A busy week, which has left little time for blogging as we enjoyed the last few days with our daughter, Mlle, before she flew off back to London. However we did pack a lot into her trip – certainly Perth has much to recommend it as a destination apart from visiting friends and family! Here is a montage of a few of the places we went to this week, some of which I will write up in more detail soon!
Hopman Cup at the Perth Arena – a mixed team tournament used by players from around the world as a lead up to the Australian Open in a couple of weeks time.
Caversham Wildlife Park – a privately run wildlife park that has plenty to interest adults and kids alike. The highlight was the wonderful farm show – afterwards you can pat the lambs or try your hand at milking the cows! Plus there are plenty of kangaroos, koalas and all manner of other creatures to meet.
Whiteman Park – adjoining Caversham Wildlife Park. A beautiful parkland area with picnic zones, a tram ride and paddling pool plus a cafe and kiosk.
Oakover Estate Swan Valley – a favourite winery in the Swan Valley to the east of Perth. Delicious food in a welcoming setting – casual vibe with outlook over vines and a lake including pedalos for adults and kids alike!
On Wednesday we were happily lunching at Oakover Estate in the Swan Valley to the north east of Perth with a stunning view out to the Perth Hills and Darling Scarp. We were unaware at that stage that a lightning strike in the state forest a hundred kilometres or so to the south had started a bushfire, which set off a horrible chain of events culminating in the almost total destruction of the small community of Yarloop. Sadly homes, businesses and historical buildings including an old timber mill were lost in the firestorm and many people and animals displaced. At the time of writing there are still emergency warnings in place – the fire front is massive and many roads have been closed and communities remain under threat. We are, in our coastal Perth suburb, thankfully, living in relative safety, but our thoughts and prayers are with the poor folks caught up in this terrifying act of nature and the firefighters fighting to contain and eventually subdue this dreadful fire.
Copyright © 2016 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
I was rooting for Andy Murray and Heather Watson at the Hopman Cup, but it wasn’t to be. Surprised the stadium isn’t busier, I thought it would be really popular. So sorry for those who lost everything in the bushfire – here it’s the floods 😦
Just read this over before posting and stadium had been autocorrected to satsuma! Glad I noticed that, or you’d have been very puzzled….
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Good old autocorrect – the words it comes up with! Yes I would have thought, “surprised the satsuma isn’t busier” an interesting comment! We thought the same when we went to the Czech Republic v Ukraine match – there were highly ranked players on both teams and yet the turnout to see them was poor. The Australian teams (there were 2) drew much larger crowds of course! I was very happy though as I love my tennis and to see such a high quality match at close quarters was a real treat. Yes the bushfire is an awful tragedy (sadly a couple of deaths have been confirmed this evening). The fire is still raging out of control – it has gone much cooler tonight so that should help but there have been storms and those can cause lightning strikes and wind changes, which doesn’t help matters. I’ve seen the UK floods on the news here and that is a horrible situation – the rain seems unprecedented strange things are happening with the climate around the world at present. Hope you are not being affected in your neck of the woods? 🙂
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No, we are not directly affected, it has been both further south and further north. It’s awful – I just watch the footage with incredulity. Very sad about the fatalities – some here too.
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That is very sad to hear Anabel – glad to hear you aren’t directly affected though. Feel so sorry for those that are – hoping for brighter weather soon.
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Lots of lovely places to visit and things to do. I saw photos of my grandson somewhere in the Swan Valley visiting an animal petting zoo, but not sure which one. He seemed to be having fun! Still at 20 months old everything is FUN! Sorry to hear about the bush fires. Living in a hot country they are always a threat, heartbreaking to see the damage they do to habitat and life.
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Thanks Jude – your grandson may well have been at Caversham as that is the main animal park in the Swan Valley and you can certainly pet many animals there. My younger granddaughter (9 months) loved it all and was quite happy to stroke the animals but her nearly 3 year old sister was rather wary of them! Indeed the bush fires are a perennial threat especially with the hot dry climate combined with the dense vegetation that builds up over the winter. Alas the eucalyptus trees in the south west provide excellent fuel for the fires 😦 It is heartbreaking to see the destruction 😦 It must be so stressful living in a bush fire prone area – the Perth Hills are always a risk zone and there are plenty of bushland areas in the metro area, which have fire flare ups. It will be a couple of months before the risk reduces as autumn arrives.
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I’ve been hearing about those fires–how terrifying and sad. Fire scares me more than most disasters. I’m glad you had such a wonderful visit with your daughter–you certainly packed a LOT of fun into your time together!
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Yes it must have been terrifying Kerry – it happened so quickly the fire just took hold. Mercifully most people were evacuated beforehand but at least a couple were not so lucky and the loss of property, livelihoods etc is heartbreaking. On a happier note yes we packed a lot into our daughter’s visit and had a lovely time! 🙂
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Looks warmer and drier than the UK at this time!
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So sorry to hear of the floods and the horrible weather. We could do with some more rain here at present especially in the fire affected zones – had a bit last night so that has at least helped a bit.
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Parts of the UK have had severe floods. Fortunately I live in the east which is generally the dry side of the country.
