June 15, 2014 I posted a blog about my daughter Stefanie and I getting lost while trying to hike Mount Finlayson, near Victoria.

Stefanie is visiting for Easter while on her school break. The weather has been better than predicted, warm and sunny. So today we decided to hike up Mt. Finlayson and find the real trail.

At the trail head we met a fellow who told us to turn left at the top of the stairs.  I realized immediately that was our earlier mistake, we went right.  We were never on the trail!

 Looking west and south to the Olympic Mountain Range

 Looking east to Mount Baker and Washington

Beautiful wildflowers at the summit

We made it, we conquered the mountain!  Now on to the next one! 

Island Diversity

This weekend I went 'up Island' with some of my work colleagues.

We met with our counterparts at North Island College and then enjoyed the scenery and recreation the north island as to offer.

In less than a three hour drive from Victoria to Courtney the mountains become much taller and are snow capped.

You can golf in the morning...

  and ski in the afternoon...

 or make snow people or snowshoe like we did!

 Returned home to Heather, Rhodendrons, Daffodils and Camelia in bloom.

 The first bloom of our backyard Camelia - spectacular!