Up down and around a bit in South West W.A

OZDUCK · 2024-09-25T11:14:32+1000

I have posted a few photos of our trip in the South West of W.A with a visiting German friend in the "My Office" thread over the last month or so. Now I will add a bit of commentary and a lot more photos of some bits of W.A that many of you may have never visited. Be warned there are lots of photos of wildflowers to come.

To give some context, we first met her at the 2022 Berlin reunion of the German side of my wifes family. She and my wife are related via a shared ancestor sometime in the 16th Century. My wife always claims to be puzzled that people can't see the family resemblance between a tall, blond, blue eyed German and a dark haired Eurasian. We met her again a couple of times during our visit to the German Christmas Markets in November/December last year. She is a keen hiker and lover of all outdoor activities and we enticed her to visit W.A with offers of plenty of those sorts of things. She was able access enough annual leave to spend a month in W.A. Her first day in Perth was marked by probably the worst weather we have had all year. Rain, wind and storm were the order of the day.

Just a few photos in Perth before we head north.

Come to sunny Australia we said. Beautiful blue skies and calm seas we said. So off to sunny Cottesloe Beach for a PERfect scenic viewing.

The next day was a lot better and after lunch at at a boutique brewery in the Swan Valley for her to meet our family we had a bit of a walk along the Swan River at Victoria Park.

Optus Stadium and the Matagarup Foot Bridge in the background

We saw a cormorant just finishing off an afternoon snack. The lights of the WACA are in the background

OZDUCK · 2024-09-25T18:33:24+1000

The next day we headed of to Geraldton via The Pinnacles

Our first stop was to pick up another 'cousin'. She is from the Sabah side of the family and her family connection to my wife is a common ancestor in Malacca around 1790. We loaded everything into my trusty 2005 WL V6 Statesman and headed off. Fully loaded it still gets around 8 litres per 100km sitting on 110kmh.

But not before confirming the overseas meme that kangaroos hop down every suburban street in Australia. She lives in the northern suburbs of Perth (Ellenbrook) and her large property backs onto 'The Vines' golf course.

On the way there we passed a couple of signs showing the Western Australia is beginning to realise that not everyone is a local.

There is now a pretty flash information centre and café at the park.

Normally you can drive a circuit of the pinnacles on a sand track. But on this day it had been closed due to the heavy rain over the last few days. It was still a pretty easy walk to see the sights.