Sunday 24th March 2019 - Perth

We went with Anne to her Church this morning where we were welcomed warmly. There are a number of people there who originate from Britain and I am not getting any more used to hearing British voices here, particularly in Perth. It could be easy to forget you are in Australia if it wasn’t for the warmth and blue skies, plus a few other things of course!! We have been so fortunate with the weather right from Hong Kong where it was unseasonably warm that we are dreading returning to grey skies!!

Anne attends quite a traditional Anglican Church and feels happy and settled here. With the warmth and friendliness of people it is easy to see why!

We stayed for a cuppa afterwards which gave us a chance to chat to random people, or rather for them to come and talk to us, and then got in the car for Anne to drive up to Yanchep National Park. This was probably a 45 minute drive north, going parallel to the coast. When Anne first started teaching here, quite a few years ago!, she worked at a primary school in the small town. Then her drive from Perth was through a lot of forest and bush area. Now much of it is built up.

The park was beautiful. There is a lake near to where we parked, which is also near to the visitor centre, cafe, some large grassed areas and play areas, with mature trees and walks going into the bush.

The main attraction however was the koalas! We had not seen any up until today and there are a few here in a protected area. Not necessarily easy to spot, but so cute when you did! Of course they were fairly high in the trees and often partially obscured by the trees, but definitely koalas!

We followed one of the shorter trails around the lake and through the bush. It was good to be in shade, it was peaceful and gave you some idea of how the bush looks before it is cleared.

We had a sandwich at the cafe and then Anne drove back home on another road, also parallel to the coast, but this time nearer to it. This gave us a clear view of the massive amount of development that has happened over the years and is still continuing. It really is linear urban sprawl, hugging the coastline for miles. As I write this I am still trying to work out in my head my views on it. People obviously need homes, but there is something about the scale of it and how there is total clearance of the bush with no large trees left that makes the new development so stark. Older developments that have had trees planted look better, but I’m still not sure what I think or feel!

After a couple of hours back at Anne’s we went back to the ocean for a meal at one of the restaurants at Hillary’s Boat Harbour. You just have to get a photo don’t you?!

A lovely meal by the marina watching th sunset again was a fitting way to end the day and our stay at Anne’s as we move to our city hotel tomorrow.