Hi all
Here's the news for January and February. We had 2 birthdays in January, Emil's and Maya's. We weren't in Denmark (WA) with them, but John sent some photos to us for the blog.
Emil's birthday was celebrated with his friends camping at Parrys Beach, which they all thoroughly enjoyed.
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| Cutting the cake..... |
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| ....opening presents.... |
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| ....with his new saw! |
Maya's birthday was celebrated at Lights Beach with lots of her friends, and they had a right old time with water fights etc.
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| Opening cards and presents |
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| A new hat..... |
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| .....some bangles.... |
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| .....more presents on the beach.... |
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| ....the sea looks a bit rough!...... |
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| ...but then so does the water fight! |
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| The cakes! They look very yummy! |
Our next big event was at the beginning of February with the arrival of my cousin Steve and his wife Ulla from Copenhagen in the 'real' Denmark - Europe! They are the first overseas family visitors we've had since John and Silvia's wedding when my sister Marion and Bill came over, so we were very pleased to see them. Both ourselves and John, Silvia and family have stayed with them when we were in Europe, so we have been looking forward to returning their hospitality.
The first 2 days here were good with nice sunny weather and not too hot. However the following 3 days were when we had torrential rain, which was extremely unusual for summer in Australia! However, we did manage to get out and about a bit, as you can see from the photos below.
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| Steve and Maisie on a local walk. |
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| Ulla making the most of the sun! |
We managed s trip to Fremantle on their second day here....
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| At the round tower in Fremantle..... |
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| ....walking back to the town..... |
....ending, after a nice lunch in town, with a trip to South Beach for ice creams and a look at the beach.
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| ...a visit to South Beach. |
The next day was the start of the horrendous weather. Steve and Ulla tried to get a trip into Perth on the train, but after having been there for only a couple of hours and getting drenched, they decided to try again another time!
The following day, it seemed to have eased a bit, so we went to Kalamunda, where once again it started to pour with rain! We had a quick coffee, then drove past our old house in Gooseberry Hill and down the Zig Zag. The photos of the view of Perth were a bit hazy to say the least!
We then went back to Kalamunda for a very nice lunch in Gooseberry Hill, then drove to Mundaring Weir. The weather eased a bit so we managed a short walk over the dam and back.
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| Mundaring Weir... |
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| ....ditto... |
There were several kangaroos on the other side, which pleased our visitors, and they were also impressed with the huge Moreton Bay Fig tree.
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| Moreton Bay Fig tree.... |
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| .....ditto.... |
Next day was Saturday, and although it was still windy and cool, we managed a walk along the Canning River from Riverton Bridge, where we saw quite a lot of sea birds.
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| Ibises (Ibi??) on the Canning River |
By evening it was pleasant enough for us to eat out on the patio and take some photos, chuckle!
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| Mike and Ulla.... |
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| ....Maisie and Steve.... |
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| ....all four of us! |
On Sunday it was a very pleasant day. We drove to Rockingham where Mike had arranged to pick up another carburettor for the old Chev. Having done that, we decided to take the ferry across to Penguin Island to see the Fairy Penguins and other bird life there. We only saw one baby penguin 'in the wild' in one of the nesting boxes, as it was the wrong time of the year for the arrival of the 'hordes'!
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| Baby fairy penguin in the nest |
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| There were hundreds of these bridled terns.... |
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| ....ditto, |
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| A view of part of the Island. |
We visited the Discovery Centre there where they nurse sick and injured Fairy Penguins back to health, and they apparently get so used to being looked after and fed so well, that they are very loathe to leave the island, and may stay and nest there all the time.
Photos taken in the discovery centre:
Here's a short video clip of them.
We came home via Mandurah where we had a late lunch and a quick look around before heading home.
Next day Steve and Ulla managed to get their trip into Perth, while we prepared for our trip down to John and Silvia's (in Denmark WA!) This was the extent of their cultural visit, chuckle!
We started off well, us in the camper van and Steve and Ulla in John's spare car, which they have been using during their stay here. About 100kms from Williams - an hour or so from home - we had a blow out! Mike was unable to get the spare out as the nuts had been tightened too much, as had the ones on the wheel with the blow out, so we had to call the RAC to come and help us. To cut a long story short, I made up rolls for us for lunch while we waited for the RAC man to arrive, and all in all it was about 2 hours before we got on the road again! Jo was also coming down but had planned to leave later than us, but in the end arrived at John's only 1/2 hour after we did!
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| This was a nearly new tyre!! |
Silvia and John had prepared a lovely roast for us all, for which we were very grateful after a long journey!
On Wednesday we managed to get one new tyre put on, and were also able to order another to be picked up on Thursday, so that we would have 2 new back tyres and a good spare!
After collecting the van, we and Steve and Ulla drove to Ocean Beach, stopping at the inlet on the way for them to see a great amount of black swans, pelicans and other wild birds.
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| Pelicans waiting for scraps from the fisherman..... |
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| ....ditto.... |
After we'd picked
up the the second tyre, we spotted this little bird - possibly a swift?
- sitting on a pole near the water's edge
The following day, Friday, we went to the Steiner School for Maya and Benjamin's Assembly, where all the classes walk around the hall showing the other schoolchildren and any parents or other guests what they have been doing during the week. It is good for the younger ones to see what they will be doing in the future.
Benjamin's class had been doing Nordic mythology, so afterwards Steve and Ulla went to his class and Ulla, who is Danish, talked to them about 'the other Denmark' and answered their questions about various things there.
Afterwards Steve and Ulla went off to Albany for the day. This time we opted out as it always rains when we go to Albany so we didn't want to make it rain for them - and it didn't! In the afternoon we went to the usual Friday Market at the school, where John, Emil and Maya sold books and cakes.
In the evening John and Silvia were hosting a 'Danish theme' party where we had different types of Danish food including pickled herrings, Danish pastries and various other delights such as cheeses etc. It was also the birthday of one of John and Silvia's friends, Lydia, so that was celebrated as well!
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| We played Orchids and Onions! |
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| The cakes...... |
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| .....blowing out the candles! | |
The weather was perfect next day for a trip to Greens Pool! The water was lovely and everybody had a lovely time.
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| Emil and Maya on the rock...... |
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| Action shot of Maya jumping off! |
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| Silvia ready to in and Ulla sunbathing |
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| Steve about to go swimming. |
Now just what's happening here? Strange people emerging from the sea!!!! Is it the Vikings???
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| Benjamin |
In the evening we all went to a Spanish/Latin American music night at the Wolery where some of John's musician friends were playing. It was extremely enjoyable.
Here's a photo of John and Jo - can't remember when it was taken, but it's a good one, so I thought I'd put it up.
Next day we packed up the camper van ready for our drive home tomorrow while John, Silvia, Emil and Benjamin took Steve and Ulla to Walpole to see the tingle trees and the inlet.
We ended our trip to Denmark WA with dinner at the Denmark Tavern, which Steve and Ulla treated us all to. It was a lovely meal.
Here we all are. Left to right - Steve, Jo, Emil, Silvia, Benjamin (trying to hide, chuckle!), Maya, John, me, Mike and Ulla.
The weather next day was just right for our long drive home and we arrived safely with no unexpected happenings this time! Steve and Ulla went off to do a bit of touring in the South West corner, including Pemberton, Augusta, and Margaret River etc.
In the pool on one of the 40 degree C days!
Hopefully I'll do a blog again next month, but at the moment I am struggling with the program I use to reduce the size of the photos and it's driving me crazy, so we shall see what happens next time.
Enjoy!
