Out west in Australia

  Fishing in the Swan water - "How do I swallow this thing?" We were told that one of the “must do” things in Perth is Cottesloe Beach.   As it was a beautiful, clear, sunny day, I donned my shorts and we took the train to the beach.   The train station is about 800m from the beach and there were even directions on the footpath with the distance to go.   Footpath signs The beach is lovely but despite the sun there was a cold wind blowing off the sea making it quite cool.   We wandered along the beach front, and it was nice to see where they have the same Sculpture by the Seas exhibition as we have seen in Sydney.   Various shots of Cottesloe Beach   We found a sheltered spot to park ourselves, read and people watch for a while before the heat got to us and it was late enough to move to the nearby pub and have a drink while still looking out at the sea.     We then made our way back to South Perth and had a very ...

  Wave Rock Wave Rock did not disappoint.   It is a stunning geological feature.   What was nice is that we could get close and personal as well as take photos without hordes of other people like us trying to take photos without others in them.   There were a number of walks that we could take, and we elected (or should I say I elected) to climb onto the rock and look over the countryside.   I was glad we did because the wave is just part of wide rock formation that was rather entrancing.   We could see out to a wetland and lake nearby, one of the waterbodies is very salty and one is encouraged to bathe in it.   However, I suspect that is more likely to be a summer activity, not when it is 15 ° C like it was when we were there.     After clambering over the rocks we walked to another feature which is called the Hippo’s Yawn.   It is a very cute feature of the rocks and looked very much like a hippo yawning.   ...

  A wheat field under gloomy skies Hyden is a little community in the middle of nowhere, about 350 kilometres east of Perth.   Its claim to fame is a geological feature called the Wave Rock.   The quickest way from Margaret River was a 450 kilometre journey through Busselton, Bunbury and then northeast through small towns in a very sparsely populated area called the southern wheat belt.     We got ourselves a takeaway coffee in Margaret River and then headed for our first stop at Bunbury where there was an undercover farmers’ market where we could get something for a picnic.   I had assumed it would be a real market with each producer having a small stall, however it was a large store that was like Moore Wilson’s on steroids.   The range and quality of produce was excellent.   We got our picnic food, a salad in my case, and in Bev’s a mini platter of meats, dip, cheese, vegetables and fruits.   The roads we took to Hyde...

While at Woodlands Winery, Bev had spied some earrings that she liked and the woman wearing them had said they were available at a winery called McHenry/Hohnen Wines It was also one of the places the host at Woodlands had recommended as having interesting wines.   It seemed like a good place to go to, so I popped an address into the Navigation system and off we went.   I managed to miss the turnoff and then saw their shop front as I drove through a little village called Witchcliffe.   I made a U turn and sure enough found it was their outlet.   We tasted our way through much of their range of wines which were very interesting.   One wine, Hazel’s vineyard Syrah 2019, took Bev’s fancy as Hazel was the name of a close friend who had died recently. Bev wanted to celebrate her memory with it as she had not been able to attend the celebration of her life.   The owners had wanted to try different things with wines, and I found they were an inte...

  Joy is a glass of wine and cheese to accompany What else does one do when in Margaret River? There is plenty but by a big margin tasting wine is one of the premiere activities.   There are lots of wineries in the region with some of the best quality wines that Australia can produce.   I wanted to try wines that were not big name wines and I settled on a couple for the first day (several more were intended).   The first was Woodlands and along with Cullen and other luminaries they were one of the first to set up vineyards.   Woodlands Winery They are in an area called Wilyabrup just along the road from Cullen and other named wineries.   The entrance was modest as was the tasting area.   We were welcomed and sat down with a couple of glasses, shown a menu of wines and then we proceeded to taste almost everything from the cheapest to the most expensive.   Some of the wines were great.     Chardonnay and Cabernet...