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Yes usually drier there though not in Yorkshire where I come from – have been some very bad floods there!
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The fires seem to get worse every year, Rosemay! And as you point out, a while yet before it cools down a bit.
Watched Rafa put up a valiant effort in Doha, but it was a Novak masterclass. Fabulous tennis, and he’ll take some stopping at the Open. 🙂
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It does seem that way Jo – there have been bad fire over east too especially in Victoria. The bush fire season lasts about another 10 weeks – by the end of March it should be cooling down quite a bit. Am looking forward to the Australian Open – always fun to watch. We have been a few times when we lived in Melbourne and it’s a great tournament! 🙂
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I’m afraid there’s only going to be one winner this year 🙂 🙂 It’s not an easy tournament for me because some of the action is in the middle of our night, but I’ll be there 🙂
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A bit like me with Wimbledon but I always seem to manage to watch it! I will be watching the Aussie Open along with you but at a better time (having said that Melbourne is 3 hours ahead of here so have to remember that!) 🙂
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Oakover Estate looks like my kind of place 😉 I guess you had split loyalties over the Aussie Green Team vs Britain LOL
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Yes think you would love Oakover, Ken – it is situated in a lovely spot and has a lovely warm atmosphere not to mention the wines! I wasn’t too concerned who won – I just enjoy the tennis but it has gone down well here of course that the Aussie Greens won!
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🙂
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A lovely and poignant post. Thank you so much
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Thanks Gill – such a sad time for the communities concerned – I have no idea how you would begin to recover from such a tragedy it must be heartbreaking. The bush can be such a beautiful and cruel place at the same time.
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Perth looks wonderful Rosemary – you’ve given a great flavour of what it has to offer here, love the sound of all these places, not least going to the tennis. So terrible about the fires though, unimaginable and unbearably sad. Sounds like you made the most of your daughter being around, hope she got back safely and is not too jetlagged!!
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Thanks Joy – just wanted to give an impression of some of the things on offer here as being so isolated people can get the wrong idea about Perth if they haven’t been here! The tennis is an annual treat – we go every year and have seen some great players over the years 🙂 The fires have been horrific – tragic for people who’ve lost so much and for the little township that has basically been wiped from the map. Yes we certainly made the most of having Mlle back here – she got home safe and sound and has a busy week ahead so hope she’s not going to feel jetlagged for too long!! Hope you have a lovely week 🙂
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So much on offer – sporting events, the beautiful Swan Valley, our coast. It looks like your daughter had a fantastic tour guide. Such a sad time for Yarloop and the surrounding areas. There’s such a loss of life and history the poor townships have gone through . If anything comes from a tragedy like this it is the sense of community and charity as everyone pulls together to come to assist.
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Yes Perth has so much to recommend it Lauren doesn’t it – beautiful climate and many attractions we had a lovely few weeks with our daughter 😃 Yes the only positives out of the terrible fires are the way the community is pulling together in whatever small way they can. We ate out at the weekend and the restaurant was giving a small donation from every meal to the fire disaster appeal. I can’t imagine what those people have been through and what they will face in the future. It’s good we’ve had some cooler days and we had rain today here by the coast but it’s due to warm up again by the end of the week, which is not good news news for the fires. Fingers crossed for cooler conditions continuing!
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Perth looks like a wonderful destination with so much to do. Is is very common for Aussies to like tennis ?
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Yes Perth is a lovely part of the world, Gin! Aussies love their tennis and many people play plus there have been some great Aussie players over the years, Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong-Cawley, Rod Laver, Ken Rosewall and more recently Pat Cash, Pat Rafter and Lleyton Hewitt. Haven’t had as much success recently though – some young hot headed players at present! The Australian Open, which is one of the Grand Slam tournaments starts next week in Melbourne 🙂 Just getting back into the swing of things after a hectic but enjoyable Christmas. Now can start looking forward to our trip in April! 🙂
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It seems that tennis is very popular indeed. A few year ago, it was also very popular in Belgiun with Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. But now, we don’t have such good players anymore so the tennis is not as popular as a few years ago.
Are you going to assist to the tournament ?
Do yo plan to visit some places in April or you are just mostly spending time with family ?
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Alas I can’t get over to Melbourne for the tournament this year, Gin, but have been lucky enough to go several times when we lived in Melbourne 🙂 Yes we’re going to have a 9 day trip after visiting our families – 5 nights at Menaggio on Lake Como and 4 nights in Berlin with our daughter. Really looking forward to it! 🙂
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We are also going in Italy end of march (it’s going to be my first time in Italy), around venice, Florence and cinque terre.
It sounds exciting ! I hope you will get good weather
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Oh that will be so lovely,Gin! I’ve been to Venice and Florence (though many years ago now) but never Cinque Terre – it looks very beautiful. Hoping we get good weather too but maybe there will be a late winter after such unusually mild weather! Either way I don’t mind – it will be a refreshing change of season after summer here 🙂
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I’m a bit afraid of that.. I think winter will be a bit delayed but it also means that we will get fewer tourists (and I don’t mind)
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It should be a lovely time of the year to visit Italy, Gin and anywhere south of the Alps should be a bit warmer! 🙂
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