My garden blazes brightly

Ok, ok, ok, I need to get another post done before my life is absorbed into WACE marking for a few weeks. The marking will be a new experience for me - the kind of thing you do for professional development, not money apparently. I like the idea that the marking is conducted online so that I can do it from the comfort of home. However, I'm also a little concerned about the incredible potential for procrastination working from home may provide. Shall I use it as an opportunity to become a better person? *sigh*

The 'lifestyle' for which Perth is renowned has returned with the warmer weather, including a post-work beach swim yesterday. It is officially Spring, but quite often feels like we've skipped to Summer. Yesterday reached 36 degrees.

One of those deserted beaches.

We celebrated the advent of Spring with a camping weekend near Margaret River. I've moaned before about the lack of bush camping sites near Perth. There are plenty of caravan parks, and actually plenty of National Parks but not many places to camp in them. So Contos Campground is a slightly too long drive for one night, but it was worth it. We absolutely love this area (see my gushing Margaret River report). It was too cold (for me) to swim, but we had a great walk along a deserted beach (of which there are many). True to form, there was some rain, but I think my highlight of the weekend was cooking bacon and eggs on our new campstove and eating directly out of the pan while the Fella held an umbrella over us. We also had a poke around Prevelly where the Margaret River meets the ocean and surfing types congregate. On our slow drive home we stopped at Mammoth Cave for some subterranean fun and detoured to Bussellton to walk on the jetty. Except it's closed. Maybe later? 


The following weekend was a veritable cornucopia of activities. On Friday night I went with some lovely Greens friends to see David Suzuki speak at the Convention Centre. He is a fantastic speaker and a very inspirational and likable man, but damn it was depressing. The Legacy lecture is based on the premise 'what would you say if you had one last lecture?' Well, it seems what David wants to say is that we are all in a speeding car heading for a brick wall. Instead of putting on the brakes, we're arguing about where we're going to sit in the car. The people who might know how to put the brakes on are locked in the boot. Ouch. (That is my man Suzuki's metaphor, not mine by the way).


Off to yum cha the next morning in Northbridge I decided it was finally time to try congee. It's not that I've ever been squeamish about it, but it's not often offered to you as I think the trolley ladies sometimes assume that anglos only go to yum cha for prawn dumplings and pork buns. I can conclude that it is now my absolute favourite rice porridge breakfast dish. No, there really isn't any competition but I did love it and ate far more than I should have after several rounds of other delights.


After yum cha we headed off for an essential WA Spring experience: wildflower viewing (spotting? stalking?) No need for a long journey, you can see flowers from all over WA at the Botanical Gardens. Here is a small selection for your enjoyment. 

Don't enjoy flowers, eh? Best to skip the next few paragraphs then. Lucky you didn't pay for this blog. Oh, you might be interested in these flowers that seemed to grow straight out of the ground. Aren't they dainty? I call them 'Ground Banksia.'

 

One of the things I'm loving about Spring here is that flowers are everywhere, not just in carefully tended gardens.They sprout madly all over the verges and other neglected locations. This lovely lot was thriving in a pile of rubble across the road from our house. In Claremont where I work, gardens tend heavily to the cultivated end of the spectrum. Spring has brought out the professional landscapers, plant pruners, weed pullers and leaf sweepers. Gardening, it seems, is something you pay other people to do. The advantage of this, is that there are healthy overflowing rose bushes every few steps on my walk to work.

After our journey to the wildflowers we had an afternoon sailing trip on the Leeuwin II, a tall ship which is based in Freo and is used for youth development programs. It probably won't surprise anyone to know that I'm not a natural sailor as it turns out. Some key quotes from the afternoon: "Ow, the rope hurt my hands." "Uh oh, I think I'm going to be sick. I'd better have a sausage roll to calm my stomach." And most frequently, "It's so COLD and WINDY!" The Fella on the other hand, loved it and could have quite happily sailed on to South Africa.

I did enjoy seeing the Sea Shepherd ship, the 'Steve Irwin' with its Jolly Roger flying, docked in Freo harbour for maintenance.The captain of the Leeuwin specifically instructed us all to wave hello, which I also liked.

And of course, yet another Freo industrial sunset.

The following day we had a (fairly tame) Sunday session at Clancy's in Freo with some dear friends from Sydney and their 10 month old cherub. I've been doing so well lately with making new friends that I'd forgotten the particular pleasures of spending time with people you know and love well. We've been quite blessed with visitors lately and there are more to come. We really are lucky kids.