Working to live, not living to work! Adventures achieved on days off and holidays.

 Up bright and early,  well too early actually,  but body clock still on Brisbane time, so wake up at 4 am here. Off to Kings Park, and the WA botanical gardens. Pretty from the first sign, but actually the spring gardens on median strips etc are also stunning, so plenty to see. We opted to walk, and from the entrance google maps took us to, it was quite a long walk, but well worth  it. Therefore we saw the avenue of trees dedicated to fallen defence personnel,  and a veritable carpet of flowers at the entrance, not all native! Continuing on we found the beginning of the formal botanical gardens,  but first a picnic was called for with views of the Swan River. Suitably revived we tried to capture the many blooms we spotted, photos truly do not do nature's palette justice, but we at least have some memories to show friends and family.  Then at the main information centre and gallery we came upon the festivities associated with Spring, Kings birthday cel...

Finally the day arrived for us 'girls' to head off to Perth. The initiative had been the Wedge Triennial ceramics conference,  but when one flies across Australia from Brisbane,  we're just not going to be here 4 days and go home. So we've hopefully got enough t time to explore Perth, and the Southwest corner around to Albany. We'll see how many art galleries,  pottery studio's, parks, historical buildings, lighthouses, wineries and so on we can fit in. And try to get some rest as well! First impressions were good, leaving the hot dry spell of a Brisbane spring behind, we arrived in pleasantly cool Perth. Negotiated airport, and trains with ease and wandered through the streets of Cottesloe to our accommodation,  the historical house of PM Curtain, from WW2 era. Managing to admire WA's Gardens and flowers already. Love a good gander at someone else's gardens. Stocked up provisions at local shops, only worth mentioning as we 3 felt like 18 yr olds,  wande...