Phewf.

Phewf.

Friday night - Post Modern Jukebox, with VIP tickets, yay! So cool. Mum, myself and Ros really enjoyed it again! As well as Guzman Y Gomez and Ibiza N2 for victuals.

Saturday, Rob and I drive to Karri Valley Resort. Check in, get settled, have dinner, get mobbed by doornarts (the parrot with the distinctive vingt-un 28 call) and have a sleep. Karri forrest, beautiful lake, the real golden wildflowers everywhere, staff delighted to see us again although they seem to think at this stage swimming with our mermaid tails is just a figure of speech.

Unusual birds for us this trip-
Lots of grey currawongs on the way down, Regent parrots too. Purple crowned lorikeets around the resort, as well as a honeyeater that flew across our back of chalet area - bright olive back, black head, white eye or markings, it could be a couple of species, couldn't say for sure.

The resident ospreys look like they might have chicks.

So the next morning we notice the plumbing is acting funny, inform reception and wander off to do the Donnelly River Cruise, which was really interesting, at this time of year the river has broken through the sandbank. High, exposed ex-cave limestone cliffs with exposed stalactites to the left as you reach the mouth of the river, and a low basalt column wall to the right. Really odd geology!

Wide sandbar, sea wrack and Pacific gulls, and the Southern Ocean roaring and beating far across the sand. Just extraordinary.

On our return the receptionist chases us down in the car park and gives us the sad news that we have to move to another, and incidentally, much larger chalet as the plumbing situation isn't good. Can they offer us a free breakfast or bottle of wine to make up for it? Yes, they can, and thank you.

Then I had a bit of a swim - the water is not too cold, but visibility isn't good, so I don't do any diving or swimming underwater as I might run into something. The sunset merfin is very pretty against the tannin soaked water! I had a shower and we do some fishing, Rob catches two big rainbow trout in quick succession and we stop as that's enough for dinner!

Trout for dinner and we have a sleep.

The next morning we take a couple of surf skis out and circumnavigate the lake, on the way trying to work out what a bird high in a tree was. It looked odd, and of course the waterproof cameras don't have that good a zoom. On examination of the photos back at the shore revealed it to be a White Necked (or Pacific) Heron, which I've only seen once before in the wild, high up and flying away. This one was pretty co-operative.

Paddled back, and we both finned up for a swim. Mer-Rob found the water much too cold for his liking so he sunned his tail on the shore after a quick foray into the water. He's a tropical species. I went for a swim, to the delight of staff and patrons.

We rested, had dinner and then informed the staff of our intention to visit Beedelup Falls at night for photography purposes.
They were dubious but agreed to send help if we hadn't returned in 3 hours. (We were back in 2, to their relief as another couple had gotten themselves lost overnight recently but were far less sensible than us)

We considered staying an extra day but decided not to, and just as well in the end. <- foreshadowing

We had wrangled a late checkout and left with promises to return soon before some of the backpacking staff members were due to end their employment there. So off we went, heading for Cambray Cheeses where we had a delightful lunch.

Then we drove, and had a coffee break at the Cut at Mandurah. Decided that fish and chips sounded good - headed to Jetty F&C only to find that the foreshore had been invaded by food vans so we had Brazilian Tapis instead - so good!

I rang Mum, who was gardening. About 4 seconds before I rang, she fell up the stairs in the back yard and lacerated her thumb, and severely bruised both hands, barely missing cracking her head open - her glasses have a very sobering scratch down them! So the phone was ringing but the screen was so covered in blood that she couldn't read it. She managed to answer and give the impression to me that this had happened some time before.

I said, get yourself fixed up and I'll ring back. I got a message a little later saying she'd bandaged herself and iced the bruising, and was sitting resting, bruising was going down.

Meanwhile we had a leisurely meal and then drove home to find Mum in good spirits. Rob rebandaged her and we assessed the injury.
Diagnosis, rest the hand and let yourself be waited on until we can get a doc's appointment.

The next morning, doc investigates, says, rest the hand and let yourself be waited on.

Waited on Mum, got her victualled up and settled, then set off for Fremantle where Rob did some photography for the scavenger hunt, and we used the GoSun bbqs to cook some salmon for dinner at South Beach. Some time was spent admiring the enormous trompe l'oeil at East West Design on both the South and Marine Terrace sides. It's worth a walk by as there's some really small but cool elements you won't get on a drive by. Then we set off to see The House with the Clock in its Walls at the cinema. I'm now interested to read the book - I'd never heard of the writer, but I'm interested now. He won lots of awards, including an Edgar!

After the movie we drove home and went to sleep.

Mum is well this morning and in good spirits, and so are we.

Phewf, lovely holiday. It's a fine time to be hitting the South West of Western Australia.