Le Chic En Rose

It has been unbelievably hot here in Perth for the past few days – in fact we are in the midst of an unprecedented heatwave (in terms of duration). The mercury has been hovering around 40 degrees centigrade (C) maximums and it’s been well over 20C overnight.

This is the second such heatwave this summer (the first was over Christmas when it got to about 43/44C on a couple of days). We are used to the occasional day hitting 40C in the summer months here but not for such extended periods of time. We do have air conditioning in the upstairs part of the house and also a pool so are fortunate in that respect. Still the heat has been relentless and enervating.

Monsieur has been walking Winston le Schnoodle first thing and I also managed to get a walk in early this morning. For the most part though we have been staying inside and trying to keep ourselves and the pets cool.

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago down by the sea at Hillarys Boat Harbour when we came across a yacht race – the wind was up that morning and in fact it was rather cool. Very refreshing! I’ve posted about our local coastal strip on several occasions previously see here, here, here , here, here, here and here).

The ferry you can see in the photos was setting off for Rottnest Island . Known colloquially as Rotto, it’s just 19kms off the Perth coast and is a car-free protected nature reserve. Most people either hire bicyles or take their own over there on the ferry (or their own private boat if they have one)!

It’s particularly well known for the quokkas, an adorable little marsupial, which got its name from a Nyungar word (a dialect of the local Noongar people), which was probably “gwaga”.

Rottnest Island though was named by Dutch mariners who sighted the marsupials back in the 2nd half of the 17th century and mistook them for giant rats (Rottnest Island being a translation of Rat’s Nest Island in Dutch).

The Noongar name for Rottnest is however Wadjemup, which means “place across the water where the spirits are”.

We are looking forward to the promised cool change and return of the sea breeze in the next couple of days!

Copyright © 2022 Rosemary Thomas Le Chic En Rose