Perth Australia

We have found ourselves in Perth Western Australia, pet sitting for a lady who was off to Brisbane for a week.  We looked after a Japanese Spitz called Zena.

  We also looked after two cats, Matilda and Sassy.  Perth was experiencing a heat wave whilst we were there.  Luckily the house had air con.  We were near a bus station and were able to take a short walk to catch a bus to town or to Fremantle on the coast.

Perth is a very small city, the capital of Western Australia,  with a very picturesque skyline set against the Swan River.

The coastal town of Fremantle has lots of history, being a former whaling town.  There is a great indoor market and a ferry to Rottnest Island which was a great day out.  We met a quokka which looks like a giant rat, hence the name Rottnest  Island.  The coves and bays on this island are beautiful, we cycled around half of the island but had to cut our trip short as we had to catch the ferry home.

On this visit we caught up with friends in Perth and took a trip to the Margaret River wine region, which had stunning beaches as well as the vineyards with lots of wine tasting opportunities.

We then flew to Melbourne and picked up a campervan to travel the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide.

This was an amazing trip, we thoroughly enjoyed the freedom the van gave us.  We were able to stop where we wanted and have a brew looking out over the most beautiful countryside, or beach or wetlands.

We saw wild koalas in the trees and Emus walking along the side of the road.  There were kookaburras in the trees laughing at our attempts to dry our laundry in ever more inventive ways.  We saw some amazing flora and fauna en route and were sad to have to leave at the end of our stay.

Australia grows on us more each time we visit, we are sure we still have plenty more to experience there.

Jackson Sadly Missed

Sadly, we have had to say goodbye to Jackson a very sweet natured Greyhound that we have looked after in France.

He was a very gentle old boy with the softest ears and the kindest eyes. He used to make us laugh so much as he would suddenly start bounding at full speed around the garden, for a few minutes and then go back to what he was doing just as quickly.

He was very easy to look after and loved to lie on his back with his legs in the air.

We will miss you Jackson.