I still have a few Swiss posts to cover from our trip earlier this year but fancied a change of scene this week and realised I hadn’t written anything about our home in Western Australia for quite a while (see here and here).
The seasons had shifted when I got back from my unscheduled trip back to the UK at the end of last month – in fact it has been unseasonably warm, but the sea breezes are back and cool things right down especially in the afternoons. We had a walk down by the sea yesterday – glorious sunshine and a very strong south westerly!
The photos are from the Watermans Bay area down by the Indian Ocean – we had the place more or less to ourselves. It was blowing a gale but most invigorating and certainly blew a few cobwebs away!
By contrast our morning walk round the block today produced a moment of excitement when we suddenly noticed a blue tongue lizard resting by a wall and managed to restrain the dog just in time before he rushed off to investigate!
Monsieur was convinced it was no longer alive as had been motionless for so long. Testing his theory, I gave it a gentle prod with a stick – not a good idea as it suddenly sprang to life and lunged at me hissing and bearing its blue tongue! In actual fact the lizards are not poisonous though they can give you a very nasty bite if you get too close as their teeth latch on and their mouths clamp down hard. Definitely keep dogs and small (and big) children well away!
Copyright © 2017 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose. All rights reserved
Le Chic En Rose 
I loved Perth, you are so lucky to live in such a beautiful corner of the world. I remember well the huge lizards, such interesting creatures. I hope you will get a great summmer😄
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Thanks Gilda – yes Perth is a lovely part of the world. We are lucky to live near the coast as it does cool things down in the hotter months with the sea breeze 🙂
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Ooh, that tongue is definitely scary looking! You look a bit windswept in the earlier pictures but you still have lovely blue skies and sun. I could accept a gale in those circumstances.
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It gave me quite a shock Anabel but it is in fact bluff and they aren’t poisonous. Rather windswept but invigorating and the sun was shining 🙂
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Good of that lizard to pose for you so nicely, Rosemay! Best at a safe distance, hey? 🙂 🙂 The sea does look extremely ‘fresh’ but you’re wearing shorts and tees so it can’t be too bad. Have a great week!
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Yes Jo in fact he did a few warnings at us which gave Monsieur time to get the camera out! We beat a retreat and left him to wander off. Yes mustn’t complain – it was very windy but hardly cold but it’s funny that people don’t go out so much when it likes that! Hope you have a great week too 🙂
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Looks lovely and how nice of the lizard to show us his blue tongue 😀
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I didn’t expect him to show his tongue like that Jude but I’m not surprised as we spoilt his sun bathing session! Always love walks down by the sea anywhere 🙂
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Nice to blow the cobwebs away 🙂
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Beautiful sea views….
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Thanks Evelyn – the colours are so lovely and views as far as you can see 🙂
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Looks pretty gorgeous.
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Yes it’s a lovely spot Coral – lucky to live near here 🙂
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Love the blues of the water and sky. We are heading into the winter season here, so more and more grey days recently.
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Yes we are in reverse seasons of course so opposite time of the year here. Hope it’s not too grey and cold this winter for you and you stay well rugged up:)
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Beautiful photos, Rosemary! This is my favourite spot on the coast here. We always have coffee/breakfast there at Bay 33 🙂
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Thanks Isabel! Yes know that cafe well too though we usually have coffee/breakfast down at North Beach. Lovely walks in all directions though especially love this particular part of the coast 🙂
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I’m not sure about your blue tongue, Rosemary. The tongue is not very blue. There’s another lizard in WA that is similar, very common around Cape Leeuwin. (but I’m not an expert!!)
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It was actually a lot more blue in real life Ken – quite vivid really but the colours don’t show up too well in the photo! It was a contrast with the rest of its mouth which was very pink inside. Didn’t fancy trying to get any closer to get a better shot!!
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I went researching. I think it is a “Shingleback”, which is indeed one of the varieties of blue tongue, but I didn’t know that before. Quite different to the one we get in our garden occasionally, the “Common or Eastern Blue Tongue”.
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Very interesting Ken – I knew it had a blue tongue but didn’t realise there were different varieties! I would guesss that we get different types over here being in the west.
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Yes it is the shingle back, we also have the common blue tongue with a longer tail in our garden
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Thanks for researching it for me – never knew there were several varieties of blue tongues!
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Great picture of the lizard Rosemary – you were brave, with that scary looking tongue I definitely wouldn’t want to get too close!! Loving the blue skies and beach scenes…
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We didn’t hang around too long Joy – let him go on his way undisturbed! We are lucky to live in this part of the world – reverse seasons of course to the northern hemisphere so into summer now. Looks rather cold in Europe at present but it does make me feel “Christmassy” to see the winter scenes – bit too warm for mulled wine and log fires here at present!
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What a lovely area you live in. We have a couple of resident blue tongues live in the garden and keep the slug and snail population well under control
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It’s a lovely area Pauline and the coastal walks are wonderful especially when the breeze is in. We have some bobtails in our garden – never quite know what the correct term is for them but they have blue tongues! Need to make sure our dog is kept well away though if they are out and about as he will just go up and bark furiously at them.
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We have blue tongues in the garden, it is lovely to share our space with wild life.
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I agree! 🙂
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